On our Bookshelf: For Teens and Tweens Christmas 2016

Miss 10 and I have been reading like crazy recently. So many great books out there that we decided to share a few of them with you. It can be difficult to find books for reluctant readers, for teens who think nothing relates to them and tweens who are lost trying to get away from fairies and dinosaurs to something more mature, but not to old.


So here you go, here's a list of great stuff to stuff the stockings with this year. Or just to read from the library when you get your hands on them.


Spontaneous
by Aaron Starmer
This is a TEEN book.

Mara is in her senior year when a classmate actually spontaneously combusts. Bam. She's gone. But that's just the first of many students who just up and bust. Why is this happening? Who will be next? What does a community do when fear hits and they can't work out why only the senior kids are blowing up?

Well, if you're one of the teens then it won't take long before sex, drugs and a youtube channel take over.

This book is for teens right now. Or for parents who want to read about life as a teen right now. The characters are using snapchat, making a fortune from their story on social media, they are smart, scared and hopeful.

This book is ideal for a reluctant teen reader who needs something very modern, very now and makes them want to keep reading. The ending was a disappointment to me, but perhaps that's because I am not the audience for this book.

Highly recommended by me, who may have missed some of the references in this book because I am so old.



Soon
by Morris Gleitzman

Soon is the fifth book in this series that follows a boy called Felix.

We have previously read Once, Before, Now and After which share what happens to Felix, a Jewish boy left in a Catholic orphanage before the second world war. With Soon, the war is over, Felix is 13 and stuck in a city that is a shambles, coping with limited supplies and no law and order.

Gleitzman writes each of these books so that kids without prior knowledge only pick up what they can, and adults who know so much more can easily read between the lines and enjoy the books.

In Soon, Felix is older, and it's possibly presumed that his readers have aged with him. Unlike in the previous books, in this one, the concepts are discussed more, and we hear a lot more about medical experimentation and how totally vulgar and cruel such practices are. There is also a storyline about a young girl who has been raped by Russian soldiers and is now pregnant. Miss 10 was not prepared for these concepts to be in the book and I suggest parents of younger tweens read the book first.

Recommendation: 13 and up will enjoy this book as much as all the others, while those who have not started the series can easily read any of the books without reading them in any order. Adults will read it in a day.


Ruby Redfort: Blink and you die.
by Lauren Child


May all the book fairies bless the writing hands of Lauren Child. She gave us Charlie and Lola, Clarice Bean and also Ruby Redfort.  This is the last in this series and Miss 10 grabbed it and read it in a week. It's a longer book than some other novels but will keep readers tuned in.

Miss 10 provided the following review:

"There is no need to have read all the other books in the series to enjoy this one. At times the book seemed to be going in all sorts of directions and I couldn't work out why we had to read some bits that kind of made no sense, but it didn't make me want to stop reading it. Towards the end the pieces all started to come together and the parts that seemed so random made perfect sense. This is a really great book, the ending is just the best and totally makes me want to go and read the others in the series that I haven't read yet."

Recommendation: Great book for kids in upper primary school and above, teens and tweens will both enjoy reading the last of Ruby Redfort. Those who have been reading Ruby for the best few years will be very keen to read this one, even if they are now adults.



My Best Friend is a Goddess
by Tara Eglinton


This is a new novel in the Young Adult arena that is written possibly more with a female market in mind. I really enjoy novels set in Australia to help make them more relatable to Australian kids. In this book, we go through a lot of standard teen issues, school, boys, parents who don't understand and mostly friendship. It's written in a very contemporary way, some of it in diary form, some in Instant Messenger form. This is not going to be loved by most adults, simply because it is not written for you, you're too old, you don't get it, you don't understand. It will be loved by females over 14 and under 21 who may relate to the different conversations that occur.

Recommended: Grab this for the teen girl who you just don't know what to buy for this Christmas. She'll be surprised you picked a book so like her.

Make Your Wish

Recently we bought the latest Jane Godwin book to add to our Christmas book collection. It's a sweet story about a little girl trying to think about what wish she wants to add to the Christmas tree that's decorated by all the children in her neighbourhood.

