Children’s Books: Rat by Fernanda Eberstadt

Rat (Knopf) is a new millennium coming-of-age story told in a frankly lyrical and literary voice. Fifteen-year-old Celia -- nicknamed Rat -- lives in rural Spain with her mother, a self-involved free spirit. When the little family adopts the nine-year-old son of a dead friend, Celia is at first resentful, but she comes to love Morgan and feel protective of him. So much so that when her mother’s boyfriend abuses the child, Celia first fights the man, then takes Morgan and runs away to England to search out Celia’s biological father, a man she has never met.

For two children out in the world alone, this is an adventure that is epic in scope. Eberstadt’s eye is sharp, the details she shares rich and, as she tells it, there is never an absurd moment in two juvenile runaways crossing Europe and the Channel alone together, searching for freedom, safety and -- for Rat -- a sense of belonging.

Rat is a memorable story told in an astonishingly clear voice.

Children’s Books: Ortega by Maureen Fergus

Though I don’t generally like books for children that spend a lot of time trying to teach a thing or two, I liked Maureen Fergus’ Ortega (KidsCan Press) quite a bit. This despite the fact that lessons are thick on the ground in this book.

The subtexts come fast and furious in Ortega. Judge people by who they are, not who they appear to be. Don't hate people because they're different. ASk questions about what you see in the world: things may not always be as they appear. Even if you feel as if you do not belong, finding a place for yourself might be easier than you think.

The title’s Ortega is a lowland gorilla, abandoned shortly after birth. He’s raised in a laboratory and seems practically human to the scientists who care for him. But the children only see his differences, not the things that make him be like them.

Ortega is a thoughtful, considered book from the author of Exploits of a Reluctant (but Extremely Goodlooking) Hero. Children aged nine to 12 will find much to engage them: good-spirited humor combined with intelligent consideration of some topics important to the generation who will read it: issues of ethics, the environment and how we, as humans, fit into and interact with our world. Heavy issues, but handled with spirt and humanity. Ortega is a very good book.

Children’s Books: The Whale’s Tale by Edwina Harvey

I first read The Whale’s Tale (Peggy Bright Books) as a manuscript. Actually, I first read it as a short story, entered for the Mary Grant Bruce Award for Children’s Literature, which I was judging some years ago. The practice was to read all the manuscripts with the names of the authors removed, prepare a shortlist and hand this to children to choose the winner.

That year, the story the kids chose as a winner was later published as a short -- very short -- book. I can’t remember what it was called and I suspect it’s long out of print. It wouldn’t be the first time, nor will it be the last, that a story that won a prize has been forgotten while one that didn’t win has become a classic. Take the book which won the Australian Children’s Book Council award for picture book of the year -- what was it called? Something about bears? I haven’t seen it around for a while, but Animalia, which didn’t win, is still going strong.

But I felt that this story, “Restitution,” had merit and deserved a Commended at least, which was in my power to give.

Edwina Harvey worked the manuscript into a novel, which got as far as the George Turner Award short list for a new piece of SF writing.

Once again, I was asked to read the manuscript, then pass it on to a teenager to read. I felt it needed work, for reasons I told the author at the time, but the teenager loved it. What can I say? Samantha now has her copy of the finished product and no doubt loves it even more in print. The issues I had with the manuscript have been well and truly addressed.

Edwina Harvey is the kind of children’s writer who can write the most over-the-top things and take them for granted. “What -- you mean people DON'T run into unicorns every day, or travel the galaxy with a sentient whale and a dolphin?” And that’s what makes her so right for this type of writing.

We all, as writers, have the story of our heart. This is Edwina Harvey’s. And that shows in the writing, as well as a whole lot of humor and wisecracking from a sassy teenage girl.

Japanese teenager Uki, a lonely but brilliant hacker who has been using her skills to make friends, is caught stealing a file from the computer of whale singer Targe. This is some time after whales and dolphins have communicated with humans and started touring the galaxy as performers and diplomats. As a punishment, she is ordered by the court to travel with Targe and his dolphin offsider Charlie on a tour. Targe is angry about being stuck with her. Uki is not pleased either. But as the tour proceeds, it turns out she has gifts neither of them knew existed.

It’s not the first time anyone has written about spacefaring cetaceans. David Brin did it years ago. But you really had to concentrate to get the most out of the wonderful Startide Rising, which was the hardest of hard science fiction as well as an adventure. This one is a lot easier to handle and has environmental messages that don’t hit you over the head.

The cover, by rising SF artist Eleanor Clarke, is exquisite. And who wouldn’t love to travel the galaxy in the good ship Antarctic Dancer? I sure would!

I am told that this novel has been nominated for a Hugo Award and an Aurealis.

Children’s Books: The Midnight Curse by L.M. Falcone

New this month, The Midnight Curse (Kids Can Press) by L.M. Falcone is a brisk and compelling read aimed at the nine to 12 set. And though the writing is solid and the book is a lot of fun, The Midnight Curse truly is more likely to capture the imagination of those in the younger part of the age bracket the book is intended for.

When their great uncle dies, twins Lacey and Charlie anticipate an unexpected windfall, only to discover they should have been careful what they wished for. Though, in fairness, who would even think to wish for some ghosts and a deadly family curse?

Parents and librarians who have not encountered L.M. Falcone’s work before will find it interesting to discover the journey this author made to writing for children. Falcone started out as a teacher, wrote for television for a while, then ended up writing books for children. The resulting books (including the popular Walking With the Dead and The Devil, the Banshee and Me) combine a teacher’s understanding of the minds of children with a TV writer’s passion for punch and motion. Falcone’s books are good and certainly worthy of more attention.

Children’s Books: Solace & Grief by Foz Meadows

Out now in Australia, Foz Meadows’ Solace & Grief won’t be available in other parts of the world until later this year.

The newest entry from Paul Collins’ Ford Street Publishing is a debut. Hearing the author speak at her launch and seeing her sign books, I think she’s going to do nicely as a professional. She’s also lucky enough to have a surname that puts her novel on the bookshop shelves right next to Stephenie Meyer’s books -- and it has a snazzy black cover that will draw the eye of any teenager browsing for Twilight stuff.

The storyline is likely to appeal to young vampire fans, too. Solace Morgan was a born vampire. Her parents gave up their lives to produce her to act as a sort of saviour in a war with a nasty female vampire who has been “making” followers by addicting the new vampires to human blood. Most of the children of the night in this universe don’t like drinking human blood because it acts as a sort of heroin -- once you drink it, you always need another fix. Solace has been living in a group foster home, uncomfortable out in the sun and limited in what she can eat. She is extremely strong and has other gifts that appear over time.

After some terrifying dreams, she runs away from home, into the streets of Sydney, where she meets a group of other gifted teens. Will her troubles cost the lives of her new friends? And what is her own role? Who is the faceless man? The small grey cat? Why are so many people after her?

This novel has come along at just the right time in the teen vampire fiction revolution. But it’s not quite a vampire novel, despite all the vampire politics. And so far, it’s not a romance, though there could be some in the next two novels planned for this series, depending on whether or not a certain character returns to the group. However, the vampire isn’t the brooding Byronic male, but the girl. To my mind, the fact that this isn’t quite a vampire novel or a romance is a positive feature. When kids get tired of more of the same, they will have something different to read.

Children’s Books: Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen

Readers 12 and up who have a taste for history and adventure will enjoy veteran children’s author Gary Paulsen’s Woods Runner (Wendy Lamb Books). Woods Runner is a boy’s eye view of the Revolutionary War.

Thirteen-year-old Samuel returns home from hunting to discover war has come to his valley: his neighbors have been killed and his parents are missing. Samuel takes to the woods to track the soldiers who have taken his family. It’s a journey that at times seems headed for sure disaster.

