PICTURE THIS!

There’s something so very special about getting a parcel in the mail – and something else special again when you know it contains books. My library got a lovely little package of books today and I was very tempted just to sit it on the circulation desk and gaze at it adoringly all day long. However (and even better!) both the library assistant and I knew it was full of picture books and neither of us could resist ripping into it and seeing what had been picked out for us.

And, honestly, who can resist reading their way through a stack of shiny new picture books? If you’re able to resist that you’re a stronger-willed person than I, that’s for sure. They were an eclectic collection today, and there were definitely some I enjoyed more than others, but there were one or two that I thoroughly loved and have already recommended to (read: pushed into the hands of) some students.

Title: Me and Moo

Author: P. Crumble and Nathaniel Eckstrom

Published: 2015

Pages: 23

This book has everything that makes for a winning picture book - adorable illustrations, an endearing narrator, and a simple, yet engaging storyline. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Moo, chuckling along at the small jokes and absolutely fawning over the pictures. A quick read, even for a picture book, I encourage everyone to go and learn about the heart warming relationship between Moo and 'me'. 5/5

Title: Those Pesky Rabbits

Author: Ciara Flood

Published: 2015

Pages: 40

Another example of illustrations that had me delighted - I loved the huge roundness of Mr. Bear, but those little bunnies? So cute. I tried to feel sad for Mr. Bear, being swarmed by these 'pesky' new neighbours of his, but, truly, I knew where the story was going to end up and I was eagerly awaiting his happy new outlook on life. I wasn't disappointed. Charming story, adorable illustrations, beautiful all around. 5/5

Title: The Underwater Fancy-Dress Parade

Author: Davina Bell

Published: 2015

Pages: 32

Normally with picture books, it's the illustrations that really draw me in. I, naturally, always love a good story, but usually it's the wanna-be-illustrator in me that's picking up the book in the first place. This is one instance where, despite enjoying the illustrations, it was actually the story itself that I found myself loving. The central character of The Underwater Fancy-Dress Parade, Alfie, is a young boy with a rather nervous disposition. He's all set to play Captain Starfish in the school play, but at the last minute finds himself unable to go through with it. Alfie is blessed, however, with wonderfully supportive parents, who provide him with the love and wisdom needed for him to make his own progress. I don't know whether it was my own identification with Alfie's fear and anxiety, or whether it was just the virtue of the story itself, but I adored this one and am already looking forward to reading it again. 5/5

Title: Ride, Ricardo, Ride!

Author: Phil Cummings and Shane Devries

Published: 2015

Pages: 32

You never really have to go searching too far for a war-themed picture book. There are some truly fantastic ones out there, as well as plenty of mediocre ones, but I often feel that the sheer number of them out there makes it hard for any new ones to impress. I can't say that Ride, Ricardo, Ride will make it to the top of my go-to list for this theme, but it did have some interesting features of note. I particularly enjoyed that the soldiers themselves are never seen, nor even referred to as soldiers, but simply 'shadows'. I enjoyed the art work, though found the contrast between the highly saturated, almost oil-painting like main pages and the simpler, vintage-looking (think Blyton) line illustrations to be an interesting choice. 4/5

Title: This is Captain Cook

Author: Tania McCartney and Christina Booth

Published: 2015

Pages: 40

I can't quite decide if I liked this book or not, which is an uncomfortable place to be writing a review from. I thought the way in which the story was told (through the format of a school play) was quite interesting and something I'd never come across before. I really liked the quite realistic portrayal of the families, among whose silhouettes the reader is watching the play from, but the story and the play itself was quite dry and not necessarily an interesting read. I wanted to like this book more than I did, but it managed three stars from me on the basis of it's structure. 3/5

Title: Green Tree Frogs

Author: Sandra Kendell

Published: 2015

Pages: 32

Unfortunately this was another example of a book that didn't quite hit the mark. It was an excellent example of alliteration and onomatopoeia if you're looking for something for your classroom, but the story itself fell short - both as an example of a text explaining the development of frogs from tadpoles, and as one relating the beauty of growing up in a nature rich environment. Again, a book I wanted to like more than I did. 2/3

Graphic series

Runaways [Vol. 1-5] Brian K. Vaughn and Adrian Alphona published 2003-2005

Every teenager, at some point in their lives, thinks their parents are evil. But what if it were true?

