Here are two book launches in Victoria! (If you’re in WA or QLD, we’ve posted about upcoming book launches here and here.)
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Come along to the launch of Mr Huff, and check out an exhibition of original artworks by the author-illustrator Anna Walker.
When: 6pm, Thursday 9 July 2015.
Where: No Vacancy Project Space, The Atrium, Federation Square, Melbourne.
(The exhibition runs until 26 July 2015.)
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REVIEWED BY MILLIE, 11, WA
Withering-By-Sea: A Stella Montgomery Intrigue, by Judith Rossell, ABC Children’s Books, ISBN 9780733333002
The Children’s Book Council of Australia didn’t make a wrong move when they chose Judith Rossell’s first book in the Stella Montgomery series for a shortlisted book award 2015. Jen Storer, an award winning author for children’s books, said, “I was hooked from the first page.” I was hooked as well, with the excellent start, but it isn’t just the start, the whole book was fabulous!
Withering-by-Sea is a small town on the coast of an island. Stella Montgomery lives with her aunts in Hotel Majestic, a hotel that stood right on the end of the cliffs. Every day, Stella escapes from her mean aunts, into the conservatory. She there reads her atlas, the only book that she owns, hidden in the ferns. Whilst reading the atlas, Stella sees something she shouldn’t have, and accidentally makes a promise. This promise quickly turns into a tale full of old magic, mysteries and friendship. With the greedy professor on her back, who can Stella trust, and can she solve the one big mystery nagging her?
The main character, Stella, was very brave. She persevered, and kept on fighting, hiding, and never gave up, despite the urge to break the promise to live happily and safely. Stella was trustworthy, never breaking the promise. She always choose the right choice, whatever the price. I think that people should try to make the right decisions more often, whatever the price, like Stella Montgomery.
In this fantastic novel, the theme is old magic. Everything is about old magic, and sometimes can be unbelievable. The author wants to make this book seem like it was real, all the magic and everything else that normal people don’t believe in. To do this, the author and the publisher tried to make this book old fashioned. They printed all the writing, titles and subtitles in a lovely dark-blue colour, making it feel that no-one had opened the book for a long time, and it had been written long ago. The story had been edited to a font that made the writing old-fashioned. Judith Rossell drew amazing pictures to accompany her amazing story. Imagine, being able to write wonderfully, and draw amazingly, too! Her pictures were detailed as can be, and were printed in the same lovely dark-blue colour as the writing. All of these factors made up an old (and maybe classic) effect, helping you believe in the magic, tales and other things in the book.
Judith Rossell must be a very creative person, because of her very creative story plot. Just when you’re about to predict that something will happen, something unexpected will happen, throwing your predictions in the water. Although things can be a little bit confusing, the confusing parts will explain themselves along the way. Besides, it makes the story even more mysterious and exciting.
I recommend this very exciting novel to ages ten (10) upwards. I would also recommend this book for eager and mature readers looking for an adventurous, exciting and thrilling story to read. The genre definitely would be drama, friendship and mystery. After all, it is a story of friendship, resilience and trust. After reading this wonderful and creative story, I realised immediately why the Children’s Book Council of Australia awarded this fantastic novel!
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This is Millie’s second book review for Alphabet Soup. Her most recent review (if you don’t count this one) was of The White Ship. If you’d like to read more book reviews by Beaconsfield Primary students, you can click on ‘Beaconsfield Primary School’ in the grey categories box in the right column of this blog. To send us YOUR book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!
REVIEWED BY ANNALIESE, 11, WA
Emu by Claire Saxby, ill. Graham Byrne, Walker Books Australia, ISBN 9781922179708
The book Emu is a great book, it is a story about an emu and its eggs and some great information about emus e.g. its features such as height, weight and its defences. The story Emu is based on Emu and how his eggs grow up: like where, when, the setting and life with Emu.
Mostly the story is on the left and the information is on the right, therefore it is a very organised and a well set out story. I recommend this book for any 9 to 12 year old children that are interested in the book. It has great illustrations that definitely suit the text.
I liked how the book was something you could use as research, you could pull it out of the bookshelf and read it to know, learn or use the information for an assignment. It’s got heaps of great information.
The book is a different book but it has better features than others. The illustrations work really well with the text.
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This is Annaliese’s first book review for Alphabet Soup. If you’d like to read more book reviews by Beaconsfield Primary students, you can click on ‘Beaconsfield Primary School’ in the grey categories box in the right column of this blog. To send us YOUR book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!
