Socks by Nick Sharratt and Elizabeth Lindsay

Socks 

By Nick Sharratt and Elizabeth Lindsay
Pub. 2012

My kids love anything by Nick Sharratt (and so do I). Here is a follow on from Pants and More Pants.
Sharratt has teamed up with Lindsay this time, instead of Giles Andreae, and this book doesn't disappoint.

With lots of colour and variation in language it can be read man times over. Although these aren't books with a trajectory of narrative (ie story line), Sharratt has done well to create a fun adventure on each page to easily enjoy as he takes us through the imagination of how many different ways you can use sock and create characters.

By using the colours of the socks in each page, and contrasting the the main protagonists in black and white, it's a very different way to get the child reader involved the text, as they are watching and engaging with the imagination and sock placement, rather than focussing in on the alignment of the boy and girl narrators.

A fun and enjoyable book. Great for reading aloud in one-on-one, small group and big group setting. Double thumbs up.

GREAT AND THE DANGEROUS By Chris Westwood

GREAT AND THE DANGEROUS

By Chris Westwood Pub. 2012

Follow-up to the highly acclaimed Ministry of Pandemonium.

We have a list too and your name is on it. . . Ben Harvester and Becky Sanborne are clocking off after a normal shift at the Ministry of Pandemonium, guiding the souls of the newly-dead to the afterlife. But the enemy are still smarting after their catastrophic defeat at Halloween and are keen for revenge. A freak tornado that destroys Becky's house is only the start. 

When thirteen souls are stolen following a bomb explosion on Bad Saturday, the Ministry staff know that it heralds an all-out war with the Lords of Sundown. But little does Ben suspect how far their influence spreads. Who is the mysterious whisperer at his school? And why does Ben feel so uneasy about his mother's new boyfriend? 

The brilliant follow-up to the highly acclaimed Ministry of Pandemonium by Chris Westwood takes readers on a thrilling journey through the streets of London and to the gates of Abhorra. 

Fantastically gripping until the very last page.

ANCIENT EGYPT: TALES OF GODS AND PHARAOH By Marcia Williams

ANCIENT EGYPT: TALES OF GODS AND PHARAOH

By Marcia Williams: Pub. 2012


Nine stories of Ancient Egypt, wittily retold in comic-strip style. Full of mystery and adventure, the stories of the Egyptian pharaohs and their ancient gods are steeped in thousands of years of history. From the creation myth to the curse of Tutankhamen and the fall of Cleopatra, Marcia Williams' classic comic strip retellings bring new life to the myths and wonders of this ancient civilization.

Although you may not agree with the ideology in this book, and it's emphasis on the religiosity of the time, it is a great study of ancient Egypt in a fun, interactive way, with it's comic book-like strips and sense of humour used in the timeline at the bottom quarter of the page.

For good reader 6+ or

For ages 8 – 14 

Sound Bender By Lin Oliver & Theo Baker

Sound Bender

By Lin Oliver & Theo Baker: Pub. 2012

After their parents’ plane goes down over the ocean, Leo and his brother Hollis are forced into the custody of their rich and enigmatic uncle Crane, a dealer of rare and probably illicit antiques. 

But almost as soon as he’s settled—or as close to settled as he can get in the bleak Brooklyn mansion, surrounded by his uncle’s dubious staff—Leo receives a mysterious package his father put together long ago, to be opened on his 13th birthday. 

With the package, Leo discovers he has an amazing ability. He can hear the history of any object by touching it. But when Leo finds a strange helmet buried among his uncle’s artifacts, and hears a pained cry coming from it, a mystery unravels as to its origin.

A great little piece of easy to read escapism.

n the Beech Forest By Gary Crew and introducing: Den Scheer

In the Beech Forest

By Gary Crew and introducing: Den Scheer Pub. 2012

In the Beech Forest is a picture storybook, which is not bound by a time stamp but works to transcend the notion of being set from long ago, from now and from the future. This book is about an ordinary boy, who takes a path leading him from the safety of his home into the dark beech wood forest. His head is full of the fearful images from his computer games that so excite, and yet terrify him; battles between heroes and dreadful beasts that may haunt this primal landscape. What will become of him on this journey? Will he survive? Will he defeat his fears? Will he emerge, still an ordinary boy?

Gary Crew is at his superb best with this picture book letting the story unfold. It captured my attention from the very first sentence until the last. Crew’s literary strategy of using first person narration mixed with third person narration, placing the reader in the story interbred with being a spectator. This is an effective strategy for focalisation for readers. That is, with it’s outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters, from the outset.

We see that Crew is almost bombarding the audience with counter acting forces –the ordinary boy becoming special; the child becoming and adult; nature alone versus human alone; nature, as in the wilderness, versus the wildness of computer game fantasies; the old nature – beech forest - as opposed to the new, technology. It moves from realist to fantasy. And like most teenagers, they think the world revolves around them, and here the reader might see the boy as the central figure throughout the text, but is he? 

A great book to add to anyone's growing library. And a text which should be studied for years to come in any classroom.

The Ice-Cream War By Edwina Howard

The Ice-Cream War

By Edwina Howard: Pub. 2012

It’s hard to know how a war can start, but this one started with mouse poo. 

There’s not much to do in the Forest in the summer holidays, except hit the beach and enjoy a refreshingly cold ice-cream from Uncle Sunny’s cart. But when he starts dishing up ice-creams embellished with mouse poo, Jake and Jeremy decide to start their own ice-cream cart. And that’s when the war starts. But then again, the trouble might have started when Jake agreed to look after Hoppy, the mad Shetland pony. 

Anyway, the boys will have to hope the legend of Fergal the Headless Fisherman will get them out of trouble, make them a profit, and end the war.

Young boys who are starting to independently read will love this book, however their parents may not enjoy it quite as much :p .

Archie’s Letter: An Anzac Day Story By Martin Flanagan. Illus Ainsley Walters

Archie’s Letter: An Anzac Day Story

By Martin Flanagan. Illus Ainsley Walters: Pub. 2010

On Anzac Day 2010, a 96-year-old man in Hobart, a returned soldier from World War II, wrote a letter to the local paper thanking the people who were going to that morning’s dawn service. Who was this man? Why did he write this letter?

Archie’s Letter tells the story of an ordinary man who went off to fight in World War II. His experiences included surviving the Burma Railway, where he was under the command of Australian war hero, Weary Dunlop. 

Archie’s Letter also tells how he dealt with his wartime experiences; how, at the age of 91, he agreed to meet a group of elderly Japanese women interested in world peace; how he could never forget the young men who were with him during the war and who didn’t come back.