H.M. Waugh's Blog, page 2

My definitive guide as to why goats are awesome

[image error]I totally love goats! Little did I know that when I was writing ‘The Lost Stone of SkyCity’ with some cheeky goat side-kicks called gotals, I would imbue my love of goats into the very story.

Evidently, I did. Because when people read the book, they’re always saying ‘You must love goats! Why is that?’

Aha! Glad you asked!

What’s not to love? Our two species have a shared history, and goats have got to be one of the smartest, funkiest animals. EVER. Here’s what I love the most about them …

 

G...

Getting my Stone Age on – ‘Tarin of the Mammoths: The Exile’

[image error]There is a happy place where the reader and the scientist in me combine to devour both books and chocolate, all with a smile on my face. Only found amid the pages of truly fab books, I found that happy place reading ‘Tarin of the Mammoths: The Exile’ by Jo Sandhu.

Hey if your kids (or you!) love history and science and all things Stone Age, then this is the book to read. It’s got danger, adventure, friendship and a diverse set of characters.

It’s got mammoths, too.

The things that work so wel...

A scrumptious second instalment – ‘Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow’

[image error]Now, I’m the sort of person to approach a series with trepidation … Sometimes I LOVE the first book SO MUCH, I don’t want to ruin it by reading a substandard follow-on. (Who’s with me?)

But then, there are series that are totally ace at being a series. Where the whole premise just gets better and better with each new book. I’m thinking Harry Potter, Lintang, Chronicles of Prydain, The Old Kingdom …

When authors get it right, I’m eagerly awaiting every new book.

Thankfully (because – mate – I...

A delightful series to sink your fangs into: Amelia Fang

[image error]I love it when a tip from a fellow blogger leads me to a gem of a book.

And I adore it when it leads to THREE books, with another one just released!!

The Amelia Fang series by Laura Ellen Anderson is – quite simply – fabulous fun! From the different coloured end-paintings on each book to the gorgeous illustrations they are a delight to behold and read.

Filled with humour, friendship and adventure, not to mention the cutest pet pumpkin ever, this Junior Fiction series has excellent characters and great themes. I loved reading them aloud with my own little junior reader – especially putting on Florence the Yeti’s voice!

[image error]The inhabitants of Nocturnia are terrified of all things light and glittery, even taught at school to fear those of the Kingdom of the Light. But in Amelia’s adventures, she discovers how easily everyone can be made to fear for no reason.

I read these books in the aftermath of the Christchurch Terror Attacks, and it made me so sad and yet so hopeful because books like these help children to empathise and discover that different isn’t evil and I wish all children could read them.

This series conveys these messages in such a clever way – I mean, how ridiculous is it that vampires would be scared of fairies …

I haven’t tried any of the recipes in the back (you’ll understand why when you see them), but they made my own little junior reader laugh and laugh.

[image error] The world will be a better place with children growing up reading books like these.

A recommended read from me!

A huge thanks to Lily and the Fae for their wonderful review, which inspired me to seek these out in my library! If you haven’t found the Lily and the Fae blog, head over there. It is a fountain of awesome for kidlit.

Amelia Fang series in order:

Book 1: Amelia Fang and the Barbaric Ball
Book 2: Amelia Fang and the Unicorn Lords
Book 3: Amelia Fang and the Memory Thief
Aaand… Book 4 (which I haven’t read yet): Amelia Fang and Half-Moon Holiday

As big and as bold and as awesome as a wingerslink – ‘Ottilie Colter and the Narroway Hunt’

[image error]This book has stolen my heart! I enjoyed reading it so much.

I loved it on the first read, when I was captivated by the friendship, humour and exciting world filled with unknowns that I just wanted to know.

I loved it on the second read, as I discovered some of the tricks author Rhiannon Williams used to make it so super-duper awesomesauce.

And then…

YES! And then!

AND THEN!!!! I went out and bought it because my library only had an e-book and I love paper books. And I loved it on the third read with its beautiful cover and fabulous messages for kids.

‘Ottilie Colter and the Narroway Hunt’ by Rhiannon Williams is a delight for middle-grade readers. It won the Ampersand Prize. I can see why. If I’d been judging, I would have hugged the manuscript after I’d finished it.

(I may have hugged the book) (I do that sometimes)

Why did I enjoy so much?

