Lowly’s Book Blog

Set in recent history, 1984, this coming-of-age story is far more complex than many in the genre. There are serious issues here, but they are handled gently and with a strong dash of humour,

Hester Jones is 15. Her best friend forever has just moved away and at least for now she has been included in the ‘in’ group. But her family threatens this secure position. She has the most embarrassing dad in the world and he is never going to let her grow up. Her Indian heritage makes her the focus of racist comments, even from her ‘friends’. Gradually Hester discovers her own path and moves forward in her life with confidence.

The blurb calls this book hilarious. I don’t think so. Perhaps the writing raised a few smiles as I proceeded through, but certainly no laughs. This is probably because the issues addressed are far too serious for laughter. Racism, religious fundamentalism, homosexual relationships and even child abuse are part of Hester’s year of growth. Personally I don’t find much of that a laughing matter.
Don’t get me wrong. I really enjoyed reading this book. I finished it with a lovely warm glow, and any book that provides that is a good read. Hester is a very credible character. And the period of time is portrayed very effectively. Dealing with recent history is often very difficult.

I remember that I loved my first introduction to Ishmael. I read aloud the opening introduction to the character in Bauer’s first book to my middle school classes regularly. So I was very interested in starting the further adventures of Ishmael Laseur.

The summer holidays are over, and book two follows Ishmael and his friends through their second year of high school. He still has a crush on Kelly; Barry Bagsley is still a bully; and Razza is still Razza. But this year his father’s band is reforming and the English teacher is introducing love poetry. Can life get any worse?

Once again this book is genuinely funny. There are a few laugh-out-loud moments, and a few bittersweet smiles for the reader to enjoy. In fact, enjoyment is what this book is all about. It is a real feel-good read, and there are not enough of these books for young adult readers.

Thank you Bauer for this entertaining read.

Good book, good cover. When is the last time that I said that! But this book from Scholastic Press is a funny book about a serious issue that is genuinely entertaining.

Theodore is branded on his first day of high school. He is lining up with all the other year 7s, not knowing a soul. When his name is called, he shuffles forward. A foot appears from nowhere and suddenly Theodore finds himself on top of the teacher who has landed on the ground. Someone from the crowd calls out Theo-dork and the nickname sticks.

From there the story goes through Danno’s first year of high school. He is bullied and absolutely miserable. His parents only make the situation worse. So Danno struggles to find his own niche. On the way he discovers talents and skills that he never suspected.

What I particularly liked about the story is the scene late in the book where Danno is given the opportunity for revenge on those who have made him so miserable. Realistically, he takes up the opportunity, but quickly regrets the pain and embarrassment that was caused.

Many books about school life deal with the issue of bullying, but this is one of the best because victim is empowered by his own strength of character and personal growth.

Two authors, one book. Is it any surprise that the most convenient format for this story was alternating chapters written by each author? What is surprising is how well it works.

Joel and Cat hate each other. They cannot stand being in the same room. Cat’s best friend and Joel have a ‘history’ and that is never good. Unfortunately through a series of misadventures the two of them are matched up for a creative writing assignment in which they are write a paragraph each day on a short story. The difficulty is that each paragraph must be emailed to the other at the end of the day, and the second one has to pick up the story and continue. So what if Cat’s favourite author is Jane Austen and Joel’s is Matthew Reilly. 

The story begins with Cat setting the scene in an early morning, gentle, slow and introspective. Joel’s paragraph introduces high adventure including a skydiving spy. Get the picture? But as the story continues the two of them learn to talk to each other, and more importantly listen, and a friendship is born.

This is a book full of good humour and fun. Neither author takes the project too seriously and the fun they had while writing it literally jumps off the page. Apparently Earls and Sparrow accepted advice from fans via a blog or even SMS as they were writing. Some of the very strange passages from the short story truly indicate the wild imagination as fans tried to set the authors challenges.

Did I like the book? Absolutely. Is it great literature? No, but sometimes it is nice simply to have something fun to read.

Hmm, another book that I read quite a while ago. And as with many of these books on file, I wasn’t particularly inspired to write about it then, and even less so now.

This is a fairly typical school story. Four unlikely friends band join together to overturn the Mayor’s decision to demolish a historic building on the school campus. Using all their varied skills, but mostly an effective argument, they save the building.

Somehow I have trouble accepting this kind of story as realistic. In fact many of the fantasy novels I read have a stronger edge of realism in them. However, for junior secondary readers this is better than a great deal of the other stuff out there. In the past few years this age group has been starving for a good variety of quality literature.

Does it sound awful if I said I had read this before? OK maybe not these words in this order, but I am sure I have read it many times before.

David McRobbie has been writing books for young adults longer than I have been working in libraries. His first Wayne series was ‘old’ in the 90s, and now suddenly Wayne Wilson is back.

The book is actually a collection of anecdotes about young Wayne Wilson’s daily life. No detail is too small or insignificant to be included. It is generally funny, warm and a very light read.

But my question is why? There are literally hundreds of this kind of book being written by very mediocre writers and published every year.

