Readings bookshop had their annual 20% off sale for subscribers yesterday. And yes, I was there with a huge list! It took me a couple of trips back to the car when I finished my shopping.

My list included books for the five of us for Christmas and two family birthdays, plus Christmas books for a couple of extended family members and teachers.

I did pretty well to stick to my list but of course, I added a few extras in as well! (Note to husband – it was 20% off!)

I bought a mix of classics and new releases, a mix of fiction and non-fiction. I like to give books that I’ve read before so I know the recipient will love it. I also think it’s my responsibility in life to put good books into good people’s hands – if they’re readers, they’ll appreciate books and if they’re not readers, they might become one!

When it comes to Christmas day, I know that sometimes a book is not the most exciting of presents. The gadgets or jewellery or perfume or toys are more tactile and more instantly pleasurable. But come Boxing Day, a book really comes into its own, accompanied by all the delicious leftover food. And then there’s the long summer holidays when it’s too hot to go outside or the batteries in the new toys have run out.

Bookshops can also stock lovely literary gifts, like notebooks, diaries, mugs, games etc, so there are more than just books to browse.

I’m putting some posts together with book suggestions for kids and adults over the next few weeks. Happy book shopping!

Monday evening, city lights, dear friend, book launch – such a perfect combination. On Monday evenings I am usually in the depths of kid-chauffeuring to basketball training and Coles shifts, as well as dinner and dishes – nothing so inspirational as a book launch.

A friend and I met at the Athenaeum Theatre for Clare Bowditch’s book launch for her memoir, Your own kind of girl. We were given a copy of her book, Jamila Rizvi introduced Clare and Dr Susan Carland interviewed her. And then Clare sang – of course, she sang!

I am such a big fan of Clare as I’ve attended her Big Hearted Business conference, as well as a few of her Tea with Jam and Clare sessions. She’s creative, inspirational and she keeps it real.

Her memoir covers her early childhood to her late 20s. She was raised in a happy Catholic family who suffered a great loss when Clare’s older sister Rowena died at age seven, after spending two years in hospital. Clare found food gave her comfort through this harrowing time, and her weight alternated from one extreme to the other throughout her childhood, teen years and early adult life. Her anxiety and nervous breakdown while travelling were a rock-bottom period, but ultimately the catalyst for overcoming adversity and finding a gentler way to look after herself. She learnt to tell her inner critic (named Frank!) to back off and that the stories we tell ourselves are often not the truth. Her return to playing guitar, writing songs and singing led to forming a band and meeting Marty, her husband. Clare speaks her truth in a compelling, compassionate voice – she’s a true storyteller in book and song.

Clare wrote a list of things she wanted to achieve in her ‘amazing life’ and Susan Carland checked them off on stage – make an album, write a book, get married and have kids, help people – big ticks. She still needs to learn a language and run fast!

It felt like an honour to witness Clare’s story, to see her hold a light to her shame and doubts about her body, anxiety, and songwriting and singing ability.

Being a creative, sensitive type myself, it always makes me feel less alone to read or hear of another creative, sensitive type’s outlook on life. Thank you, Clare.

Best Monday night ever!

There’s not too many of us who haven’t faced a bully in school, work, a sporting team, or even a bus. Kathryn Apel’s verse novel is a positive and inspiring story without being preachy – perfect for 6 and 7 year-olds to read with a parent, and fabulous for 8-10 year-olds to read by themselves. It would make an excellent resource for school libraries and classrooms, too.

Young Leroy loves his family, his home and school. But he doesn’t like travelling from his farm to school each day on the bus because DJ, a high-school student at a different school, bullies him. She pinches and prods him, empties his schoolbag, steals his food and calls him names.

Ruby, Leroy’s older sister in grade five, tries to help and stands up to DJ when she notices but often she’s chatting with her friends.

The bus driver, a friendly man who sees his job as delivering children safely to and from school, has to concentrate on the road.

But once Mrs Wilson, Leroy’s teacher, understands what’s going on, she helps Leroy with some tricks and tips and enables him to gather up his bravery. The wonderful resolution shows Leroy figuring it out for himself but with the support of his family, Mrs Wilson and the bus driver.