Paulsen is the three time Newbery award-winning author of 175 novels. “I had a wonderful time writing this book,” Paulsen wrote about the creation of Woods Runner. "So much so that, at times, I'd look up from my computer and be startled to find myself in my office. I was so much a part of the woods in my head that I could smell the pine and feel the breeze on my face and it would come as a jolt to leave Samuel's world and find myself back in my own.”

That clarity of vision comes through on every page of Woods Runner. It is easy to lose yourself in the perfectly realized past that Paulsen has here created for us.

Children’s Books: Looking Closely Around the Pond by Frank Serafini

Photo-illustrated children's books can be -- well, I’ll just say it -- a little lame. There is often the feeling that whatever thin story exists has been created around some existing pretty images. And it’s not that Looking Closely Around the Pond (Kids Can Press) doesn’t do that. Rather, in a way, it goes farther than that, using close-up images to look beyond the everyday. And so we see specific things and parts of things, and are asked, “What do you see?” In all cases, there are numerous possibilities, but only one right answer. This you see on the very next page where you see the creature intact, and are told something about it.

Looking Closely Around the Pond is the fifth book in the “Looking Closely” series from Frank Serafina, associate professor of children’s literature and literacy education at Arizona State University. The others in the series look at The Shore, The Garden, The Desert and The Forest.

Children’s Books: F2M: The Boy Within by Hazel Edwards and Ryan Kennedy

Eighteen-year-old Skye is a member of an all-girl punk rock band. Skye has never felt like a girl. Inside, (s)he is Finn, a boy. Making the decision to let Finn be outside as well as in involves a lot of work. How do you tell your family and friends and the members of your feminist rock band that you’re going to undergo female-to-male treatment and surgery? Fortunately, there’s a family precedent: great-uncle Albert ... or is that great-aunt Alberta?

Skye/Finn could easily be a victim, but refuses. It isn’t going to be easy for anyone, but (s)he decides, finally, that family, friends and rock band will just have to live with it. And they do.

F2M: The Boy Within (Ford Street) goes into enormous detail about the procedures involved in what is known as FTM. It’s a lot less common than the other way around -- male to female -- although it has been in the news in the last couple of years, when a man who had kept his female “equipment” had a baby because his wife couldn’t. I knew a female-to-male myself. Unlike Skye, Jan became “David” in her/his 40s. Nobody, but nobody dared to call Jan a woman, even when she was! And David’s family and friends accepted it as Finn’s family do in the novel. F2M: The Boy Within also explores the punk rock sub-culture, which is interesting in its own right.

Ford Street Publishing has become known for taking on controversial subjects. It probably needs an author as well-known and respected as Hazel Edwards to get away with this one. Ryan Kennedy, her co-author, is himself an FTM, so knows what he is talking about.

F2M: The Boy Within is well-written and answers a lot of questions. It will certainly appeal to those teenagers who are asking themselves questions about their own gender identities. There are some likable characters in it and some nice touches of humour. There’s even the whimsical presentation of a couple who are a female-to-male and a male-to-female. Who are, incidentally, managing just fine. Finn doesn’t like the FTM, Rodney, but hey, he doesn’t have to.

Whether or not it will have appeal for ordinary teenagers I am not sure. I suspect they will be uncomfortable with it, though this doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be out there. Will kids who say, “That is so gay!” about anything negative get enthused about characters who are not actually gay but have gender issues? I won’t know until I have put this in my library and seen how the students react. Watch this space.

Are Your Kids’ Books Rated R?

In 1984, parents raised angry fists over Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, in which the villain pushed his hand into the chest of a man and yanked out the poor guy’s beating heart. They said this sort of violence didn’t belong in a PG-rated movie. The result? PG-13.

In 2009, a suburban dad -- that would be me -- read an advance copy of a new novel called Will Grayson, Will Grayson and came upon this instant-messaging reparté:

boundbydad: thrust your fierce quivering manpole at me, stud
grayscale: your dastardly appendage engorges me with hellfire
boundbydad: my search party is creeping into your no man’s land
grayscale: baste me like a thanksgiving turkey!!!

This, in a book due in April 2010 from Dutton Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., and intended, says an informational note, for readers aged 14 and up.

14 and up, I thought. 14 and up? 14 and up?! To me, “14 and up” is just another way of saying PG-13. And the excerpt above is no PG-13.

Then, 30 pages beyond the quivering manpole, I came across this:

cock + pussy = a happy rooster-kitten couple

Um, would you want your pubescent child reading this?

Officially Worried
As the father of boys aged 13 and 9, who both love to read, I am now officially worried. Is this the stuff of books for Young Readers? For 14 and up? When I was a kid, I was free to read pretty much whatever I wanted, and my kids have the same freedom. While I’ve steered my older son away from, say, Disclosure, which is about sexual harassment, in favor of other, less sexually graphic Michael Crichton options, here’s the thing: When I allow my son to read novels for grown-ups, I know what we’re -- and more to the point, he’s -- getting into. And until now, I thought the same thing about books for Young Readers.

My fear: He picks up Will Grayson, Will Grayson on his own, intrigued by its very intriguing premise. (Two high school students named Will Grayson meet each other, and each changes the direction of the other’s life.) Eventually, he gets to page 70, then page 101. Before writing this article, I wondered if this was language he knew. But when I showed him the pages, he was so mortified that he didn’t know what to say. Neither did I.

Ratings are made based on vocabulary and situations. In terms of the former, if memory serves, one of the Motion Picture Association of America’s lines in the sand for what separates a PG-13 rating from an R is the word “fuck.” Sometimes it’s a question of how many times the word (or a form of it) is used, sometimes it’s about context. For example, if the word is used sexually, the film gets an R. ArtAndPopularCulture.com says the word “cock” alone can move a film from PG to PG-13. Using these guidelines, Will Grayson, Will Grayson would be an R-rated movie.

But it’s a book -- and for books, what’s the standard? “There is no standard at all,” says Luann Toth, managing editor of the book review section of the School Library Journal. “It’s pretty arbitrary. Publishers do their own thing. Unlike multimedia, which tries to have a standard, there is no equivalent in the book world.”

So-called book ratings, like “14 and up,” indicate reading level, not content. And even when such indicators are used, they’re buried on the back, in tiny type, near the barcode. Hardly responsible publishing.

Driven by Ratings
Now, before you cry “Censorship!” understand that I am not advocating any form of artistic restriction. In 1988, Doubleday published my first novel, Total Eclipse. It featured teens, but in no way was it meant for teens; it was marketed to adults. My point: as an author, I consider censorship abhorrent. I would never suggest the book’s authors edit the lines out, but I would urge their publisher to add a rating that reflects its content.

Much of our culture, after all, is driven by ratings. We accept and trust them; we would think carefully and search for more information before taking a young child to an R-rated film, for example.

Ratings, of course, are based on content, not interpretation. For as long as I can remember, television has aired “viewer discretion is advised” messages when programming content warrants it, and now there are actual ratings, too. Videogames sport E (Everyone), T (Teens), M (Mature), and other ratings. And music wears on-pack parental advisory notices due to explicit lyrics. Such warnings have not discouraged sales, though some recording artists have produced “clean” versions of certain songs. In the end, all of these notices have simply created better-informed consumers. More, they have helped consumers maintain their own moral baseline, their own ethical center -- and no matter where your own ethical center happens to be, having the information you need to maintain it is the point.

If movies, television, music and videogames are rated according to their own systems, why aren’t books? Why are books marketed according to reading level but not content? Marketing books according to reading level alone is like rating videogames according to people’s ability to push the buttons on control devices. Imagine: THIS GAME IS RATED E BECAUSE, HEY, EVERYONE KNOWS HOW TO PUSH BUTTONS! Never mind that pushing those buttons shoots machine guns that reduce characters to piles of digital blood and flesh.

Ratings are not censorship; they’re a guide to what buyers will find inside the package. And before you accuse me of being homophobic, stop. While the IMs cited above happen to be between two male characters, would they be any less disturbing if boundbydad were a girl?

