Paula Vince's Blog: The Vince Review, page 65

A dozen orphans

Why do we love reading about orphans so much? Literature is bursting with them. They've filled our classics, establishing themselves as some of our favourite characters for centuries. Yet the word 'orphan' itself carries connotations of being lost, unkempt, neglected, driftwood, unclaimed baggage. In fact, it's been banned by adoption agencies, as they think it's negative adoption language. So I repeat, why do we love orphans so much in stories?

I agree with what author Lorilee Craker suggests in her book.. No matter what sort of family we belong to, we can relate to them, because we probably all feel we've carried the orphan spirit at some time in our lives. Maybe we've been ignored, snubbed, left behind, or found ourselves unable to make some grade or win some competition. I remember feeling alienated and alone each day at school, even though I had a family of blood relatives to return to at home each evening. Story book orphans simply take what we've all suffered up to the next level. Since we all relate to main characters, we cheer when we finally see them find a place to belong. It's the next best thing to finding our perfect niche ourselves.

So without further ado, here are some of the most famous classic orphans I could think of. There are so many, many, many more, I won't even attempt to fit them all. I'm going with the first ones that spring to mind.


1) Anne Shirley
Before being shuffled off to the Hopetown Orphanage, she'd lived with a number of different families who exploited her to work hard for them. She'd never have found her perfect home with the Cuthberts if there hadn't been a mistake, since they initially wanted a boy to help with farm chores.

2) Orphan Annie
Hmmm, another red-haired Anne. I remember going to the movies with my dad to see how she sung her cheerful way out of the orphanage and into wealthy Daddy Warbucks' heart and home.

3) Oliver Twist
Daring to ask for more gruel at the orphanage got him into a load of trouble, until the tide finally turned. It's another book-cum-musical with songs which stick in my head.

4) Pip from Great Expectations
Another Dickens boy. His parents were dead, and he lived with his harsh sister, who didn't really appreciate the extra mouth to feed. Fortunately, her husband, Joe Gargery, was a softer touch.

5) Harry Potter
He was orphaned the night his parents died trying to save his life. For his first 11 years, all he knew was a wretched life with his aunt, uncle and spoiled cousin Dudley. Rather than a bedroom, he slept in a broom cupboard beneath the stairs.

6) Luke Skywalker
Well, he thought he was an orphan. Given the way his father turned out, living on the barren planet Tatooine with his aunt and uncle wasn't too bad.

7) Tarzan
The classic feral child who'd been tragically orphaned, but found family in a warm and unexpected place.

8) Mowgli from The Jungle Book
His situation had similarities to Tarzan's.

9) Jane Eyre
Some orphans have nice aunts to live with and pleasant boarding schools to attend. Poor Jane wasn't one of them. Hers were unimaginably bad.

10) Pollyanna
She wasn't wanted by her crotchety Aunt Polly, but managed to work the situation to her favour because of her bright personality. I love the incident when Aunt Polly sent her up to her bedroom with a pamphlet to read as a punishment, and Pollyanna thanked her for the treat.

11) Cinderella
Lucky for her she had such tiny feet, or her nasty stepmother and stepsisters might have always kept her under the thumb. Having a fairy godmother is a good thing for an orphan too.

12) Heathcliff
I've added him just to show that there is a certain risk involved in taking an orphan beneath your roof, because you've no idea where he came from or how he's going to turn out.

Have you any favourite orphans of your own to add to my dozen? One of my favourite fictional orphans I've come across in recent years is Errol Stone from A Cast of Stones by Patrick W Carr. And I've been reminded that several little girls love Elsa from Frozen, as all the merchandise sold in shops would prove. I'd love to know who yours are, and why they've stuck in your heart.

'My Life Next Door' by Huntley Fitzpatrick

 
Genre: YA, romance, contemporary, strong language and sex themes, general market.

 The Garretts are everything the Reeds are not. Loud, messy, affectionate. And every day from her rooftop perch, Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them . . . until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs up next to her and changes everything.

As the two fall fiercely for each other, stumbling through the awkwardness and awesomeness of first love, Jase's family embraces Samantha - even as she keeps him a secret from her own. Then something unthinkable happens, and the bottom drops out of Samantha's world. She's suddenly faced with an impossible decision. Which perfect family will save her? Or is it time she saved herself?

