Lowly’s Book Blog

cI rarely get the opportunity to review children’s books for Buzz, but I snatched at this one as soon as it was unpacked. Everything about it said, read me, now!

This book is exactly what you expect it to be, the letters of the alphabet illustrated using animals. One word on each page, and the associated letter. You have all seen the sort of thing on Sesame Street.

But this book has some wonderful illustrations. Andrew Zukerman is an excellent animal photographer. His photos demand attention. At first I assumed that the illustrations were drawn in a photorealistic style, but upon closer inspection, this level of detail could only come from the animal itself.

But a picture book is more than the illustrations. The text is placed carefully to suit each photo and the whole effect is to demand reading.

Thinking about Christmas presents for a youngster? This would jump to the top of my list.

Many of you will know a lot more about Jal than I. As you might expect, I tend to spend a lot of time with my head in a book rather than keeping up to date with pop culture and its icons. Those of you who know of the rap-artist Emmanuel Jal will be keen to read this personal biography. I strongly suggest that even if you have never heard of the man, this story has a message to all.

Jal began life in a small village in Sudan. As the civil war moved closer, his family joined the thousands of refugees looking for a safe haven. But there was no safety, no haven. Instead he was recruited to the Sudanese Liberation Army at age 9. The story of his experiences in the army, after his rescue and even his passion for music makes riveting reading.

This is the story of a remarkable human being. His story will bring a tear to your eye and hope to your soul.

Dafur – does anybody know where that is? Sure it has been in the news occasionally, or some charity asking for money for the starving children of Africa, but do you really know where it is. What about Sudan? What do you know about the governmental structure and ruling party? Certainly as I started reading this book I was very ignorant.

Halima Bashir grew up in Dafur. She was a very happy and intelligent girl from a moderately wealthy family. The family was financially able to send her to a boarding school and enable her to break the cycle of poverty that entrapped many of her childhood friends. In fact, Halima did so well at school that she became the first non-Arab woman doctor. However, as she left the simple village life, she quickly discovered that in Sudan there was one rule for the Islamic Arabs and one rule for the Islamic Africans, and the rules greatly favoured the Arabs.

Once Halima qualified as a doctor, her real troubles began. Long before her training was complete, she was sent to work as the only doctor in a small African village. Medical supplies were rudimentary, but with sensitivity, caring and clear thinking, Halima made a real difference. That is until the day the Janjaweed attacked the girls school in town. Every single female in the school was raped, teachers, adolescents and even the little girls. Many died. Later Halima was asked about the injuries by a UN representative, and she answered honestly. By that action, she made herself a target.

What follows is horrific. But the story also includes people of generosity and good will who help Halima survive, and escape to England. And then Halima encounters the Immigration controls!

This is a powerful story. And sadly every word of it is true. 

How many times have you heard someone say, ‘I’m going to write a book someday.’ Many even have an idea, or a fascinating life story to tell. Nancy Kohner researched this book throughout most of her lifetime, but only put pen to paper after she was diagnosed with a terminal cancer. This book is all we will ever hear from her.

This is the story of three generations of Jews living and working in Podersam, Czechoslovakia. When Heinrich and Valerie marry in 1896 this is all part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Together they raise three children, send one son off to World War I to fight for the Kaiser, see all their eldest son and daughter married, the birth of their first grandchild and the rise of the Nazis. It is made very clear at the beginning of the book that the two sons escaped to England and Ireland, but the fate of the remainder of the family is revealed in context.

This book is very special because Kohner had nearly a century of letters to use as source material. This family wrote to each other regularly and kept all the letters, Even when the boys escaped to England, boxes of letters came with them. Nancy had to have them translated and much of the writing in this book is directly taken from these letters. This gives a wonderfully strong voice to Heinrich and Valerie, people that the author never met.

This book could easily have focused on Hitler, the Nazis and the Holocaust, and as such been lost in the huge volume of literature about those times. Instead the focus is very clearly on the family, their concern for Franz who is fighting on the Russian front in WWI, the fact that as the war continues there is nothing for them to sell in their shop, the joy of their garden. World War II is handled nearly as gently, but it is more traumatic because Heinrich and Valerie have to leave their home and business of 40 years to begin life anew, with both of them well over 60. When the Nazis arrive in Prague, the story becomes very sad. Valerie’s last letters are heartrending.

I thoroughly enjoyed this unusual book. An important story was told with love and respect. History was revealed through the eyes of the people who lived through it, not a historian’s analysis. 

Rarely do I get asked to review information books. I read so much fiction, as I am sure you have noticed by now, that occasionally it is nice to absorb some factual information.

This is very simply a fun book that examines how the brain works and the changes that happen in the brain during adolescence. There is a huge amount of hard information here, but the presentation is such that the reader learns painlessly, and usually laughing as they go. The author is from the UK, so much of her statistical information is based on US or UK populations, but there is enough truth to the stories that any Australian teenager will certainly recognize themselves and friends as they go.

Highly recommended.

Often I am asked if I like every book I read. I seem to find something positive to say about everything. This book is certainly the exception. There is nothing good about this rubbish.

This is essentially a bad science textbook loosely strung together with a ludicrous story about Columbus’ discovery of America. There is no attempt to make the story flow, that might get in the way of the science lectures. The plot. if there is any, is ludicrous. Imagine a common seaman lecturing Columbus about tides.

As a science teacher I found this book offensive.

I think I have now read all the books in this new series from Jackie French. I am convinced that they will do for Australian History what Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories have done for English history.

Australia, 1820, lots of convicts, some settlers and the colony is spreading out. Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia get a start. But I’ll bet you never knew some of the quirky bits of history that French has managed to uncover. Her way of writing up the boring bits makes reading this information book from cover to cover a fascinating experience. For example, ‘If Sydney was the colony at the end of the world, the colony of Hobart almost dropped off the edge of the planet.’

This book is a most entertaining way to find out about Australian history. The cartoons and illustrations keep the mood light and the information entertaining. Well done.

Everyone has seen the ads – ‘Buy Now. Genuine Persian Carpets. Only $80, This weekend only.’ The Little Hero fills in the story behind these ads and makes very clear the true cost of those rugs.

Iqbal Mash was a very little boy when his older brother decided that he wanted to get married. There was no money in the family for the bride price, so they asked the local carpet maker for a loan, which 4 year old Iqbal would work to pay off. And so began 6 years of 12-16 hour working days behind locked doors in dark, cramped, and unsafe factories.

Iqbal had the courage to escape, twice. The first time he was returned to work by adults he trusted. But the second time he was found by a group of university students who were working to release children from their bonded labour. Over time Iqbal became an international spokesman for bonded children throughout Pakistan.

And then, at 12 years of age, he was assassinated.

This books is Iqbal’s true story, told to Andrew Crofts by the young man who found Iqbal and gave him a voice. This young man is now in hiding in Europe, powerless to help any more children.

This book contains a very powerful story, and one that needs to be told widely, again and again. Unfortunately the writing style resembles more a newspaper report than an engaging story. Sadly, Iqbal doesn’t reach out and grab your attention. Andrew Crofts should have read books likeChinese Cinderella or Mao’s Last Dancer, clearly chosen his target audience, and then tried to tell the story with a strong first person narrative.

In the afterword Andrew Crofts explains that a film is being made of the story. Good!