Because it has action and suspense and camaraderie with this deep underlying theme of challenging gender stereotyping and being true to who you are.

AND I enjoyed it because I felt like I was in safe hands with the author – the reason why came apparent in my second read because Williams follows a pretty standard structure for the book. This isn’t a bad thing at all – it’s standard because it works for the reader, keeps them hooked and reading to the end.

So, a quick summary (and careful if you haven’t read it, because I can’t explain without a few spoilers!!):

Just plain awesome characters

The characters were the heart and soul of this book for me. Sure, there’s adventure and action and trying to get through the trials and stay high on the points ladder… but the characters make this book what it is.

Scoot is so funny. I want to give Bill a big wet hug.  Skip is tough and brave and bright. Leo made me chuckle (because who hasn’t known a Leo, or realised they were acting the Leo, at one time or another?). But Ottilie is the star in my eyes.

Ottilie stared down at her knees. ‘I don’t know. I was never very brave.’

‘Ha!’ Skip covered her toothy mouth and glanced at the door again.

‘What?’

‘Look at you with your hacked-off hair, having a bath at midnight. You’re great. You and I are going to be friends.’ She snorted. ‘Not very brave – you’re obviously the best kind of brave!’

p. 122

Gender stereotypes be gone!

Williams does this really well. It’s not forced down your throat but middle readers will clearly be empathising with Ottilie as she struggles to act like a boy should act, and keeps hearing the girl-jokes that she is proving wrong with every one of her successes.

Ottilie had grown so paranoid that she had begun to question her every gesture and posture, often altering her stance several times to find something that seemed naturally male – although she was beginning to suspect there was no such thing.

p. 102

Ottilie’s a trail-blazing piece of awesome in this book, so it’s probably fitting I’m writing this review on International Women’s Day!

 

The structure that works

I go to writing workshops run by fabulous authors of brilliant books and usually they’ll advise us to write to one of a few tried and true structures. ‘Ottilie Colter and the Narroway Hunt’ does this really well.

2.5% – inciting incident (Gully gone)

17% – Ottilie leaves the world she knows and enters the new world of the Narroway. All is unknown ahead of her.

44% – The book changes direction as the lead characters change what they’re aiming for – no longer do they want to escape.

50% on the dot – Fledgling Trials. Suddenly the stakes change for Ottilie and her friends again. Big time. Some things are easier (phew, the bathroom) and some much harder (eek the dredretches). This is new. We want to keep reading.

75% (I’m not making that up) – Ottilie tries and fails. Gamechanger.

91% – the main climax. Awesome stuff.

96% – Ottilie has proven her worth and achieved her goal. Though a different one to the one she started out with.

This is a great circular plot and gives a sense of closure for the first book. But then, of course, there are still those niggling worries – like are witches really all gone? and who is the cloaked figure? and what really is causing the dredretches to spread? And all these mean I’m happily anticipating Book #2 so I can meet my mates again and find answers.

 

So, I recommend you read it and/or get your 8 – 13 year-old to read it!

 

 

 

Cool solutions for shady gardens: Why not plant a rainbow?

[image error]Walls, fences, dense trees, high-rise neighbours, eaves, and patios… With the rise in urban living, we’re finding more and more shade encroaching on our gardens. And those gardens are becoming increasingly precious, as pockets of green in an urban landscape.

So what do you do with those dark corners of your block?

Do not despair, there are many native plants that can grow and thrive in shady areas. To prove this, we’ve compiled a rainbow of plants to brighten up the dark. All you need to add is a hammock, and your shady spot will be the ideal summer haven.

 Planting in shade – the basics

The deeper and darker your shady spot, the fewer flowers you’ll get. The plants we list in this article are happiest and most colourful in dappled shade, but will tolerate deeper shade.
Shaded plants often become ‘leggy’. Regular light pruning will help them to remain compact.
If your shade comes from a deciduous tree, the pileup of leaves in autumn can smother plants underneath, as well as provide too much nutrient to a native garden. Regularly rake up the leaves in autumn – you can make leafmould from them for your vegetables!

 

Our shady rainbow plants
Red- Holly Flame Pea Chorizema ilicifolium

This cheerful pea has yellow/orange and red flowers from July to October. It is low-growing, rarely reaching 0.5 m, and grows well in sand and over limestone.

