The Island – Armin Greder

What a dark, disturbing but thought-provoking book. With the story being about an island I can't help but draw comparisons between the story and Australia. One morning the people of the island awake to find a man had come ashore on a raft and he was not like them. They suggest that they send him back to where he came from, justifying that he wouldn't like it so far away from his people. A fisherman sticks up for the man, as he realises that to send him away would be sending him to his death. They take him to a goat pen, tell him to stay there and go back to their normal lives. Days later he comes to town because of he is hungry, The man causes fear and panic and the people don't want to feed him because if they feed everyone who came along they wouldn't have enough for themselves. They can't find away he could work for his food as everyone assumes that the man had no skills and he would frighten people. So they lock him up in the goat pen and feed him scraps. Even though he is locked up fear among the people increases as people gossip and tell stories until the people are so frightened that they force the man onto his raft and out to sea.
However the story does not end here. Because of their fear they burn their own fishing boats, refuse to each fish from the sea that brought the man and build a great wall around their island and shoot any bird that come near so that no-one will ever find their island again.
I felt really sad after reading this book, about the depravity of people. How Xenophobia causes people to reject those that are different to them and to become selfish and leads them to cut themselves off from the world and the wonderful experiences that it has to offer. With the way Australia is so non-accepting of refugees it is both a timely and a cautionary tale. When we reject those in need, that often come be boat, and refuse to share the wealth that we have we lose something of our humanity and make the world a sadder and darker place. The illustrations lend themselves to this darker place with the sombre colours sketch in charcoal, especially the ominous sea that is the threat that brings unwanted people who are different.
Although a picture book it is aimed at older readers (12+) and evokes passionate feelings of unfairness, human rights, anger and sadness.
9/10.

Whoever you are – Mem Fox

This is a lovely book that introduces young children to the concept of cultural diversity. It is addressed to “Little one” and it has a simple message about little ones around the world. Children's skin, homes, schools, lands, lives, and languages may all be different from yours. They smile and laugh, hurt and cry just like you, they feel joy and love and have pain just like you. However inside their hearts they are just like you 'whoever they are, where ever they are all over the world'
It is easy for children (and adults) to see suffering and disasters in other countries, but to see that they look so different to us, and that their homes look different and their language is different and think that they mustn't think or hurt like we do. This book reminds us all that that isn't the case and on the inside we are not very different at all.
I am not very taken by the illustrations that were painted by Leslie Staub. The main storyteller is a man with a cloud suit and a Stetson hat that I find odd. However, she has included children from many nationalities in her paintings and I especially like the page with children around a painting of the world. I only had access to the board book, but in other formats the paintings are set into golden frames with jewels which would complement them well.
I love that the book has story poem feel to it without actually rhyming and children can join in with the repetition. It is aimed at young children and highlights the similarities between people rather than the differences. 8/10

All of us – Michael Lawrence

This week is Cultural Diversity week in Victoria so I thought I would go with a theme this week with my posts of “cultural diversity”. One of the things that I love about living in the northern suburbs of Melbourne is the eclectic mix on people, food and traditions that I see everyday. On my street alone there are people who were born in Australia, Lebanon, Italy, Greece, The Maldives, Malta, and England (and they are just the neighbours I know). I live close to Sydney Road are are able to enjoy food from around the world: Turkish, Chinese, Lebanese, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Italian, Greek, to name a few. I think I live in one of the best places in the world.
Michael Lawrence was inspired to start a photo expose of people who called Australia home after the racial riots at Cronulla beach in December 2005. He saw this as ugly and very un-Australian and wanted to understand more about Australia today and the people who lived here. His goal was to take a photo of at least one person of each nationality who now call Australia home. The person had to be born in their country of origin and chosen to make Australia their home.
Lawrence has included more than 220 photos in his book. The photos cover the whole page and are organized according to geographical location such as Europe, Oceania, Middle East etc. Each photo is taken in a place that is familiar to that person, in most cases their homes. Some have chosen to wear traditional clothing from their country of origin and others have chosen to be photographed in the style of their new home. Each person has a paragraph or two written about them which includes their name, their year and place of birth and their date of arrival in Australia. It also includes a little about the history of their choice to come to Australia and how they have create a place of belonging in Australia.