It's a story about thinking about what your own Christmas wish might be. 

In our front yard we have a giant Christmas tree. I usually refer to it as "The Big Ugly Tree" as in, you can easily find our house, it's the one with the big ugly tree. I've threatened to have it cut down but too many people seem to think it's a bit of a landmark now. Even the neighbours tell their friends, "We're across the road from the house with the massive big pine tree".

People in the street behind us called over the fence last week telling us we should put lights up the big tree...great idea if you had a gigantic ladder.

But, it's time this tree was made more useful, so this December, the big ugly tree is going to be a Christmas Wishing Tree.

Yesterday we invited some friends to start helping to cut out some stars and they were the first to add their wishes to our tree.

Over the next month we are going to invite anyone who visits, lives nearby, or who wants to, to add their wish to our tree.

The wishes are already heartwarming and I if they continue in this way, we might have a tree loaded with wishes for a better world.

The littlest kids have written wishes to Santa while the bigger types think more about what they wish in the year ahead or for the whole world.

Over the next month these wishes will be swinging on the breeze, baking in the sun, soaked in rain and faded by the weather until the wishes are all floating in this big wide world of ours. And who knows just how many of them might come true.

However  you celebrate and whatever your beliefs, there is always time for wishes at Christmas.

And - if you would like your wish to be added to our tree, the girls are happy to write it out on a star for you and climb to the top of the tree to put it up for you. You can leave a comment here, or email it to us - claireyhewitt @ gmail .com

On our Bookshelf: October 2015

You've noticed haven't you? You've seen that I just barely make it back here to blog so much these days.

It kind of annoys me because I LOVE looking back on my posts and remembering our lives and the things the girls have said and done, the stuff we've done and places we've gone.

But the thing is, I just have so many books to read. This month I am doing something that I never usually do. As soon as I finished my book, I started reading it again, in the same night!

To be brutally honest, I never cry in books. Movies - all the time, I can even cry in advertising, but books not so much. Not this time.

My Grandma Sends her Regards and Apologises by Fredrik Backman.

Order it, from the shop, the library or your family for Christmas, because this is one that I won't be lending to my friends.

The story is based around seven year old Elsa and her wonderful Grandma. Grandma has lived a life that most of us can only dream of, a doctor who has travelled the world by going to disasters and helping people when no one else did/could. But in her older years, Elsa, her only grandchild, becomes her everything. How Grandma makes a world far away from the bullies and the annoying adults in Elsa's life is intertwined with a story of mystery, history, sadness and laughter.

This is the second book by Fredrik Backman, a swedish author, the first is also a best seller and currently on my list of 'want to read'.


For Big Kids

Ruby Redfort

These are not new, but Miss 9 has enjoyed getting stuck into a book with a bit more depth than her usual favourites (Weirdo, 65th Storey Treehouse, Roald Dahl).

Written by Lauren Child, if your young reader has been through Charlie and Lola, then onto Clarice Bean and is now looking for something a little more gritty, grab Ruby and try and solve the mystery as you go.

For younger school kids

An Aussie Year

Miss 6 spent last term studying all about culture, family trees and where people arrive in Australia from. We even went to the Immigration Museum and learnt about how and why people move to different countries.

At the same time,  I noticed the book 'An Aussie Year' by Tania McCartney. It's a busy book following the year of a few Australian kids. The images are colourful and each page has lots of things for young readers to scan through, to read the bits they know and guess the rest. These are the types of books that I always tell Miss 9 to read too, because I really don't like it when people leave picture books behind too early.

There is also A Scottish Year and An English Year. These books also take you through lots of the things that happen in these countries, from the eyes of a few different kids.

For all kids

The Boy who Loved the Moon

The last book that has been added to the book shelf is, The Boy who Loved the Moon, by Rino Alaimo.

