The Secret Chord

written by Geraldine Brooks

This work of fiction turns the Old Testament of The Bible on its head in regard to the famous King David. Brooks takes several liberties with her new novel. The classic tales are faithfully included, such as 'David and Goliath' but the contexts each have a cheeky yet plausible adaptation. I almost had to skip the parts where David and soul mate Jonathan (son of King Saul) are bonafide bed buddies. No matter. This is the 21st century, and I can hack it!
And who but Brooks would have the guts to state outright that Bathsheba was not so much a willing adulterous lover but rather a victim of rape. Hmmmmmm.
Yes, David writes poetry, fights wars, takes lovers and worships The Name. I was entertained, no doubt, but it was a work of fiction. If you are not familiar with the original text you may not be as entertained as I was. Worth a look - definitely older readers.

'Nona & Me' by Clare Atkins

If you have ever wondered what it is like to be an indigenous Australian living in rural Northern Territory, then look no further than 'Nona & Me'. Atkins has cleverly depicted the hardships  of this demographic through the eyes of 'white man' living in community with Aboriginal people in a mining town. As a resident of Palmerston, teaching in Humpty Doo for the past 6 years, I couldn't fault the text's honesty and sensitivity. There are no easy answers to the Settlement versus Invasion debate. But that's no excuse to not tackle the issues.

I am not sure that your average teenager (or Older Reader - Youth, as categorised by the CBC) would be as absorbed by the text as I was, given my age and experience. More likely, this novel would be an excellent teacher resource for SOSE when dealing with the consequences of white 'settlement'. Excerpts could also prove invaluable for Legal Studies; issues such as The Intervention Policy and Land Rights are candidly tackled (minus the bleeding hearts).

I found it hard to select an excerpt. There is such a vastness to the scope of the text that I'd hate anyone to think the following is all that the novel offers. The context is that a Yolnu mum and her three children have just been denied access to a motel swimming pool. Rosie is with her boyfriend Nick and her Father, having a meal at said hotel. They have witnesses the conflict and Rosie's dad is not impressed:

     Nick knows how much I admire my dad, but I've never heard him lie about his opinions, and he doesn't start now. He says, "Well, they're different, for a start."
     "How are they different?"
     I hate dad at this moment. It seems like a carefully laid trap. I try to interject. "Can we talk about something else?"
     "In a sec, Rosie."
     Nick meets dad's gaze, head on. "I know what you're thinking, and it's not 'cause they're black. I'm not racist." He struggles to find the words. "It's just their culture... it's totally different to ours."
     "Everyone's different - the Tongans, Africans, Iraqis... "
     "Yeah, but they still live like us, in normal houses in town. Their kids all go to school. They want to learn English and get jobs.
     Like the true teacher he is, Dad says, "Well, let's deconstruct that-"
     I'm mortified. "Dad!"
     But he ignores me. "The housing thing for a start. I admit, most of the houses in Yirrkala..." He shrugs. "They're awful. They are. But there's twenty people living in some of them. And they're old. They were built when I was a kid... people aren't used to handling money-"
     "Yeah, and they waste it on booze."
     My inhalation is so short and sharp it's audible. I expect dad to explode, but he keeps his voice low and quiet. "And why do they do that? I mean, it's a massive generalisation but let's run with it. People who drink that much are trying to escape reality, or create a new one in their heads...They've had their whole way of living dismantled in three generations..." (pp. 211-2)

Nick argues the point. No doubt many of your/our views are expressed by him. But you'll have to read the book to see how it all pans out.
 