Orange- Heart-leaf Flame Pea Chorizema cordatum

This striking plant can become covered in orange and bright-pink pea flowers from July to late spring, and although not long-lived it often produces seed. It comes from wetter areas of the south-west and benefits from supplementary watering, especially during its first summer. Free-draining soils. Height to 0.5 m.

Yellow- Hibbertia grossulariifolia

This makes an excellent ground cover, as anyone who’s been to the Backyard Botanicals garden around the Zamia Café could attest. Large golden flowers occur mainly from August to December. The plant grows naturally on sand and loam.

Green- Honeypot Dryandra Banksia nivea

The honeypot dryandra can flower throughout the year, with flower colours including cream, yellow, orange, pink/red and brown. It grows to 1 m x 1 m and wins its spot here because of its gorgeous ferny green foliage. It grows in a range of soils and is architectural in form.

Blue- Blue Leschenaultia Lechenaultia biloba

This iconic plant flowers from winter to late spring and grows to 0.3 m. There are many colour variants available. On the Swan Coastal Plain they can be short-lived and benefit from supplementary watering. They strike well from cuttings and may be best treated as a short lived element within your garden space.

Purple- Tremandra stelligera

Our top pick for shady gardens, this hardy plant has vibrant purple flowers through spring. Up to 1.0 m high, it grows on sandy or loamy soils.

Pink- Bunjong Pimelea spectabilis

This stunning plant is best purchased as a grafted specimen as this increases success in the Perth region – keep an eye on the Friends of Kings Park plant sales. Large pink/white flowers are produced in winter and spring. To 1 m.

White- Southern Cross Xanthosia rotundifolia

We know what you’re thinking, but without white clouds there can’t be rain, and therefore, no rainbow! The Southern Cross is a wonderful low shrub to 0.4 m, with variable flowering across the year, but mainly in spring. It suits all soil types.

 

In a climate like ours, a bit of shade is something to cherish. So brighten yours up with a rainbow of WA native plants, and enjoy the cool results!

 

This article was published in the Autumn 2017 issue of Kings Parks’ For People & Plants magazine. Written with my fellow Volunteer Master Gardener, Douglas Betts.

 

Full of colours and strength – ‘Catching Teller Crow’

[image error]Hope against despair. Courage fighting fear. Joy beating sadness.

‘Catching Teller Crow’ by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekiel Kwaymullina is profoundly moving, at times painful, addictively suspenseful, and all woven together with strength and love.

This is a powerful novel. Filled with powerful female characters and a dad who could be a role model for dads everywhere.

The way it’s told pulls the reader in, and then makes them question everything.

I love the clever use of POV. Beth Teller is dead, and narrates in first person prose, past tense. Yet second narrator, Isobel Catching, narrates in 1st person verse, present tense, even though she’s mainly telling the “what has been”. Her narrative tricks you at first, until you realise the truth and your mind flips and the story suddenly gets a heck load deeper into your gut.

‘Catching Teller Crow’ is a jewel of a murder mystery with paranormal side serves and some intriguing gusts of wind.

Like Isobel Catching, I feel this novel wants to be heard. To tell the stories that need to be told.

‘This grey’s yours,’ I say. ‘My colours are mine. I’m not carrying your shame for what you did. Only my pride. For surviving you.’

p. 168

It’s a brilliant book. It’s gritty. It may make you cry (but that might also just be me being a mum and having some overactive empathy) (actually I don’t think you can have overactive empathy – the more we have, the better world this would be).

But it will also uplift you. Because it reminds us we all have strength inside.

And as an opportunity to discuss intergenerational racism in Australia with teenagers, it’s gold. I’d love to see it on English Lit lists.

A recommended read.

As gorgeous as a child’s painting of their mum – ‘Roses Are Blue’

[image error]OMG. I have just finished reading one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read, full of heart and feeling, strength and healing.

The gorgeous ‘Roses Are Blue’ is by the fabulous Sally Murphy, and illustrated by Gabriel Evans, so it’s West Aussie through and through.

It’s written in verse, adding to the poignancy of everything that MC Amber relates. Amber is filled with so many emotions kids (anyone) (me included) can relate to – wanting to fit in, fearing being different, wishing for the impossible and not liking herself much sometimes for wishing that. Amber is a lovely narrator, the story is beautiful.