As this is a verse novel, there’s not too many words so younger readers will feel a big sense of achievement from reading such a ‘thick’ book.

The book is divided into short poems, like the one below. Unfortunately, the wonderful formatting of this poem with every second line indented to emphasise the brevity of each line, did not come through when I typed it –no matter what type of formatting I tried, it wouldn’t save.

Drop Offs

Bus stops
door opens
kids off
goodbye chorus.
Door closes
stories chopped
words flung
through windows.
Bus moves
pulls away
driving off
leaving kids
silent actors
miming words.
On the bus
faces pressed
to the glass
calling out,
‘I can’t hear you!’

And the driver
changing gears
doesn’t hear
doesn’t want to,
in a world
of his own
eyes the road
straight ahead.

Does his job.
Drives the bus.
Drops the kids
home safe.

I was bullied in my mid-twenties at my workplace, and I can identify with Leroy that sinking, stomach-churning feeling of having to walk into the office each morning, not quite knowing what was ahead of me. I look back now and think of many things I could have said and done – even without the type of support Leroy has – but hindsight (and age!) is a wonderful thing.

Anyone else have a bully story to share?

 

It’s almost exam time again for the end of school year in Australia. If you have a kid facing an English exam, these tips might help.

Of course, English teachers are your best source of knowledge. I have tutored students from Grade 3 to Year 12 in English on and off for about 25 years, but I have no teaching qualifications. These tips are specific to the Victorian curriculum.

The following suggestions are general exam techniques addressed to students studying English. I’ll follow up with a later post for specific suggestions for text responses and language analysis, as well as timing in exams.

 

• Reread the texts – or read them for the first time! Your chosen books are complex and are worth reading again and again to gain new insights and knowledge. Your teachers or examiners are looking for how well you engage with the text and how familiar you are with it. Read your texts with a pencil in hand to mark the important passages and write notes.

 

• Quotes – learn the important quotes. Write them down on small cards and flick through them on your desk. Type them and stick your print-out on the bathroom mirror. Record your voice reading the quotes and listen to it again and again. It is better to attempt to include a quote, even if you can’t remember the exact wording, then not put it in your essay.

 

• Statistics – make sure you know the exact title of the book, play or movie, the writer or director and the year of publication or release date. Make sure you know all the settings and how to spell them, and what timeframe the text was set in. Check you can spell all the main characters’ names correctly.

 

• Write as many practice essays as you can under exam conditions. This means setting a timer for 45 minutes or an hour – however long you will have to write your essay – without using your book as a reference. The aim is to take away the fear of the blank page, where you can’t think of what to write. Do enough practice essays and they will become a task to complete, rather than an hour of fear.

 

• If you are writing two or three essays – a language analysis, a text response and a comparative text response, write the language analysis first. You can use the reading time to read the article, and it will be fresh in your mind. If you do a text response first, you’ll need to reread the article again later.

 

• Timing – make sure you allow time for proofreading. You need at least 5 minutes in total to read through your essay carefully, checking for obvious things like spelling, grammar, clear handwriting. You also need to check that you have communicated your arguments and examples clearly. Check to see if you can add in an extra quote or small example from the text. Check that your concluding sentence in each paragraph is strong and links up to the question.

The wonderful thing about the VCE English curriculum is that students start to learn how to write essays from year 7, gradually building up their knowledge of exam techniques and essay writing skills. While you may not write an essay on Lord of the flies in year 12, writing an essay on this text in year 9 will help you learn essay writing skills for year 12.

Good luck!

 

Question: what does Being Brave mean? Answer: writing a book for the first time.

I had the privilege of working with two debut authors earlier this year to edit their book, Being Brave, for girls aged 8-12. Hester Leung and Sema Musson had never written a book before but had passionate ideas and a strong friendship – a winning combination.

