Tinklers Three Book 1: A Very Good Idea by Meredith Badger

The Tinklers are not your normal family. 

Their father is a tightrope walker, and their mother rides a white horse…in the travelling circus. 

This leaves the Tinkler children, Mila age 10, Marcus age 8 and Turtle age 3 left at home…alone. For any adults reading thinking that this is not the responsible type of parenting we want portrayed in books for children, fear not...there is indeed a mature adult (Mrs....) who lives in the building and keeps a watchful (but distant) eyes on the three Tinklers.

Because they live alone, they have come up with some interesting rules, some of them quite reasonable, such as:

‘Breakable things must be kept on the top shelf in the kitchen’ 

others more peculiar, such as:

‘ You MUST NOT keep BISCUITS in the BATH’. 

On this particular day the Tinklers decide that they would like to go from their house to the clock tower…without touching the ground, what unfolds is very funny and at times very clever, but you will have to read the book to see if they make it! This will be a great new series for newly independent reader who wants something a little bit different. 

There are three books out so far in this new series.

AusReading Month - Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden

Blurb:
When Ellie and her friends go camping, they have no idea they're leaving their old lives behind forever. Despite a less-than-tragic food shortage and a secret crush or two, everything goes as planned. But a week later, they return home to find their houses empty and their pets starving. Something has gone wrong--horribly wrong. Before long, they realize the country has been invaded, and the entire town has been captured--including their families and all their friends. Ellie and the other survivors face an impossible decision: They can flee for the mountains or surrender. Or they can fight.

It’s hard to believe that this book is 20 years old this year!    I was a little unsure as to whether or not I should even include it...is a 20 year old book old enough to be considered a classic?  So, in true modern style I Googled "How old does a book have to be,  to be considered a classic?" and wiki answers came up with this, which I couldn't have said better myself:

Classic books are like cult movies. They shape new concepts in our society, have something special to offer in an educational way. It is more these aspects of a book that make it a classic.. not how long ago it was published.

AusReadingMonth - Ash Road by Ivan Southall

The blurb:

It's hot, dry and sweaty on Ash Road, where Graham, Harry and Wallace are getting their first taste of independence, camping, just the three of them. When they accidentally light a bushfire no one would have guessed how far it would go. All along Ash Road fathers go off to fight the fires and mothers help in the first aid centres. The children of Prescott are left alone, presumed safe, until it's the fire itself that reaches them. These children are forced to face a major crisis with only each other and the two old men left in their care. The best selling Ash Road is an action-packed adventure story, so evocative of rural Australia you can taste the Eucalyptus.

This was the one book I was most looking forward to re-visiting for AusReading Month.  I can't remember when I first read it, Uni probably, but it's always been there in the back of my mind as a book I loved.  20+ years on, it wasn't quite what I remembered, less action, but more suspenseful story with a real growing sense of dread as the story reaches its climax.

AusReading Month - Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park

I actually didn’t read this book in the technical sense, I listened to the audio book.  I think that reading this book as an adult has given me a slightly different perspective compared to when I would have read it as a teenager.  As a teenager I am sure I could identify with the character of Abigail, with the idea that life isn’t fair, feeling hard done by and NO ONE really understanding her. As an adult, I found the Abigail a little bit annoying and whiney, this may have had something to do with the narration of the audio book, not that the narration was bad, but because it really brought the character of Abigail to life!

This book has a little bit of everything, teenage angst, coming of age, history, time-slip, family drama, romance and a little touch of creepy.  The creepy element again may have had more impact listening to the story as an audio book, but when the children are playing Beatie Bow and ….sees the little furry girl, it is quite creepy.

One of the main aspects of my job is working worth schools and librarians, and the National Curriculum is now a big part of that.  I now find it hard to read any historical Australian novel and not wonder how it would fit into the curriculum.  This book does, and it doesn’t fit the curriculum in my mind.  It does because it is a wonderful insight into everyday life of a family living in Sydney in 1873, it looks at the education, working conditions, lack of plumbing, expectations of females, the food they ate, jobs they had and even what it smelled like.  The reason I don’t think it’s a perfect fit is because that part of the history curriculum is Year 4/5, and the book is probably too old for that age group.  Most of it’s fine, but along with all of the interesting parts of history, there’s also the more seedy side to things, like when Abigail is snatched from the street and taken to a house of ill repute, where she’s told ‘ ‘tisn’t such a bad old life.  Better than starving on slop work in the factories, any old how’ (page 90).  It doesn’t actually spell out what these women are doing for money, but it’s worth noting if you plan to use it in the classroom.