Mismatched teenagers Alex, Nico, Karolina, Chase, Gertrude, and Molly dread the yearly reunion of their boring socialite parents. But this dread moves to a whole new level when they see their parents murder a young girl – one not much older than they are.

Thieves, scientists, time travellers, mutants, sorcerers, and aliens, their parents make up “The Pride”, an organisation that runs the dark side of California. A group determined to destroy the world – and their children if necessary. The kids become the Runaways, falsely accused fugitives intent on staying alive and repairing some of the damage their parents have caused.

I flew through the first five volumes of this graphic novel series, and am very eager to get my hands on the rest. I love a good superhero story, but the appeal of this Marvel series is that it’s not really about superheroes at all, nor the villains either. These are real kids (effects of living in the Marvel universe aside) with real issues who are just forced into a bad situation.

I did find the characters a little clichéd at the start of the first volume – the gamer, the goth, the nerd, the jock, etc – but the fact that these characters all have a true personality to go along with it makes the cliché work to the series advantage.

Comic book fans will appreciate the appearance of regular superheroes, major and minor (yes, I did have to make use of my brother’s Marvel Encyclopedia to identify one or two heroes), but for the most part they play their role and move on, in no way overshadowing the main characters.

The illustrating, both pencilling and colouring, was excellent – very Marvel, of course, but a few new touches here and there. A few edition in the later volumes were pencilled by a different artist, giving a slightly different look to the established characters, which I found a little off-putting but not to the detriment of the story.

Overall, a good graphic series aimed at Marvel fans 12-16. An excellent story with nice artwork; plenty of action but not too violent. 4.5/5

Vol. 1 -  Pride and Joy Vol. 2 - Teenage Wasteland
Vol. 3 - The Good Die Young
Vol. 4 – True Believers
Vol. 5 – Escape to New York

Poor sickly vamps…

The Reformed Vampire Support Group Catherine Jinks
328 pages; published 2009

Vampires are meant to be so glamorous and powerful, but I’m here to inform you that being a vampire is nothing like that. Not one bit. On the contrary, it’s like being stuck indoors with the flu watching daytime television, forever and ever.

If being a vampire were easy, there wouldn’t have to be a Reformed Vampire Support Group. (4)

Nina writes vampire novels; epic adventures in which her heroine, Zadia Bloodtone, is sexy and able to turn into a bat as she, yet again, save the day. Basically do and be everything that Nina is not. For Nina, being a vampire, especially a ‘reformed’ one, is far from glamorous: there’s the daily bouts of nausea, the constant haemorrhaging and the fact that surviving on a feast of guinea pigs is just, well, messy.

Somehow she could never imagine Zadia Bloodstone living her life.

She’s far from alone in this horrendous lifestyle, however, for the few vampires who live in Australia are part of the Reformed Vampire Support Group. While certainly an odd mix, they’ve come to depend on each other throughout the indignities of their existence.

But then one of their number is killed and their routine, if not comfortable, lives are upturned. There’s a vampire killer out there (and let’s face it, how to kill them isn’t exactly the world’s best kept secret) and who knows which one of them could be next.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group was in equal parts gross and hilarious. At the Sydney Writer’s Festival last month, Catherine Jinks said that she was tired of the perfect vampires and floating around and wanted to tell “the truth” of their existence. She certainly succeeded; these are vampires the likes of which I’ve never seen.

I’d recommend it as a nice alternative to some of the more glamorous or impressive vampire books out there – especially if you’d like something without the overwhelming romance, or are looking for something with a touch of humour. Though I should note that it is a touch dark in places and is very much geared at the 15-17 age bracket over the younger YA readers. 3.5/5

Rapunzel's Revenge

Shannon and Dean Hale

Illustrated by Nathan Hale

144 pgs; published 2008

Everyone knows the story of Rapunzel, right? Locked away in a tall tower by an evil witch until the day a handsome, hair-climbing prince comes along to rescue her. Well. Not in this version. For starters, this Rapunzel’s got spunk; she’s not going to just hang around waiting to be rescued. This girl’s out for revenge; revenge against the evil witch who kidnapped her, forced her parents into slavery, and named her after a lettuce.

