Adele Broadbent's Blog, page 238

March 22, 2016

Anna and the Swallow Man

TEEN SAV22453727


Author – Gavriel Savit


Age – 13+


The first thing that struck me reading this novel set in Poland in the 1940’s, was the beautiful use of language. Each sentence was to be savoured. Some would say it was waffly, but I found it beautiful.

This story is about a seven year old girl called Anna who was very close to her Papa. He’d taught her several languages and took her with him when he met with other scholars like himself. She was encouraged to ask questions and speak her mind and wasn’t treated like a child. But when he left Anna with a friend for the day, after being called to the University where he worked – he never returns. His so-called friend let Anna sleep in his shop on the floor for one night then told her he couldn’t have her sitting in his shop any longer. She sat on the front step and couldn’t help but cry after hours of waiting for her beloved Papa to return. When a soldier noticed her, another man did too, coming to her rescue. He was tall and thin and spoke to her in different languages to determine who she was. It was only when he whistled a certain way, and a swallow swooped down to land on his hand in front of Anna.

This is where their journey together begins. We never learn the Swallow Man’s name. As the years pass by, he keeps Anna safe by teaching her another language – the language of ‘Road’ and how to survive Polish winters, German checkpoints and every other trial they face just staying alive.


(War, Poland, Survival, Friendship, WWII, Literary)


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Published on March 22, 2016 22:11

March 16, 2016

Mice

TEEN – REE8686523


Author – Gordon Reece


Age – 13+


Shelley and her mum are ‘Mice’ – shy, quiet and happy to keep to themselves. Dad has left for another woman, and Shelley is tutored at home after years of bullying at her school by her own ex best friends.


They move to an idyllic country cottage and build a new life of calm routine, reading, painting, classical music, and study for Shelley towards her goal of going to university. On the night before her 16th birthday they drink wine to celebrate and go to bed looking forward to the future. Shelley wakes to a creaking stair and knows instantly there is someone in the house.


Shelley snaps, nearly loses her life and their peaceful existence is shattered. Can they deal with what they’ve done? Will they be discovered? Can life ever be the same again?


This was a thrilling read, and I was on edge with the characters – will they be found out? Did somebody see them? Although I wanted Shelley to stick up for herself against her school bullies, she certainly made up for it when her home and mum were in danger.


(Thriller, Bullying, Murder, Courage, Self esteem, Guilt)


 


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Published on March 16, 2016 00:01

March 15, 2016

Hour of the Bees

TEEN – Eag22453777


Author – Lindsay Eager


Age – 12+


12 year old Carol (Carolina) isn’t impressed about having to spend her last summer before junior high away from her friends. While they are at pool parties and having fun, she is stuck in the desert with her Mum, Dad, toddler brother Lu and her just turned 17 half sister Alta. They are helping tidy up Carol’s Grandfather’s house for sale, as he has worsening dementia.


They’ve all read the brochures about Alzheimer’s and Carol can see all the signs in the grandfather she’s never met. At first Grandpa Serge is prickly and Carol groans about how long the summer is going to be – oppressive heat, an obvious gulf between her dad and his dad, a selfish, lazy, obnoxious teen sister, not to mention the rattlesnakes.


But through it all, Carol and Serge build a relationship – with his stories about a tree and a beautiful lake and a couple in love. Serge’s ‘word salad’ is sometimes confusing, but Carol is patient and starts to wonder whether the story Serge tells could be true…? Could the bees that follow her everywhere, be proof?


This was a beautiful story within a story. The relationship story between young and old is not new but this was touched with a little magic, patience, determination, love, and story itself. Carol is a mature 12 year old, having to mind her young brother a lot and tip-toe around her teen sister’s explosive personality, but still young enough to believe in something magical.


If you loved Tuck Everlasting, Holes, or Being Here (Barry Jonsburg), you’ll love this too


(Family, Grandfather, Desert, Story, Family Roots, Alzheimers, Dementia)


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Published on March 15, 2016 11:43

March 7, 2016

Underwater

TEEN – REI26799477


Author – Marisa Reichardt


Age – 12+


Morgan has been stuck inside her family’s apartment inside for months – by choice. Going outside is too loud, too bright, too many people. Ever since it happened, outside is beyond her control. She does her school stuff on-line and has her twice weekly therapy sessions at home, watches TV or looks after her little brother after school. She doesn’t need ‘outside’ anymore.


But she misses it. The sun, the sand and most of all the water. Morgan was on the swim team, popular and happy before. But her friends don’t know the truth. They don’t know her part in the school shooting that tore their world apart.


Underwater is an intriguing novel, delving into what it would be like to be one of the survivors of such a terrible event. Morgan has to deal with a secret she’s kept, her absent ex-soldier father, and an unexpected friendship from a new neighbour, who has more in common with her than she knows. Liked it.


(School shooting, Grief, Fear, Courage, Love, Family, Guilt)


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Published on March 07, 2016 19:38

March 5, 2016

Boy21

TEEN – QUI22465694


Author – Matthew Quick


Age – 13+


Finley doesn’t talk much, but his girlfriend Erin doesn’t mind. With a shared passion for basketball they’re always training or practising together. When Coach asks Finley to look after a new kid at school, Finley is OK with that. He does what his elders (especially Coach) ask him to do. It’s how Dad and Pop raised him.

This new boy is Russell Washington – the best high school ball player Coach has ever seen. But Russell is also the son of one of Coach’s best friends, and he wants to look after him. Especially since Russ’ parents were murdered, and Russ has come to live with his grandparents in their town of Bellmont. He is going to go by the name Russ Allen, so no-one knows who he really is.