A transporting debut about family, friendship, first romance, and how to be true to one person you love without betraying another.
MY THOUGHTS: This seemed set to be a sweet romance, as the main character Samantha Reed falls for the boy next door, but turns into a conscience story part of the way through, with moral dilemmas which make it hard to put down.
Samantha’s mother, Senator Grace Reed, is an ambitious and highly critical person with a shiny image to maintain. The large Garrett family who lives next door is far more relaxed and spontaneous, and each member values comfort and affection over keeping up appearances. Samantha has secretly watched the Garretts from her upper window for years, and one evening Jase, the second eldest son, introduces himself and quickly wins Samantha’s heart.
Sam is a lovely, honest narrator who has trouble juggling family loyalty with disenchantment over some of her mother’s unscrupulous values. Senator Grace makes a terrible mistake which hurts every member of the Garrett family and turns their lives upside down. Sam knows speaking up about it may destroy her mother and rock her own life, so she faces an enormous ethical conflict.
Deceptiveness of appearances is a major theme. On the surface, Samantha appears to be the girl who has everything going for her, but a lifetime of being repressed and controlled by her mother has been covered up. Even she is seduced into thinking her life is picture perfect by those who resent or envy her, but comes to understand it’s nothing of the sort.
I get how some readers could call the start too slow, others too fast, and they could both be right, in different ways. The pace sort of meanders along at first, with a romance that just rockets off without much conflict. There is also a fair bit of dialogue which is written more for characterisation than moving along the plot. I’d urge them to persevere because the story does take off in a shocking way. And of course, the type of reader who just wants to escape to another world full of lovable characters will probably be hooked from the start, just as Samantha is when she spies on the Garretts. Some of the younger members of the Garrett family are very cute.
A couple of side characters help make this story something special, and that’s the Mason twins. Sam’s best friend, Nan is an anxious perfectionist, and her brother Tim is a school drop-out who has become a heavy substance abuser. Their friends and family take them on face value, yet there are murky secrets they keep to themselves which echo the theme of things not being as they seem. What a mixed-up pair of siblings indeed.
Following Tim’s progress, as he battles his addictions and low opinion of himself is a fascinating study in itself. He’s a great contrast to the male lead character, Jase. They are both intelligent, perceptive and original young men, but since Jase comes across as pretty perfect from the start, he doesn’t really need much character development. Tim undergoes enough character development for both of them to the extent that I think it would have been a poorer book without him.
As I'd happily read more about the Garrett family and co, I think this book ultimately worked for me when I got into it.
4 stars (3 for the introductory chunk of the book, and 5 for later on)

'The Hired Girl' by Laura Amy Schlitz

Genre: YA, historical fiction, General market


Today Miss Chandler gave me this beautiful book. I vow that I will never forget her kindness to me, and I will use this book as she told me to—that I will write in it with truth and refinement…But who could be refined living at Steeple Farm?

Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs, just like the heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life and true love. But what hope is there for adventure, beauty, or art on a hardscrabble farm in Pennsylvania where the work never ends? Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart out into her diary as she seeks a new, better life for herself—because maybe, just maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six dollars a week can become what a farm girl could only dream of—a woman with a future.

Inspired by her grandmother’s journal, Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz brings her sharp wit and keen eye to early twentieth-century America in a comedic tour de force destined to become a modern classic. Joan’s journey from the muck of the chicken coop to the comforts of a society household in Baltimore (Electricity! Carpet sweepers! Sending out the laundry!) takes its reader on an exploration of feminism and housework, religion and literature, love and loyalty, cats, hats, bunions, and burns

MY THOUGHTS:
I'd challenge anyone to make it through this story without loving the main character and wanting the very best for her.

It takes the form of a diary written over the course of one year in 1911. Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs tells her own tale of how she escapes an intolerable home situation to work as housemaid for the Rosenbach family of Baltimore. Sometimes the style gets melodramatic, which suits Joan's personality, circumstances and the time period in which she lives.

It's easy to feel her desperation from the start. Joan's mother has passed away, her three elder brothers are boorish, and their father might surely be one of the most horrible paternal figures to be found in literature. Trapped in an emotionally abusive household, working hard every waking hour with no gratitude or pay, and no resources to satisfy her hunger for culture and knowledge, it's clear she has to find a way out.

The story highlights the difficulty of people who long to educate themselves with no means. For many hired girls in her position, books were only to be dusted, and certainly never touched. It's evident to those from modern times what a shame it is for people in this position to be then looked down on by others, for their lack of education when it isn't their fault. However, Joan is fortunate to end up in the home of Mr Rosenbach, who is depicted as the opposite of Joan's own father.

The story shows that beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. Joan has accepted her father's cruel assessment of her personal attributes, and comes to see that other characters, such as Mimi and David, regard her in a completely different way.

I love Joan's initiative, which always has the potential to go either way for her. The same attribute that spurs her to leave home leads to trouble on other occasions. How easy it would have been for her to stay put and assume that was her only option, as so many others must have done. This book is a strong call to readers not to 'settle'.

