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They had been lying for some time at the bottom of a trunk with the name Spelhorst, engraved on the outside.
There was a king, a wolf, a girl, a boy and an owl puppet.
They waited for their story to begin.
The personification of the puppets allows their voices and opinions
to be heard.
An old sea captain owns the name of Spelhorst.
Totally alone in the world, he spends a lot of time simply gazing out to sea, sharing sounds created by the movement of others around him.
Set during WW2, on an island off the coast of Australia, best friends Jack and Banjo seek to experience adventure and excitement at every opportunity, no matter how dangerous or threatening it is. Their motto is, don’t get caught!
For the people of the island, after experiencing the hardship of the Depression, it seems that lack will never end. Lack of food, lack of clothing, and lack of work.
It is a time when teachers are needed. Those that served in the Great War are called back to teaching duty. But there are some still unfit mentally and emotionally for the job.
Dunny cans and red-backed spiders, building billy-carts, the secret manipulation of the law to keep a boy from being put in a home, and a life-threatening swim in dangerous waters to save the boys’ lives, are part of the structure of this riveting story.
The story focuses on
the lives of the three leading characters – Aileen, Glad and Hilly.
The story begins in 1942. Sixteen-year-old Hilly, with her parents’ permission, and accompanied by her friend Liz, enlist in the Land Army.
Within a week they are harvesting potatoes on a farm, a task deemed
impossible by Liz, who abandons the idea and leaves the first day.
Hilly encounters other girls that are part of a larger enlisted group, but it is Glad, Aileen and Hilly that fit together, and remain working in partnership throughout the war.
Over the years we've shared more book lists on this topic than any other. While non-fiction can teach us about historical events and people who have had an impact on the world, fiction gives us stories with new and different perspectives, and helps develop empathy. These books are a window into history and a prompt for a better future.
Je suis tolérante - Stories representing different historical and contemporary cultures, and encouraging peace and tolerance. http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2015/01/book-list-je-suis-tolerante.html
Anzac Day - Remembrance - Ten picture books use stories to help remember those who have served in wartime. http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2017/04/terrific-10-anzac-day-remembrance.html
Anzac Day - Experiences of war - These books explore what war is and the impact of the experience of war. http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2017/04/terrific-10-anzac-day-experiences-of-war.html
Picture books about Gallipoli and Anzacs - Stories that are narrative and stories with a strong focus on facts about World War I. These titles include some based on true stories. http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2015/04/book-list-picture-books-about-gallipoli.html
Picture books about peace and hope - Amidst conflict it's important to have hope and seek peace. These stories help children understand these concepts. http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2014/04/book-list-picture-books-about-peace-and.html
Young adult novels about war and conflict - A selection of stories that provide insight into the impact of war, particularly on young people. http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2014/04/book-list-young-adult-novels-about-war.html
Middle fiction novels about war and conflict - Stories told using narrative fiction can help young readers to understand the experience of war and its ramifications on a personal and global level. http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2014/04/book-list-middle-fiction-novels-about.html
Picture books about war and conflict - The complexity of war can make it a difficult subject to talk about. These books are helpful in raising and exploring the concept of war with young children. http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2014/04/book-list-picture-books-about-war-and.html
ANZAC books worth knowing - Five picture books about experiences of the ANZAC soldiers, told from different perspectives. http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2012/04/anzac-books-worth-knowing.html
More books and lists with stories looking at the experience of war http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2016/04/anzac-day-2016-book-list-books-about.html
A luxurious cloth cover embraces the contents, which start with
stunning end pages.
Not much to look at, Anzac Ted has lots of external
flaws, for time has aged him.
For the children who see him at Show and Tell, he is worthless.
Worn and patched, with missing parts, his value is hidden within the stories he carries.
With a welcome mix of remarkable true stories and facts, the revised and expanded version of Absolutely Everything contains a wealth of information to leave you spell-bound.
A feast for
the eyes and brain, this book gets in your ear about random and interesting
things - like the interconnections between science, history and the nature of
planet earth. And all are broached in the most wonderful, accessible ways.
Mabel the cat, already a permanent resident in the Alford household, is owned by Peggy’s brother Wilf. When Beau joins the family, great discord surfaces between him and the vain, selfish, and territorial Mable.
Enter Bomber the courier pigeon. Then there were
three. It is the animals’ narrative that controls the story.
In Europe, Hitler’s war has broken out. Dogs and
cats are being euthanised, food becomes scarce, and children, including Peggy
and Wilf, are sent to the countryside for safety.
Mr Alford is not conscripted due to his asthma but is allocated the duty of air raid warden.