This is more art than story. My kids didn't really fully understand the story line. They read it a few times and loved looking at the images. The author is an award winning artist and it's clear why this is the case. The images reflect a time of darkness (night) but it feels as though the images are lit with a real flame. This is a quality book, it would be a beautiful gift for new babies, or small kids who you want to give a lovely book to. If it was bigger and I wasn't filled with book ripping quilt, I would be pulling out the pages and framing them, adding them to the walls and shelves of our home.


There are always new books we want on our book shelves, what have you added to yours lately?

On our Kids' Bookshelf: Feb 2015

How was your summer reading. You won't believe what I read.

I had a list of things I wanted to get through, a book club book to get stuck into. But I didn't read a single book. Not one.

I read lots of magazines. Old ones, new ones, good ones and bad ones. Frankie is my favourite these days. I just love it. Not the fashions though, they are so so alternate that I just don't quite 'get' it.

The kids have done the opposite and read ALL the books in the house. I can't keep up with the book requirements so I was super thankful for all the books that came our way as gifts this summer.


Arabella's top pick for Summer 15:

Don't Look Now - Paul Jennings Books 1-4.

I have read the first one. They are not bad. Funny, fast, interesting, entertaining.

These books would suit any level of reading for lower/middle primary school. The text is minimal on each page so readers needing extra support with their reading will not feel overwhelmed. Established readers will enjoy the comic style of the books and the funny tone.

The basic story is that Ricky is a kid with special powers. He can fly, but only if no one is looking. If anyone (including animals) looks at him while he is flying, he will fall to the ground and die. This causes lots of problems for Ricky. Think about it. Imagine you can fly and save people, but not if someone else is watching... so many dilemmas.

There are currently four books. All as good as each other.



Immy's Choice: Beginning Readers

The Big Book of Billie B Brown.

Billie is not new to our house, she has been around for a few years now. Billie B Brown is a great choice for little people just getting the hang of reading more words on a page.

There is a huge sense of achievement in a little person finishing their very first chapter book with no help. The Billie B Brown books allow newly independent readers to do this.

Immy has been happily reading the Big Book of Billie which is 12 books in one large volume.

Be warned, don't bother buying both The Big book of Billie One and Two, the second big book has about 8 of the same stories and is not a good deal. Just buy the books you might like to read.

Immy has also been reading Ella and Olivia and is keen to get a few more, I will be adding them to our library book list.


Have your kids been reading anything new this summer?

On our Book Shelf: November 2014

Last week I worked my first (and only) day at my new job at the Itty Book Book Van.

You always need to look for the perks of a job, in this case there were many but one of the main ones was that I got to read heaps of new children's books. Shoppers were keen to know what I thought about certain books and I really enjoyed talking about them with both the kids and the adults they dragged into the van.

The van holds books that are old favourites and fabulously new.

These were my top three recommendations:

1) The Story Machine by Tom McLaughlin. 

This was new to me and I loved it all. Elliott finds a typewriter. Imagine not knowing what a typewriter is? My kids didn't. Elliott learns to use the typewriter in a way most adults wouldn't have thought of. The illustrations work among the text in a beautiful way. This is a must add book to anyone in love with children's literature. Adults will happily read it over and over again to a child who enjoys re reading favourite stories.

2) All Through the Year.

We have had this for close to two years and it is still a favourite at bedtime. Children pick up different things over time, noticing the seasons, the festivals, the flow of their year. Illustrations that seem so simple are actually quite engaging and provide just enough for little eyes to see without giving the entire picture that can be filled in with your imagination.
I find this a perfect book for the child you don't know what to buy for.

3) Doll House Book

The reality is that this is a drawing book, not a reading book and there are not even any prompts. However I still really liked this one. It encourages kids to draw any type of building. It's a dollhouse for some or a barn or a farm. It could be the inside of a room or the outside of a dwelling. It's for your own stories, and really they are probably the most important. For adults, it's also a much more convenient way to hold on to some of your kids artwork.



Away from the van I have recently finished the books The Five People you Meet in Heaven and For One More Day. Both written by Mitch Albom. They are not new books and I don't know why they haven't crossed my path before. You might know Mitch Albom from his more popular book Tuesdays with Morrie. Both books are written in a simple conversational dialogue, as though you are just chatting with the characters. Both are fictional accounts of life after death. I am rather fascinated with the possibilities of what heaven may or may not look like and I enjoyed reading about just what might be. Because really. You just don't know.