Creative collaboration is one of my favourite parts of the publishing process, and it was an honour to work with Sema and Hester (based in Sydney) and help shape their manuscript into a book. We had a few conversations over the phone about sizzling starts and hitting the right tone, and many, many emails flying back and forth about maps and text types and language. Michael Hanrahan from Publish Central provided strong support and much experience to coordinate the self-publishing process.

Sema and Hester told me not to hold back with any feedback as they wanted to make the manuscript the best it could be – I hope they didn’t regret that statement!

Here’s an interview with Hester and Sema about their process.

KC: What is your book about and who is your audience?

HL & SM: Being Brave is about two friends, Ellie and Alyssa, leaning into each other in an Australian adventure about courage and inner strength. Ellie and Alyssa are different in many ways – one chatty, one shy, one adventurous, the other considered, one Australian, one with Chinese heritage. Yet they support each other. Ultimately, their friendship guides them through obstacles and setbacks as they find their way.

We wrote it with 8-12 year-old girls in mind, but we really hope that boys and parents find it instructive as well, as the story aims to bring out tools that can help children overcome the inner critic to build self-esteem and confidence.

KC: Why did you decide to write a book?

HL & SM: The inception of this book began through the many years of talking about everything and anything. Our daughters are friends, and so we became friends! We have shared our life stories and struggles, from parenting to being working mothers, from stressors when we were growing up to relationships now.

Therefore, our friendship led to the creation of Being Brave. Taking apart the struggles we had when we were growing up and turning it into something positive, we set out to write a story about the young girls we observed in our lives. We felt like we wanted to share the tools that helped us through moments of doubt and inner criticism when we were young. We also felt in today’s society given the increased challenges young girls are facing with social media, this book should be a crucial part of their toolkit!

KC: What was your collaborative process? How did you work together?

HL & SM: It was very much thanks to Google and technology! After a brainstorming session and agreeing on our themes and the main storyline, we set up a Google document. This allowed us to work in real time and at our own pace. We contributed at different times and when the creativity suited us. The story naturally unfurled. There were no problems with version control or marking up changes as the technology sorted that out for us. A big shout-out to Google, because without being able to share a document, we would not have been able to write the book so collaboratively.

By having a friend to work with we were able to work through our writers’ block and our own self-doubt. We gently encouraged each other on or picked up each other’s thoughts when one of us was stuck. We would add a comment or a question for the other, who would reply with an idea or another thought, and we would keep going, word by word. Sometimes we would call each other and have a discussion about where the story should go. Other times, we would text an idea that just came to us. We probably emailed or texted each other 20 times a day! We also see each other every weekend because of our children’s sports, so it was easy to keep up to date and move the writing along week by week building on our ideas.

Ultimately the story and its messages were a team effort and we wouldn’t have done it any other way.

KC: What was the hardest part of writing a book?

HL & SM: We talk about self-doubt a lot and it is not surprising that it’s the self-doubt that makes you worry about what we had written and created, whether it would resonate for our readers, whether it was any good. Luckily we had each other to encourage and to bounce ideas off. Feedback is so important and makes the story better. We were open to each other’s ideas. To be honest, we don’t remember any time where we couldn’t agree on a course of action after talking it through.

It’s great having a partner on the journey. You do fall into a slump, or you get busy because of work or personal lives or even when you just want to have a holiday, so it’s great to have someone pick up where you left off and cheer you on. We’ve got each other’s backs and that’s important.

KC: When did you have the most fun writing your book?

Thinking of ideas, names, situations, brainstorming – some ideas were hilarious and we got into silly moods making things up! Also when someone comes up with a brilliant idea that brings the story forward, that was also an amazing feeling. We encouraged each other a lot and even though most of the writing was done separately when we had time to add to the story, the fun times were the moments trying to think of a solution together.

KC: What does being brave mean to you?

HL & SM: Being brave to us means being yourself – that can be different things for different people. Ultimately backing yourself, knowing your values and going towards your goals are all actions that require courage and confidence. Being Brave means to trust and believe in yourself.

 

Thank you, Hester and Sema! You can find out more on the Being brave website and you can buy the book here.

 

 

The Melbourne Writers Festival is on at the moment – I went to hear novelist Sonia Orchard speak about her latest novel, Into the fire.