The Problem Is Marketing
The problem with Will Grayson, Will Grayson isn’t the book itself. John Green and David Levithan have written an entertaining novel that contains important messages about the power of self, creativity, friendship and love. It’s got an innovative hook, a cool premise, a compelling narrative and complex characters.

The problem is the way Dutton Young Readers is marketing it. When I spoke with the book’s publicist, she acknowledged that the publisher had anticipated this problem and told me I was the first of what they imagined would be many calls from parents about this book. She assured me that kids 14 and up have access to and use this sort of language all the time (this came as quite a surprise to my son). And she added that Dutton would be publishing the book on schedule.

Fine. But adding an honest rating to the book’s front cover would help Will Grayson, Will Grayson find the readers it is intended for. Its publisher -- and all publishers -- should take more responsibility for the books they publish by creating an independent organization whose job it is to establish a clear, objective system for rating books, including front-cover icons that indicate content. Whether they’re single-letter ratings or simply “explicit language” warnings, this level of honest publishing can only be good for everyone involved: authors, publishers, and readers. It would go a long way toward making sure that fiction is just in the books, not in their marketing plans.

Terrorism Threat Derails Children’s Book

The Christmastime terrorism threat in Detroit that led to a widespread misunderstanding about books being banned on flights to the United States out of Canada continues to have literary repercussions.

A book by renowned children’s author Robert Munsch (Love You Forever, The Paper Bag Princess) will be postponed, at least for a while, though the author certainly understands why. According to the The Toronto Star, the story “about a child sneaking dolls on a plane has been put on hold given the heightened security at airports after the attempted Christmas bombing of a plane in the United States.”

Since then, airports have implemented a number of measures, from forcing travellers to undergo physical pat-downs or even body scans to a ban on carry-on luggage.

“We were going to do a story on a little girl who smuggles all these dolls onto a plane, but then that thing happened in Detroit,” said Munsch. “Scholastic calls me up in a panic saying, ‘Hold everything, that kid couldn’t smuggle anything onto the plane, she’s lucky to get onto the plane herself.’”

Munsch said he had no problem with the change, and even chuckled about the coincidence of a story of his clashing with a real-life situation. He is now in talks with the publisher on his next project.

The Star piece is here.

Best Books of 2009: Children’s Books

Alphabeasties by Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss (Blue Apple) 48 pages
Authors Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss are graphic designers at the helm of Werner Design Werks in St. Paul, Minnesota. This is a fact that will surprise collectors of children’s books not at all. A classic animal alphabet book with several important twists, I suspect that designers and aficionados of typography will be this book’s biggest market. The animals in Alphabeasties are created with the letters that spell their names: camels made of Cs, dogs made of Ds and so on. In addition there are cut-outs and die-cuts and other fun and creative exercises in paper. The resulting book is just about perfect and a treat for almost all the senses. -- Monica Stark

A Small Surprise by Louise Yates (Knopf) 40 pages
Every year among the children’s books that January Magazine designates as the best of the year, there tends to be one or two that make it on the illustrations alone. These are the picture books that we figure most of the first edition ends up in the hands of collectors. It’s not that kids won’t like the book -- in fact, I have no reason to think that children do not respond to brilliant illustration. And it’s not that these books don’t have a worthwhile story. But, for our purposes -- or, at least, for mine -- the art is so great, it’s practically frameable. And it practically stands alone. Louise Yates’ debut effort, A Small Surprise, is such a book. There’s a rabbit (rabbits were big, big, big this year!) and he runs off to join the circus. A fun premise. But Yates’ circus animals steal this show. Her style is loose, yet considered; somewhat anthromorphized, yet quite real. This, from Yates’ bio, is telling: “One of the things I love most about picture books is the silences, the moments when the text shuts up and the pictures either tell you something that the text hasn’t or something totally different.” Exactly. Yates gets it. This one will be high on collector’s lists, but there’s every chance that kids will like it, too. -- David Middleton

The Choir Boats by Daniel A. Rabuzzi (ChiZine Publications) 406 pages
It will surprise no one who has read this book to discover that author Daniel A. Rabuzzi has a strong background in mythology and folklore. It seems that all of what he learned is in play in The Choir Boats, a fantastic and deeply entertaining debut novel that promises to be the first book in a series: “Volume One of Longing for Yount” is what it actually says on the cover. Be that as it may -- and while I might look forward to further volumes -- The Choir Boats is perfectly contained on its own. In London in 1812, a merchant named Barnabas McDoon is sent on a voyage to the world called Yount with a key that can only be used by him to unlock their prison. It’s not, of course, as easy as all that. In McDoon’s way are a wizard, a fallen angel and other obstacles -- some monstrous, some magical -- threaten to compromise McDoon’s mission. Part steampunk adventure, part classic fantasy, The Choir Boats might be earmarked for young adults, but anyone to whom this sounds like a rich ride will be surprised and delighted. -- Lincoln Cho

The Devil’s Paintbox by Victoria McKernan (Knopf) 368 pages
In the blood-soaked year 2009 was in children’s literature, it was a delight to come across The Devil’s Paintbox. Set in 1865, orphaned brother and sister, Maddy and Aiden Lynch, must struggle through a 2000 mile journey along the Oregon Trail. McKernan captures the danger and beauty of the American West with time-traveling accuracy. Older children will enjoy this new adventure from the author of the award-winning Shackleton’s Stowaway. The Devil’s Paintbox is a wonderfully crafted story rich in historical detail: you can almost smell the saddle leather; feel the pangs of hunger and the sharp bites of fear. And not a fang or a wand in sight. -- Monica Stark

Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld (Chronicle Books) 40 pages
There’s an almost crazy amount of charm in every inch of Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld. It’s a children’s picture book intended for people three and up and -- somehow, as if by magic -- it is more than the sum of its parts. I suppose you could say that the “story” involves conflict and the resolution of it but, to be honest, even calling it a story takes things a little far. More like a conversation -- all off-screen -- on the nature and identity of the title creature. “It’s a duck and he’s about to eat a piece of bread.” “It’s a rabbit and he’s about to eat a carrot.” The only reason those two lines are worthy of remark is that they’re said about the exact same image. And that same image crops up again and again with different backgrounds and different ideas of what it is (“Duck! Rabbit!) and what it’s doing. While that doesn’t really sound like enough on which to base a book -- or, for that matter, a review -- there’s something about how it all comes together that small children will find comforting. There’s not enough here for older children to call “story” but they’ll find it amusing and new readers will be able to master all of the simple words before long. -- Sienna Powers

The Genius Wars by Catherine Jinks (Allen & Unwin) 396 pages
Cadel Piggott (now Cadel Greeniaus), the hero of Evil Genius and Genius Squad, just wants to live a normal life like any other teenager -- you know, parents, studies, hanging out with friends. Unfortunately, it’s not going to happen when you are a genius computer hacker and a criminal mastermind thinks you shouldn’t be wasting your God-given abilities on something as boring as everyday life. And said criminal mastermind, Prosper English, may have a point. Cadel isn’t going to be able to use his skills for dull stuff, though he can’t resist hacking a few systems to help his friend who suffers cerebral palsy. This in itself causes him grief. It’s a good ending to an intriguing trilogy which was well worth the read. -- Sue Bursztynski

Guinevere’s Gamble by Nancy McKenzie (Knopf) 368 pages
The Arthurian legends have inspired countless tellings and retellings though few of those have been for children. Nancy McKenzie corrected that a couple of years ago with Guinevere’s Gift, intended to be the first book in the series she is calling the Chrysalis Quartet. Guinevere’s Gamble is the second book in that series. The strong female heroine in this series is likely to make this a book favored by girls aged 10 to 14. As Booklist said, this series puts a “feminine spin on a tale more typically focused on men.” And though Guinevere’s Gamble is the second book in the series, you will understand what’s going on with no trouble if you’ve not yet read the first one. -- Sienna Powers

