children’s fiction

Australian spring literary quotes

October 21, 2016 by Karen Comer 4 Comments

While you would think a Melbourne spring should be filled with daffodils, longer evenings and fascinators in the Myer windows, we have had all that but with rain and cold as well. I found it really interesting that these quotes from Australian writers about spring focused on the whole spectrum from the sun and flowers to the rain and cold. My favourite quotes are number 1 and 4 because they contrast the protagonist’s feelings against the weather.

I have left a gap between the quotes and the book titles, authors and date of publication in case you want to guess!

1. I found it very cruel that the sun shone and the weather was perfect during the darkest of my days.

2. It was September, and the roughstone terraces with their thickets of tiny white daisies were aswarm with insects. The whole garden sizzled and hummed.

3. It was spring by now and the days were lengthening; the evening sky, not yet fully dark, was pulsing with the flashing lights of emergency vehicles somewhere up ahead.

4. My heart fell out on a spring morning – the kind that rose coolly in the east and set brightly in the west.

5. “We’re not meant to get hot days like this in October,” I say, standing in front of the open freezer.

6. Her birthday was in mid September, on a spring day that seemed to bring a whiff of summer with it. The wattle was out, and daffodils and tulips were still waving in Burnsie’s garden.

7. After the June shearing of 1944, we knew that if it did not rain in the spring our gamble was lost. The sheep would not live through another rainy season.

8. Monday, 25 November
Drat that it’s cold. Last night I could wear silk to bed and now I have lit the fire. Cold Mondays are gloomy. There are plenty of jobs to do indoors, but who wants to be inside in November?

9. September comes with daffodils
And blossom buds and rain
The sun is pale, the shadows long
As we all sing a football song
And ride home on the train.

10. The night is hot and salted with stars and on the easterly breeze you can feel the wetlands of the interior and even the deserts behind them.

Looking for Alibrandi, Melina Marchetta, 1992

Johnno, David Malouf, 1975

‘Cottage’ in Mothers Grimm, Danielle Wood, 2014

The paper house, Anna Spargo-Ryan, 2016

Graffiti moon, Cath Crowley, 2010

The war bride, Pamela Hart, 2016

The road from Coorain, Jill Ker Conway, 1989

The waterlily, Kate Llewellyn, 1987

All through the year, Jane Godwin, Anna Walker, 2010

Dirt music, Tim Winton, 2001

Which one is your favourite?

My favourite childhood book

October 14, 2016 by Karen Comer 8 Comments

Isn’t it interesting that many qualities and characteristics we had as children are the same traits we have now as adults? When I was a kid I made crafty things like latch-hook and cross-stitch, read a lot, wrote stories and I liked cooking. As an adult, I’m still reading and writing stories, still enjoy cooking (even though I love a break from everyday family cooking!) and I sew quilts and clothes for my kids and dabble in paints. Some things never change!

Miss Ten reread my favourite childhood book during the holidays, and it made me wonder why I loved it so much. The book is The ordinary princess by M. M. Kaye, for 7-10 year-olds, most likely girls.

It’s about a seventh-born princess who receives some beautiful gifts from her fairy godmothers on her christening day, such as charm, wit, grace and courage. But when the last godmother turns up, cranky and crusty, she grants the princess the gift of ordinariness. So Princess Amethyst becomes Amy, and as she grows up, no one wants to marry her. When Amy finds out her family are planning to lay waste a dragon in order for a prince to come and kill it to win her hand in marriage, she runs away to the forest and lives quite happily until she needs a new dress. She walks to a castle, finds work as a scullery maid, and plans to work there until she has enough money to buy a dress. But she meets a rather nice page, who turns out to be the prince of the castle. I will leave it to your imagination as to how the story ends!

I loved that this story was divided into four sections, based on the lullaby, Lavender’s blue. The structure was so satisfying then, and I still appreciate a beautifully structured novel now. I loved the ‘realness’ of Amy and the contrast of the real characters against a little bit of magic. Amy was so grounded, the palace and forest worlds were well built, and I still like reading children’s fantasy novels. I thought that Amy was a heroine to be admired – she took matters into her own hands, was quite resilient and independent and could work hard. She was obviously a bit of a rebel – but in a very nice way! And even at 8, I loved the romance.