The section of the book in which she first falls in love has moments which are both touching and comical. Daydreaming about that boy takes Joan's attention away from all the fresh, new experiences she greatly appreciated until her feelings for him overshadow everything. Although it's fun to read, it also holds quite a bit of wisdom. All those other good parts of life are still just as appealing in the background, waiting for her to come back down to earth. 

I love Joan's tendency to 'call a spade a spade', so to speak. She isn't used to genteel manners and assuming behaviour for show. If something doesn't strike her as genuine and true, she'll say so. This helps her to think hard as she gets involved in dogmatism with the Catholic priest, Father Horst, when he tries to convince her not to work for the Jewish Rosenbachs. It also helps her to make the sorts of honest observations people may often feel, but not say, such as how resentful she gets when she has put forward her best effort and people still find fault with her, or when people criticise her for seemingly superficial reasons, or how embarrassed she feels when she doesn't 'get' the right social cues and feels she ought to.

Overall, it's great to see a new book for young adults set in this time period. Joan has many similarities to girls of her age through many generations, but the main difference may be her strong work ethic, which she accepts as part of life. How many fourteen-year-old girls who decide to make a chicken pie would include wringing the necks and plucking the chickens as an inevitable part of the job? By the end, I believe she's succeeded in making household chores come across as a noble art which not just anybody can carry off well. And that may be a challenge for teenage readers.

5 stars

Empathy - Can you overdose?

I'll start with a true story.

Once upon a time, many years ago, my husband offered to read our little boy a bedtime story. I fixed myself a cup of tea and settled down with a book of my own for a leisurely evening. Suddenly, the peace was shattered by an earsplitting scream. A tiny figure tore out of his bedroom and past my lounge chair with tears spilling down his cheeks, sobbing as if his heart would break. He didn't stop running.

A moment later his dad followed, saying, 'Logan, don't worry. Even though that emu died, Spindles makes lots of new friends. Just in the very next chapter, there are new bush critters and they stay alive for longer. Hey, come back!' 

That just made the screams even louder. It was going to take hours of major settling down now, because our three-year-old son was a victim of empathy overload. I recognised the symptoms from some of my own run-ins with emotional stories. 


There have been several reports on the internet recently explaining how fiction readers tend to be more empathetic people than those who stick to non-fiction or don't read. You've no doubt come across a couple. I've figured out two main reasons to explain this.

1) Science shows that areas of the brain which correspond to action taking place in a story light up when we read. If the protagonist, Mike, runs for his life, it stimulates the area of our cortex which would be affected if we were actually running.

2) In novels, it's super-easy for us to experience stories through the characters' points of view, whether we're reading in first or third person. We can't help relating strongly to these people when our eyes are skimming over their very thoughts, as if they're taking place in our own heads.


Reading fiction definitely boosts our empathy muscles. There's no doubt about it. And that's a good thing, because it helps us to be more understanding and caring, less selfish and narcissistic. But do you think it's possible to get too much of a good thing? Just as gorging on too many apples can make a person sick, I've upset myself for weeks by indulging in novels which turn out to be too sad.

If a blurb hints at tragedy, grief, devastation or heartache, I've learned to proceed with caution. Sometimes it's wisest to just pass up the opportunity rather than put myself through it. Other readers have told me that they thrive on emotionally harrowing stories and memoirs, because they help them realise that their own lives are not too bad after all. We all have to know ourselves well enough to gauge what we can handle. For me, it goes far beyond a simple lesson in perspective. Although that works for some, the dose of medicine is often too strong for me.

I've been known to actually give myself physical symptoms, like stomach upsets, because of this. My mother-in-law once said that she found it hard to get over the ending of 'Seven Australians' when she was young. And it can spread to infect others at times. Logan struck again, aged 9, when we were on a family holiday in the middle of desert plains somewhere in central NSW and he was reading a book in the back seat.  One of his favourite characters was killed, which got him crying, and 5-year-old Emma followed suit when she heard what happened. Their two-month old brother was the only person in the back seat not crying, for a change.

Where do you stand on this? Is the HEA (happily ever after) a sign of naivety mainly used for escapism and fairy tales? Or is the tragic tale the vicious tool of operatic productions, arthouse theatre and grim writers who have a deep and meaningful statement to make?

Our little boy at the start of this blog post is about to turn 21 this week. He would probably deny the presence of his softer side, but even though he's become more expert at concealing his tendency to empathy overload, I believe it's still in there somewhere.