Me and You by Geneviéve Coté (Kids Can Press) 32 pages
Me and You is pure, simple charm. A lovely story. Primitive but skillful illustrations. Even a sweet message. All in a smaller-than-usual format that would fit quite nicely into tiny hands. Two friends -- a rabbit and a pig -- spend the book trying to be like each other, then, by journey’s end, discover that their differences contribute to the things they share and that they appreciate each other for what they each bring to their relationship. Deceptively simple and unassuming, Me and You is very, very good. -- David Middleton

Me, Myself and Ike by K.L. Denman (Orca Books) 194 pages
In Me, Myself and Ike, K.L. Denman (Perfect Revenge, Spiral) brings us the first person view of a teenager descending into madness. It is, at times, a difficult book to read but narrator Kit Latimer’s heartbreaking and compelling tale is equally difficult to put down. After seeing a television show about a 5000 year old man, preserved in the ice, Kit determines to become the next ice man; a source of information for the future generations who will find him. With his friend, Ike, Kit sets about accumulating everything he will need for his expedition, including artifacts that will give those who find him some idea of what life was like in the 21st century. As Kit becomes more obsessed and self-isolated, his family begins to worry though, in some ways, the worst of their fears can’t match Kit’s new reality. Me, Myself & Ike ends with an Author’s Note that explains that, in the book, Kit is experiencing the onset of schizophrenia. She goes on to explain what it is and give Internet sources for readers who might be interested in researching further. “It was often emotionally exhausting for me to continue imagining what my character was experiencing, and if it was hard to imagine, I believe it must be incredibly harsh and stressful to live with.” Denman does a credible job of sharing the experience in a memorable book. -- Sienna Powers

Smudge’s Mark by Claudia Osmond (Simply Read Books) 384 pages
From the outset, Smudge’s Mark is dense and meandering and at first seems quite incomprehensible. And I couldn’t put it down. If you think those things don’t seem to go together, welcome to the club and read on. I’m still not sure I understand how it happened, but I do know I’d read another book by this author. One of the most powerful things about Smudge’s Mark is the strong and personable voice of the narrator, Simon, a.k.a. Smudge. “My grandpa was a wicked prankster,” Osmond-as-Simon begins. “Usually after working the part-time midnight shift at the mushroom farm, he’d make his way home to 49 Stone Elements Drive in the darkness of the early morning.” And the correct response would seem to be: who cares? At this point -- the beginning -- Osmond has seemingly done nothing to insure we care at all. And yet, oddly enough, we do. It is as though, with those first simple words, Simon waltzes into our lives as though he hasn’t a care in the world. And then, layer upon layer, we learn of all the dark places: all the things that are at stake and by then we realize that while we weren’t paying attention, Osmond has somehow -- magically? -- made us care. Smudge’s Mark is, in its own strange way, a very good book. At story’s beginning, we meet Simon in a moment of quiet, almost introspection. By journey’s end, Simon has more or less preserved life as he knows it as well as Emogen, a hidden realm with a strong connection to Earth. -- Aaron Blanton

Time of Trial: Volume 4, The Laws of Magic by Michael Pryor (Random House Australia) 432 pages
Oh, joy, another of Michael Pryor’s delightful steampunk adventures of Aubrey, Caroline and George! Magical enemies are on the rise again, the evil Dr. Tremaine is back, this time with golems. Unlike the golems of legend and film, these are unable to be distinguished from the real thing until you smash them -- and there's none of this nonsense about magical or religious rituals or holy words to bring them into being -- hell, no! This is the (early) 20th century, isn’t it? The only good news is that Aubrey seems finally to have overcome his serious medical condition (the fact that he’s technically dead). You really can’t read this without having read the rest of the series, so if you haven’t yet read them, what are you waiting for? -- Sue Bursztynski

This Little Bunny Can Bake by Janet Stein (Schwartz & Wade) 40 pages
It’s a new day of classes at Chef George’s School of Dessertology. Everyone is goofing, except Little Bunny, who is careful to pay attention, follow the rules and measure. Meanwhile, Poodle weighs herself on the kitchen scale, cat uses dog as a cookie cutter, and mouse plays with the brulée (you just know that will end badly!). Through all this din and brouhaha, Little Bunny goes on her tidy little way and, by the end, has created an impressive masterpiece, while not being the least bit smug about it. This Little Bunny Can Bake is a rare creative treat. Writer and illustrator Janet Stein has chosen to give her charming illustrations a vintage look and it really works. It feels like a classic: like something we perhaps all read (or had read to us!) when we were kids, then forgot about and have now, happily, found again. -- Linda L. Richards

The Tree That Time Built selected by Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda Winston (Source Jabberwocky) 309 pages
It’s rare for a book to meet every goal set out for it but it seems to me that The Tree That Time Built works so well, it might have done just that. The book calls itself “a celebration of nature, science, and imagination” and it really is all those things. More, too, because what The Tree That Time Built does is say it in poetry. U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate Mary Ann Hoberman has worked with author, teacher and cultural anthropologist Linda Winston to collect the very best work on environmental awareness. And though I’m generally not enthusiastic about children’s books with a strong message The Tree That Time Built is so skillfully constructed and so expertly executed, it works on every level. Though the focus here is on environmental awareness, the voices used are among the best known in the English language. Emily Dickenson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Langston Hughes, Carl Sandberg, Ogden Nash, Marilyn Singer, Sylvia Plath and many, many, many more, making The Tree That Time Built an absolutely wonderful -- and perhaps essential? -- contribution to children’s literature. A nice addition: the included CD allows kids to hear many of the poets included in the book read from their own work. If you and your child care about the environment and are interested in books for children, you are quite likely to enjoy The Tree That Time Built. -- Sienna Powers

Willow by Julia Hoban (Dial) 329 pages
Even in a year when books for young adults was the most dynamic portion of the market, Julia Hoban’s debut novel was a stand-out. You don’t have to read very far to understand why. Willow is brutally -- even shockingly -- honest. The book is about a cutter, the title’s Willow, who is trapped in a life she didn’t expect when her parents die in a car crash: they were too drunk to drive and Willow was at the wheel. Where do you go from there? Despair, dysfunction, desperation. While the topic, and much of Hoban’s handling of it, is appropriately dark, we encounter just enough love and light to make this a deeply satisfying book. There is little here of the moralistic. Willow’s cutting is real and logically symptomatic within her situation. Willow is unforgettable. -- Sienna Powers

Holiday Gift Guide: The Dread Crew: Pirates of the Backwoods by Kate Inglis

Growing up in a family where books were firmly part of the culture, it was unthinkable that a Christmas should pass without at least a few of the neat, flat packages that indicated a book. The ones from my father were always extra special. He’d pay special attention and know just what I was hoping for -- usually something with horses, so I guess it wasn’t that much of a challenge -- and he’d buy the prettiest edition he could find.

I thought of all of these things when I first saw Kate Inglis’ The Dread Crew (Nimbus). It’s a good book -- sure it is, and we’ll get to that in a moment. But before you ever experience the story, you see that it really is a pretty book. One I think my father might have selected for me, with all the other circumstances being right. There’s something lasting and promising and deliciously old-timey about the cover and binding of The Dread Crew. And that’s all right, because Inglis and her band of merry men deliver on all of those promises.

“Under the darkest cloak of night,” Inglis begins, “her cats are first to sense the rumble.”

The Dread Crew is a tale of imagination and friendship. Having found some fairly unmistakable signs, young Eric Stewart sets himself up as a pirate hunter. He tracks a band of backwoods pirates and -- just as he’s sure he’s about to come upon them -- all of the signs disappear. It turns out Grampa Joe has been hiding the band of pirates on his property, but even Grampa Joe might not be able to hide them when the Pirate Union tries to track them down.

This is a spirited tale, gorgeously rendered. A debut work from a confident writer I feel sure will delight us again in the future.

Children’s Books: Great Teacher Projects: K-8 by Laura Mayne

Though clearly intended as a classroom aid for working educators, Great Teacher Projects: K-8 (Boston Mills Press) should not be overlooked by home schoolers or parents with even a small group of active kids on their hands.

