Lowly’s Book Blog

Somehow I can’t believe that I haven’t listed a fantasy on this list before. I love reading fantasy and often have to discipline myself to ensure that there is some variety to what I read and report.

And Isobelle Carmody is one of my favourite authors. I first acquired Little Fur soon after it was published in 2005, but somehow I never found time to read it. And then last month I was given its sequel to review. I alway try to avoid reviewing a sequel if I haven’t read the first book in the series. Suddenly this little treasure rose to the top of the reading pile.

Little Fur is Carmody’s first attempt at writing for young readers, and I am firmly convinced that she got the voice right. The story is a simple tale of mythical creatures seeking to find a way to save a woodland. Little Fur is an elf-troll and her quest is assisted by two cats and a crow. Together they travel through a human city searching for an old woodland spirit to help them remind humans that forests are important for our survival.

The writing in many ways reminded me of Carmody’s first book, Obernewtyn. In that book also her main character has the ability to communicate with animals, and she is assisted by a cat. The simple storytelling was also similar, although for Obernewtyn, Carmody was barely older than her characters as she was writing and that may explain some of the simplicity of style. Now for the author of the Legendsong series, Little Fur is a complete departure.

My problem is with the publishers. This book seems ideal for young readers of say 7-10 years of age. But the books has a dull brown cover, hardcover and small print. I don’t know too many 7 year olds who will sit down with any 200 page book, especially with 10 point font and stick with it long enough to get into the story. Older kids, starting to be influenced by the ‘cool’ factor, could easily be put off by the ‘fairy tale’ nature of the story.

So unfortunately, I suspect that Little Fur will be relegated to the ‘collection to be read aloud’ in most homes or schools. And how many parents out there still read to their children regularly?

Jackie French is amazing. Some of you out there will remember her as a TV comic. And I challenge you to find any child in Australian who hasn’t read at least one book of hers. Come on – own up. You are, or were, a fan of The Children of the Valley, or Hitler’s Daughter. And is there any Australian aged 5 or 95 who has picked up Diary of a Wombat and not adored it?

Recently it seems that Jackie French is writing historical novels, focusing on the stories that are less than widely known. Her participation in the Fair Dinkum History series for Scholastic has been a stroke of genius on somebody’s part.

And now she has decided to tell the ‘real’ story of Macbeth. The tale of Macbeth the Scottish King who reigned over a golden age in Scotland. The Macbeth who brought peace to warring clans. The Macbeth who got terribly bad press in England because he was a threat to English supremacy. And of course it was this bad press that Shakespeare immortalised in his Scottish play.

Essentially, a modern boy facing crises of his own, starts dreaming about Macbeth’s son Lulach. And through these dreams he begins to experience the real story behind the play he is studying at school. Jackie French’s skill with characters keeps the story going. Somehow it never loses touch with reality, and remains convincing. Well done!

But my problem is the intended audience. From my experience, Jackie’s fans are firmly located in the last couple of years of primary school. And this book requires a basic familiarity with Shakespeare’s Macbeth. I doubt very much that many primary school students have studied it, or even would be bothered looking at a simple summary of the play. If this book is intended for an upper secondary audience, then the publishers need to get rid of the cute redhead on the cover and replace it with a young man or better yet a dark and mysterious cover. And the author needs to disguise the blatant moral of the story a little more discreetly. I know of very few 15+ students who would stand for the preachy ending.

Sorry Jackie, but in my view, you missed this time.

And you were wondering when I would get around to some books for young children.

Ride with me is a wonderfully presented picture book that is sure to attract the attention of all those girls who long for a horse of their own, and this starts very young. (My parents moved from a city to a farm when I was in grade 1 because I and my younger sister were nagging about getting a pony.) The illustrations are all of a lovely white horse and a girl who befriends it and gradually gentles it to ride. Mostly the illustrations are shades of grey or blue and simply lovely.

When you read the story, though, there is a darker and sadder backstory. The horse once belonged to the girl’s mother who has recently and suddenly died. Both the horse and the girl are grieving independently. The horse is becoming timid and wild, the girl is sad and withdrawn. But for her mother’s sake she tries to communicate with the horse.