'Big Magic' by Elizabeth Gilbert

 

This book seemed to be recommended wherever I turned, from Brain Pickings to Amazon. The blurb made me curious. When I saw that Elizabeth Gilbert was the author, I wondered what advice someone who wrote an international best selling memoir, and has been played on the big screen by Julia Roberts could give struggling try-hards. I quickly discovered that she does have a lot of wonderful advice about keeping our heads in the right place. It also turns lots of my old preconceptions on their heads. Some of her unexpected takes on the creative spirit may not gel with everyone, but they made sense to me. What Gilbert offers here delves far deeper than the usual old, 'Keep trying and you're bound to succeed.' 

1) Don't convince yourself that your main motivation is altruism
Things like novels, music and art do benefit individuals in the community, but that's a side effect. You're really doing it for yourself, because it's such good fun. The arts don't really matter as much as we try to convince ourselves they do. John Lennon said of the Beatles, 'We were just a band.'  In the same way, so many occupations are more essential to the smooth running of society than 'novelist.' Just be thankful that the real stakes of our creative expressions are so low, and forget about wanting to be more meaningful, heavy and significant than others.

2) Don't throw your money away on a tertiary education in the arts, because you don't really need it.
You can be self taught in this sort of occupation more than any other. And when it's so hard to cover your bills with creative work anyway, the last thing you need is a massive tertiary education debt hanging over your head. (I learned this through experience, and I'm thankful I live in Australia, where we can defer paying our tertiary debts until we're earning a reasonable sum.) 


3) Stop whining and feeling hard done by.
The world owes you nothing. It's not the world's fault that you wanted to write. It's not the world's obligation to enjoy your books, either. Complaining is annoying and hackneyed, and nobody listens anyway. What's more, it scares away inspiration when you're in such a black mood all the time. Might as well start reminding yourself that the reason you chose this path is because you enjoy your work. Frustration is part of the job description. Don't murder your creativity by demanding that your art pays the bills, when it's really not that sort of job.

4) Creative expression makes a bad career but a wonderful vocation.
The usual rules don't apply. We're often told, 'If you work hard at something, you'll likely succeed.' Not necessarily so in this case. Gilbert points out that the patron goddess of creative success may seem to reward charlatans and ignore the gifted. Don't even worry about it. When it comes to this sort of occupation, we should reconsider our definitions of success anyway.

5) Work from an attitude of stubborn gladness.
Have faith that your creative work loves you as much as you love it. Choose to work with a light, trickster energy, rather than a heavy, martyr one. Trust that the unseen forces happening in your life are on your side. It doesn't matter what's going on as you work.

6) Stop trying to feed the Hungry Ghost.
This is your ego. It's bound to keep popping its head up, but don't let it run the show. All it ever wants is more rewards, and never feels it's had enough. The soul, however, only cares about wonder, such as the subject matter of whatever project you're working on. 'Why should I go to all the trouble of creating something when the outcome may be nothing,' we may ask. Elizabeth Gilbert would remind us, 'Because it's fun, isn't it?' 

7) Forget about passion.
 Choose curiosity instead, which is less intimidating sounding, more mild and welcoming.
And don't call your work your 'baby.' So many people do this, but it's really nothing like a human child. This way of thinking may lead to a precious, possessive, 'don't touch' attitude when it comes to editing and reception in the world. And all this leads to my favourite quote from the book.

You may end only with the satisfaction of knowing you passed your existence in devotion to the noble human virtue of inquisitiveness. And that should be more than enough for anyone to say that they lived a rich and splendid life.

Onward I go - a small change for the blog

I've been thinking about the reasons why I enjoy blogging, and also an addition which will probably prove to be worthwhile.

Keeping a book blog is a good, cheap hobby. 
Not long ago, I was toying with the idea of trying to make soap or bath bombs, thinking it might be nicer and more cost effective than buying them from shops. It took no time to see that the prices of citric acid, scents and other things I'd need would add up quickly to more than I could spare. My daughter reminded me how much money she's poured into her craft hobbies, which she's earned from her part time jobs. I can't really follow her example, because I never have a spare dollar lying around.

Working on this blog, however, can be kept down to free, if I plan it right. Requesting books from blogging programmes, borrowing them from the library, or accepting people's requests for reviews costs nothing. The craft I am working with is my own thoughts. So not only am I not spending money, but I'm also saving money, in the form of free books.

It helps what I've read to stay in my head.
When I was still homeschooling my two elder kids, I used to set them the challenge to find something good, memorable or interesting about any book, movie or event, no matter how tedious it might have seemed on the surface. I remember when my pastor challenged us all with something similar. He'd been speaking about the story of Balaam and said, 'If God can speak through a donkey, he can also speak through me.' If you don't record impressions though, they're more likely to filter through your brain without leaving a trace behind.