It is a lovely coffee table book which is nice and bright and can be read a little at a time. Most, if not all the photos have been taking in Victoria and I was surprise to recognize a few friends in the photos. I love multicultural Australia and I loved reading the stories of these people who share this wonderful country with me. 8/10

Note: All of us was used in 2008 as part of the Victorian Governments community harmony campaign. A video which uses Lawrence's photo can be seen here

The monster at the end of this book - Jon Stone

Tonight I read the kids this sesame street favourite and it had my 4 year old in stitches, giggling. Sesame Streets most lovable monster Grover is in shock when he hears that title of the book. You see Grover is scared of monsters and has worked out if you don't turn the pages of the book the reader will never get to the end of the book. But all reader know that to hear the story you need to turn pages. Grover tries everything to get the reader to stop turning pages from pleading, to tying down pages to building brick walls. Put as all reader do we continued to turn the page. Grover gets more and more frightened (and my son more and more excited) as we get the the next to last page........ But don't worry, since it is Sesame Street it does have a happy ending.

I'd love to see this book in a larger format as the version I have is in the 'Little Golden Book' series. I wonder if it would work without the sesame street characters as it is a lovely interactive story that kids really get involved in. There's a thought for anyone out there wanting to write a kids book. Who would be a good illustrator. Maurice Sendak's monsters are too scary, but perhaps Mo Willem with Leonado the monster

I had lots of fun reading this book and putting some Grover like qualities into my voice. But you can hear Grover reading this book here. 9/10

Knuffle Bunny - Mo Willems

When I was growing up we had words that we used that were Dutch but we never knew it. They were used with such frequency in our house that I just assumed they were English, so when I talked to my friends about sitting near the kachel when it was cold or sitting in the kamer they had no idea what I was talking about. Knuffel is one of those words that I remember my Oma using. It means hug or cuddle in Dutch, so when I saw Knuffle Bunny I immediately translated it into Cuddle Bunny.
Knuffle Bunny is a very special toy. Trixie is very attached to her Knuffle Bunny but when it gets left behind she doesn't have the words to let her Daddy know. When they get home Mummy knows exactly what the matter is, and there is a mad dash around town to find Knuffle Bunny.
I love the illustrations in the book. The backgrounds are black and white photographs and the characters, including Knuffle Bunny are bright and comic-like and while reading the story my children knew what was going to happen and were excited that they were right and knew where Knuffle Bunny had been left.
I, like many parents, was able to relate to this story as I have a child who has their own 'Knuffle Bunny'. For my oldest daughter it was a cute stuffed Dalmatian called “Dukey”. He came everywhere with my daughter and was forgotten a zillion times in shopping centres and in parks. Then 20 minutes down the road my daughter would realize that Dukey was missing. And we will always find him, until an ill-fated trip to the Melbourne zoo. Dukey was left on a rock near the platypus enclosure but when we went back he was gone. Daily phone calls to the lost property office gave no success and finally my daughter had to accept that Dukey was gone forever. We did try and get a replacement but she never bonded with the new toy. Luckily Knuffle Bunny has a happier ending. 8/10

The Lost Thing – Shaun Tan

Well I must admit I didn't realize this book existed until it won an Oscar for Best Animated Short film. The book was first published in 2000. It is told from the perspective of a boy and reads like a story of what he did on the holidays. While collecting bottle tops for his collection he comes across a large red thing that definitely looks lost. He tries to find where it belongs but most people really can't be bothered helping, even his parents loss interest in helping when he brings it home. He finds a advertisement in the paper for The Federal Department of Odds and Ends (with the Latin inscription (sweepus underum carpetae) which has a place for everything. As he fills in the reams paper work he is given a business card with a twisty arrow by a mysterious looking thing. The boy forgets the paper work and follows the twisty arrow signs and arrives at a marvellous place with many happy weird and marvellous things. Since the lost red thing made approving noises the boy leaves it there and went home to classify his bottle-top collection.
Illustrations are brilliant reminding my a little of steampunk. The story is very bland but it is the illustrations that bring humour and colour to the story. For example in the story the lost thing is never described, other than it is friendly, but it is a huge red pot shaped object with tentacle-like arms and legs. The illustrations of the Federal Department of Odds and Ends are very witty. No wonder it makes a good animation. You can see the trailer here.
The story is rather nonsensical but can seen as a metaphor for social concern. It raises issues of people who don't fit in, noticing them and finding a place for them to fit in as well as apathy toward strange lost things/ people. I love the boys summary at the end.... “I still think about that lost thing from time to time. Especially when I see something out of the corner of my eye that doesn't quite fit. You know, some with a weird, sad, lost sort of look. I see that sort of thing less and less these days though. Maybe there aren't many lost things around anymore. Or maybe I've just stopped noticing them. Too busy doing other stuff, I guess it reminds me that it is easy to get too busy and to slip into apathy.
9/10