What are you reading right now?

Big Little Lies Book Review

This was just the book I was looking for. I needed something that was going to grab me from the first page, not be too complicated but at the same time keep me interested right until the end.

Big Little Lies is Liane Moriarty's latest book, last year I read The Husband's Secret and I really enjoyed it so I was thrilled to see this one.

It did not disappoint. It's a fast read and you will try and guess the story from the start. You are likely to guess it early on, but I didn't guess it at all.

The story is based around the community at a local primary school and all the personalities that you encounter in such a setting. There are the funny people, the serious, the annoying, the caring, the bitchy and the shy and it all builds perfectly to the ending that you are told about at the beginning, you just don't know which character/s will hit the dust.

It is hard to talk about this book without giving too much away, so I am going to suggest that you just pick it up and give it a chance.

It could probably have been wrapped up a bit faster, towards the end I was getting a bit impatient with the book and the story seemed to be dragging on for no reason. I could also have cut the section out about the child selling herself on the internet as I didn't think it really added all that much substance to the book, but it's a very small aspect and certainly doesn't ruin the fun and funny lines through out the rest of the book. (Be warned though, the book covers some serious issues of domestic violence and is not all rainbows and laughter).

Have you read it? What did you think? 

Book Review: The Best Feeling of All by Jack Ellis

Mols and Jaz can’t wait for life to begin. In the meantime, they’ll make sure they get their share of excitement and fun. When they’re not seeking out the next ecstatic thrill, they’re making big plans for the future while exploring the sand dunes, headlands and storm drains of Sydney’s Northern Beaches. They happily race along the ridge between possibility and reality until they slam into the shocks, heartaches and impossible choices of adulthood. 

I think I really liked this book. Except for when I did a bit of speed reading and crept past a few pages.

The story is mainly Mols' story. In some moments it is a bit like reading a teenage diary.
The thing about this book is that nothing happens and yet everything happens. In some ways it's just the simple story of a teenage girl and her best friends going from 15 to 25.

At times big things happen, there is first sexual encounters, there are family splits, and there are a few major things that occur which change the lives of the characters. But these events don't seem to change their lives a lot. I thought some of them could have been bigger parts of the story, especially when Mols' Mum moves away to Perth, when a character goes missing and when their is an incident of near drowning. Each of these things get a bit of discussion, but I was left wanting more.

To me, Mols and Jaz and pretty ordinary. They do consume vast quantities of alcohol and drugs, but mainly they are just kids that don't grow into anything much. In this story, it kind of works because as teens they never really seemed to be wanting to do much, other than host the best party ever.

There is a lot of harsh swearing in this book, much like there is in Barracuda, the swearing didn't bother me at all. It's not swearing in an aggressive form, it's the language that teens use to be funny and cute and to say 'we're good, everything's ok'. But if you don't like excessive swearing this might not be for you.

I did find it interesting that the adults in their lives provide so much alcohol. As someone who has only ever been a weekend drinker I just don't know how people function with so many hangovers!

This book contains a lot of sex, drugs and swearing. For some that will be confronting. You will also find yourself reading these pages quickly, wanting to know what happens at the next event and how they will react/live through the changes in their lives.

Have you read it, does excessive swearing bother you?

Do you censor the books your kids read?

I had a bit of a parenting dilemma this week and my readers are often great help with these things.

The background is this;

Popps is now in Grade 2 and a keen reader. I try not to choose her books for her too much as I don’t always pick the right ones and really, it’s just annoying if other people choose your books for you all the time.

At school she is encouraged to choose books that will extend her further than Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries and last week she chose a book called Chloe.

I heard about Chloe because Popps was fascinated with the book. Each night she started telling me about what was happening and how interesting this book was. “You just won’t believe this story,” she said.

Each night I was a bit concerned about what else might be coming in this book.