In fact it’s the several hankies or a whole box of tissues sort of beautiful.

Though maybe that’s just my reaction, being a mum who identifies a lot with Amber’s mum. Amber’s old mum, that is. Before the accident. For me, I read it and saw my own daughter in Amber’s shoes, and I cried my eyes out and marveled at Amber’s courage and was left uplifted by the ending.

Hope, indeed, can bloom from anywhere…

This is Junior Fiction, and it deals well with issues like bullying and friendship, moving house and family changes, loss and resilience.

Amber’s mum ends up in a wheelchair, unable to talk, walk or feed herself. The story follows how Amber deals with this tragedy, a new school, new friends, and the conflicting emotions that surround her first Mother’s Day at school since the accident. How will the rest of her class react to seeing her mum? Does she even want her mum to come?

It teaches kids a powerful lesson in empathy – everyone has a story, and you don’t know them all. So don’t judge. Everyone is different. Different isn’t bad.

This is a book chock-full of love. The love Amber has for her mum, as she comes to terms with what has changed, and what is still the same. The love she has for her little brother, who doesn’t remember the way mum was before. And the love for herself, the self-confidence and strength she gains along the way.

Absolutely recommended.

 

AWW2018 roundup and 2019 launch!

[image error]2018 is so last year! It’s time to rise to a new challenge! #AWW2019 is on, people!

I’ve taken up the same challenge – to read ten books by Australian women writers and review six – and I’m likely to blitz it (again). How can I not, when we have such amazing female writing talent in Oz?!

Here are the links to my #AWW2018 review blogs, covering 16 fab books by Aussie women writers:

Crafting a great story: deconstructing ‘These Broken Stars’
Diverse voices make for a brilliant read – ‘The Stars at Oktober Bend’
Poking around perfection with a bird-tipped umbrella: ‘Nevermoor: the Trials of Morrigan Crow’
Even better than a hug from a dingo cat – ‘Cyclones and Shadows’
Heaps better than a fake spider on your door frame – ‘Olivia’s Secret Scribbles: My New Best Friend’
Tying up all the strings like a Cherry putting on his ATLAS – ‘Obsidio’
Inspiring the feels, like a doll freed from the basement – ‘A Semi-definitive List of Worst Nightmares’
As loaded with surprises as a Superintendent’s scrapyard – ‘Yellow’
Refreshing like a home-grown yellow watermelon – ‘White Night’
My CBCA Notables book binge!
3 Awesome Series for Kids Who Thrive on Learning
As sweet as a Gub and as nerve-wracking as being tracked through the vents of a Freighter Class C – ‘In the Dark Spaces’

It was a super year with huge talent. Bring on 2019, and more great reads by Aussie women!

xx

As exciting as a stint in an InvisiLounge -‘Skyfire’ (The Seven Signs #1)

[image error]Seven teens from seven continents, trying to crack seven signs a day for seven days as the world progressively swirls down the proverbial toilet.

Gold. Total gold.

I was reeled in by Skyfire, the first in The Seven Signs series by Michael Adams, hauled deeper into the mystery the more I read. I’ll be honest, the first few pages I was totally thinking yeah, I know what this is all about. But then the characters came alive and the action began ticking. And awesome things began happening. And happening. And happening.

And then, hooly toolooly, the first signs arrived.

There was no turning back for me. I had to buy the rest of the series. I had to read them all, stat. I had to know what was happening and where were they going next and who was the Signmaker and for goodness’ sake, can someone let these kids sleep sometime!?

If you’re looking for adventure and action and friendship and surprises and an ongoing mental challenge, then this book – this entire awesome series – is for you. I absolutely loved the seamless integration of the futuristic world. Technology introduced so casually, and yet way beyond what we know. I loved the diversity of the characters and the changing settings.

And I totally want to ride in an InvisiLounge.

This is upper Junior Fiction to Middle Grade and a certain page-turner. Don’t expect to actually solve the signs before the characters do – they’re definitely not that easy. The Signmaker made sure of that…

And don’t ever expect to figure out who The Signmaker is until the very end. (And don’t be surprised if you then immediately need to reread a few sections and start making notes!)

Clever, so clever!

A recommended read.