My copy was published in 1980, and it has my maiden name written in roundish writing on the first page. The cover is lavender, with Amy staring dreamily into the distance. She wears a crown with amethysts and a long flowing dress with white cross stitches down the back.

When I reread it this week, the words were so very familiar. Sometimes we try to encourage our kids to read widely and to read as many books as they can. We forget the joys of knowing a favourite book inside and out, of enjoying being with a wonderful character again, and even though we know how the story will end, appreciating different nuances of the story when reading for the second or third time.

I wish I could go back in time and tell my eight-year-old self that reading would take me places and that one day I would write stories for eight-year-olds and adult stories that were based on fairytales. Kate Northrup wrote a blog piece this week called ‘We are who we always are.’ I’m still a little girl, reading and writing, making stuff. It makes me look at my kids with new eyes – what strengths and passions do they have now, and where will that take them?

I’m feeling nostalgic! Let me know what your favourite childhood book was – and have you reread it as an adult or shared it with your kids?

Pax – book review

August 26, 2016 by Karen Comer 2 Comments

The inside of this book, Pax written by Sara Pennypacker, is as beautiful as the outside. As you can see from the cover, Jon Klassen has created a lovely, almost nostalgic-looking cover, showing Pax, the fox, looking outwards. The cover accurately reflects the book, as half of the story is told from Pax’s point of view. Pax was published this year and is suitable for 9-12 year olds.

Pax is about two individual journeys, both internal and external – one by Pax himself, the other by his boy, Peter. The book is written in third person, alternating stories between Peter and Pax. In the first chapter, Peter and Pax are in a car, driven by Peter’s father. They are going to leave Pax, a tame fox, out in the wild as Peter must stay with his grandfather while his father goes to war. The book follows Peter and Pax’s adventures as they try to find each other, despite all odds.

If you’re thinking that this book sounds sentimental, it’s not. It has too much depth and a bitter-sweet ending to be another sentimental animal story. This book is about friendship, growing up, overcoming fear and becoming who you really are.

Peter is a fabulous protagonist – courageous, angry, alone, frustrated and kind.

And then he told Vola what he’d never told anyone else – about the merging he felt sometimes with Pax, how sometimes he didn’t just know what his fox was thinking but actually felt it himself. He held his breath, hearing how crazy it sounded.

Pax, the other protagonist, is curious, willing, intelligent and focused.

He lifted his muzzle and bayed a single aching note. It had been so long since he’d seen his boy. Before this, they’d never been apart for more than a day.

The bond between them is constant and intimate. Kids who love animals will appreciate the connection between Pax and his boy.

This would make a fabulous book for a classroom discussion, with themes of betrayal and trust, and a background of war and death. I know Miss 9 will enjoy it, and I will definitely suggest to Mr 12 that he read it. And as I enjoyed Pax so much, I am going to borrow Sara Pennypacker’s other books from the library.

One minute’s silence – book review

April 22, 2016 by Karen Comer 2 Comments

Very happy to have a long weekend for ANZAC day – half the sport commitments and an extra day with my family – love it! Mr 6 has been talking about ANZAC day – the war, the fighting, the dying, the remembering. I read him One minute’s silence, written by David Metzenthen and illustrated by Michael Camilleri. (Miss 9 and Mr 12 read it, too – one of those books that grows with the reader each year. The illustrations are contemporary and sophisticated, the language is emotive so appropriate for a wide range of kids.)

This one is particularly moving because:

every sentence begins with something like – In one minute’s silence you can imagine …
the use of evocative Australian images – wild colonial boys … a dairy farmer’s dawn … blokes from the big smoke … bare-knuckled bushmen
the Turkish viewpoint – the strangers wading through the shallows, intent on streaming into the homeland of the Turkish people … what the Turkish fighters felt when they knew they could hold the high ground
the crosshatch illustrations – black and white, maybe a touch of sepia
how the illustrations tell a story on top of the words – the book begins with a picture of some older kids in a classroom setting. The same kids are present in every illustrations, part of the war action – they mirror the horror and shock that we, as readers, feel.
the inclusion of the truce day, where the Australians and the Turkish met without weapons, sharing cigarettes and shovels as they buried their dead in the cool Turkish earth
the simple, yet evocative language – In one minute’s silence, you can imagine the great crop of crosses the Anzacs left behind … and the promises given to never forget the boys who would not wake to the hushed footsteps or the whispered farewells.

