by Jackie French
This is a story about 3 young women, who start a canteen in France during World War One. They care for the flow of soldiers going to and returning from the Front. Starting with providing food for the soldiers, they end up helping with the huge load of casualties that are being sent by train to hospitals in France and England.
One of the girls, Midge, can drive a car and is recruited to drive an ambulance to transport the wounded soldiers to the station. This takes her close to the front lines where she is involved in helping to care for wounded soldiers, straight from the battlefield.
It is such a moving story, showing the courage involved for both the women volunteers and soldiers in the trenches. There are so many people doing their best to help the soldiers, as the armies were ill equipped. There was not enough food, clothes or medical supplies. Many soldiers suffered from ‘shellshock’ (mental trauma) as well as horrific injuries.
Despite this, the story is uplifting, highlighting the courage shown by the characters in these extreme conditions. The start and finish are set in Australia at an ANZAC Day parade and provide a way into the story for today’s readers.
Mrs S
Tagged: world war one July 21, 2009
By Paul Jennings
Penguin, Ringwood, 2009, 248 p.
Summary:
Robin puts up his hand to support the cause Charlie is raising money for. He offers $500. How is he going to get that. He sells one of the 2 momentoes he has of his mother. She ran away when Robin was little. His father blames him. Robin is always imagining himself doing something horrific. Robin lives with his dad in a ski resort village where his father repairs things. Charlie misinterprets something he does and isn’t speaking to him, his father is hiding something and Verushka is using him for her own reasons. Robin uses the stories he writes to helps his mind understand what is going on.
Comment:
Great use of the stories Robin writes interspersed amongst the plot. I wasn’t sure when I began the book how scarey it would become. To begin the book with an image of Robin imagining his father falling into an icy pit was pretty chilling. The story unfolds in a much more gentle fashion than I imagined. I love the ending story of the frog and the princess.
Rating : 6.5/10
Mrs B
Tagged: Crime, Mystery July 21, 2009
Date Read: March 17,18th 2009
Author: Nansi Kunze
Publ. Random House. Nth Sydney, 284p
Themes: Genetics, cloning, luck, relationships
Summary: Pen (Penelope) O’Connell’s life is not just full of accidents it seems as if they come looking for her. Then Pen meets Seb (Sebastian) Meyer a genetics student who tries to explain that somepeople with particular DNA patterns have more good or bad luck based on their actions. What Pen wants to know is how so much bad luck comes her way when she goes out of her way to be and do good. Then Pen finds out about Sereena (her cloned sister) and she decides to set things to rights.
Comment: The concept of luck being connected to your actions is not new but the idea that some people have DNA which makes this more likely is interesting. The story relies heavily on the relationships between the students in the story, Becky and Pen, Pen and Seb, Pen and Colin, Becky and Dweebster. Good story about teenagers finding their way and about community service.
Rating 5/10
Mrs B
Tagged: cloning, genetics, luck, relationships July 17, 2009
Date Read: /8/08 to 3/9/08
Author: Garth Nix
Publ. Allen & Unwin, NSW, 2008
Themes: Fantasy, heroes,
Summary: This is the 6th book in the Garth Nix Keys to the Kingdom series. In it Arthur, the Rightful Heir has to get the 6th part of the will and the 6th Key from Superior Saturday. Saturday while having all her sorcerers looking for the Rightful Heir is launching an attack on the Incomparable Gardens of Sunday. Leif is back on earth left by Arthur to rescue patients (newly returned from Friday’s clutches) before the Nuke is dropped at 12 midnight.
Comment: Lives up the rest of the series but I was soooo frustrated by the ending. I wasn’t sure that this was as satisfactorily resolved as the other ‘days’. Great read.
Rating: 7.5/10
Mrs B
Tagged: Fantasy, Keys to the Kingdom July 17, 2009
Date Read: 20/7/08
Author: Sherryl Clark
Publ. Puffin, Camberwell,VIC, 2007
Themes: Family, Divorce/Separation, Adolescence
Summary: Written by sixth grade Dawn in verse accompanied by lots of doodling, we see into the world of style queens, growing up, fitting in and family. Dawn lays out for us the change in her family: the deteriorating relationship, separation and then coming to terms with the new family structure.
Comment: Great, quick, easy to read, but still it packs a punch. Shows a sixth grader dealing with a family in meltdown. The goody, goody style queen gets it in the end, very satisfying.
Rating 6 ½ /10
Mrs B
Tagged: Growing Up, School July 17, 2009
Date Read: 23/6/08 – 29/6/08
Author: Odo Hirsch
Publ. Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 2007
Themes: Life, change, truth to oneself.
Summary: Amelia lives in the tall green house on Marburg street. Her parents work at home. Dad is an inventor, Mum a sculptor. Outside Amelia’s bedroom door is the peacock lamp. It entices Amelia to think beyond her world on Marburg street. After an episode where Amelia nearly falls down four floors from the banister she begins to write stories about the lamp. Then Mr Vishwanath, the yoga instructor living on the ground floor introduces her to Princess Parvin Kha Douri. The princess and the lamp share a history. The lamp and the princess were saved when there was a revolution. Amelia’s stories help the princess move beyond her past to a new future.