But Rapunzel soon learns that life outside her tower isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and that seeking revenge may be harder that she had anticipated. Mother Gothel’s magic and greed has affected all the surrounding lands, leaving the population poverty stricken and distrustful. This idealistic hair lasso-er, however, may be just what they need to set things straight.

First of all, I have to say that Rapunzel’s Revenge is hilarious. It has infused its text and images with so much humour that I laughed out loud through the whole thing. I love a good story retelling and this one was even better than I had expected. If you enjoy fractured fairytales then I’d definitely give this one a read. 4.5/5

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Rescue the Rainbow Fairies!

Rainbow Magic Series [Books 1-7]
Daisy Meadows
published 2000


This series has been a huge hit with my six-year-old cousin. She and her parents read every night and have read far into the double digits. Every time I see her she updates me on her new ‘fairies’ – she was very excited to tell my sister (Bethany) and I when she got Rebecca the Rock and Roll Fairy and Bethany the Ballet Fairy in the same set. She’s a very imaginative child and so her play has quickly come to centre on stories involving these characters and I finally had to read the books simply to keep up.

Kirsty Tate and Rachel Walker meet on the ferry crossing to Rainspell Island where their families are both going to spend a week’s holiday. Easy friends, they quickly set off exploring the island.

While in the woods they come across an old upturned pot. Trapped inside they find a small red fairy by the name of Ruby. Temporarily giving the girls wings of their own, Ruby escorts them to Fairy Land to meet the King and Queen of the fairies: Oberon and Tatiana.

Impressed with the young girls, the King and Queen charge them with the responsibility of finding and freeing the rest of the Rainbow Fairies. These fairies, you see, are being targeted by the evil Jack Frost and with them missing, so too is all the colour of Fairy Land. Kirsty and Rachel must rescue them if Fairy Land is to return to normal.

Each book focuses on the finding of a new fairy – Ruby, Amber, Saffron, Fern, Sky, Izzy and Heather – somewhere on Rainspell Island. The books are clearly aimed at a very young, almost ‘new reader’ audience but is more than your run of the mill ‘Jack and Jill go for a picnic, the end’ book. Stories, characters and locations carry over somewhat while still maintaining the clear and easy direction of the book: find the fairy, evade Jack Frost. The text was big, clear and easy to read with plenty of illustrations.

My only issue with the book was with Jack Frost and his minions. They maintained a constant presence – yet hardly ever managed to actually do any damage. I realise these are books aimed at young children, but I would have liked to have seen them as more of a threat. 4/5

Challenges:
100+ Reading Challenge
2009 Read and Review Challenge

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Teen Reads

Right Book, Right Time: 500 Books for Teenagers

Agnes Nieuwenhuizen
353 pages; published 2007


Read! Read! Read! Read for pleasure, for thrills, for escape, for ideas. Read books that make you laugh and cry and wonder and think. Read for yourself and not for others. (viii)


Yes, that’s right, it’s another list book. I have a sickness. Therapy didn’t work, I’m looking into medication. This was an early Christmas present I bought for myself and my sister, who, as a new ‘reader’ likes recommendations for books. This book was a winner, if the little post-it note taggies popping out the top are any indication.

After having read a few of these books, I’ve decided to change how I review them, focusing on just a few central points, so I hope you’ll bear with me as I iron out the kinks.


THEME: Books for Teenagers.
The premise was a book for every occasion, mood, phase, experience. As the book is aimed at teachers/librarians as well as teenagers, I thought it was a particularly good idea. Teenager or not, you often have to be in the right place for the right book.


FORMAT:
The book is broken up into twelve chapters/sections:

• Action, adventure and crime
• Been and gone
• Extreme and edgy
• Fantastic worlds
• Life, love and loss
• My place in the world
• Not such ordinary lives
• Outside the square
• This sporting life
• War and conflicts
• What if…?
• When you want to laugh

These chapters are broken up by the occasional mini essay or editorial on a variety of topics from “pink books” to graphic novels.