Lest we forget.

Beth, the story of a child convict – book review

April 15, 2016 by Karen Comer 5 Comments

Don’t you love a coincidence? Miss 9 discovered that her class would be studying Australian convict history on the same day that my lovely Mum and I went to a book launch for Mark Wilson’s latest picture book, Beth, the story of a child convict.

It’s based on the true story of Elizabeth Hayward, a child convict who was convicted for stealing a dress and a bonnet, and sentenced to transportation on board the ship, Lady Penrhyn.

This is the story of Beth and Molly, the small daughter of a convict who died during the voyage. Once they reach Australia, Beth and Molly work as servants for the ship’s surgeon. He keeps a diary, and there are a few extracts in the picture book, which provide extra historical details.

Beth and Molly dig a vegetable garden, but the vegetables don’t grow and there is not enough food.

When Molly becomes sick from dysentery, Beth carries her to the hospital but there is no help for Molly.

Mark based the journal entries from Mr Brady on the journals from the Lady Penrhyn naval officer surgeon, William Bradley. He showed us examples of William Bradley’s handwriting, which he imitated for the journal extracts. Mark claimed that handwriting hadn’t changed much in over two hundred years!

Mark showed us his research boards, and we saw examples of his illustrations as works in progress. Mark used acrylic paint and pencils for the illustrations.

This book is a perfect trifecta – interesting story, incredible illustrations and information for Australian history projects!

Holiday reading for kids

April 8, 2016 by Karen Comer 6 Comments

I took Miss 9 to the library twice in two days this week – it is a terrible burden to have kids who like to read! Thank goodness for our local library. Otherwise, I would be broke from buying books to keep up with our family’s reading habits. And I am definitely the worst offender here!

Over the holidays, Mr 12 has been reading Two wolves by Tristan Bancks. I thought this book was original because in this story, the parents are the baddies. It reminded me slightly of Roald Dahl stories where the adults are incompetent and mean. However, Two wolves has a more realistic tone, and I found the Dad character horribly inadequate as a father as he uses shaming techniques towards his thirteen-year-old son, Ben. Ben is in the awful position of wanting to believe in his parents, that they are capable of change and knowing deep inside that his parents did the wrong thing and there is no turning back from their crime. While the story is fast-paced and full of action, there is room for reflection. Here’s the story which runs as a theme throughout the book –

‘An old man tells his grandson that there is a battle raging inside him, inside all of us. A terrible battle between two wolves.

One wolf is bad – pride, jealousy, greed. The other wolf is good – kindness, hope, truth.

The child asks, “Who will win?”

The grandfather answers simply. “The one you feed.”‘

A really powerful book about growth and gaining courage and making choices.

Miss 9 has read Iris and the tiger, a new book by Leanne Hall, published earlier this year. Again, Iris has parents who put their own interests above hers. (Clearly a theme here for my kids – not sure what it says about me?) Iris is sent to stay with great-aunt Ursula in Spain. Things are not how they appear – music notes turn into ants, there are shoes which take Iris into mysterious places and even the people around Aunt Ursula are not who they seem. Like all the best fantasy books, this book has realistic characters who behave like real, flawed people which makes the magic seem quite believable.

Miss 9 would recommend this book because ‘it was an adventurous book which told a great story.’

Mr 6 is going through a Famous Five phase – again, more absent parents so that kid characters can get up to all sorts of adventures. He’s also reading the Usborne illustrated stories for boys – he views chapter books as grown-up so now I have to almost tie him down to read a picture book with him!

We are also listening to Matilda on audio book in the car, as we drive around looking at kitchen appliance places and seeing movies. I am impressed by the many voices from one actor.

And now Miss 9 has set up a home library, complete with borrowing system and printed receipts. Even though neither of her brothers want to borrow from her, she appears to be very busy on the phone, sorting out overdue books and recommending interesting ones. And as I write this, she’s running a class to teach children how to be a librarian!

