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A fortunate life

Great to reread this classic. So much history of Australia is covered in a conversational style which I found engaging and absorbing. First contact stories with indigenous people in the north of WA, the development of the wheat belt, enlisting in World War 1, being abandoned by superiors in a camp in Egypt, going ashore at Gallipoli and the pain of having to leave mates dying on the battle field, the return to post war Australia, the development of the union movement. We are fortunate to have the story of this amazing life told in such a dispassionate and compelling way.[Read More]

Posted at 10:44AM May 22, 2010 by Jenny Brisbane  | 

The lonely hearts club by Elizabeth Eulberg

Review of The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

 

This is a story about the synergy created by bringing people together for a common purpose. Eventually the activities and energy of the girls in the “lonely hearts club” at a North American high school is even found threatening by the principal as well as the boys at the school.

 

Penny Lane , named by her Beatle mad parents, is the narrator of this story. The front cover of the book is even a spoof of the famous Abbey Road album. Penny is betrayed by her long term boyfriend Nate. I found out the hard way that fairy tales and true love don't   She decided to form a lonely hearts club, with just herself until her friend Diane, recently dumped by the school heart throb Ryan insists on joining her club too. Ryan was the biggest clich at our school: a star athlete with good grades who just happened to also be gorgeous (pg29)

 

The club grows in numbers and enthusiasm. They meet every Saturday night at Pennys home with the support and encouragement of Pennys parents. They go as a group to the school dance and the school prom, rather than with dates. They attend basketball games together, upstaging the official cheerleaders. They also develop rules which include dating

 

Meanwhile school heart throb Ryan, is patiently waiting at his locker, located close to Penny’s, to talk to Penny. Penny’s confusion about her feelings towards Ryan continues to grow through the novel. Finally all is resolved and the club rules are changed to allow dating, along as it does not undermine the girls friendship and support of each other and Ryan and Penny are able to organise a date together.

 

Teenage girls giving priority to their boyfriends is a topic that will be relevant in many teenagers’ lives. This is a story about how one North American teenager found unexpected support from her female friends through organising a club of “lonely hearts” and motivated them to support each other and how threatening this was to the male powerbrokers in the school.

 

This is a story about the power of the group, standing up for yourself and the eternal themes of friendship, trust and loyalty. This is very light and easy read.

 

Jenny Brisbane Teacher Librarian

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted at 10:38AM May 22, 2010 by Jenny Brisbane  | 

I love you Zelda Bloo by Gretel Killeen

Review of I love you Zelda Bloo by Gretel Killeen

 

 

This is a story about a helicopter crash. The story begins in the back of the crashed helicopter, with the heroine of the story, Zelda, struggling for her life and her mother and the pilot dead.

 

 

Zelda has a conversation with an imaginary person in the corner to explain how she has ended up in a crashed helicopter. She has an older brother and sister and her Dad directs movies. Zelda’s parents divorced when she was 5 after her Dad ran off with one of his movie stars.

 

“Essentially since Dad divorced her all those years ago, Mum had been like a walking broken heart’ pg 34

 

 

After reading an article in the National Geographic, her mother decides she wants to make a documentary about child soldiers. She takes Zelda with her to interview the child soldiers.

 

”I wish she’d never taken me to the mountains to interview child soldiers” pg12

 

 

After days of haggling with the pilot Zelda and her mother set off in the helicopter, Zelda is dressed in gold stilettos, a daffodil hat and a bikini to find the child soldiers.

 

The helicopter crashes. The pilot dies and Zelda half pushes him out of the plane. Her mother dies too. She finds a gun in her Mum’s back pack which she accidentally shoots and the animals hovering round the wrecked helicopter run away.

 

 

Then a boy appears. “He was a boy as in ‘not yet a man’” pg 107

 

Zelda pulls out the original National Geographic article from her Mum’s backpack and decides from the likeness of the photo in the article that the boy is “Saro Ecka, leader of the fearsome child warriors”pg108

 

Zelda then thinks about killing herself when she finds a gun in the helicopter. She does manage to shoot and injure Saro with the gun but then she realises that she needs Saro to stay alive until they get rescued.

 

The story ends where it began in the back of the helicopter. Zelda dreams that she jumps out of the helicopter and runs away with Saro.

 

 

Zelda’s responses to the situation could be seen as humorous probably depending on the reader’s age. Some may find this story gruesome.

 

 

Jenny Brisbane

 

Teacher Librarian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted at 10:37AM May 22, 2010 by Jenny Brisbane  | 

Best Friends by Jacqueline Wilson

Set in the UK the main theme of this story is friendship. The narrator of the story has a best friend, Alice. When Alice moves to Scotland with her family, she is left to complete a school project with "Biscuits" a boy in her class. As she bemoans the loss of her best friend she gradually develops a working relationship with Biscuits. Meanwhile Alice in Scotland is also developing a new friendship. Good example of what friendship is not about, this story is a disappointing read.

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Posted at 10:42AM Jan 16, 2010 by Jenny Brisbane  | 

Why you are Australian by Nikki Gemmel

"Why you are Australian - a letter to my children" by Nikki Gemmell. Memories of growing up in Australia - very nostaligic. She brings her three children to Australia, to Lake Macquarie in NSW - interesting comparison between UK and Australian education systems as she experiences it with her three children.

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Posted at 10:59AM Jan 13, 2010 by Jenny Brisbane  | 

Primary fiction

I've been reading the titles on Fran Knight's list of books to read before leaving primary school. Sonya Hartnett's "Ghost's child" was a wonderful, couldn't put it down read..........a girl meets boy love story suitable for upper primary - what a gem of a story.

Elizabeth Honey's "To the boy in Berlin" is written in the form of an email conversation between two main characters in Australia and Berlin - the Australian girl discovers documents at her holiday house that lead her on a search to discover more about previous German immigrant residents of the house - also touches on themes of immigrants and racism in Germany.

The Red shoe by Ursula Dubosarsky is of the fantasy genre and "A grave Catastrophe" by Nette Hilton is narrated by a dog character. The story is told from the point of view of a dog - different.

Great to have this list and good to challenge year 5,6,7 students to broaden their reading horizons before they leave primary school.

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Posted at 01:01PM Oct 12, 2009 by Jenny Brisbane  |