Comment:The part played by some of the secondary characters is wonderful. Her mother the sculptor, Dad the inventor, inventing to help mum deal with her sculptures. Mr Vishwanath with his life philosophies, and Amelias two friends. All these characters add to the richness of the story. I did find however that the story seemed a little old fashioned. I’m not sure how many of our students would find it interesting.
Rating 6 ½ /10
Mrs B
Tagged: Family, Friendship, History July 17, 2009
Date Read: 28/5/08 – 31/5/08
Author: John Heffernan
Publ.
Themes: Family,
Summary: Another book about families and life off the rails. Marty is haunted by something in the past which has left a shadow. Not just in his dreams but his every waking moment till it tears his life apart. Marty’s best friend is his little brother,…. At school he makes friends with ……. These two help Marty to hold on and make sense of the world. Marty’s waking and sleeping nightmares come together through the novel until it is almost too much for him. The only light at the end of the tunnel is the constant love from his brother.
Comment: How protected I have been. Great story, a little dark but definitely keeps you reading. I read this in one night which for me is pretty quick.
Rating7 ½ /10
Mrs B
Tagged: death, Family, Mystery, Nightmares July 17, 2009
Date Read: 29/6/08 – 15/7/08
Author: Marcus Zusak
Publ: Picador, Sydney, 2005
Themes: WWII, Power of words, Books, Prejudice
Summary: Liesel Meminger begins her life as a book thief on the train journey to her foster family. Her brother is visited by Death and after his burial by the trackside Liesel picks up the Gravedigger’s Handbook. Hans, the accordion playing foster father helps Liesel learn to read. Rosa sends her to collect laundry from the mayor where the mayor’s wife introduces Liesel to more books and new worlds. Rudy her neighbor and best friend is a constant, with her through the stealing of food, stealing of books and beatings, forever waiting for that kiss. Life becomes dangerous when a return favour from WWI sees Max Vandenberg seek refuge in the accordion players basement. The jewish fist fighter finds new reasons to live through Liesel, her books and her reading.Max in turn writes his life story on the painted over pages of Mein Kampf. He flees when the situation becomes too dangerous for him and for Hans, leaving with Rosa a story for Liesel, The Word Shaker. As the was escalates the air raid shelter and Neighbour, Mrs Holtzapfel, gives new purpose to Liesels reading. A final gift from the mayor’s wife is a notebook. As Liesel write’s her own story in the basement at night she is saved from the bombing which takes out the rest of the street, Rosa, Hans, Rudy and most of his family, frau Holtzapfel, so many of them.
Comment: A long book written from Death’s perpective. War is never as simple as us and them. This story gets you inside the life of a child in wartime. We see the Nazi’s, the Hitler Youth, the families hiding Jews, the ordinary people. The open eyes, open heart, open mind of a child.
Rating: 9/10
Mrs B
Tagged: Books, Germans, Jews, War July 17, 2009
Date Read: 16/6/08 – 22/6/08
Author: Felicity Pulman
Publ: Random House, Sydney, 2008
Themes: Medieval Mysteries, Murder, England – Matilda and Stephen
Summary: Still in search of her father, Janna leaves Wiltune Abbey with a group of pilgrims headed for Ambresberie. Along the way Janna and the group’s leader Bernard, stumble on a body. The dead man carried a letter to the bishop of Winchester (ally to the Empress Matilda). Bernard is determined to deliver the letter and swears Janna to secrecy. Bernard’s mother Juliana is certain her son will come to a grim end somehow related to Janna being with them. A handsome stranger, Ralph, joins the group flattering Janna with his attention. Janna is wary of his motives. Later at Stonehenge Bernard leaves the group to deliver the letter only to be murdered a short distance away. Janna decides to deliver the letter herself. In the process she learns who she can and can’t trust. Ulf, a father figure amongst the group, helps her deliver the letter and in her search for her father. Ralph meets a grizzly end and Janna learns she is related to Old King Henry.
Comment: Book four in the series about Janna and it is still not the end of her quest to find her father. I felt this book in the series moved a little slower than the others. The characters were not as well developed as previous stories.
Rating: 5 ½ /10
Mrs B
Tagged: Love, Middle Ages, Mystery July 17, 2009
Date Read: March 4th – 6th 2009
Author: John Grogan
Publ: Harper Collins, London, 2007 208p. ill.
Themes: Dogs, unconditional love, family
Summary: After being married for a year John and his wife Jenny decide they need a dog. When they go to choose a puppy they do the stomp test. What they get is Marley a Labrador Retriever with more energy than sense but whose heart and loyalty provide 13 years of the important things in life to John and his family despite the ripped couches and stolen items.
Pg 203 “No one ever called him a great dog or even a good one. He was as wild as a banshee and as strong as a bull. He crashed joyously through life with the gusto most often associated with natural disasters.” …. But there was more to him than that. I also described his loyalty, gentleness and his pure heart. ….. “A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours,” I wrote. Mostly he taught me how to be a good, loyal friend.
Comment: The author does a great job describing the impact of Marley on his life. The everyday things like eating, the toileting, trips in the car, doggy training school, the rush to greet him at the front door are balanced with important occasions in Marley’s life. The book illustrates the value of ‘mans best friend’ despite the impact on how people live with an energetic, slightly mad dog.
Rating 8/10
Mrs B
Tagged: Dogs, Family, Labradors July 17, 2009
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