REVIEWED BY GEORGIE, 11, WA
Figgy in the World by Tamsin Janu, Omnibus Books, ISBN 9781742990453
Tamsin Janu is a fantastic writer! The book Figgy in the World is about how Figgy needs to find medicine for her Grandma Ama because she has an illness that she won’t tell her about. When you start to read the book Figgy in the World you will find that you can’t put it down!
The story-line of this novel is that Figgy lives in a village in Ghana (Africa) and needs to quickly save her Grandma Ama before she dies. In order to find the medicine for her Grandma, Figgy has to travel all the way to America and then back, with the medicine to save her Grandma before she dies. Alongside her is her goat Kwame who is more like her best friend. However on the journey she meets Nana who becomes her best friend.
Figgy met Nana after he had ran away from his papa. Figgy saw him sitting on the side of the road in the Volta Reigns. He was living in a village with his ‘family’ but none of them were biologically related to him. When Figgy saw Nana she didn’t really know what Nana was doing but then he said, “Would you like to buy some peanuts?”. Figgy had dropped all her money down a drain already so she said, “Sorry, I can’t, I just dropped all my money down the drain and I need to get to America before my Grandma Ama dies.” Nana then wanted to help Figgy, so he ran away from his village without anyone seeing him go. He had only just started his journey with Figgy.
I have never read a book as imaginative as this one. Tamsin Janu uses outstanding abilities to describe scenes in this book that makes you feel like you are there with Figgy and Nana. The fabulous thing about this book is how Tamsin Janu describes the towns and places that Figgy and Nana visit, especially the Orphanage. Nana used to live in this Orphanage when he ran away from his Papa, and when they returned all the children were so delighted to see them it made me want to cry.
I would recommend Figgy in the World for ages 10+, or children slightly younger who can really have an imagination and link the descriptive words to envisaging the scenes Tamsin Janu is writing about. The genre would be drama, and maybe some death too. This book was outstanding and I would definitely read it again! I will surely be reading more of Tamsin Janu’s books. With normal life themes such as friendship, love and death encompassed in this book, I thought it was outstanding and I look forward to reading more of Tamsin Janu’s books in the future.
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This is Georgie’s first book review for Alphabet Soup. If you’d like to read more book reviews by Beaconsfield Primary students, you can click on ‘Beaconsfield Primary School’ in the grey categories box in the right column of this blog. To send us YOUR book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!
Jackie French (the Australian Children’s Laureate) and Ann James have created the Share a Story Calendar. (You can download it for free.) The theme for June is: HEAR A STORY, SEE A STORY, FEEL A STORY.
Today we are celebrating HEAR A STORY with a visitor …
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Glenn B Swift is a Western Australian Storyteller. Glenn says his repertoire ranges from the historical to the hysterical, and includes material for pre-primary through to adults.
Glenn has performed in almost every public library in Western Australia, and his talents have taken him as far afield as South America and Iceland! (He has performed in the Reykjavik Public Library.)
We asked Glenn if he could tell us a bit about being a storyteller.
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Where do you live?
I live in Fremantle, Western Australia, which is where I was born and went to school. It’s a port, and I often go the end of the breakwater at the harbour and watch ships come and go. I like their hugeness, and I like to think that one day I’ll just jump on one for the heck of going across the ocean for some days or weeks. Fremantle is lovely place , and a hot-bed of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, who are very welcoming to me as a Storyteller.
And how did you come to be a storyteller?
It started with a phone call. Well really, it started with some clowns. I had finished my training to be a teacher of the Alexander Technique (a useful thing for actors and musicians) and was waiting for my teaching job to begin at WAAPA (performance school in WA) when I ran into friends working as clowns for Myer in the school holidays. The marketing lady gave me a job working as a clown, and then before the next May school holidays, phoned me up to ask if I was a Storyteller, because that’s what she wanted in the Children’s Book department for the holidays. I answered of course, that I was a Storyteller! (How hard could it be?) I spent the next couple of weeks reading Grimm’s Fairytales (often in the bath) and working out how I would perform them and get kids to participate and play parts as well.
Do you write your own material or do you tell stories written by other people?
