Lowly’s Book Blog

I will admit that I read this book quite a while ago. It didn’t really impress, and therefore this review has waited.

Murray wants to escape the boredomand frustration of his life on an Australian farm. He runs away to the army during WW2. He gets sent to New Guinea, and believing that the Japanese will never get that far, his story focusses on his friendships formed in his fighting unit. Then his arch enemy from home arrives in the same unit. Murray deserts, up the Kakoda Track, where he runs into another unit fighting those Japanese that were never going to get that far.

Palmer has told this story with great historical accuracy. He should because he has made a living making documentaries for the BBC. With all the media attention about sports stars and other celebrities ‘doing’ the Kakoda Trail, I believe it is important that children have an easily accessible way of finding out why that particular part of the world is so historically important.

Thank you Tony Palmer.

I have been reading Ken Catran’s Moran series from the beginning, and this one is just as good as all the rest. However, I do question whether or not it will appeal to the same crowd.

The Moran series follows the military careers of each member of four generations. Jacko was a sniper in World War 1. Robert, his son, was in Africa and Greece in World War 2, Jimmy fought in Vietnam and now Teresa is a lieutenant in a unit headed for East Timor and from there to Iraq. Most of the books appeal to year 7 and 8 boys because of the realistic violence therein. This book is different. The wars being fought are different, and as a result this book needs to tell the story radically differently. Teresa is in command and this requires that she think about collateral damage far more than any of her ancestors.  And of all the Morans, at the end of the book you get the feeling that she will survive and go on to live a normal life after the army, something her fathers never could do.

Personally, I liked this finish to the series. However, I doubt the boys interested in the blood and guts will tolerate this book for long. It’s a shame really.

I suspect there is a special arts grant to encourage New Zealand authors to write ‘books for boys’. Certainly there have been many books reviewed here in the past months. This book is obviously the one that I have found most recently.

Josh is a young man whose life is falling apart. His father’s business has gone bankrupt and both the house and his grandparent’s were mortgaged to finance a ’survival’ package. Everything is gone. On their last Christmas holiday at the Grandparent’s property at the beach Josh’s mother volunteers him to teach another boy to surf. Combined with the fact that the school bully has also come to the same beach for a holiday, Josh is facing the worst summer holiday ever.

For the most part this book is very average. But then Scholastic specialises in average books for average kids. I did find the angry voice of Josh very convincing. At fifteen when your world appears to be falling apart, anger is going to be the most natural reaction, and here it is convincingly portrayed.

However, I do wish that someday a book for teens would provide a realistic solution to the problem of a bully. Somehow waiting until the bully is in a life or death situation and then rescuing him is not going to work for every kid.