Processing my thoughts about books often turns into a keepsake for me. I even print some of them off so I can keep them in a folder to refer to when I need a bit of a mood boost, or reminder of why some particular author impressed me so much. And of course, I do the same by skimming through the titles of all the fiction and non-fiction I've now reviewed up the top of this blog.

So I'm looking forward to providing even more this year. But here is the change from now onwards.


I've decided to start adding genres and categories.
In the past I didn't bother so much with classifications. I believed that where it hasn't been obvious, it didn't matter because a good book is a good book for everyone. However, now I'm writing more of a variety of reviews, I thought it might be helpful after all. I've been writing the occasional review for RISE Magazine, a South Australian publication focusing on Christian content. This year, I've also started doing some reviewing for The Book Curator, a magazine designed to help school librarians make their selections with all sorts of books.That means I'll be reading more Young Adult novels than I have for several years, which I'm looking forward to. In both cases, I have permission to use reviews on my blog too, if I tweak them a bit so they're not completely identical.

So from now on, I'll be including a line up the top of each blog review, indicating the main market the book is aimed for, whether children, YA or adult, and also whether it's aimed at the Christian or General market.

I hope you'll stick with me and keep getting ideas for your reading pile.

'Like a Girl' anthology

 

 
Fourteen Authors from around the world have contributed their stories to raise money for PLAN Australia. 'Like a Girl' is a celebration of the strength and resilience of women, told in a variety of genres and voices, the proceeds of which will help empower girls and women all over the world. Featuring stories and poems by Jeanette O'Hagan, Avril Sabine, V. Hartman Di Santo, Kathryn Hagan, Mary Grace, Coralyn Swift, Christina Aitken, Mark Taylor, D.L Richardson, Mimi Emmanuel, Erin Yoshikawa, Druscilla Morgan, Michelle John and Mirren Hogan.

This blog tour was started by Jeanette O'Hagan, one of the contributors and authors who helped put this anthology together. Having practised medicine, taught theology, and recently earned a master's degree in creative writing, she's well qualified to talk about the importance of education for girls. She's also working on a fascinating fantasy adventure series. You can visit her blog here. 

MY THOUGHTS:

When I received an opportunity to read this anthology and join the blog tour, I was happy to jump on board. For a start, I was interested to see how these 14 authors would address the topic of education for girls. Many people assume that modern women of the western world have now been liberated for years, and that equal opportunities abound in tertiary education institutions and workforces. I don't really buy into that. It's true we've come a long way since the early twentieth century, when suffragettes and feminists changed the world for women, but roadblocks still face females everywhere. They might be even harder to smash, for being embedded in attitudes rather than solid and in our face.

Sadly, many females assume stressful lives are the norm, and I believe it's partly because we tend to find ourselves in a no-win situation when it comes to earning approval. Many males probably don't face the same sort of implicit judgment no matter what they choose, but females still tend to come up against either a rock or a hard place. Those who devote years of service to keeping a home and rearing children are said to have 'settled' for a life of drudgery and self-sacrifice, while those who choose career are criticised by many for neglecting family, their most precious resource. And those women who try to juggle both may find themselves exhausted from performing this emotional balancing act 24/7, since either focus, work or family, has the potential to demand our all.

That's why I find stories like these refreshing, and they make an impact when they're bound in one unique collection like this. They show that every girl deserves support in whatever path she chooses, and no other person has a right to question those choices or try to stop her. Pursuing a consuming career is fine, and may empower us to make our own positive mark on society. Becoming a household manager is also fine, and certainly involves a lot of finesse and fine-tuning.

Throughout these stories, I noticed other subtle but huge pressures borne on the shoulders of girls everywhere. (Or maybe you find them not so subtle in your own life. Either way, they seem to get us all at one time or another.) That's the pressure to fit in, earn nods of approval from influential crowds, and look pretty. We hate that physical appearance has to be such a pervasive criteria for women, yet we still buy into it. Some of the girls in these stories have refreshing takes on that one.

The girls you'll find in these pages come from a variety of places and times. Fantasy worlds, simple, native worlds, suburbia as we know it, space missions. Some are involved in life rescuing missions. What they all share is a thirst to learn and drive to follow their passions, despite discouragement from outside sources. I congratulate everyone who worked on this book, for the final product.

I consider myself fortunate to have been able to educate my three children at home at the same time as working on writing novels. Having had unlimited access to books and other sources of knowledge, I'd love to see the same for any other woman who desires it. 