'The Protected' by Claire Zorn

From the start, The Protected delivered everything it promised: year 10 student Hannah, is trying to piece her life together after the tragic loss of her slightly older sister Katie in a freak car accident in the vicinity of her school. This is the beauty of good writing; that one can experience the unimaginable, and hopefully be a better, more empathic person as a result.
Aside from the damage wrought by the accident, the strongest theme of the novel, to my mind, is bullying and its effects. I have read, viewed, and heard countless 'bully' texts. In some ways I think I might have been feeling a bit de-sensitized, as in, build a bridge ffs (!!!) but The Protected was a powerful exposition of how devastating it is to be on the receiving end. I also applaud the way Zorn depicted the bullies. The are the lowest of the low, piranhas preying on the vulnerable:

'Shit, you're ugly.'
Canteen line. Recess. Tara curled her glossed lips.
'Maybe she's actually a guy,' Amy said. 'Are you a guy, Hannah? Do you have a dick?' (pp.80-1)

Or later, at a local party...

'Oh my God. Did you guys see that?'
'Yes.' Tara's mouth hung open. 'I can't believe you fully groped Amy.'
'You can't do that, Hannah! You little lezzo perve. Oh my God.' Amy held her hands up, shaking them like she'd touched something gross. Then she rushed out of the kitchen.
'Okay,' Tara said, giving me her best dead animal stare. 'You totally have to leave. Like, right now.'
(p.95)

The Protected is an easy read with realistic characters and cutting edge themes. The setting is mid Blue Mountains in Sydney's outer west. From my experience, it could be any school anywhere in Australia. No wonder the novel was shortlisted by the CBCA. I'm not sure my little blog has done the book justice as I haven't mentioned several other engaging elements of the narrative including the fact that the recently deceased sister was a bit of a bitch towards her little sister. I don't want to give too much away. Just to add, I highly recommend it! Nuff said :)

Miss ^--^

'The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl' by Melissa Keil

If you like art, especially of the cartoon/animation style, combined with the implausibility of a doomsday hoax from an unreliable media source, this book is for you. The protagonist – Sarah alias ‘Alba’ – uses her cartoon artwork in much the same way as a therapist would recommend keeping a journal.

My latest menu is a new style I’ve been experimenting with, sort of the wicked inventive layouts of the last X-23 meets the linework of Faith Erin Hicks, but with a palette of old-school Marvel colours, all reds and blues and limey greens. I’m trying out a new character in this one as well. Her hair is styled a bit like mine, with a thick eye-sweeping fringe, but instead of my longish brown boringness I’ve given her masses of red curls streaked with blue… She’s not supposed to be me, even though she dresses like me and has my height and, okay, maybe my solid thighs. I think she looks pretty kick-arse. (p.13) 

Sarah is a normal, if not introspective, girl who has just finished high school but is uncertain about leaving the comforts of her small town to pursue a dream of going to a city art school. The novel is mostly the unfolding of her wrestling with her fears, real or imagined.

The language used throughout the novel is simple, extremely colloquial teen speak. I found it a bit overdone, but that’s probably just my age showing… I found the pace too slow and the number of characters too confusing. There’s a romance curve ball that helped bring the story home, but other than that, I found Cinnamon Girls’ so-called adventures to be completely underwhelming.

Miss ^__^

the minnow - Diana Sweeny

Here is a copy of the book review I gave at the CBC (Children's Book Council) Brunch yesterday...

Good morning!

I’d like to begin my review with a question: Hands up if you would avoid reading a book which stated on the cover ‘…this is a book about abuse and loss and starting over.’?

Well I (too) would steer clear – by choice – from novels where the theme is abuse. Maybe it’s an age thing, given that I am a nanna as well as a teacher.

Diana Sweeney’s novel ‘The Minnow’ does not actually have the word ‘abuse’ on the cover. It uses the word ‘love’! Hmm, sneaky. A few more readers will probably give the book a chance as the cover declares that the book is about love, loss and starting over.

You can probably detect my bias by now – I didn’t warm to the story.

The protagonist, a 15 year old girl whose nick name is ‘Tom’, short for tomboy, has had a shocker of a start in life, losing her mum, dad and sister in a catastrophic flood. Her nan would have become her guardian if it weren’t for the fact that she’s living in an aged care facility. It is unclear why Tom ends up living with a man old enough to be her dad, just long enough for him to abuse her, both psychologically and sexually. But as luck would have it, Tom is soon able to leave him and move in with her best mate because all his family died in the same flood. He is in senior school and he’s been given the run of the family home. How convenient.