I was also trying to be open-minded and accept that books are ideal for learning the lives of other people in your society. Books are a unique vessel to teach us all to broaden our thinking, to consider situations from all angles, especially the ones that might make us feel uncomfortable.

I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to censor this one.

I read the entire book myself to be able to help me decide.

It is an interesting book for a junior primary school level and covers issues relating to child abuse, adoption, foster care, neglect of children, violent husbands, drug addicts and alcoholics.

These are not something that we would usually discuss around the dinner table and as far as I know Popps has no friends who would know much about these issues (though of course it is a possibility).

As she had read a third of the book already, I expected that she would probably want to read the rest, and wasn’t sure where I stood on preventing her from reading a book just because the content was awful.

However, once I had finished the book, I decided to compromise and told her she could read the book, but she was to read it at home rather than school so she could ask me questions if she needed to. I also told her it was a day time book, not a before sleep time book. She asked if there were any scary bits and I told her exactly what happens, and the part I thought she would be uncomfortable with, which is when a violent drunken father smashes in the door to steal his toddler back, and 13 year old Chloe is home alone with the baby and needs to save him from this scary man.

In this instance, Popps has decided not to read the rest of the book herself but asked me to tell her the rest of the story, which I did.

The parenting dilemma is, should we censor what our children read? If so, to what extent? I would like to throw out all the Captain Underpants books that don’t even spell words correctly. I’d like to have a limit on how many Wimpy Kids books can be read in one month and while I enjoy many Dr Seuss books I would like to have Go Dog Go removed from the house for awhile.

Books can teach us everything, but are there some that we need to wait to read?

Let me know what you think?

May 24: The last book you read

I haven't quite finished this one yet. 

It isn't even a new book and the rest of the world may have read this a decade ago, but it is new to me. 

It kicks off with a man going blind with no reason at all, it's a different type of blindness, he can see white, not black. 

And the blindness is contagious. 

How does society deal with a virus that makes people instantly blind? What does the fear of the virus do to behaviour of usually normal people? 

I can't tell you how good it ends (or badly) or if the story stays so addictive the whole way through, but I do suggest you get this on your want to read list.

On our bookshelf: March 2014

Not every one loves books as much as me, I know this because my book review posts are never big hits. But the thing is, I really like talking about books and there are always one or two that stand out every few weeks that I want to talk more about. This month it's these three, so for the 7 people each month who might read my book posts...this is for you.

This month:

Me:  The Paris Wife.

The Paris Wife is all about the first wife of Ernst Hemingway. It's written in her voice, but not by her. Initially I didn't like it, I had to work hard for the first 50 pages, but once I was reading it I found it pretty good. There were times that I wanted to stop reading this and go grab some Ernst Hemingway books instead and then others when I didn't want anything to do with this weird and selfish man.

It annoyed me that the couple are considered poor in financial wealth. They rent out dingy low level homes but also spend many months travelling around Europe whenever they feel like it, they have a nanny for their child and the Paris Wife never actually gets a job, her trust funds, while basic apparently, cover all these things. But this was simply a fact of how they lived, rather than a dislike of the book. Hadley (the wife) can be hard to like, I needed to really put myself in her time era to accept the decisions she makes in her life. It's a love story, but there are times when that love is hard to find.

If you like Paris, if you like history, if you like historical romance, than this book is worth it.



Junior Primary School Kids

Weirdo by Anh Do

I had this book in my present cupboard, hiding out til I needed it. One night Popps needed something to read, and it had to be read aloud for her homework. I surprised her with this book and she started reading it to Mr H. They were soon laughing so much that I didn't think they would finish the book. It's full of drawings, funny moments, toilet humour and laugh out loud moments.

The text is simple enough and engaging enough for early reluctant readers. Perfect for both boys and girls who like to be entertained while they read. Older more capable readers will finish this quickly but will enjoy it too, while older kids who are struggling a bit with reading skills will be able to complete this one and enjoy being able to read to themselves.



Picture Book of the Month. 

Keep Out by Noela Young

Popps came home with this book in her reader bag. As soon as I saw it I remembered loving it. I never had this book as a child but I must have borrowed it often from the library as I clearly remember reading it many many times.