This isn’t quite The Horse Whisperer, but it is a picture story book. The story needs to be told in under 30 pages and less than 500 words. The surprising thing is that it works. The very simplicity of the tale and the illustrations draw you in.

I can see this as a favourite book for a few littlies

I love the ‘new genre’ of verse novels. How on earth did anyone ever tell a complex story full of emotion before these came along?

Catherine Bateson is one of several young Australian authors who have made this form of writing a specialty. This time she is looking at 4 young adults that become involved in a ‘work for the dole’ scheme with another young person who has just arrived in this back of beyond country town. And the work skill they will be learning? Circus!

Can you imagine four 18-21 year olds from Abattoir Town forced to front up to work and learn acrobatics and juggling? And where is the future employment in that? But gradually Mollie gains their loyalty and each one finds a new path for the future. At the same time Molly learns to manage her grief and the loss of her love.

As with many verse novels, details and description are brief. You need to fill in a lot of the blanks for yourself. But that is part of the engagement. You have to get involved in the story.

This is another of my published reviews:

What a joy to be asked to review a book by one of my favourite authors! I still remember finishing Black Juice, her previous collection of short stories, and immediately handing it on to friends. Her story Singing my Sister Down from that collection remains one of the best new short stories I have read in the past decade.

And now Red Spikes. Ten very different short stories, but all of them modelled on ‘classic’ short story ideas. “Monkey’s Paternoster” is an animal fable. “Under Hell, Over Heaven” is truly a parable, with a strong moral lesson. “Winkie” and “Mouse Maker” have more in common with tales from the Brothers Grimm than any modern collection of stories.

Many of the stories are placed in a medieval setting. Several have a strong magical element. This adds to the classic fairy tale feel of the collection.

In her acknowledgements at the back of the book Margo Lanagan shares with us her inspiration for each of the stories. Among those identified are Garth Nix (the Old Kingdom Trilogy) and C.S. Lewis, classic fantasy writers.

Red Spikes is much more approachable than Margo Lanagan’s previous story collection. That’s not to say that each story is not worth a second reading, but all of them make entertaining reading. However, the collection does not contain and single outstanding story, and I doubt that this publication as widely recognized as her previous work.

What an unusual book! Most books for young adults deal with extremes of adolescent behavior with most adults either not involved in the plot, or providing a stable anchor while the young engage in risk taking behavior.

In Mama’s Trippin’, the protagonist Von is invited to New Zealand to visit long lost mother. When he gets there he quickly discovers that his mother is addicted to drugs, in trouble with underworld heavies, and generally existing at the edges of society. It seems that Von has been brought over from Australia to serve as a babysitter for his two-year-old half sister. Life is complicated further by Von’s diabetes which needs a stable, regulated environment to stay under control.

There is plenty of action and adventure in this book. Von’s mother disappears, the drug lords come looking and it is up to Von to find a safe haven for himself and his sister in a strange country where everything is unfamiliar.

Watson-Kell’s characterisation could easily have become trite and two dimensional. Instead Von remains a believable character, making mistakes and acting impulsively at times. This is a very good, quick read for those 15 years and over.

Anyone out there who remembers the Petrov affair? Or even remember what is was like to be a child in Australia in the 1950s. Perhaps I should categorize this as Historical Fiction, but I firmly believe that the core of the story is about families.

The story is told from the point of view of Matilda, a girl young enough to still be enthralled by fairy tales. She has two older sisters, one suffering what we would now call depression. During the progress of the book, her mother’s brother’s marriage breaks up and Uncle Paul comes to stay. Matilda’s father ‘goes away’ and there are very strange things happening in the house next door.

As always Dubosarsky’s characters have a complexity that is uncommon in books for children. And this book is definitely written for children rather than adolescents. I doubt that many 13+ will tolerate the simplicity of Matilda’s point of view, which includes her imaginary friend.

There will be those that object to the unpleasantness in this book. Why do children need to read about suicide, depression and even international espionage. But I am a firm believer that children can use fiction to help them understand what they see in reality. Matilda’s story is intermingled with newspaper stories from the time, giving the reader clues to help interpret what Matilda is observing.