It’s a story about womanhood and friendship, even though Sonia told us she didn’t set out to write a book about friendship. Lara, the protagonist, and her friend Alice, become friends when they meet in the Women’s Studies department at Melbourne University but as they grow into young adults, they make different choices which leads to a drifting in their friendship.

Readers know from the beginning that Alice was killed in a home fire. The story begins when Lara is returning to visit Alice’s husband and three children, a year after Alice died.

Tali Lavi, who interviewed Sonia, noted that as soon as you have finished reading the book, you want to flick back through it to find out when your ideas about what happened changed. Doesn’t that make you want to read this book?

I’m halfway into this novel but I’m so intrigued by the characters and their choices that I suspect cooking dinner, washing clothes and puppy-walking may fall by the wayside in order for me to sneak a few more chapters in. It also brings back memories of being a young Melbourne Arts student, with three-thousand word essays to write and lectures about obscure writers to attend.

A few years ago, I attended a writing workshop with Sonia about time management techniques for writers. Sonia encouraged us to fill out a few questions sheets, which I still pull out and use now when I’m stuck or have lost my way. Sonia had both practical and empathetic strategies, as well as a range of questions which made me consider my writing style and habits in all sorts of different ways.

Sonia’s article about feeling as if she’d failed her three daughters when she struggled to maintain a writing career while looking after her young children, also struck a chord with me. Women writers need more than a room of their own now – they also need a nanny, a virtual assistant and a cleaner.

Might be time to fill in Sonia’s worksheets again.

 

On a whim, I took my three kids to see The Lion King after school one day last week.

When the original movie came out in 1994, all the kids at the after-school-care program where I worked knew every single word and were constantly singing the soundtrack.

When we watched the current film, Mr 10 sang the chorus to almost every song. (Apologies to anyone in the same cinema as us!)

When I saw the original movie, I went on a date with a guy I didn’t know very well. We came out of the cinema, and I asked, ‘There were so many parts that reminded me of Hamlet – did you study that play in school?’

He didn’t know Hamlet. And we didn’t have another date. (These two facts may or may not be related!)

Watching the current film with my kids reminded me again of the similar themes. So forgive me – I’m about to have that conversation with my date from 20 odd years ago!

So Hamlet is a Shakespeare play about a son, a young prince, who has recently lost his father. Hamlet finds out that his father, the king, was poisoned, and as his mother has recently remarried his uncle, his father’s brother, he is suspicious of his uncle.

The funeral-baked meats did
coldly furnish forth the wedding table.

Such an apt way to explain there was not much time between Hamlet’s father’s funeral and his mother’s second wedding! We might call it a rebound in modern times!

In The Lion King, young Simba, the lion cub, future king, is convinced by his Uncle Scar that he is responsible for his father’s death. Scar tells Simba to run away and never return, and Scar then ascends the throne. However, Sarabi, Simba’s mother, is not at all tempted to be Scar’s queen, no matter how threatening Scar is to her and the other lionesses.

Both Hamlet and Simba see the ghosts of their fathers, and both of them are acutely aware of missing their fathers.

Hamlet comes to an untimely death as there was definitely ‘something rotten in the state of Denmark.’ But Simba returns to Pride Rock, defeats Scar and the hyenas and becomes king – following the circle of life as he and his queen produce a cub.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads – all kings to their kids. Hugs to all those who are missing their dads – the circle of life is not always easy to accept.

Thud, thud, thud – can you hear the cacophony of balls at the stadium?

Last night I went to an exciting game of basketball between the Australian Boomers and the USA. A friend had organised tickets for Mr 10’s basketball team, and there were a few parents to supervise – lucky, lucky me!

Both my sons play basketball, my middle-grade book is about basketball and I’ve recently read a couple of books about basketball. Whenever I watch my boys play basketball, as well as chatting to other parents and watching the silky-smooth moves of my boys and their mates, I’m trying to put into words the sound of the ball thudding on the court and to work out how to describe a lay-up movement or the feeling a player has when their ball swishes through the ring.