Each project or activity is given one or two pages. Here author, 27 year teaching veteran Laura Mayne, looks at each project in depth. She includes the age the activity is suitable for, materials needed, if any and an overview of the project itself and how it might be expected to benefit the children it is aimed at.

“Planet Walk,” for instance, is intended to give kids an idea of the vastness of the solar system using models and some simple materials. “Pumpkin Study” uses that favorite fall-time gourd to teach a number of things, including some basic math and measuring skills and other areas of the K-6 curriculum. “Tap Dancing with Bottle Caps on Shoes” is pretty much self explanatory (which might be why it only scores a single page) while “Hibernation Day,” intended for kids in K to 3, teaches many lessons and delivers a lot of fun all focused around the activity of hibernation. I especially liked the emphasis Mayne puts on books and reading; from a simple sharing time to an elaborate junior book fair equivalent, literacy takes center stage in not less than six of Mayne’s included activities.

Teachers and parents will find a full store of great ideas to help broaden young minds while filling their days. Highly recommended.

Children’s Books: The Genius Wars by Catherine Jinks

It began with Evil Genius, in which orphan Cadel Piggott was being raised to become a criminal mastermind. As part of this, he was sent to the sinister Axis Institute in Sydney, where he studied such subjects as Fraud and Disguise and improved his already considerable skills in computer hacking. By the end of the second novel of the series, Genius Squad, he had rebelled against all this and was trying to live a nornal life, though villain Prosper English, who had been responsible for his upbringing, had done everything he could to prevent this.

The Genius Wars (Allen & Unwin) opens nine months later. Cadel, now 15, has settled down with police detective Saul Greeniaus and his wife Fiona, who are hoping to adopt him. Despite his youth, he has begun university and is in contact with some of his friends from the Axis Institute and the Genius Squad, who also want normal lives. Life is pretty good, and he has used his computer hacking skills to make life easier for his best friend, mathematical genius Sonja, who suffers from cerebral palsy. All he wants is to make it possible for her to get around easily in her wheelchair. But old enemies haven’t forgotten him -- and the very things he has done to help his friend may work against him.

This has been a fascinating series. The original premise sounded humorous -- and there are certainly some over-the-top ideas, such as Cadel’s friend Gazo, a human stink-bomb who produces a smell that can literally knock people out when he is stressed. And what about brother-sister computer hackers Dorothy and Compton, mostly known as Dot and Com?

But this is not a comedy. Cadel is angry, frustrated and terrified that even knowing him may kill anyone he cares about. The series has, predictably, been compared to Harry Potter, as anything with a young hero is these days. If anything, it’s reminiscent of Artemis Fowl, if you can imagine that young Irish genius as an orphan, being manipulated by nasty guardians rather than supported and protected by his loyal bodyguard and loving family. Or, for that matter, Mark Walden’s H.I.V.E. novels.

In any case, teens who liked either of those series should enjoy this one. I’d describe it as borderline SF. It never ceases to amaze me how many different genres this writer has clocked up over the years: SF, fantasy, ghost stories, historical fiction, suspense. She is the writer equivalent of the kind of actor who refuses to be typecast.

There’s no point in reading this book if you haven’t read the others, so if you haven’t, go and get them. You won’t be disappointed.

Children’s Books: Creature by Andrew Zuckerman and Alphabeasties by Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss

Alphabet books would seem to be one of the most popular categories of children’s picture books. There appears to be an endless supply of “A is for this” and “B is for that.” Think of a topic and you can probably find an alphabet book to match it. The books ranges wildly in quality and content but the sheer number of them sometimes can’t help but make you wonder: does the world really even need yet another alphabet book?

In the alphabet book category, a single theme would seem to rise above the others in popularity. And no matter how often you see “A is for Animal” you know that another book or six on the same topic is just down the turnpike. You’d think that, after a while, it would all just make you want to yawn.

All of this makes it even more interesting that two animal-focused alphabet books published this year both rank full marks for being both innovative and terrific.

Creature (Chronicle Books) by Andrew Zuckerman is gorgeously illustrated by Zuckerman’s own wonderful animal photos. The book is also sharply understated. No “A is for Anything,” here. In fact, there are barely any words at all. Large block letters introduce the idea of the shape of letters and the occasional word (“Bear,” “Insect,” Kangaroo”) is inserted in an appropriate place, but Zuckerman’s photos are always the stars. And they’re wonderful photographs, too: isolated animals cleverly arranged against their stark white backgrounds. A glossary explains the identity of each of the players. (“Jackrabbits, also called hares, can run up to 45 miles per hour…”)

If Creature is a terrific book -- and it is -- Alphabeasties (Blue Apple) is even better. No photographs here, the animals are created with the letters that spell their name. Unsurprisingly, the co-authors are both graphic designers, a demographic I suspect will go crazy for this book. With cut-outs and die-cuts and other fun and creative exercises, along with camels made of Cs and dogs made of Ds and so on, Alphabeasties is a treat for almost all the senses. It’s also extremely well done.

Children’s Books: Born to Write by Charis Cotter

There’s a lot to love about award-winning children’s author Charis Cotter’s Born to Write: The Remarkable Life of Six Authors (Annick Press). Here Cotter delivers very good mini-biographies of half a dozen children’s authors: Lucy Maud Montgomery, C.S. Lewis, E.B. White, Madeleine L’Engle, Philip Pullman and Christopher Paul Curtis. Each of these, perhaps with more support material, would have been sufficient for a slender book. But combined as they are, Born to Write reads like a mini-encyclopedia of children’s authors.

By drawing connections between her half dozen subjects, Cotter goes deeper than you would expect: illustrating how early experience can shape a life and push an individual one way. Or another.

“And when they grew up,” Cotter writes at one point, “instead of forgetting what it felt like to be a child, they remembered, and put it into their books.”

As well, Cotter perfectly captures the essence of the book culture of childhood and shares that with her young readers:

If you love reading books, you know what it is like to lose yourself in a story. Your bedroom drops away and you’re in the world of the book, side by side with the hero or heroine. Your ticket to those other worlds depends on the strength of your imagination and the power of the words you’re reading. The best writers scoop you up and take you on a ride that ends only on the last page of the book.

Born to Write is a good and interesting book about books and the culture of reading. This is a good one to share with the youngsters in your life.

Children’s Books: Death on the River by John Wilson

In Death on the River (Orca Books), veteran children’s author John Wilson weaves a compelling tale with his first person, present tense account of the final days of the American Civil War.

We see the horrors of war through the eyes of Jake Clay, a young soldier who enlisted after his brother was killed in battle. Young Jake is wounded and taken prisoner in his very first battle:

I come to with a pair of Rebel soldiers holding an ankle each and hauling me, upside down, over the breastworks. I feel like my head is going to explode every time it bumps against a log. It doesn’t, but I keep blacking out.

John Wilson has written over 20 books for this age group, all of them focused on illuminating some aspect of history for young people. He does a great job. In fact, sometimes in Death on the River if anything it’s too good an illumination. Though he (thankfully) brings little of the actual gore, we feel the horrors of war very keenly. It’s a lesson it’s always good to remember: one we are not able to forget.

Children’s Books Shadow of the Leopard by Henning Mankell

Internationally bestselling author Henning Mankell talks about the first time he met Sofia. He was in Mozambique in the early 1990s. Passing a hospital, he spied a small girl in a wheelchair and he stopped to talk with her. “I still don’t know why,” he says on his blog.

Though Sofia’s story didn’t come to him all at once, he was able to piece it together over time. Sofia and her sister had been running at the side of a road when a landmine was detonated. Sofia’s sister died instantly. Sofia herself suffered many injuries. And Mankell, ultimately, was compelled to tell her story.

Today, many years later, Sofia is one of my closest and dearest friends. No one has taught as much as she about the conditions of being human. Nor has anyone taught me more about poor people's unprecedented power of resistance. Those who are forced to survive at the bottom of society in a world we all share and inhabit; so unjust, brutal and unnecessary.

