The Resilience Project by Hugh Van Cuylenburg

The Resilience Project by Hugh Van Cuylenburg
Published November 2019
Penguin

Blurb:

Hugh van Cuylenburg was a primary school teacher volunteering in northern India when he had a life-changing realisation: despite the underprivileged community the children were from, they were remarkably positive. By contrast, back in Australia Hugh knew that all too many children struggled with depression, social anxieties and mental illness. His own little sister had been ravaged by anorexia nervosa. How was it that young people he knew at home, who had food, shelter, friends and a loving family, struggled with their mental health, while these kids seemed so contented and resilient? He set about finding the answer and in time came to recognise the key traits and behaviours these children possessed were gratitude, empathy and mindfulness. In the ensuing years Hugh worked tirelessly to study and share this revelation with the world. He launched The Resilience Project, which has become part of the curriculum in many schools and he tours Australia talking to parents, educators, corporations, CEOs and sporting elite. Now, with the same blend of humour, poignancy and clear-eyed insight that The Resilience Project has become renowned for, Hugh explains how we can all get the necessary tools to live a happier, more contented and fulfilling life.

I have just ‘read’ (listened to) the book The Resilience Project by Hugh Van Cuylenberg. In the book he is described by someone as being a cult leader, and the Resilience Project as a cult. The funny thing is, while I don’t think that at all, I do get it. Because after I read this book, I couldn’t stop talking about it and wanted to make sure everyone I knew read it. I even joined up a ‘non library using’ friend (I know!) to the library online, so they could listed to the audiobook themselves. 

I read it because someone mentioned it, but only in passing, saying her daughter had read it and couldn’t stop talking about it. That’s the kind of book it is. It’s not a long read, only 4 hours 40 listening time with the audiobook, and 288 pages in the physical book. It’s really a collection of stories, shared by Hugh about his journey to what has become the Resilience Project. And while I could go on and re-tell Hugh’s own stories, I won’t, because you will read all about them when you read the book 😉. 

What I will tell you, is that the idea of the Resilience Project is all about how we can implement more gratitude, empathy and mindfulness into our lives, and how that will, in turn, make us happier. I highly recommend the audiobook version of this, because the book lends itself so well to the stories being 'told', and Hugh narrates the audio version, so it's the next best thing to being able to see him in person.

Bringing all of these ideas around to my world of children’s literature, there was one book I kept thinking of the whole time I was listening to this, and that’s the book Pookie Aleera Is Not My Boyfriend by Steven Herrick. So many of Herrick’s books have an underlying theme of kindness, but this is the one that stands out to me, and is one of my all-time favourites, a book that will make your heart swell, and make you laugh out loud!

There’s a particular scene in the book, that really shows how making someone happy, can affect our own happiness, and I think about it all of the time: 

488 Rules For Life by Kitty Flanagan

488 Rules For Life by Kitty Flanagan

Published November 2019 Allen & Unwin

Blurb:

488 Rules for Life is not a self-help book, because it's not you who needs help, it's other people. Whether they're walking and texting, asphyxiating you on public transport with their noxious perfume cloud, or leaving one useless square of toilet paper on the roll, a lot of people just don't know the rules. But thanks to Kitty Flanagan's comprehensive guide to modern behaviour, our world will soon be a much better place.

A place where people don't ruin the fruit salad by putting banana in it ... where your co-workers respect your olfactory system and don't reheat their fish curry in the office microwave ... where middle aged men don't have ponytails ...

What started as a joke on Kitty Flanagan's popular segment on ABC TV's The Weekly, is now a quintessential reference book with the power to change society. (Or, at least, make it a bit less irritating.)

What people are (Kitty Flanagan is) saying about this book: 'You're welcome everyone.' 'Thank god for me.' 'I'd rather be sad and lonely, but right.' 'There's not actually 488 rules in here but it sure feels like it'.

This book may have started out as a joke, but I challenge you, as a reader, not to start nodding your head at some of the rules, thinking 'yes, absolutely...that should be a rule!'

The book is divided into sections, and you can see that Kitty has been very thorough... all areas are covered!

• The Fundamental Rule 
• Around the Home
• Health & Lifestyle
• At the Office
• Language
• Planes, Trains & Automobiles
• Food
• Relationships & Dating
• Parenting
• Fashion
• At the Movies
• At the Shops
• Technology
• Sport
• Parties & Celebrations
• Holidays & Travel
• Art & Entertainment
• The Final Rule

Rule 1: The Fundamental Rule

If you don't agree with a rule, forget about it, move on to the next one.

Whatever you do, don't get angry, and start bleating on social media about how it is impossible to live your life by these 488 rules.  That's not what this book is about.

What this book is about, is fun.  It's a book you don't have to read from front to back, it's the perfect little pick me up when you just want something light and refreshing to read... something that will put a smile on your face.

Of course I have my favourite rules, as you will too,

At the Movies

Rule 279

Leave a courtesy buffer seat: If I am honest I would like a courtesy buffer around me at all times in life, but I will take 'at the movies' as a start.  Why do people sit next to you at the movies when there are spare seats...I will never understand that kind of madness.

Health & Lifestyle

Rule 36

Dress according to the standard of cyclist you are.  I don't believe have to say anymore

Technology - Mobile Phones

Rule 311

Use your inside voice.  Honestly, I really don't need (or want to) hear the drama that is going on in a strangers life.

Then there are the rules I am guilty of...I guarantee you'll find those in there too:

Books 

Rule 429

Never tell someone the book (or movie ) has a twist. I am very good at not giving away ending, but I have been known to mention a twist or two.  

Food 

Rule 131

Calling it 'cacao'  doesn't make it healthier than cocoa. I have a 'healthy' cup of hot cacao every morning...