The game last night was exciting and fast-paced (even though the Boomers lost), and the pre-game entertainment was fun.

There are quite a few novels about basketball at different levels. The first one I’ve reviewed below is great for 10-14 year-olds, the last two are more suitable for teen readers.

Crossover by Kwame Alexander – I loved, loved this one. I borrowed it from the library but I’ll buy my own copy. It’s a verse novel, which means the story is told in poems. I’ve already decided this is the next book to read aloud with Mr 10. The character is 12, so be aware that there are older issues here – his twin brother has a girlfriend and his Dad is not well.  The rhythm, language and rhyme – as well as the fabulous plot – really makes this book worthy of the Newberry Medal. Look at this clip where Alexander reads one of his poems – his writing is just as warm and humorous as he is. Imagine opening up your kids’ eyes to the possibilities of a story being told in poems, with a thudding basketball rhythm to boot. So awesome!

The absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian by Sharman Alexie – this is for teen readers – the protagonist deals with racism, alcoholism and puberty. The 14-year-old protagonist, Junior, is such a self-deprecating story-teller, and it’s easy to immerse yourself in his world. He’s skinny, stutters, has a big head, is a cartoonist and decides to leave his school in the ‘rez’ and go to the all-white high school miles away. I read it earlier this year, and when I flicked through it again for this review, I wanted to start reading it from cover to cover – again.

Take the shot by Susan White – this debut novel was published only this month. Bug has to keep his new basketball team a secret from his parents because his genetic illness means he’s not supposed to play high-contact sports. Life has suddenly become complicated for 14-year-old Bug when his family moves house to live with his Nana and he starts a new school. Themes include genetic illnesses, attraction to girls, friendships.

All three of these books feature male protagonists who love basketball. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere in this blog, it’s wonderful when girls read books about male protagonists and vice versa. But the book I’m writing has a girl who is passionate about basketball – time to even up the score!

 

Walking up our driveway to the side door a few weeks ago, I noticed a folded piece of lined paper on the ground. As I picked it up, I could see it had handwriting on the inside so I opened it up in case it was a piece of homework from one of the kids.

It was a letter addressed to Natalie from Mum, in an unfamiliar handwriting.

I don’t know any Natalies who live in my street.

I did read the letter, and it made me feel such warmth to the Mum who wrote it to her daughter, Natalie. I’m guessing that English isn’t the first language of this writer, but she expressed herself so beautifully.

The letter was dated in 2007, and Mum was writing to Natalie because she was going on her first trip away from home in Melbourne to Queensland with friends. There were 6 pieces of advice – numbered – on bedtimes, swimming, health issues, manners, emotions, and drinking and driving.

Mum wanted Natalie to know that she was so proud of her – I think she had recently finished Yr 12 and turned 18 because there was mention of a driving licence and study.

Mum used a beautiful simile – I will miss you big big big … like … ocean!!!

I don’t want to quote anything else from this warm, personal letter. Local friends – do you know a Natalie, maybe around 30 now, with two older brothers, a fabulous fashion sense and a gorgeous Mum? I would love to return her letter to her.

I have a couple of boxes of cards and letters from friends, parents, grandparents, work colleagues, and maybe once a year or so I flick through them. There’s something so nostalgic about reading old notes and remembering where you were at a particular point in time when a friend reached out to you. I have a lovely note from a friend when one of my grandmothers died, funny, grammatically incorrect notes from my kids, beautiful love letters from my husband, kind thank-you notes from friends.

It’s so quick and convenient to send text messages or emails but reading a handwritten note is almost a tactile experience and seems embedded with more thought and connection.

It would be easy to invent a story about Natalie and her Mum, springing off from this letter. Perhaps Natalie never came back from her Queensland holiday because she found a surfer boyfriend? Perhaps her two big brothers and her Dad came up to find her? Perhaps Natalie was suffocated by her mother’s advice? Perhaps she deliberately ignored her mother’s bedtime suggestion and the advice to swim between the flags?

But the real story is the very obvious love that this Mum has for her Natalie.