I recommend reading the book in one or two sittings tops, reason being, Tom spends most of her time talking to the ghosts of the dearly departed. And if that’s not confusing enough, she’s also quite savvy at talking to animals as well, particularly of the aquatic kind. Here’s an excerpt from when Tom visits her favourite pet shop:

All four carp are side by side, almost motionless, looking at me…

‘Oscar,’ I say, pausing for a moment so this comes out right, ‘why haven’t you told the others?’

‘There are carp and there are carp,’ he replies. ‘These three are sweet but uncommunicative. They’ll find me floating on my side in a couple of weeks and the only one who’ll grieve will be Mrs Blanket. This lot will just take it in their stride.’

‘And me,’ I say, ‘I’ll miss you heaps.’

‘And you,’ he says back.

I turn to walk out the door.

‘Tom,’ Oscar calls after me. ‘The police were here asking questions.’

‘Like what?’

‘Just stuff about your family.’

‘Thanks, Oscar.’

And then I think of something else. ‘Did they mention Dad?’

‘I don’t remember.’ (p.36)

So, in summary: Floods, abuse, dementia, restless dead and talking carp. ‘The Minnow’ wasn’t my cup of tea but at the end of the day, it’s all a matter of taste, isn’t it?

Steal my Sunshine-Emily Gale

I chose this book because when I read the blurb I found it very interesting.

This book is about a girl named Hannah, she lives in Melbourne and there is currently a record breaking heat wave. Hannah lives with her mother, brother and her grandmother Essie, with her dad walking out on them earlier in the book. Hannah and her mother never see eye to eye and are always fighting with her and her brother so Hannah spends a lot of time with her grandmother.

Essie has kept a secret from her family for 20 years and is ready to finally speak up, Essie send Hannah and her best friend Chloe go on a crazy journey to find out what this secret is.

But Hannah’s loyalty to both is tested, first by her attraction to Chloe’s older brother and then by Essie’s devastating secret that sheds light on how the family has lost its way.

“it had been thirty degrees most of the night and I wasn’t sure if I had slept for any of it. I could tell from the safety of my bedroom that mum had woken up foul: heavy footsteps in the kitchen, cupboard doors slammed, the dishwasher drawers yanked out and rammed in again. When I walked into the living room the floors were already baking underneath the sloping glass roof. The air-con remote was in the fruit bowl on the kitchen table. I pressed the button, hoping it would cool mum down, and keep my distance.”

This part of the novel best describes the relationship between Hannah and her mother and the environment that they are in.

I think the main idea of this book is identity.

I would recommend this book to teenage girls from about 12 and up as it has some romance in it.

Renee Viney Year 9

ALL THE TRUTH THAT’S IN ME BY JULIE BERRY

I chose this book because when I read the blurb all it said was “I am forbidden from telling” which I found very intriguing.

All the truth that’s in me is about a girl named Judith , Judith had been kept hostage for two years but before returning home her tongue was cut off in a savage attack to prevent her from telling who the kidnappers were. When Judith does return home she is considered as an improper lady or a monster, so pretty much an outcast. Judith doesn’t have many friends but she is in love with a boy named Lucas although Lucas is getting married to another woman. Throughout the book Judith starts to realise that it is her silence protecting her fromthe evil doers that wish to remain hidden. 

“There’s a curious comfort in letting go. After the agony, letting go brings numbness, and after the numbness, clarity. As if I can see the world for the first time, and my place in it, independent of you, a whole vista of what may be. Even if it’s not grand or inspiring, it is real and solid, unlike the fantasy I’ve built around you. I will do this I will triumph over you.” 

This part of the book shows that Judith is becoming more strong and independent, starting to take over the situation.

I recommend this to anyone above 12 years old, as some parts of it are quite gruesome although there is romance in the book so I would recommend it more towards girls.

Rachael Hayden Year 9