Both. I like to adapt a good narrative — so for upper primary, I’m happy to tell my version of some Roald Dahl stories which can be quite ‘icky’, I also tell my own ghost stories. I have adapted some classic fairy tales and other stories for telling (with audience participation) and for junior primary I create stories that work as a game for many players that involve words, noises, screams and responses. I quite like having a big group of junior primary screaming together. They love it, though the teachers can look a bit worried, until it stops as suddenly as it began …
As a storyteller, what are your most valuable skills or tools?
My voice, and my ability to do funny voices for characters. Also a sense of simple comedy, little tricks that make kids laugh. And very good stories!
What is different about an oral tale from a written one?
Without a book in hand, there is a direct connection in a story between the teller and the audience. It allows me to always know how the audience is going, and if i need to make changes in pace, volume or content.
Can we hear an example of your storytelling?
There is this one link to a piece on YouTube …
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Do you have any tips for young storytellers?
Just get up and do it! Start with a simple story everyone already knows, like ‘The Three Bears’. You’ll be scared the first time that you might get it wrong, but having done it once, you’ll find it’s great fun, and you’ll want to do it again! Your teachers will be very encouraging.
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You can find out more about Glenn B Swift and his stories (and storytelling!) at his website: http://glennbswift.com/Storyteller/
If you want to celebrate Hear a Story month, check out these great activities on the Australian Children’s Laureate site.
REVIEWED BY ELLIS, 10 WA
Mary’s Australia: How Mary MacKillop changed Australia by Pamela Freeman, Walker Books Australia, ISBN
This non-fiction story is a true story of Mary MacKillop who is a teacher who educated children in the late 1800s. Mary was born in 1842 and died in 1909 of a stroke. Mary watched Australia grow from WA, NSW, SA and Van Diemen’s Land to what we know today — a nation, Australia.
Mary wanted to become a nun. So in 1866 she and her two sisters Lexie and Annie set up a school in an old stable. Her brother fixed the roof up so it wouldn’t leak. They got permission from a bishop to begin the order of nuns known as the institute of St Joseph of Sacred Heart. A nun is a person who goes to orphanages to teach them.
I would recommend this book to people who are interested in non-fiction books and Australia’s history. I would recommend this book to year 5s and above and maybe some year 4s because it would be too hard to read it in year 3, year 4 and younger.
I rate this book 5 out of 5 because it is what I am interested in reading and tells you about Australia’s history as well.
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This is Ellis’s first book review for Alphabet Soup. If you’d like to read more book reviews by Beaconsfield Primary students, you can click on ‘Beaconsfield Primary School’ in the grey categories box in the right column of this blog. If YOU would like to send us a book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!
REVIEWED BY MATILDA, 9, WA
Tales of Wisdom and Wonder, retold by Hugh Lupton, illustrated by Niamh Sharkey, Barefoot Books, ISBN 1905236840
Matilda reviewed her own copy of this book.
This is a book of old folktales from different countries. The stories are Haitian, Cree, English, French, West African, Russian and Irish. It comes with a CD so you can listen to the stories as well as read. There are seven folktales in the book and my favourite was ‘The Curing Fox’ (it’s Cree) because it’s like an old memory and I like listening to the CD of it best because it’s kind of poetic. Before I saw this book I had never come across these folktales.
There are more words than pictures on each page but I like the illustrations, they are easy to see. I like how the colours are not normal colours you see in a picture book — there are dark colours and colours that make you feel cold. The artist has used simple shapes and they suit the stories.
People who like fairytales, folktales and animals would like this book. Six to ten year olds would like it best and it can be relaxing to listen to Hugh Lupton telling the stories on the CD.
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Matilda is one of our regular book reviewers. Her most recent review (if you don’t count this one) was of Harriet the Spy. If YOU would like to send us a book review, check out our submission guidelines. Happy reading!
COME ALONG to the launch of a new picture book All the Lost Things, written and illustrated by Kelly Canby. (The book will be launched by James Foley.)
Time: 6.30pm for a 7pm start
When: Thursday 2 July 2015
Where: ‘Studio 2’, 622 Newcastle St, Leederville, WA
RSVP: kcanby[at]bigpond.net.au
Have you read our top ten reasons to attend a book launch? We do love a book launch!
It’s the last day of May and you know what that means — it’s time for some recommended reading. Here are some great books — the best books our team of Top Readers* read this month …
You’ll find a recommended list from our Top Reading Team on the last day of every month. If you missed last month’s, don’t forget to check out the April 2015 Top Reads.
*All our Top Readers are kids aged 13 and under. No grownups allowed!
alphabetsoup.net.au 