During her 9 months in 1873, Abigail can’t help but think how much better life is in her time.  Strangely though not everyone she meets is that interested or enthusiastic about the changes she describes, in particular Judah, as we can see in this exchange below:

‘I don’t think there are many ships,’ said Abigail.

“things like wool come in trains.’

‘We’ve got steam trains,‘ said Beatie proudly.

‘These would be electric or oil driven, I think, ‘ said Abigail, ‘and then a lot of goods come overland in huge semi-trailers…that’s a kind of horseless carriage, ‘ she added hastily.

Judah listened politely. ‘Seems a sad waste of good money when the sea and wind are free for all,’ he remarked

(From page 140)

 

In re-reading all of the books for AusReading month, one of the things I have been considering is whether the book works as well today as it did when it was first published. This book is tricky, in that the part of the story set in 1783 absolutely stands up to any historically based novel written today, it's the part of the story set in present day that might not ring true with today’s readers. Present day in this book is 1980, so 33 years on, teenagers act and speak quite differently, so while 1980 might not seem particularly historical to some of us, teenage readers today may considered the whole books a piece of historical fiction!

AusReading Month - Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

The blurb:

In 1900, a class of young women from an exclusive private school go on an excursion to the isolated Hanging Rock, deep in the Australian bush. The excursion ends in tragedy when three girls and a teacher mysteriously vanish after climbing the rock. Only one girl returns, with no memory of what has become of the others ...

Well...  November is nearing its end, and I have yet to publish my posts for AusReading month!  Better late than never, I will get them all in by the end of the month...just by the skin of  my teeth!

This title has been released as an Australian Children’s Classic, but I am not sure I would sell it as a children’s book.  As you can see by the new cover it looks like it’s suitable for younger readers, but I would say it’s more of a teenage/adult title. 

AusReading Month - Taronga by Victor Kelleher

Blurb taken from  http://www.insideadog.com.au/books/taronga

A bleak but compelling look at the future beyond the nuclear holocaust. Ben, who has a telepathic ability to control animals, leads a hazardous existence in the bush west of the Blue Mountains. Hopeful of a kinder life in the city, he escapes to Sydney - only to be futher disillusioned. Then, at the heart of the city, he comes upon Taronga Zoo, which has been strangely unaffected by the general chaos. Or has it? Is it an island of safety in the midst of so much danger? Or is it really the most sinister place of all?

I thought I would start my AusReading blog posts with Taronga, as I think it may be the one book out of my 5 that people are the least familiar with, and it just so happens it might be my favourite of the 5!

The novel opens with Ben, in the bush, using his skills to ‘call’ animals.  In this instance Ben is using this skill to lure the animal out, so it can be shot by Greg, an older boy who is using Ben and his skill

It might seem like an amazing skill to have, to get into the mind of an animal and make it do what you want it to, but to Ben it’s a curse.  It’s wrong to force any living thing to somthing against its will.

What happened before, ‘the last days’ is never fully explained, but that’s part of the beauty of this book, and the thing that makes it work as well today as it did 20+ years ago.

The other major character in this story is Raja, the male tiger.  He is the only animal that mentally fights Ben when he tries to get into his head. Throughout the course of this story we see the resistance lessen and both Ben and Raja realise that they are actually the same, both being held prisoner, both being forced against their will.

I hope I don’t put anyone off by saying that I think this book will appeal to readers of the Hunger Games.  It’s not the same storyline by any stretch, but there’s something about the survival instinct and the determination of Ben and his desire to do the right thing that reminds me of Katniss.  There’s also the idea that human life is expendable.

Brona mentioned the questionable cover of this new edition, and I would have to agree with her.  This is at times quite a violent and dark story, but this new cover makes it look like it might be a nice story about a boy and a tiger.  The other thing about this new edition is that it’s a hardback.  A hardback is great for people that want a nice edition of a classic novel, but I’m not sure it’s the right choice for giving this book a new lease of life with teenage readers.  See below for earlier cover images.

1986               1988                      2014