Though Mankell is best known for his Curt Wallander novels, his books for children are very, very good and, in his own country, extremely admired. Three books into his Sofia series (after Playing With Fire and Secrets in the Fire) Sofia is a young woman of 20 with two children of her own and another on the way. Her domestic challenges turn life-threatening when her ex-partner drags her into the savannah and leaves her to die.

Shadow of the Leopard (Annick Press) is classified as a children’s book, but I’m not entirely sure why. Though the young adult readers this book is intended for will certainly enjoy it, adults will also be compelled by Sofia’s story and Mankell’s commanding voice.

Children’s Books: Guinevere’s Gamble by Nancy McKenzie

The Arthurian legends have inspired countless tellings and retellings though few of those have been for children. Nancy McKenzie corrected that a couple of years ago with Guinevere’s Gift, intended to be the first book in the series she is calling the Chrysalis Quartet. Guinevere’s Gamble (Alfred A. Knopf) is the second book in that series.

The strong female heroine in this series is likely to make this a book favored by girls aged 10 to 14. As Booklist said, this series puts a “feminine spin on a tale more typically focused on men.” And though Guinevere’s Gamble is the second book in the series, you will understand what’s going on with no trouble if you’ve not yet read the first one.

Children’s Books: Smudge’s Mark by Claudia Osmond

From the outset, Smudge’s Mark (Simply Read Books) is dense and meandering and at first seems quite incomprehensible. And I couldn’t put it down. If you think those things don’t seem to go together, welcome to the club and read on. I’m still not sure I understand how it happened, but I do know I’d read another book by this author.

One of the most powerful things about Smudge’s Mark is the strong and personable voice of the narrator, Simon, a.k.a. Smudge. “My grandpa was a wicked prankster,” Osmond-as-Simon begins. “Usually after working the part-time midnight shift at the mushroom farm, he’d make his way home to 49 Stone Elements Drive in the darkness of the early morning.” And the correct response would seem to be: who cares? At this point -- the beginning -- Osmond has seemingly done nothing to insure we care at all. And yet, oddly enough, we do. It is as though, with those first simple words, Simon waltzes into our lives as though he hasn’t a care in the world. And then, layer upon layer, we learn of all the dark places: all the things that are at stake and by then we realize that while we weren’t paying attention, Osmond has somehow -- magically? -- made us care.

Smudge’s Mark is, in its own strange way, a very good book. At story’s beginning, we meet Simon in a moment of quiet, almost introspection. By journey’s end, Simon has more or less preserved life as he knows it as well as Emogen, a hidden realm with a strong connection to Earth.

Smudge’s Mark is intended for older children -- what the industry likes to call young adults -- but I suspect it will find its place with the nine-to-twelve-year-old set. The book does not try to be either Harry Potter or Coraline, but young readers who enjoyed those books are likely to respond to elements of Osmond’s debut novel.

Children’s Books: Time of Trial: Volume 4, The Laws of Magic by Michael Pryor

Time of Trial (Random House Australia) is the fourth of Michael Pryor’s delightful Laws of Magic series, set in an alternative Edwardian England.

Once again, Aubrey Fitzwilliam and his friends George and Caroline are needed to save the world, as one of the characters observes wryly in the novel. This time, after the usual opening scene of magical mayhem -- in this case, cloud ships attacking a university cricket game in which George and Aubrey are playing. It’s during a trip to Holmland (Germany in our universe) where Lady Rose, Aubrey’s mother, is speaking at a symposium.

But this is where the evil Dr Tremaine, Aubrey’s nemesis, is living. He has influence in high places. Very high places. And then there are the golems, which are far from the lumpy clay things of folklore; you can make them very lifelike, so that it’s impossible to tell them from real people till they’re deactivated. Who can be trusted? Certainly not characters who can get sucked into telephones, as in one memorable scene.

Then there’s the pearl Aubrey took from Tremaine in the last novel -- what mystery does it hide? Our heroes are about to find out -- and they won’t like it.

It’s not all bad, though. Aubrey now has a Beccaria Cage, which reunites the body and soul he tore apart in a stupid experiment before the start of the first volume. If only it hasn’t been sabotaged...

As always, the adventure tears along at a breakneck pace, and is very funny. It doesn’t let you go easily; there’s a twist near the end, just when you think the main story is over.

I found myself falling comfortably back into this universe, enjoying it as much as ever. It’s rarely that a series can continue for this many volumes without losing something, but though it will need to finish some time, at least for this story arc, The Laws Of Magic is one series that doesn’t go downhill.

I think the series will become a fantasy classic. Bring on Volume 5!

Children’s Books: Wow! Animal and Wow! Earth

Wow! Animal and Wow! Earth, like all Dorling Kindersley books, are beautifully presented and gorgeous to flip through. And, like most books in this imprint, they are full of snippets of information, just right for children like my nephew, Max, who are good readers, to browse through and call, “Hey, Dad, did you know that starfish push their stomachs out through their mouths to absorb food?”

Both books are divided into sections that enable children who need them for homework to look up what they want. Wow! Animal has a well laid-out animal classification page that explains how classification works. Wow! Earth starts with the galaxy and works downwards.The double-page spread on the solar system has a paragraph about each planet, with all the information the young researcher will need or that the browser like Max will love to know. A pity it doesn’t mention Pluto. Just because it’s no longer considered a planet doesn’t mean it’s no longer there. But there’s only so much you can fit into a book like this, I suppose.

Wow! Animals reminds me of the books I used to read when I was a child and is nicely broken down, though those ones used to begin with prehistoric animals. But children who read it for fun will enjoy it for the same reason I did: this is a fascinating world and there are some wonderful and horrible creatures in it.

Both books also have good, clear indexes at the back and have handy glossaries. I should repeat, however, that DK Books are usually for good readers. The words are long and difficult and not all of the hard words are explained in the glossary. But if you have a bright, inquisitive child in your life, or a classroom library, or run a primary school library, buy it and watch those young eyes light up.

Children’s Books: Liar by Justine Larbalestier

Micah Wilkins lies automatically. She not only lies to family, classmates and police, she lies to the reader. Over and over. Right until the last page, you don’t know what’s true and what isn’t. Not even then.

Micah was Zach’s outside-of-school girlfriend, who ran with him, but now Zach has died and everyone is a suspect: Micah, Zach’s best friend, his official girlfriend -- everyone!

Why is Micah so fast ? Where did she get that incredible sense of smell? Why is it necessary for her to take the pill, apart from the obvious? And why does Micah’s father’s family live out in the middle of nowhere, not bothering with modern technology?

After a time, we realize that Micah isn’t the only member of her family to lie. Her father is a natural liar. Her grandmother is another. She has lied to her son and to Micah. There is a network of lies in the family, centered around “the family illness.”

I can’t go into any further detail without giving too much away. You may guess it as you read -- but bear in mind that Micah is a liar and while she tells you one ending, there are hints in the book that what has happened to her at the end is something very different.

Liar bounces around, backwards, forwards, flashbacks, family history, her own history, and somehow it works and clues build up, but Justine Larbalestier is her typical nasty self and never lets you be sure. All I can say is that at the end, I was thinking “Ouch!”

This may Larbalestier’s best book yet. Highly recommended for older teens -- younger ones tend to like things predictable and may not be happy to have to decide what really happened at the end.

Children’s Books: By the Light of the Harvest Moon by Harriet Ziefert, illustrated by Mark Jones

It’s difficult to imagine a prettier fall book than By the Light of the Harvest Moon (Blue Apple Books) by veteran children’s author Harriet Ziefert. Mark Jones’ illustrations hold a luminous, full-bodied quality.

In some ways, the story is unremarkable: a farm in the midst of autumn’s hold. Yet there is a difference here in a special fall magic that sees the leaf people emerge from their sylvan retreats and get busy with their own fall fair-type celebrations.