The Life and Times of Gracie Faltrain – Cath Crowley

So....I've started reading my daughters novels for Year 7 English. Not sure if this is the done thing, as my parents didn't do this for me, but then again they aren't readers. Are their other parents out there that do this?? Surely they are. I don't know if my daughter wants to talk about the books, but IF she does then I have some idea of what is going on. At the moment getting her to answer questions about school is like pulling teeth (unless it is time to go to bed and suddenly she is chatty).
Grace Faltrain is a Australian teenager who loves soccer. Ever since her father took her to a game and she saw the school soccer team she has wanted to play. She has pushed and got a position on the boys team and she is good, real good. But thing are not going according to Gracie's plan, shooting goals has become so important to Gracie she has lost touch with the team and they have lost trust in her; she had a disastrous date with Nick a boy she has liked forever; and her Dad has been absent for a long time and it looks like he might not be coming home. Gracie needs to pull something special out of the hat to get her life back on track again.
The book is written from the perspectives of the characters in the book. Gracie; Martin(the soccer captain); Helen (Gracie's Mum); Bill (Gracie's Dad); Nick; Annabelle (Gracie's rival for Nick's affections); Alyce (a classmate); and various soccer team mates. The book has an interesting format where each character's perspective is told on a separate page and sometimes it may only be one line. Sometimes they are speaking to the reader and other times they are responding to another character.
The book is at times humorous but also poignant as Crowley addresses themes of friendship, love, family relationships and self-esteem which are issues that effect teenagers. I'm glad that my daughter is reading this book and hope that she can take on board some of the lessons in the life and times of Gracie Faltrain.

Before Midnight – Cameron Dokey

Continuing right along with my reading of all things fairytale is this retelling of the story of Cinderella. When Cendrillon's mother dies just after giving birth to her, her father is devastated and leaves the estate and his daughter into the care of Old Mathilde. He also leaves a mysterious baby boy with instructions that this boy was to never leave the estate unless he was sent for. Thus Cendrillon and Raoul are bought up together in the care of Old Mathilde, who magically believes in wishes. Each year on their birthday Cendrillon and Raoul each make a wish. For Cendrillon it is that the ground around her mothers grave would grow something, for Raoul it is that he would know his origins. This continues until one birthday Cendrillon wishes for a mother and two sisters to love her. Wishes have a tendency to come try sooner or later, especially if they are spoken out of love, and soon a stepmother and two stepsisters arrive. Not knowing that Cendrillon is her husband's daughter, she is treated like a servant, but with kindness. But there is a sorrow in her stepmother's heart that Cendrillon longs to ease. Events take a turn when all the eligible girls of the kingdom are invited to a ball in the Princes' honour. Cendrillon is revealed to be a noble and all three girls prepare to go to the ball. However a message from Cendrillon's father tells them not to come. In ignoring this order the destinies of both Cendrillon and Raoul's are revealed.

I love the way that Dokey adds different dimensions to her tales. Instead of Cinderella's father dying and leaving her to her evil stepmother she adds the “what if” he was still alive and what effect would it have on the story. It is her father who is the man who has little regard for his daughter and would harm her if he could. In her stepmother Cendrillon finds the love that she craves.
Dokey sets the story in a familiar but magical landscape; where the garden grows mysterious and odd produce, where poor men can become princes, and where wishes are treasured and often come true. Perhaps the story is a little predictable, but it is to be expected as it basically follows a well known fairy tale. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 9/10

Feathers for Phoebe - Rod Clement

Reading to children is one way that you can instil a love of books into a child. I try to read daily to my children. Not only picture books but I read chapter books to my older children. It is a time that we all love. To promote reading stories and to add some fun to the activity ALIA (Australian Library and Information Association) has an annual event, National Simultaneous Storytime. This is an event where schools, libraries and families can register to read a specific story and an agreed time. This year it is 11am Wednesday 25th may, 2011. This year the story is Feathers for Phoebe

Phoebe is a plain grey bird who wants to get noticed. Zelda is a multicoloured, extroverted, talented and famous bird who owns the local salon. She is more than happy to help Phoebe realize her dream by adding some colour here and there and everywhere. From head dress to tail feathers, wing trims and chest feather Phoebe becomes the colourful flashy bird she has always wanted to be. She also adds some grooves and a new warble to get others to notice her. Will this fabulous transformation get Phoebe the attention she so desires?

