The Unidentified – Rae Mariz

As a mother of a teenager the premise of this books is frightening. Imagine that the government no longer has any budget to contribute to education. Along come big business corporations that offer to take over the education of the nation. School becomes one huge market for these corporations to advertise their products as well as getting some education content into the day. These corporations secretly monitor every ones friendships and activities. The school are run like one big social networked computer game where points are awarded to students based on their performance. It is actually becomes called the Game. Completing assignments will get you points but you can get easier points from competing in games and competitions that may or may not have educational value. Popularity is the key as corporations target trend-setters with their products such as touch screen devices, clothing, make-up, sports gear. This is called being 'branded' and is the dream of almost every student.
Katey, aka Kid, isn't really interested in being branded, in fact she just wants to make music and hang out with her small group of friends. However an anti-establishment event of a mock suicide that protests the power structure in the school by the 'Unidentified' makes her question the whole educational game and she strives to find out who this group is. In doing so such is identified as a trend-setter and is 'branded'. This is the last thing she wants and it isolates her from her close friends but it is an answer to her families tight financial situation. She soon discovers that being branded means that she gives up the rights to her ideas, her privacy and her identity. In finding out the identity of the “Unidentified” she tries to revolt against the situation she has found herself in, without loosing herself.
I was attracted to this book's dystopian society where the possibility that education could be taken over and young people exploited by big business is very real. It contains some of the big issues for every teen that of identification. Who are we? What defines us? How important are our friend? How important are our families? How do I know what is right or wrong?
The Game seems addictive and is perhaps reminiscent of Facebook and Twitter in the way that students communicate and network together with mobile devices such as ipads which gives sense that this scenario could happen in the not-to-distant future.
Here's hoping that education never gets mixed with big marketing corporations. And if it does that there are students such as Kid who don't get sucked in. 7/10

Flying with paper wings – Sandy Jeffs

Sandy Jeffs has written a very readable book that gives readers an insight of what it is like to live with a mental illness. Sandy's life hasn't been easy. She grew up in rural Australia in a home marked with domestic violence and alcoholism. She overcame a stammer as a child and had to deal with a traumatic experience of sexual abuse as a young teenager. Leaving all this behind she begins a new life in the city to attend university. However this new life soon falls apart with the onset of schizophrenia. Sandy shares what it was like to be floridly psychotic, what it was like to be highly medicated, her experiences of institutions and the continual fear of falling into madness again when she was balanced well with medication.

One of the things that Sandy shares throughout the books is her poetry. It was, and still is, something that she used to express her emotions, her confusion, her pain, her sadness and her anger. Sandy still struggles against schizophrenia, and it is a daily challenge to find the balance between medication and madness. Through her poetry and writing Sandy has become an advocate for those with mental illness and the improvement of mental health services in Australia and speaks regularly of her experiences.

Overall the tone of the book is sombre – there is a lot of pain in this book. However now Sandy can look at her illness and the things that she has achieved with her poetry and writing and wonder if it wasn't for schizophrenia would she have been able to achieve this. As the reader I was left with the feeling of strength in the way that Sandy manages her madness, with the support of long term friends, of good doctors and with her ability to reflect and share her journey
8/10

Where's Mum? - Libby Gleeson & Craig Smith

Today Dad picks up everyone from childcare and they think Mum will beat them home. However Mum isn't there when they get back. The children begin imaging what could have delayed Mum using nursery rhymes and fairytales. Perhaps she is helping Jack and Jill to fetch a pail of water, or helping Humpty who had a great fall, or she could be having porridge with the three bears. The longer Mum is delayed the darker the ideas becomes especially when they think about the big bad wolf. When Mum does finally come home, she has a whole lot of friends with her.
It is Craig Smith's illustrations that make this book awesome! Mum meets lots of different characters walking home in their town. And Dad and the children are eating and getting ready for bed. I love that their house is just like mine – toys strewn everywhere, dishes left in the lounge, clothes in a pile waiting to be folded. It makes me feel normal! My kids loved looking at the pictures and laughing at what Mum is getting up to.
9/10