Keep Out! is the story of a group of city kids that have no where to play. They try and play in the streets but the grown ups keep moving them on. They find an abanonded block and take over it, they play in the falling down kitchen and use rubble to build whatever they want.

Local Council come along soon enough and plan to 'clean up' the area, but the kids get their way and the council make it the best park ever. As a kid I remember thinking I would love to find this park.

I went on to Amazon to see if I could get us a copy after not being able to grab one locally. Guess how much it was. You'll never guess - $845. I decided that it was best left in the online shop at that rate. I've been keeping an eye on ebay, but let me know if you have a copy to sell.

On Our Bookshelf: January 2014

This summer I have been reading a lot. Everything. Frankie magazine to Country Style, opinion articles on more things than my brain will ever recall. On the advice of her teachers I have a mini book club with Miss 8, so I have read Sophie the Hero one night and Barracuda the next and Dork Diaries after that. I threw in Bridget Jones Mad about the Boy and then Zoe and Beans Pants on the Moon and Ruby Red Shoes Goes to Paris.

Somewhere along the way I read an article, which I can not find again, that highlighted the things that highly successful people do. I am sure you can guess what it was...they read. All. The. Time. They read everything. Not just their favourite authors. They read journals, magazines, stories, novels, online, hardcover, even the Herald Sun.

We then had a school literacy night and again the leading literacy teacher just said over and over and over, you MUST read to your children and you must model the behaviour of reading. Fill your child's life with books and you are giving them so much.

So here we go, here are the favourites from us from the last month for anyone looking for a book to get them reading.

Me: Mister Pip

This is not a new book, nor a long one, but it certainly is worth reading. It seems like I am the only person who didn't know about Mister Pip. Usually Mr H and I don't share delight in the same book but I told him he would love it, he read the back and said, yeh, read that a few years back! Not sure why he didn't suggest I might like it? Perhaps it was the violence that does occur in some sections. Thankfully I have read it now and it would be my favourite read from all my books completed over the summer. Matilda is stuck on Bougainville during war time, there is no communication with the outside world and then Charles Dickens is introduced to the local children by the one and only white man left in the village. Matilda uses her imagination to cope with everyday life and this leads to some pretty dire consequences.  Excellent novel. 

Him: Matthew Reilly Jack West Series

My Mum is in moving house mode and that means cleaning out books. Mr H grabbed an old Matthew Reilly book and finished it very quickly. He then got in the car, paid the fines at the local library and got the next books in the series. I have no idea what they are about, but he certainly enjoys them. I am not keen to read them, but a gazillion other people love them, are you one of them?


Miss Eight: Actually Factually

There really is such a glut in the primary school kids book market for girls. There are the wimpy kids, the dork diaries, and a stack of fairy type things. There are a few shorter chapter books and there are the old classics, but for kids that burn through books in a matter of days the search is constantly on to provide new options. I found Actually Factually at our local decent book shop and it was a hit over the summer with kids of all ages, and grown ups. There is something very fun for kids when they ask grown ups a question to see if you know how smart they are. Largest desert in the world? No, it's not the Sahara. How many hours in a day? No, it's not 24.


The Little Girl: Mouse Mansion

Never run too fast from the glory of picture books. They are such a pleasure for kids and adults to throw themselves into. Mouse Mansion is really amazing. The images are of Mouse Mansion, which has been hand made by the author and photographed for each part of the story. These books could be an introduction to the idea of chapter books, they are long, but each double page begins a new chapter in the book so you can easily stop and pick up where you left off. The images will keep non readers entertained and able to read their own story to themselves when they need to.

What's your favourite read this summer? 

Good reads for girls in junior primary

Popps is now 7 years old and in at least one thing in her life, she takes after me!

We both really love to read.

I have constantly found sourcing new books for her to be a challenge. Some classics are written in a language she doesn't understand or can not handle at this stage, modern books can be too simplistic for the 6 - 9 age group. Popps has made her way through close to 100 Enid Blyton books in the last year,  gee could Enid write! I googled to see exactly how many books she did write and it was 1802 books with 11,125 short stories! The lady could sure spin a tale.