Is McRobbie trying to tie into the Boys and Reading trend? Well perhaps 10 or 12 stories about Wayne would have done. None of my reluctant readers would be seen opening a 400 page book. It simply is not in the image. Someone might think you were a nerd.

But then maybe there were some bills that needed paying, and revisiting an old friend in an old formula is a great way to publish quickly. Sorry McRobbie, but I have read much of your work that was far better.

Leonie Norrington is one of those perennial authors who always seems to be at conferences launching books. I have attended the book launch of all three of the books in the Barrumbi series, and until now avoided reading any of them. This book ended up at the bottom of the pile so often that it only got picked up a few weeks ago when I had nothing to read. I got a pleasant surprise. If I am ever in the position of nothing to read again, I just might pick up the rest of the series.

Fans of Norrington will know that much of her writing is based on her own upbringing in a mixed Aboriginal/European community in the Northern Territory. This book follows the children from the other books in the series as they move to boarding school in Darwin.

Dale cannot understand why this new school cannot comprehend that he and Tomias are brothers. Just because their skin is a different colour, and they have different parents, suddenly Dale cannot go away on fishing weekends with his friend. In fact he is hardly allowed to speak to him. This makes Dale, never one to hold his temper, lash out. And then Tomias takes up music, of all the silly things. And that new music teacher has it in for Dale. She has, right from the first time she sets eyes on him.

This books deals beautifully with the bittersweet changes that happen to kids as they approach adolescence. The reader can understand Dale as he runs to the only bit of bush he can see from the school. They agree with his help and support of the old couple that he finds there. He has to fight the council and prevent that bushland clearance. But Tomias is portrayed equally sympathetically. The girl he likes just happens to be the daughter of the Principal. He can’t help the fact that he is attracted by her music and then discovers an unknown talent. In spite of all that he still tries to help Dale, a known troublemaker.

I wonder if there will be any more about the Barrumbi kids. If so, the book won’t sit at the bottom of the pile for very long.

Now to attack the backlog. In the past 5 months I have been reading madly, but never finding the time to review.

Ages ago I read this book, and really enjoyed it. OK so the plot is stale and the characters more like caricatures, but still…

This plot is simple to relate. Bad boy always in trouble finds purpose and redemption through the school musical. Really, that is it. Another one.

What rescues this book from mediocrity is the fact that some of the characters ring true. Will is not bad, he is just unthinking. Putting him in a leadership position forces him to grow up. Finally he learns that every decision has a consequence, and that is not a bad lesson to learn when one is young. Also the situations that Will finds himself in seem very natural, from mooning the girl’s school bus, to rescuing a year 7 from a rubbish bin. And by the way, I applaud the choice of musical. Many authors would choose something like West Side Story, or Evita nearly impossible for children to sing. Maria Boyd avoided that trap.

So in spite of the tired plot, this book was actually worth the time spent reading it.

My review bookstack has just hit 20 new unread titles. So today the discipline starts. And I chose a good book to begin with.

Before reading The Real Thing another book in what could loosely be called the Glenfield High series by this author, I had never heard of Brian Falkner. Now a websurf shows that he is one of New Zealand top young authors for young adults, and Walker Books released his titles into the Australian market just before Christmas last year. I received my copy in a package of reading for the Victorian Premier’s Reading Challenge.

It looked like The Super Freak was the second title in the series, so I left it for awhile. But I should know better than to trust publisher’s blurbs. In the last few chapters I noticed where the action of the two books overlapped, and Freak should have been first. But it doesn’t matter.

Anyway, the book is about a poor young boy who has been moved from one end of New Zealand to another while his father, an actor, chases work. He arrives for his first day at high school, and knows no one. Throughout his lonely first days he finds refuge in the library, starts to analyse his classmates and naturally comes up against the school bully. In desperation he begins to wish very hard that people would change their minds. And guess what? They do…

Suddenly Jacob starts to take control of his world. The English teacher sets an essay topic on knickers. The PE teacher lets his failure go unnoticed. With this new power, Jacob can do anything. A super-criminal is born. Months are spent planning, rehearsing and arranging his heist, robbing the school fete. Along the way he makes friends, discovers he is not alone, and even bests the bully. I can’t say much more without taking away the excitement of the story.

This book was surprisingly good. It arrived without fanfare. I had bought copies for the library just to keep new and fresh material available for the younger students. However, I will be promoting them enthusiastically from now on, especially for those year 7 boys who really can’t be bothered with something complex.

This was one of the first books I read at the start of the school holidays. A friend had recommended it and I certainly needed a change from the diet of children’s and young adult books. What a powerful read. It should almost be required reading in any teacher training course.

Picoult tells the story of a school shooting incident from many points of view. The judge, whose daughter attended the school and cannot remember what happened in front of her own eyes. The detective, who arrives on the scene while the shooting is still in progress and manages to disarm the shooter and arrest him. The mother of the shooter, who has been a successful midwife for many years, advising other mothers about nurturing their own children. The daugher of the judge, who used to be best friends with the boy with the gun. The defense lawyer, desperately looking for any defense for the young man. And finally the shooter himself, is he a criminal or really a victim…

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Every page. However, be warned, it is not a book you can forget easily.