My Aussie Mum - Yvonne Morrison

You've got to admit that we Aussies are a little bit different. We live for the weekends, love a good barbie with family and friends, as long as the footy is on in the background in winter and the cricket in summer. We are supposed to be a laid-back bunch who's catch cry is 'no worries' or 'she'll be right'. So......what makes an Aussie Mum? According to Morrison she is a woman who is enthusiastic and involved in everything. She's a ripper who is tough as nails, always looks ace even in trackie daks, a battler who is busy day and night, a cricket fan, and someone who always knows when her kids are chucking sickies.
This book is a celebration of mums and is cute in the way it uses colloquial sayings. However these were lost on my younger children who didn't understand what these meant. It was a bit of a worry that my four year old didn't know what 'ace' meant. I must add it to my vocabulary again. The illustrations by Nicola Bright were humorous and added to the meanings of the story. They portrayed a quirky woman who was passionate about raising her kids, looking after herself, and getting involved in everything.
Overall, it was an ace concept for a book, however, the Aussie sayings were not known well enough by the children the book is aimed at. 6/10

Monkey Puzzle – Julia Donaldson

Such a delightfully funny book that we loved, especially the wonderful ending.
Baby monkey has lost his Mum somewhere in the forest. A lovely blue butterfly want to help monkey to find her and asks monkey to describe her. What follows is to the reader a hilarious selection of mothers that the butterfly thinks may belong to monkey – an elephant, a python, a spider, a parrot, a frog and a bat. Butterfly isn't silly but she is just using baby monkey's descriptions to help find his mother.. Finally in frustration baby monkey exclaims “Butterfly, butterfly, can't you see? None of these creatures looks like me!” The poor butterfly is very confused as she had no idea that baby monkey's mother looked like him because …........ you guessed it. None of butterfly's babies look like her!
The illustrations are done by Axel Scheffler who has successfully teamed up with Julia Donaldson for many of her books (The Gruffulo, Room on the Broom, The Snail and the Whale). They are big and bright jungle scenes and I especially like the big bright eyes of the animals.
The story is told is such a way that the reader begins to realise that there is something important that baby monkey is leaving out of his description of his mother and the children get excited at the anticipation of how monkey's mother will be found.
We loved it. 9/10

I Spy Mum! - Janeen Brian

It's May and in Australia that means Mother's Day. In tribute to all those mother's out there I am going to review some books about Mum's this month

Whenever we have a few minutes to wait, say at a doctor's clinic, or in the car a game of eye spy usually helps to pass the time away. When the kids were younger it was often I spy something red".... or blue....or green. Once they got older it progressed to "I spy something that starts with P".... or S.... or T. Sometime we'd have a great laugh when the kids who were just learning their alphabet sounds got it slightly wrong. Like clock starting with K or car that starts with S (because my son used to stay sars instead of cars.
So reading a book that incorporates a game that we all know is a winner. The little boy in the story spies something that starts with M and that is Mums. But which one is his. He spies many Mums doing lots of things such as making and baking, bopping and shopping, riding and sliding, but none of them belong to him. Where could she be?
Chantal Stewart's illustrations are delightful. She brings to life mum's from all walks of life, different shapes and sizes, different countries and doing a variety of activities with their children.
We enjoyed the gentle rhyming words and the illustrations with details that allowed us to play I spy within the pages. 8/10

Rapunzel's revenge – Shannon and Dean Hale

This is a wonderful graphic novel (a story with pictures – kind of a book length comic book) that modernizes the tale of Rapunzel. Rapunzel lives with her mother Gothel in a house with an enormous garden walled off from the world. One day Rapunzel adventures over the wall to see a world that is in slavery to Gothel. Gothel has growth magic, the power to made things grow or to stop things growing. To keep her subjects in line Gothel has made the surrounding lands barren. . During her escape Rapunzel has a chance meeting with her real mother who works as a slave for Gothel in her mines. Rapunzel decides that all this has to stop but before she can take action she is captured by Gothel's guards. When she refuses to be a part of Gothel's empire she is taken far away into a tree tower. Here she remains until her hair grows and she escapes. She is very naive in the ways of the world and is befriended by Jack (of the beanstalk fame). He becomes her partner in crime and social justice. Rapunzel becomes a hero, righting wrongs and saving the innocent, as she heads towards Gothel's Reach to free her mother.
The story is set in the Wild West with horses, guns and bandits. Rapunzel fits right in using her hair like a lasso. The dialogue is fun and witty and is complemented with illustrations by Nathan Hale (who is no relation to the authors)
An exciting and adventurous tale that retains the magic and romance of the original fairytale. 8/10