Next stop in line will be the blog of Mimi Emmanuel, who loves to share words of joy and peace through her writing, and delving deep into the words of Scripture. You'll find her blog here.

Like A Girl anthology is available for purchase from the following sites. 

As a print copy from Amazon

As a kindle copy from Amazon  

The profits earned from sales of this book will be donated to PLAN Australia, who are dedicated to improving education standards across the world for girls. 

Teachers in Stories - The Best and Worst

As teachers prepare to return to another school year, here is a tribute to them. I believe they make an enormous impact on what may happen down the track in the life of any individual. A simple word from a teacher in our early years has the potential to influence how we perceive ourselves, and what we become. I always remember when my English teacher took me aside to recommend that I aspire for her job, as English teacher. Although that never happened, her words helped me stick to writing.

I've chosen 15 teachers from stories, and the fact that there's so many to choose from also indicates the significance of their role. 

THE GOOD

1) Mr Francis Carpenter, from 'Emily of New Moon'
He might be one of the least well known on my list, but this man had a true calling for teaching, rather than just filling in time earning money. He used games and role-play to help his students learn history and geography. And he quickly intuited the strengths and weaknesses of each of his pupils, and tailor-made lessons for them accordingly. 

2) Miss Honey from 'Matilda' 
A very sweet lady who appreciated the many talents of the down-trodden little heroine. She invested energy into improving Matilda's life, when other teachers might have just shrugged and said, 'Sad background, but what can I do about it?' 

3) Professor Minerva McGonagall from 'Harry Potter'
She's strict but has piercing insight into the characters of her students, and is very fair. Even though she's the head of Gryffindor House, she never hesitates to take points off them if she feels they deserve it. And she's brimming with common sense and compassion too.

4) Laura Ingalls from 'Little House on the Prairie' series
Even though she's younger and smaller than some of the country bumpkins she's sent to teach, she manages to win them over by being herself and proving that she's interested in each of them as people. She's canny enough to recognise sneaky shenanigans and prove that she can play their own game, especially with the cheeky Clarence Brewster.

5) Anne Shirley from 'Anne of Green Gables'
I guess a girl with such a fertile imagination and thirst for knowledge can't help inspiring students with her own enthusiasm. Even when she loses her temper and whips Anthony Pye, things end up turning out well. She wouldn't get away with that in the 21st century though!

6) Mr Nigel Ratburn from the 'Arthur' TV series
I used to watch this each night when my kids were small, and loved him. His class would complain that his standards were too high, and that he wasn't as much fun as the lady across the hall, but they knew he had their backs and was capable of getting good work out of them.

7) Mr Mark Thackeray  from 'To Sir with Love'
Not only did he manage to win the friendship of his class of racially prejudiced teens from the wrong side of the tracks, but he helped each of them understand that they were capable of far better work than they ever would have imagined. He's a teacher who succeeds in helping students with inferiority complexes raise their own opinions of themselves. You can't ask for more than that. 

8) Mr John Keating from 'Dead Poet's Society'
This man inspired his class of troubled and repressed private school boys to think like the great philosophers throughout history and 'Seize the Day!' Through unorthodox lessons, he encourages them to become originals rather than followers of the crowd. Things didn't end well for him, but what a champion.

9) Mr Chipping from 'Goodbye Mr Chips'
 His school boys were his life, plain and simple. He gave a lifetime of blood, sweat and tears to his place of employment, Brookfield Grammar School. It got to the point where he was able to understand deeper aspects about new pupils from the outset because he'd also taught their fathers. What a guy.

10) Master Yoda from 'Star Wars'
Despite his dodgy syntax, this teacher has successfully trained generations of Jedi Knights. He knows how to fill their head spaces with necessary skills and challenges them to get the best out of themselves. And he has enough quotes to fill a philosophy book. A better teacher to find is hard. 

THE BAD

1) Miss Eliza Jane Wilder from 'Little Town on the Prairie' 
She forms cliques with nasty girls, holds grudges against other students such as Laura, and gives unfair punishments which far exceed transgressions. What's more, Miss Wilder lacks the skill sets a teacher needs. When most of the class decide on mutiny, her feeble disciplinary attempts get her nowhere. I can't help wondering what happened when Laura Ingalls Wilder decided to write these candid details for the whole world to read about the lady who later became her sister-in-law. Surely it would have caused an irreparable family rift. Or maybe there was always friction between Laura and Eliza Jane, and the stories were just another shot in Laura's arsenal.     