But finding something more than Billy B Brown and not as full on as Little Women is hard for the junior primary girl. It could be for the boys too, but I don't have a boy and I have no idea what little boys like.

The things being re read here this term have included:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel

This is the 7th book in the series of Wimpy Kids. To be honest I don't get these books. But as a 7 year old Popps thinks these are extremely funny. She read the entire 217 pages on Monday night after I bought her this book as a reward for an excellent report from the dentist. She has marked some of her favourite pages - which is pretty much the whole book.

Next we have something more 'girly'.

 Bridget Lucy wants needs a pet
by Leonie Norrington

The highlight of this book is that the illustrations have colour, which is of course rare in chapter books, but really it is a shame that more don't have them. Young children's books have such beautiful illustrations at times and then all of a sudden as chapter books become the norm you start to miss out on the artwork. Note to authors of kids fiction - don't skimp on the artwork for your story.

This is the third book in the set of Bridget Lucy books. The font is a good size, the words that need emphasis are often highlighted with a different font, for children that need to improve their reading out loud or reading with expression this can be a useful reader.


More diaries...

Dear Dumb Diary

These books are all about coping with the dynamics of school. I have found so far that the politics of the playground can be much more distressing than any other part of daily school life. Dear Dumb Diary is funny. Really really funny if you are in grade one. Popps also likes this book because the characters are older than her, it is a bit like reading a book about the big kids at school. These books are not literary classics, this is not The Secret Garden, but if you are happy for your children to read for enjoyment, give Dear Dumb Diary a go.

Last for today is

Truly Tan by Jen Storer 

 

Tan is a female character that I like, she is smart, she is funny, she is adventurous and she is very interesting. The writing in Truly Tan is much more complex than in the other books I have mentioned today. I would suggest this book is for more advanced readers in junior primary, the website suggests it is designed for children aged 9 and above, I would expect that boys would also like reading Truly Tan, I am half way through it myself!  Truly Tan has some small illustrations scattered through it for those readers who are still keen for the text to be broken up. There is a second Truly Tan book called Jinxed.

Any other suggestions for the junior primary school years? 

P.S. I am Lighting the Night to help raise a cure for Leukaemia. Join in if you can.

More than just a Paperback.

I read the other day that the humble paperback book is considered an endangered species. This was not really anything new except the paperback has always been my preferred choice in books.

I recently joined the Fibro Bookclub where the first book selected was Burial Rites. I knew I wouldn't get to to my bookshop for a couple of weeks so I decided to download the book and read my first proper eBook. When I say proper I mean a novel, not a how to book on how to bake seven cakes with just two ingredients*.

I used the Kobo app on my iPad to start reading. Burial Rites was well written and when I started it I was  really engaged in the story but the next day my list of paperbacks beside my bed just seemed more inviting than sitting in bed reading on a screen. When screen reading, as I moved about, the screen also scrolled vertical or horizontal when I didn't want it to and needed a flick here or there to get it back in place.

It took me a really long time to read Burial Rites. One night I headed to bed with my iPad only to find it dead flat, another night I really got into reading and managed two hours before the battery went dead. Other times the kids needed the iPad for something (possibly my sanity) and I chose a paperback from the pile instead.

At the same time, a friend lent me her paperback copy of The Rosie Project, (which happens to be book 2 of Fibro Bookclub). My favourite source of books to read is my friends. I like my friends, I like the things they do and be and read. Sharing of books is a very simple and highly underrated aspect of friendships. The sharing only occurs because of the trust that you will look after the book and secondly that you will return the book. The book share moment is a gift in many ways. It is also very economical, environmental and once you return the book you don't need to find a place for it.

The book share doesn't happen in ebooks. When I return 'Rosie' and we start chatting about our latest reads I can't hand over Burial Rites to my friend. I think Mr H would like to read it too, but I often work at night (on the iPad) when he gets a chance to read so it won't even work at home that well.