The problem is, Russ wants to be called Boy21, claiming to be an extra terrestrial and waiting for his fellow aliens to collect him after he has studied human’s emotions on Earth.


This was a great story about male relationships – sons, fathers, friends, teachers, coaches, grandfathers, team mates and more.


(Sport, Basketball, Space, Grief, Love, Friendship, Family)


 


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Published on March 05, 2016 00:38

March 3, 2016

Thirteen Chairs

TEEN SHE26874656


Author – Dave Shelton


Age – 11+


Jack has heard about the strange house in town – even that it might be haunted. So when he finds 12 people sitting in a room, each with a flickering candle in front of them and ready to tell a scary story, he makes sure he is close to the door. Just in case. But the stories he hears draw him in – until he has to tell one of his own….


On the Carnegie/CILIP Medal Longlist 2016.

This is a great collection of scary stories, wrapped up in a story of its own. Clever!


(Short Stories, Ghost, Creepy, Intrigue, Murder, Horror, Advanced readers 11+)


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Published on March 03, 2016 00:55

February 28, 2016

The Apple Tart of Hope

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Author – Sarah Moore Fitzgerald


Age – 11+


Meg and Oscar have been best friends since they were in early primary school. But meg’s feelings have begun to change. She’s thinking of Oscar as more than a friend. He’s kind and thoughtful, popular at school, and he bakes the most amazing, almost magical Apple Tarts. He has an uncanny ability to know when someone is down and just might need one of his tasty tarts. When Meg’s parents tell her they are going to NZ for 6 months for her dad’s work, she is unhappy about leaving Oscar, but they promise to email and skype every day until she is back living next door again. While she’s away, a girl called Paloma and her Mum move into her home. Paloma is beautiful and friendly and soon the most popular girl in school. Surely things should be great? But Paloma has other plans.


Friendship and kindness are the keys to this story with an undercurrent of spite and revenge. Loved it.


(Revenge, School, Popularity, Revenge, Spite, Belief, Suicidal, Friendship, Love, Kindness)


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Published on February 28, 2016 22:56

The Swivel-Eyed-Ogre-Thing (Benjamin Blank 2)

ER – HUT25972199


Author – Barry Hutchison


Illustrator – Chris Mould


Age – 7+


This is the 2nd book in this trilogy of adventures.


Ben lives in the village of Lump with his ‘uncle’ Tavish who found him as a baby in the back of a wagon with two other items – a sword sunk into a piece of rock, and a strange metal gauntlet (glove). They are magical, and Ben has spent his entire life wondering about his parents and why he was left alone.


The village of Lump has grown with the inhabitants of a nearby village that was destroyed by a Shark-Headed Bear Thing (1st book in the series). This story starts with a scream, and Ben soon learns that all the trolls in the local area have gone missing. Something has kidnapped them all. That’s good isn’t it? But no trolls under bridges means anything can cross them – any creature or monster can attack their village. And they all believe in monsters after meeting The-Shark-headed-bear-thing in their previous adventure. So off sets Ben and his friends Paradise and Wesley to try and find the trolls.


This is another laugh out loud adventure for 7+ readers. I would love to read this out loud to a Year 3-4 class. They would absolutely love it.


(Magic, Humour, Series, Historical, Medieval, Adventure)


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Published on February 28, 2016 22:52

The Swivel-Eyed-Ogre-Thing

ER – HUT25972199


Author – Barry Hutchison


Illustrator – Chris Mould


Age – 7+


This is the 2nd book in this trilogy of adventures.


Ben lives in the village of Lump with his ‘uncle’ Tavish who found him as a baby in the back of a wagon with two other items – a sword sunk into a piece of rock, and a strange metal gauntlet (glove). They are magical, and Ben has spent his entire life wondering about his parents and why he was left alone.


The village of Lump has grown with the inhabitants of a nearby village that was destroyed by a Shark-Headed Bear Thing (1st book in the series). This story starts with a scream, and Ben soon learns that all the trolls in the local area have gone missing. Something has kidnapped them all. That’s good isn’t it? But no trolls under bridges means anything can cross them – any creature or monster can attack their village. And they all believe in monsters after meeting The-Shark-headed-bear-thing in their previous adventure. So off sets Ben and his friends Paradise and Wesley to try and find the trolls.


This is another laugh out loud adventure for 7+ readers. I would love to read this out loud to a Year 3-4 class. They would absolutely love it.


(Magic, Humour, Series, Historical, Medieval, Adventure)


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Published on February 28, 2016 22:52

The Moon-Faced-Ghoul-Thing (Benjamin Blank 3)

ER – HUT27217660


Author – Barry Hutchison


Illustrator – Chris Mould


Age – 7+


The 3rd and last book in the Benjamin Blank Series


It’s been 6 months since their last adventure and Ben is bored. He and his friends are dressing up for The Feast of Scarrabus. This is like Halloween, but in reverse where he and his friends have to leave offerings on every step, not collect them.


But Ben thinks that no-one will notice if he takes some treats home. Surely Lord Scarrabus is just a story after all? But Ben learns the hard way, that traditions aren’t always just a story – and his friends are soon in danger because of him.


The Moon-Faced-Ghoul-Thing is the scariest of the the three stories – but still has heaps of humour to break up the scary. Have loved this series and wish there were more.


(Magic, Family, Courage, Humour, Series, Historical, Medieval)


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Published on February 28, 2016 22:00