2) Miss Caroline Fisher from 'To Kill a Mockingbird'
She breezes into a teacher's appointment without a clue as to the character of the town and its folk. All she wants is to stamp the cookie cutter methodology she's been taught at teacher's college onto every young individual in her class. She's too shallow to recognise compassion and help when it comes in an unlikely package. Instead of thanking Scout Finch who offers to explain the idiosyncrasies of different families, she smacks her instead! 

3) Professor Dolores Umbridge from 'Harry Potter'
A bad egg indeed. At first she just seems like a condescending control-freak without a clue, but her nastiness turns out to run deeper than that. And her own personal ambition and grasping for power knows no bounds. The students decide to take matters in their own hands the year she became Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, because she's simply not teaching them anything of practical value. That's bad enough, without all the other on top.

4) Mr William Hundert from 'The Emperor's Club'
I watched this movie with the kids some time ago. This man's intentions to be a great teacher are genuine, but he succumbs to cheating, and it's a downward slide from there. When you surreptitiously boost your favourite student's test results to get him into an elite competition, it's not going to end well. Especially when the boy who rightfully made the grade has no chance now.       


5) Professor Severus Snape from 'Harry Potter' 
OK, he's complex enough to be in a class of his own and I'll leave it to the individual to judge him as a person, but surely anyone would admit that as a teacher, he's trash. He uses sarcasm and shame liberally, and favours the Slytherin students, to boost the school house of which he's head. Yet you have to admit that he does elicit good results from his Potions students, and knows what he's teaching.


So there's enough of a list to prompt a reading or movie marathon. If you can think of any other examples of great or deplorable teachers, either real or literary, please let us know in the comments. 
And I wish all teachers and students a good start to the academic year, which commences soon.

'Henry and Banjo' by James Knight

The fascinating lives and turbulent times of Henry Lawson and Andrew 'Banjo' Paterson - the two men who wrote Australia's story.

Today most of us know that Henry Lawson and Andrew 'Banjo' Paterson were famous writers. We know about Matilda, Clancy of the Overflow and the Man from Snowy River; The Drover's Wife, While the Billy Boils and Joe Wilson and his mates, but little else. Here, in a compelling and engaging work, James Knight brings Henry and Banjo's own stories to life. And there is much to tell.

MY THOUGHTS:

First off, they were born just three years apart. I never realised our two famous Aussie colonial poets shared so many similarities. They started having their work published in Sydney's paper 'The Bulletin' about the same time, and both were regarded as proteges by the proprietor/editor, J.F. Archibald. Their fathers died within a short time of each other, both aged 56. Both young fellows started keeping an eye on each others' work, and most importantly, they were both 'looking for the same reef' as Banjo expressed it.

But by the same token, there were many gaping differences. Andrew Barton Paterson, who was known as Barty, was born into a family with quite a few connections. He was related to Edmund Barton, our first prime minister, on his mother's side of the family, had a private school education and became a solicitor, which bored him. Henry Lawson was born into a struggling family trying to make a go of it in the bush, and had major struggles with depression and alcoholism. While Banjo romanticised the bush, Henry highlighted the toil and heartache. They worked with the same subject matter, colonial Australia, but each focused on different sides of the same coin, and it could be argued that both angles were true.

I enjoyed these glimpses of the pair of them. On one hand, they were illustrious Australian poets worthy of studying in school. Yet we see them here as a pair of spirited young rivals in their 20s having a war of words for ratings and having (mostly!) friendly digs at each other. I'd never heard about the competition they cooked up between them. It was awesome, and sent me off searching for the poems which were weapons in the battle. This is a book you won't want to read without doing lots of google searches just for fun.

It's not as simple as saying that Barty was born with more opportunities than Henry, since Henry comes across as one of those tragic, melancholic souls who managed to squander all the good that came his way. I wanted to shake him for his self-sabotage. His relationship with his mother Louisa, famous in her own right, is shown here as complex and not always amicable. She warned her young friend Bertha Bredt, 'Don't marry Henry.' The girl replied that she was going to, because she loved him so much. History shows what happened. Henry's mother was right.

Banjo strikes me as our Australian version of Shakespeare, since young modern people enjoy a lot of what he created without even knowing it. They may watch 'The Man from Snowy River' movie, and sing 'Waltzing Matilda' oblivious of the young man who created them. He seemed to get sparks of sudden inspiration from events in his life. That made it really interesting to read how works I've already mentioned plus 'Clancy of the Overflow' came to be written. I'll tempt you by saying that 'Waltzing Matilda' turned out to be full of romantic faux pas for him.