Wordless picture books
are open to interpretation by the reader. They activate imagination and
create discussion.
It opens on darkness. The dark rain of destruction
falls, filling the surrounding world. Insurmountable barricades appear; barbed
wire fences are erected. A child stands staring through the spikes. A shadow of
that same child becomes any child; alone and defenceless.
The child sees the barbed wire reforming, becoming a giant spider trying to devour her. She runs but there is no escape.
Filled with fear, she enters a tunnel.
Zail weaves truths and imaginings into a novel for young people that both spellbinds and beleaguers belief.
She
states her father taught her we have to talk about the things that scare us
before we can change them, so too must the reader experience some uncomfortable
realisations just as teen protagonist, Lisa Keller, is forced to after learning
about the terminal condition of her beloved father.
Emil Keller (formerly Rosenfeld) has a successful career, comfortable home and doting family. And only a handful of months left to enjoy them.
Sam and Harry move with their parents from the city to a remote, dilapidated manor during the COVID-19 pandemic. The boys explore the labyrinth-like house. They find spooky portraits of long-dead people and secret rooms.
In the dust-coated library, they discover a book in which a riddle appears and transports them back in time to 1919.
With chapter names like ‘The Horror’, ‘The Manor Attack’ and ‘Disappearing Doors’, Tracey Hawkins has created intrigue. The writing propels readers into each new scene.
Hawkins has created a realistic brother relationship layered with both camaraderie and power shifts.
The book has been created to foster a sense of resilience and the impetus to stand up for yourself/others if you feel there has been injustice. It has the added bonus of generating a sense of optimism and purpose in the face of great odds.
Standing up for
yourself, and others, can really matter.
These words
grace the cover, along with a bear and nightingale, atop the respective blue
and yellow of Ukraine’s flag.
Esther has been
yearning for her Papa ever since he left Poland to live in Cuba in the midst of
World War 2, to provide for the family.
In Please Write Soon, Londoner Solly tells his teacher and classmates about his Polish cousin Bernie. He shares the letters he and Bernie wrote to each other over the course of more than six years, including during the war. This epistolary approach provides a window into the minds of both boys.
Solly tells Bernie about playing marbles, and being evacuated to a farm in the country. There he learns to milk a cow and ride a horse, and collects fresh eggs. He also watches badgers in the woods at night time and finds them clever creatures whose tunnels are like the shelters humans have been building for protection.
A young boy has been asked to bring something to school for an ANZAC remembrance project and goes hunting through boxes at home.
He finds old newspapers and objects, things from long ago. They belonged to someone who went to war.
The story, written by Cassandra Webb, uses sparse and repetitive text, with two related plot lines unfolding together as you read. The illustrations by Tony Flowers reflect this in a clever way.
One image on each double-page spread features the young boy with an object he's found. The other image on the page shows the object in use by the soldier during the war. There's an army slouch hat. Sturdy boots that marched long distances. And an old metal cup once used to drink something warm.
Despite
having had Brian as a visiting author at both of my last schools, and I might
add, you would never regret doing so yourself – this guy has even the most
blasé of senior boys eating out of his hand! – I hadn’t got around to reading
either of the first Katipo Joe novels. I’m not only grateful for the
opportunity to review this third in the series but will now go back and read
the earlier ones.I
think anyone in a school library will admit that frequently there can be a
dearth of really gripping, exciting fiction that will engage the interest of
older boys, those reluctant readers who will stick to the same adventure series
they read back in upper primary simply because they can’t find anything else. Therefore,
you need to order this series and book talk it up big to your chaps, both boys
and girls.
A decade long war rages and terrorizes the families of Troy and Greece, as their families are torn apart by the Trojan War. Will the nightmare ever end?
Do the words Helen of Troy, Trojan War, or at least Achilles heel sound familiar to you? Let me give you a background.
Paris, Prince of Troy, was promised the hand of Helen, unaware that she was married to the King of Sparta. Paris stole Helen and whisked her away to Troy, prompting a years-long battle that rewrote history between the Greeks and Trojans.
The Iliad focuses on the tension between Greek King Agaemmon and the mighty Greek demigod Achilles. Agaemmon had taken the daughter of an important priest favored by the gods and refused to return her.
This biographical fiction was inspired by the real life of Rachel Pratt, an army nurse in WW1 stationed in France, who was awarded the Military Medal for bravery.
Exquisite illustrations by the author, Mark Wilson, allow our hearts to be moved by the descriptive images – some in colour, others in black fine line pen. These add to the narrative in their singular way.
Broken by grief after losing both parents in the Fitzroy River floods, Rachel was looked after by her brother Robert from age thirteen.