And did you know that there is a 'right ' way to cut an orange? I didn't, but it's right there on page 107, pics in my Instagram story.

Mind Blown by Dan Marshall

Mind Blown by Dan Marshall
Published November 2019 Bloomsbury

Blurb:

Delightful illustrations and beautiful design bring to life some of the hardest to believe and awesomely real facts you'll ever see. Prepare to have your mind blown -

Did you know space is only an hour's drive away? Did you know there is a jellyfish that is biologically immortal? Or that of all life that has ever existed on Earth, 99.9% of it is extinct? Dan Marshall's slick new book is packed to the brim with facts that will BLOW YOUR MIND.

This book did exactly what it says on the cover.  It blew my mind.  I love facts.  I can't say that I retain everything I read, but I love them.

This book is not a children's book (and I will get to why in a sec), but it almost could be, and for fact loving teens and adults it's a winner.

Simply designed, all in black and white, with text on one page and an accompanying illustration (in black and white) on the opposite page.  You can see some examples below.  The tone is light, the topics are broad, and there is humour in the writing.

But it's the facts...wow.

A few of my favourites:

• When you shuffle a deck of cards, that exact order has never been seen before in the history of the universe.
• There are more tigers living in Texas than anywhere else in the world.
• If there was hole right through the Earth, it would take 42 minutes to go from one side to the other.
• The world's nine richest men have more wealth than half the people on Earth.
• Oxford University is older than Aztec civilisation.

I won't go into the science and reasons behind these facts, that's what the books for, but trust me it's all there.

Now you're asking, why isn't this book OK for kids?  Well it will be for plenty of you, it's just the one little fact on page 173:

• Pigs' orgasms can last for up to 30 minutes.

Depending on the age of the child, that may bring up more questions than you were ready to answer.

Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise by Katherine Rundell

Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise by Katherine Rundell
Published October 2019 Bloomsbury

Blurb:
Katherine Rundell – Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and prize-winning author of five novels for children – explores how children's books ignite, and can re-ignite, the imagination; how children's fiction, with its unabashed emotion and playfulness, can awaken old hungers and create new perspectives on the world. This delightful and persuasive essay is for adult readers.

As someone who reads pretty much only children's books, for work, and more often than not, pleasure, this book called out to me as soon as I saw it.  I feel that I need to give it to everyone I know, so that they get a further glimpse into why I do what I do.

This essay is broken into the following sections:

• Why You Should Read Children’s Books
• A Caveat
• On reading as a child
• On how children’s fiction came to be
• On wild hungers and heroic optimism
• On children’s fiction today
• Politics
• Imagination
• Hope
• And where to find them
• The galvanic kick of children’s books

At the very start of the book Katherine talks of her experiences in the children's section of the public library in Zimbabwe where she spent some of her childhood.  I spent time in Borneo when I was little, and it took me back to the small air conditioned room, that they called a library, in our expat Gymkhana Club.  I don't have any specific memories, other that the fact that it was a cool relief from the oppressive heat and humidity outside.  If I was to guess, I would say my choices were dusty old hardback children's books from England, with Enid Blyton featuring quite predominantly.

And then you get hit with this punch on page 2, a quote from Martin Amis:

’People ask me if I ever thought of writing a children's book, . I say, ”If I had a serious brain injury I might well write a children's book.”’

I know I don’t write children’s books, but I most certainly read them, so it’s most defiantly a case of preaching the the converted with this book, but I still loved it. If I was the type of person who highlighted passages in books, then my highlighter would get a workout in this one.  There are so many ‘Yes’ moments for me, that I can’t possibly go though them, this is one of my favourites though:

Page 5

‘There is of course, I Corinthians 13: ‘Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.’ But the writing we call children’s fiction is not a childish thing: childish things include picking your nose and eating the contents, and tantruming at the failure to get your own way.  The 45th President of America is childish.  Children’s fiction has childhood at it’s heart, which is not the same thing.’

Katherine talks about how we don’t read in one direction, we don’t start with Spot, read children’s fiction then YA then onto adult fiction, where you would never look back...that we don’t keep reading harder and more difficult texts until we die. For those that know anything about me, you would know I mainly read kids books, I would say 90% of my reading is children’s or YA.  I recently read an adult novel (which I will be posting on soon) that was really good, but I couldn't help think that I have read more moving and impactful children’s and YA books on the same subjects.

I am not saying that children’s books are the be all and end all, and in fact Katherine states that she’s not suggesting adults read primarily children’s books (😳). I know I miss out on a lot, not having the time to engage in adult fiction, but I gain so much from what I do read that I don’t feel, like I am missing out.

Here's another fact I found staggering. In the UK, the government does not mandate libraries in schools.  The only institutions where there are required to have a library by law are prisons! 

I have already said that this books was preaching to the converted when it came to me reading it, and I would say the same thing for anyone who has found themselves on this page reading this.  Regardless of where you sit as a reader, I highly recommend you read this gem.  It’s short, sweet and small (it’s only H:15.3cm x W 11.2cm)...There is even an audio version, read by Katherine herself, so you have no excuse not 'read' this one.

Creating Room to Read by John Wood

This is my first rave for the year.  It's a book that I would not normally have picked up, but I had a chance to read an advance copy and I was blown away.  I have been talking about this book everywhere I go, encouraging anyone with even a tiny interest in children, education or reading to put it on their reading lists. The book (shown to the left) is called Creating a Room To Read by John Wood, and it's due for release on February 28th.

Nelson Mandela said,
'Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.'

These words and variations of these words have been heard over and over again, some might say to the point that nobody really hears it anymore. Let me tell you, after reading this book, I just wanted to shout it from rooftops and tell everyone I knew about the amazing work of the Room to Read organization.