Apparently hard back books with all their weighty issues are not as endangered as the paperback. I don't get this either. I never buy a hard cover book if I can help it. They are heavy, the annoying dust jackets get ripped or fall off all the time, they take up too much space on book shelves and are certainly not handbag friendly, they also cost more to purchase.

The paperback book really does have so much going for it. Perhaps it's time for a Keep Calm and Read Paperbacks poster.



*this ebook may not exist, if it does I am sure it is really useful.

Children's Books that are keepers.

Each year at Christmas time we give both the girls a book that we hope will be a 'keeper'. The type of book they may not love right now, but over time it is one they won't grow out of fast and it will be read over and over for years to come. Sometimes they do love it instantly but the book has so much to it that they get more and more out of it as they grow.

Finding such books is really hard.

The best ones so far have come from Graeme Base. The Water Hole, Uno's Garden and ol' faithful Animalia. These books have beautiful images that small children can look at, you can make up stories to the pictures or read the written story. As the children develop, the illustrations have things to find hidden in the drawings, important messages about the world and even mathematical equations to work out.

Old classics can also work but most are longer books and not as suitable for little kids. Little Women is on the list for the coming Christmas.

I have also found Ruby Red Shoes.

We all love Ruby Red Shoes.

It is a very simple book about Ruby the hare. Ruby is a very 'aware hare' who lives in a caravan with her grandmother, Babushka Galina Galushka.  Ruby has a beautiful garden, with chooks who cheat when they play soccer and who are learning to speak french. Ruby has lots of fun playing with friends and being all cosy in her caravan.

The paper of the book is a high quality thick paper, not 'toddler proof' plastic paper but thicker than many kids books and provides that feeling that you are reading a 'special' book.

Most of all, whenever we read Ruby Red Shoes we are always a teeny bit sad that it is over. We would like to see more of Ruby and her garden and what she is up to.

Ruby Red Shoes is written and illustrated by Australian artist Kate Knapp, Kate and Ruby share a blog, and it looks like they might be in the process of putting together Ruby's next adventure!

Do you have any other books which you consider to be 'keepers'?

Have you read Ruby Red Shoes?

Images are from the Ruby Red Shoes website

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Our Bookshelf

There is a lot of reading in our house and we are forever tripping over books and fighting about who read it last and who should have put them away.

There are just too many books in the world and not enough time to read them all. A bad book wastes the time you could have had on a good book, so here are the favourites in the Huey house lately.


For Little Kids:
Immy loves The Game in the Dark by Herve Tullet. This is great fun book for before bed. It is a glow in the dark book that she and Mr H have a lot of fun with. They use the torch and make shapes on the wall, they hold their hands on the pages and "charge up" the page with the torch to make new images. They make up the story each time they 'read it'. There are no words in this book. It is purely up to you to be the story maker, the fun guide, the teller of tales.

For Primary School:
Popps just can not get enough of the the old style Enid Blyton books, a big thank you to all the people who have found them in their local op shops or sent them to us. The collection continues to grow and the stories are already being re-read over and over again. Some of the books are quite a few decades old and we love reading the inscriptions in many of them.

Me: How Eskimos Keep Their Babies Warm.
I have struggled recently to get into any fiction books, but this book was fascinating. Don't read it if you are looking for a parenting book to give you answers on what you should be doing with your child. I read this book like I would a magazine with really interesting articles on what people are doing in other countries. This book is a true highlight to remind you that whatever parenting tactics you are using, that might not be 'right' to the rest of your community, that somewhere else they might think you are perfectly normal.  I did find the author, who has one child, referred to herself and her parenting a little too often, to be honest, I am not interested in her style and her child. But this didn't detract from my overall love of the book. It was a book with a little parenting, and a lot of travel, learning cultures and hearing of traditions that families around the world have used to raise their children.

Man Reads: Yes, that is a little gender stereotyping, but there are some books I just don't read, and Mr H reads many of them. I call them Man Reads because he has usually borrowed them from either my Dad or his own father. Tom Clancy is a regular author in the Man Reads pile. I have no idea what it is about or how good it is but I know Mr H is burning through it pretty quickly.

What's on your bookshelf this month?