The story is sweet and the illustrations, as previously stated, are luminous. If you’re looking for a book that will help you and your child celebrate autumn in charming style, you’d have a tough time going wrong with By the Light of the Harvest Moon.

Children’s Books: Vulture’s Gate by Kristy Murray

Some time in the future, much of Australia is Mad Max territory. The outback is filled with folk killing each other, wiping out settlements and running freak shows. Sydney is in ruins with gangs fighting each other and the authorities, from the anti-elder Festers to the nut-case Sons of Gaia who want to wipe out everybody.

Oh, and there are very few women or girls left after a mutated form of bird flu not only killed most females but made it very difficult for the few survivors to produce anything but boys. There is still some technology in service of the Colony government, producing “drones” and “chosen” boys who get to live comfortably with two male parents.

Callum, who has been living with his two fathers in the outback, is kidnapped and sold to a circus, from which he escapes on a motorbike and meets Bo, a girl living on her own since the death of her engineer grandfather, with only the company of a pack of “roboraptors” which hunt for her. Together, Callum and Bo ride off in search of his missing fathers, accompanied by roboraptor Mr. Pinkwhistle, which is as much a computer as a robotic dinosaur.

But there are things Callum’s Colony employee fathers never told him. Like what happens to drones who aren’t useful any more -- and what happens to any girls unlucky enough to be taken.

Vulture’s Gate is an enjoyable adventure kids should like, though I’m not sure at which age group it’s aimed. It reads like YA fiction, but the characters are all very young; Bo is older than Callum, but neither of them has reached puberty. And we’re never told exactly how Australia has been left in ruins -- surely not just the bird flu? It is implied, anyway, that there may be women in other countries. And there is still enough technology to keep the race going, however nasty its use.

But it’s possible to suspend disbelief for the length of the novel, which is a nice road story. The chapters are short enough to make it work for reluctant readers and the characters are good. Who would have thought a robotic dinosaur could be as cute as R2D2?

New This Month: The Devil You Know by Leonie Norrington

cDamien’s father, 88, is coming back. Damien is not happy. 88 is violent. Like many other perpetrators of domestic violence, he is constantly apologizing and promising to reform. Damien doesn’t believe it, but his mother is prepared to take her ex back. His only comforts are a book called Dangerous Creatures and the drawing and cartooning with which he can express his inner feelings.

What Damien isn’t expecting is that his father will be considered cool by his schoolmates, because of his fabulous motorbike, to the point where it will get him an “in” with the elite crowd. What happens to his friendship with the school outcasts? Will hanging out with the school bullies make him willing to be one himself?

The Devil You Know (Allen & Unwin) depicts vividly Arnhem Land, where the author herself lives. Aboriginal culture runs through the story, though the main characters are white Australians. Damien’s drawings are woven beautifully into the tale; the novel begins and ends with pages of graphic story. Artist Michael Camilleri has worked well with the story, doing a lot more than just illustrate. His beautiful illustrations are an integral part of the tale, as they are Damien's.

Children’s Books: Robot Riot by Andy Griffiths

Robot Riot (Scholastic) is the fourth book in Andy Griffith’s Schooling Around series featuring the students of Grade 5B at Northwest Southeast Central School. But like the others in this series, the book pretty much stands alone.

The stories are all over-the-top humorous and the characters mostly have names that suit their personalities. Gretel Armstrong, for example, is strong; Jenny Friendly is the nice one; Grant Gadget is the son of an inventor and invents plenty himself.

The stories are seen from the viewpoint of Henry McThrottle. In this latest adventure, Henry is convinced that logical, unemotional new girl Roberta Flywheel is a robot from the future, planning to wipe out the population of Earth, starting with the students of 5B.

As always, it’s delightfully silly and still makes good points about friendship. And wouldn’t we all like to have been in Mr Brainfright’s class, with a teacher who loves bananas enough to dress up as one and teaches that the world would be a better place if we would all just look at it through colored cellophane once a day?

Andy Griffiths is one of the most popular children’s writers in Australia, for good reason. He knows kids love to laugh and they love over-the-top laughs.

Children’s Books: Parliament of Blood by Justin Richards

I have always wondered what would happen if vampires kept turning people into other vampires every time they bit someone. Most books suggest that it isn’t that simple, that the majority of victims simply die, or that vampires are born rather than made.

Parliament of Blood (Bloomsbury) gleefully runs with the notion that getting bitten infects your blood and turns you into a vampire almost immediately unless you can get hold of silver and holy water right away in order to clear the infection. Late in the Victorian era, the vampires have come to realize that they’re going to run out of supplies if they’re all awake at once. They operate in shifts, sleeping for decades or centuries and waking up to take their turn. Another problem: with the development of photography, they’re finding that they don’t show up. Humans are going to figure it out sooner or later.

Time to waken the Lord of the Undead, an ancient Egyptian mummy who conveniently speaks English. Luckily for the London vampire community, they have members in high places, centred around a gentleman’s club known as the Damnation Club. Unluckily for them, they have to contend with young engineer George Archer, currently working at the British Museum in a mysterious department not known to the general public, his boss Sir William, former pickpocket Eddie and their friend Liz.

The action is almost non-stop as the friends work in their various ways to stop the vampires taking over the Empire. Justin Richards has become known as the author of entertaining fantasy adventures for children and this delicious romp doesn’t disappoint. Kids will love it. Although it’s supposed to be for readers from ten to f14, I’d place it slightly higher, as the characters are nearly all adults or young adults. Still, just hand it to your kids. They will work it out.

Children’s Books: Torn Pages by Sally Grindley

Lydia and her younger siblings, Joe and Kesi, are African AIDS orphans, trying to survive alone. Lydia has had to leave school to support her brother and sister. Most of the villagers are suspicious of them. Their own grandmother, who is well-off, not only won’t take them in but is actively undermining them. She firmly believes her son married beneath him and that it was his wife’s fault he died of AIDS, even though it was the other way around.

The only comfort Lydia has is their mother’s “memory book,” written especially for her as the mother was dying. But her grandmother has plans that might take away even this comfort.

Torn Pages (Bloomsbury) is a touching story that looks at a real problem in the world and brings them down to a human dimension. The children in the story are sympathetic characters you can care about and they don’t simply accept their troubles. At the end, there is hope for the future.

Suitable for children in late primary school to early secondary.

Children’s Books: Just MacBeth by Andy Griffiths

In 2008, Australia’s Bell Shakespeare Company commissioned humorous children’s writer Andy Griffiths to write a script for the company to perform as a children’s introduction to Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Just MacBeth is the resultant work, in print, illustrated by the equally funny artist Terry Denton.

Andy Griffiths is enormously popular in Australia for all his work, but especially for the “Just” series which feature characters Andy, Danny and Lisa. Andy fancies beautiful Lisa. In this story, he gets to be married to her. When the three teens have to prepare a scene from Macbeth for school, the witches’ potion whisks them into 11th century Scotland, where they find themselves playing out the roles of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Banquo. Danny, as Banquo, finds himself with a son who’s older than he is.

Andy rather enjoys being Macbeth, because as King he will be able to eat as much Wizz Fizz as he wants, order people around and gets to be married to Lisa. The scary thing is that he and Lisa make a very good Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, who have no problem in killing people, including Banquo/Danny.

This makes an excellent introduction to Shakespeare. Some of the Bard’s lines are used in the course of the play, and the meanings are pretty much explained. Let’s face it, Macbeth may be a short play, compared with some of Shakespeare’s others, but it’s confusing.

For those of us who are reading the book instead of seeing the play, Terry Denton provides hilarious cartoon commentary on the side of each page and even the page numbers are funny, beginning with an increasingly-disgruntled head of Shakespeare who complains about being the world’s greatest playwright, reduced to supporting page numbers, is replaced by a number of other page-holders, including a haggis, devoured by a machine and returns, defeating all other page-holders.