Within chapters are, and this was the best part, full page reviews for each novel/series with the occasional author bio/review.

Each book was classified with its country of origin and reading age:

Y = Young Reader
YA = Young Adult
A = Adult

but then goes on to show the primary audience and the audience who may be interested. For example: a book marked YA/A indicates a YA novel that may be of interest to an adult reader.

In between these reviews were shorter topical lists (“grand love stories”, “extraordinary international lives”, “recent Australian YA books with Shakespearean connections”) with shorter paragraph reviews.

This format made this book not only extremely easy to read and navigate, but also quite pleasing to look at.


SELECTION OF BOOKS:
Here’s where the list book can potentially fall down. You don’t want a generic list of books which you’ve seen a hundred times, but at the same time, you don’t want a list so out there that it’s unrecognisable or unrelatable.

Right Book, Right Time: 500 Great Reads for Teenagers focuses mainly on recent YA novels which, considering the discerning teen audience, is probably a good idea. However, it still includes (in the topical lists mostly) more traditional or enduring teenage and children’s’ classics. The range of books was impressive and very well selected, catering for all tastes and interest. 5/5

Purchase Right Book, Right Time: 500 Great Reads for Teenagers here.

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First thing I did was steal a body...

Repossessed
A.M. Jenkins218 pages; published 2007
I don't like the term "demon". It carries quite a bit of negativity with it. It implies a pointy tail and cloven hooves. I prefer the term "fallen angel". That is, indeed, what we are. The difference between us and the angels who didn't fall from grace is that the Unfallen were, are, and always will be faithful, stalwart, and obedient. That is their nature, just as it is their nature to rejoice in worship and contemplation of the vastness of the Creator's perfection. We, the Fallen, wondered, questioned, confronted, eventually demanded, and in general, pushed the edges of the envelope until the envelope burst.

[...] the Unfallen don't hang out with us peons much anymore.

I've never really liked those guys. (p 9/10)

Kiriel is one of the Fallen, one of the angels who supported Satan in his uprising. But after spending millenia in the bowels of Hell, reflecting the sorrows of the sinners under his jurisdiction while living out his own eternal punishment, things have become a little stale and he decides to take a little vacation.

In order to take this vacation, Kiriel hijacks the body of the unassuming Shaun seconds before he dies - Kiriel thinks this perfectly acceptable, after all, he was going to die anyway, and his possession merely eliminated much of the pain the boy would have felt anyway. Taking over his body, however, also means taking over his life and Kiriel finds himself immersed in the sensations and emotions of human life - and more specifically, the world of a seventeen year old.

Kiriel knows that his 'vacation' won't go unnoticed forever though - it is, after all, completely against the rules - but he intends to enjoy it for as long as 'humanly' possible.

angeloftheLord: Kiriel, you are trespassing in direct contravention of the Creator's wishes. This is a warning: Return to your duties or you will be punished.

All the warmth had left my fingertips.

trojanxxl: who is this?

Bloo-bloo-bloop!

angeloftheLord: You must return to your duties immediately.

An eternity of wishing to speak directly to my Creator, I thought in despair - and this is how He finally contacts me? Through AOL Instant Messenger? (p 97/8)


While I loved the premise of the novel, and found it cute funny in places, I did have my issues with it. For instance, it took less than twenty pages for Kiriel to turn to his first major exploration of humanity: masturbation. This leads into his central (not only, but major) quest for the novel: sex. He sets his sights on one girl and pursues her for the entirely with little (some but not much) regard for the reality of the situation or the fact that this is a real person he's trying to catch here. Perhaps this would appeal more to a male, seventeen-year-old audience, but, for me, it had quite a large negative impact on what should have been a good book.

That said, however, it did have it's redeeming qualities. The presentation of Kiriel as a fallen angel (as opposed to a 'demon') who, despite his backing of Satan ("The Boss"), sincerly and desperately wishes to retain the communication with, and love of, God ("The Creator") was both fascinating and moving. Similarly, the unrecognised acts of redemption Kiriel undertakes during his illicit 'vacation' are quite touching.

It was an okay book - shifting to quite good in places - but overall I feel that the story had the potential to be much better than it was. 2.5/5



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