This book has eye-catchingly, colourful illustrations and the voice of Zelda is flamboyant and genuine. As I read the story I used a voice for Zelda that was (hopefully) reminiscent of Dame Edna Everage which the kids loved. This story encourages children to consider outside appearances and to look beyond these and to think about what is most important. There are several themes that are addressed though the book that you can discuss with children after you read. Ideas such as self-esteem, identity, self-acceptance and appearances.

A great book with a message that isn't pushed too hard but gets kids thinking. 8/10

Slightly Invisible – Lauren Child

Have you had an imaginary friend, or does you child have one. They are pretty common. One of my daughter had an invisible friend called Elizabeth and now at 9 she admits that she still sometimes plays with Elizabeth. “Imaginary companions are an integral part of many children's lives. They provide comfort in times of stress, companionship when they're lonely, someone to boss around when they feel powerless, and someone to blame for the broken lamp in the living room. Most important, an imaginary companion is a tool young children use to help them make sense of the adult world”. Lawrence Kutner
Those of you who are familiar with Charlie and Lola, whether through Lauren Child's books or the adaptation on ABC TV will know that Lola has an imaginary friend called Soren Lorenson. He plays a very important part in Lauren Child's latest book. Big brother Charlie and his friend Marv want to play by themselves as Lola often seems to always take over their make-believe play. They are planning how they can catch the 'strange and terrifyingly tricky creature' and decide to make an invisibility potion. Before they get to use it they find that someone has already drunk it and now they can't creep up on the creature. But help is on the way in the form of Soren Lorenson and all they need is a tea set, a little card, a rabbit and three glasses of pink milk........
The book is the fourth Charlie and Lola book that Child has written. (There are other Charlie and Lola books around but they are based on the script from TV series). It is full of typical Lola-isms and child logic. The illustrations are bright and the text is wound through the pictures as is typical for Charlie and Lola books. The story line really reflects child make-believe play with the illogical turns that the role playing can take. My children enjoyed this book and the idea of making a potion that can make you invisible. This book is quickly becoming a favourite bed time story 8/10.

Kisses are Yuk – Julia Jarman

I guess it had to come some time but my 4 year old has decided that he doesn't like kisses. I fondly remember the little boy who would have kissing frenzies and kiss everyone in sight (almost). Now it is all about hugs or pseudo kisses such as the Koala kisses are ones where he will rub noses with me or the Butterfly kiss that is done by fluttering his eyelashes against my cheek. I grew up in a kissing family where it was expected that children will give kisses for hellos and goodbyes. I like this too and would love for this to be so in my family. But Daniel is adamant that he hates kisses. Sometimes I manage to sneak one in but he will always use the back of his hand to wipe it off. So when I saw this book, “Kisses are Yuk” I thought that this was a book for Daniel. In the story young Jack likes getting thanked by people when he does a good deed such as getting a pat on the back, or a manly handshake but he felt that “kisses were yucky, kisses were sucky, kisses were very very unlucky”. There is a list of people who want to kiss Jack such as Aunty Poppy's who were sloppy, Uncle Micky whose were sticky, and some that were hairy and scary. He ends up writing a list of rules which include no kisses, no bum patting, no knee squeezing and signs it from Macho Man. However no one knew his secret especially when he was tucked up in bed.......so “please don't tell anyone – he didn't mind....a kiss from Mum”. This book has worked a treat, for me anyway. Daniel now says that he only likes kisses from Mum. I am very privileged to be on the receiving end of these very rare treasures. So if you have a son who is shying away from your kisses I highly recommend this book.

Old MacDonald had a farm - Mandy Foot

Do we really need another Old MacDonald picture book? The answer is YES if this lovely edition illustrated by Mandy Foot is anything to go by. This is a uniquely Australian version of Old MacDonald had a Farm combines traditional animals such as sheep, cows and horses with animals that by default are often part of the Australian farming life such as kangaroos, emus and cockatoos.
It is the illustrations that make this book. Foot has dispersed humour through her pictures with Old McDonald getting chased by a cheeky Emu, taking a bath under the water tank, and kangaroos jumping fences. It ends with a jamboree of animals. Children can also count how many kookaburras are on each page starting with one to ten.
The book also has its own website http://www.oldmacdonaldsfarm.com.au/ where children can scroll through a farm scene based on the book, listen to the song and get information about the animals in the book. There are also some activities that can be downloaded.
This was a wonderful and fun book that combines rhyming and counting. 8/10