Fans of the Just stories will enjoy this once they get over its being in script form instead of a short story. Schools can buy class sets and have fun playing it out in class.

Children’s Books: Ghost with A Message by Mary K. Pershall

Ruby Clair is a girl who sees dead people. Well, the ghost of her cousin Nicola, anyway, plus any ghosts Nicola sends her way. Because she can see ghosts, Ruby can help them adjust. Ghost With A Message (Penguin Books Australia) is the second book in the Ruby Clair series. The ghost is a small child who has a message for her family, but can’t speak any better than any other three year old.

Ruby wants to help, but it makes things awkward for her with her friends and family, to whom she can’t explain what’s going on. Somehow, she manages to work out what the ghost child is trying to tell her, help the ghost’s family and make a new friend.

This is a gentle story with both humor and serious elements. It is a book that girls in middle to late primary school should enjoy.

Doctorow’s Little Brother Optioned for film

Author Cory Doctorow has announced that his vastly entertaining young adult novel Little Brother (Tor Teen) has been optioned for film.

Early this morning, Doctorow blogged that “Don Murphy, producer of such films as Natural Born Killers and From Hell, has bought a film option on Little Brother. I’ve talked it over with Don and feel confident that if he makes the movie that he’ll do it justice -- I’m guaranteed a spot as a consultant to ensure that it all comes out right, too!”

Little Brother was among January Magazine’s picks for best children’s book of 2008. Here’s what January contributing editor Iain Emsley said about the book at that time:

Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother is a timely book which teases out the implications of the war on terror and comes in a year which Neal Shusterman’s Unwind was published in the United Kingdom. Both novels challenge us to ask “what type of world are we now living in?” Doctorow asks us to continue questioning the underlying logic of the post 9/11 world which has been presented to us. Marcus, a teen hacker, is caught up by the security services in the aftermath of a terrorist attack. His treatment leads him to start using technology to subvert the increasingly authoritarian environment and to link together with his friends and acquaintances. It is a call to arms but it does consider the implications of technology in a social context rather than just seeing it as a panacea. It is quite possibly his most thought-provoking novel to date.

Children’s Books: The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks

Catherine Jinks is one of the most versatile writers I know of. Historical fiction, SF, fantasy, thriller, ghost stories, children’s, YA, adult -- there are very genres she hasn’t set her pen to at one time or another.

In The Reformed Vampire Support Group, she visits the vampire story, although I suspect this is not the kind of novel that would be relished by all the girls at my school who are devouring the Twilight series. If anything, this sends up the vampire tale.

Catherine Jinks asks her readers to think -- really think -- about what being a vampire might involve, especially in modern Sydney. You can’t eat anything you used to enjoy. You’re unlikely to be able to drive, unless you got your licence before you were turned. If you were elderly, like Bridget, a former nun who was turned at the age of 80, you’ll have arthritis and other aches and pains involved with being elderly forever. You still have to make a living, but you can’t do a normal job. Not if you turned in 1908, anyway. Nina, the narrator, who died in the 1970s, writes adventure novels with a feisty vampire heroine. But Nina was turned at 15, which means she will be a teenager forever, with all the problems this involves.

These vampires don’t live in crypts, though they do have weekly group therapy sessions at the local Catholic church. This means they have to find homes with blackout facilities. And they have nothing to do all night but watch dull television shows.

Fortunately one of them has discovered a way to avoid fanging humans, which they really don’t want to do, as biting humans always turns them and the last thing they need is a planetful of vampires.

But someone has killed a vampire. They have to find out who it is and persuade them not to do it again. Trouble is, there’s more to it than vampire killers.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group has a lot of fun with the vampire genre, especially right now when everyone and his dog is publishing it. All I can say is that the authors of the Deadly Serious vampire tales deserve everything they get in this deliciously funny novel.

Catherine Jinks triumphs again!

Children’s Books: Nibbling on Einstein’s Brain by Diane Swanson

Nibbling on Einstein’s Brain (Annick Press) is a newly revised edition of a book that was initially published in 2001. This new edition is more-ish in every way: it’s longer, brighter and better realized, intended to provide children with a gentle foundation for scientific learning.

In a way, the book is based on the idea that a little science can take you quite a distance, especially when it comes to dispelling the myths that bad science spread around.

Nibbling on Einstein’s Brain is really quite good. Where non-fiction books aimed at this age group can be overly simplistic and facile, Swanson is expert at sharing information in a fashion that is both lucid and interesting. And, truth be told, she should be good at it: she’s over 70 books into a career of doing just that!

Subtitled The Good, The Bad and the Bogus in Science, Nibbling on Einstein’s Brain is the perfect primer to the way science works in our lives and the various roles it can play. In some ways, the book does even more than that: touching at times on ideas that are quite philosophical in nature, at others sharing skills crucial to critical thinking. Nibbling on Einstein’s Brain is a whimsically illustrated treasure trove of learning for young minds.

New this Month: The Puzzle Ring by Kate Forsyth

The Puzzle Ring (Scholastic) begins in Australia, where 13-year-old Hannah is living with her mother, Roz, a science teacher, but the action quickly moves to Scotland and stays there. Roz receives a letter from her missing husband’s grandmother, Belle, who pleads with her to return. Hannah finds out that her father was a Scottish lord, although the only money the family has now comes from tourist visitors.

Meeting some local children, Hannah is soon heavily involved in adventures involving a family curse, a puzzle ring that has to be reassembled before the curse can be lifted and a search for her lost father. The only problem is, she may just have to time-travel to solve all these problems. Right back to the time of Mary Queen of Scots, in fact.

In some ways, this is a good old-fashioned children’s book of the kind I, at least, grew up on. Apart from suggestions that some characters’ parents might not have been married and characters in the past indicating that Mary Queen of Scots is no better than she should be -- and you can’t change history -- there’s nothing in here that you wouldn’t find in one of those books, except for a detailed afterword that discusses the different theories of time travel and wormholes. There’s also an explanation of the story of Queen Mary and a recipe at the end for marmalade cake, as made by the author’s mother.

This book will be perfect for the little girl in your life who likes fairies, although be warned: the author makes it clear from early in the novel that the cute little fairies most children think of have no connection whatever to the ones in folklore. They’re more like Tolkien’s Elves but can also be thoroughly terrifying.

It won’t hurt children to find this out -- and they may even be interested enough to check out the “real” faerie for themselves.

Kate Forsyth is a well-known Australian writer of children’s fantasy. She actually managed to score five junior-section Aurealis Awards for a fantasy series one year!

Children’s Books: Auslander by Paul Dowswell

Peter had been living in Poland with his mostly-German parents before World War II, on a farm his mother had inherited from her Polish relatives. When the parents are killed, Peter goes to an orphanage, but not for long. A few weeks later, he is taken to Berlin, where he is adopted by a well-off family, the Kaltenbachs. At first, he enjoys his new lifestyle. The Kaltenbachs are kind to him and everyone admires his blonde, blue-eyed Aryan features.

But Professor Kaltenbach is involved in so-called racial science research, benefiting from experimentation on prisoners, and the eldest daughter, Elsbeth, has a dark secret of her own.

When Peter meets Anna, daughter of parents who are not enthusiastic Nazis and secretly help Jews, he has the chance to assist his new girlfriend and her family in their acts of rebellion. But there will be a terrible price to be paid if they are caught. And meanwhile, the war goes on around them.

Auslander (Bloomsbury) is a well-written novel that has interesting characters -- some based on real people -- and shows what it might have been like to live in wartime Germany, where children denounced parents, schoolmates spied on schoolmates and a word said to the wrong person could get you executed. Even Christmas carols had been altered to include Hitler, while there were swastikas on Christmas trees and dolls’ house wallpaper. The author’s notes at the end assure the reader that even the more bizarre elements of the story are true. There is also adventure near the end, as Peter and his friends flee the Gestapo.

Auslander should appeal to young adults who are interested in Holocaust-era fiction. Recommended.