It's a book which left me with many questions to ponder. Did each of them find that life delivered exactly what they expected it to? The philosophy that life is our mirror seemed to be borne out for them, with the more sanguine Barty taking blows more cheerfully in his stride than sensitive Henry, who absorbed heartache and took everything so hard. And they're known as 'the men who wrote Australia.' Does that mean we're getting an accurate impression of colonial Australia from their work, or is it coloured by their own personalities? For example, are we getting an overly rosy picture which Barty romanticised it to be from his own longing to be out of his office?

I'm glad to have read this book. Even though they're both long gone, their characters seemed to come alive. I find it easy to imagine Henry grumbling, 'He keeps misrepresenting what it's really like in the bush. How does he always manage to fall on his feet?' and Banjo face-palming, and saying, 'What's he up to now?'

4.5 stars

Star Rankings - A help or a hindrance?

It turns out that a man named Edward O'Brien was responsible for this system I've both loved and hated. He was an author/editor who was working on an anthology of short stories around the turn of the last century. For his own filing ease, he decided to give each one a ranking of one, two or three stars, depending on whether he found them great, okay or deplorable. O'Brien's idea caught on among his peer group, or if they'd lived in our time it might be said to have 'gone viral'.

Eventually, his original three star ranking system expanded to the five star one we all know so well, for it's used for pretty much everything from motels and restaurants to cosmetics, household appliances and books. When it comes to books, I've had plenty of experience with stars, both on the giving and receiving end.

While I've had my author hat on, I've been warned by people who have expressed interest in reviewing my books, 'Just so you know, I rarely give five stars.' What do they expect in reply to that? Probably something like, 'I appreciate your honesty and all reviews are welcome,' which is what I do say. Even though that's true, I find it a bit sad that their high standards cause them to begin each book expecting to find something to lower their rankings. With that attitude, I'm certain they will. (When I put my reviewer hat on, I never say that to anyone. I prefer to approach every book hoping it will be a five or at least a four.)

I discovered an article by a couple of authors who have made an interesting point. In their opinion, deep in our hearts, we never regard the star ranking system as the simple scale it professes to be. Instead, it's actually a binary system consisting of only two levels, Pass (5 stars) and Fail (4 stars and less).

(How many people do you think are secretly a bit like Chandresh Christophe LeFevre, a character from 'The Night Circus' by Erin Morgenstern? He savagely threw knives across the room at a glowing review he'd clipped from the paper, simply because it reported his spectacle as 'almost transcendant'. He took offense at the world 'almost' and decided he must be doing something wrong.)

But when you really think about it, nothing suggests a phony set-up more than a book which has only a handful of five star rankings, because the general public differ so markedly in their tastes and responses. In these cases, even if the author didn't rustle up a number of friends and relations to do them a favour, it certainly appears that way. (If a number of these happen to be 'one review wonders' or share the same surname as the author, it looks even more fishy. See my review of How to get good reviews on Amazon by Theo Rogers.) Fours are quite acceptable, thank you very much, and the majority of books seem to get the occasional ones and twos, because we're all so different, and the world is full of trolls

Do you think it would be nice to cut through all the angst and second guessing? Star rankings can evoke misleading impressions when they stare us in the face. People have told me, 'An author got upset because I gave their book three stars, but I don't understand why. Three means it's pretty good, doesn't it?' Well, I can tell them why. The sight of three stars out of five may scream ho-hum, mediocre, luke warm and lacklustre to some people. And as for a single star, I came across one reviewer who wrote about someone's book, 'This trash doesn't deserve any stars at all and I hate being forced to give it one, but had to, as it's necessary for me to post my review!' Why don't we scrap star rankings altogether and use emoticons instead, to give a broader impression of our visceral responses to the books we read.

  for 'Anne of Green Gables'

  for 'The Book Thief'

  for 'Ulysses'

I think that would work for me, because my rankings are based on the emotions they stir up anyway. When it comes to books many things can influence a ranking, but I think focusing on just one makes them more consistent across the board. I ask myself these sorts of questions? Did the author pour a lot of heart and soul into this book? Do I still dream about these characters after I finish the story? Do I hear their voices in my mind? Did I laugh or cry out loud? If the answers tend to be 'yes', then I've been known to give 5 stars even if the writing craft isn't quite right. In fact, if those technical issues are a bit off, yet the book still hooks me, it may be argued that it deserves five stars more than ever!

I'd give emojis my vote if I was asked, but I don't think it's something that will happen in the short term. We'll keep up our star-gazing, wondering what inscrutable reasons people have chosen to rank our books, and try to be fair and honest in our rankings of others. That's where a good review is invaluable. I try to explain reasons for my ranking, so that they're clear to anybody who wants to read them. Whether or not you agree with them, at least they're laid out, plain, simple and fair. And I appreciate it when others do the same for me.