I’m looking for recommendations – good books for kids, ovens and hotplates for our new kitchen or games to fill up the rest of the holidays! Happy to hear whatever you have!

Fairytales – part 1

March 4, 2016 by Karen Comer Leave a Comment

Mr 6 is looking at fairytales in his class – the traditional type as well as riffs on the original version. We have quite the collection of fairytale type picture books so I thought I’d do a few posts on this topic, as the stories are so funny and wonderful. I think the main reason we enjoy these stories is because the original story and characters are so familiar to us and yet the novelty of the twist keeps us curious.

I was watching Mr 6 as I read him Lauren Child’s Beware of storybook wolves the other night. He was absolutely worried about the wolves but at the same time, he knew – he just knew – that the little boy protagonist would win through because in his world of books, good always triumphs over evil. It was fascinating to see this equal fear and confidence on his face, as he sat up in bed, listening to the story. (And there is nothing as sweet as a little boy in striped pyjamas in bed listening to a story – says his biased mother!)

The following picture books are suitable for three to seven year-olds, and focus on the bears from Goldilocks and the three bears. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you of the original story! And these stories offer a great example to older children of how you can take a familiar tale and add your own take on it.

Goldilocks and just the one bear – written and illustrated by Leigh Hodgkinson – Kids (probably kinder kids) will love this story because it is the reverse of the original story. How funny to have the little bear wander into a grown-up Goldilocks’ house and try three breakfast versions, three chairs and then three beds! The language is conversational – perfect for reading aloud – ‘A little sit-down somewhere would definitely see him tickety-boo.’

No bears – written by Meg McKinlay and illustrated by Leila Rudge – I would buy anything Meg McKinlay has written – picture book, children’s novel or young adult novel. This book – although a seemingly simple picture book – has lots of layers, so it’s worthy of rereading and rereading. And it’s a great example of text and illustrations working in tandem. Ruby tells the story of a book about a princess but there are no bears – except the illustrations show a lovely picture book within the pages of the actual book – with a bear on the outside of the illustrated book. (Book within a book – love it!) The climax of the story shows a fairy godmother saving the princess from an evil monster ‘because everyone knew she was the one who had saved the princess with her fantastical magic powers’. But can you guess who really saved the princess? Yes, it was a bear – and this is never mentioned in the text, only in the illustrations. This book is a fabulous resource for showing kids how to read a book by the pictures. And of course, small kids will think they are very clever to work out the story themselves without help from the words.

The brave little hedgehog – written and illustrated by Paul and Emma Rogers – this book does focus on the little hedgehog but it does mention the three bears so it ties into this post! This book is more for older six or seven year-old readers because it plays on the concept of the indefinite article (a/an) and the definite article (the). Not that I would buy a book to teach a grammatical concept or that I have discussed this with Mr 6 – it’s just a fun way to think about everyday words such as ‘a’ and ‘the’. The brave little hedgehog wants to be in a story and sets out on an adventure. He meets a whole host of fairytale characters – a witch, a princess, a gingerbread man etc. Except he is not ‘a’ gingerbread man but ‘the’ gingerbread man! The little hedgehog meets the three bears who tell him, ‘Of course, we can’t all be great heroes, so famous that everyone stares, and hedgehogs aren’t even that cuddly, but then … nothing’s as cuddly as bears.’ The little hedgehog has to think fast when he meets not ‘a’ big bad wolf but ‘the’ big bad wolf. Luckily, he remembers his mother’s advice and lives to tell his own story.

I am watching the tv series Once at the moment, based on an adult version of fairytale characters who have been cursed by ‘the’ wicked queen and sent to a land without magic where they have forgotten they are fairytale characters. I haven’t met Goldilocks or the three bears yet but I am enjoying the dark twists and the layered, complex characters where no-one is completely good or evil.

And that’s what makes these fairytale characters so relatable for little ones – nothing is black and white. Ruby in No bears completely misses the fact that a bear saved her princess and the bear in Goldilocks and just the one bear comments on how he ‘would never dream of doing anything like’ falling asleep in someone else’s bed. The main characters have skewered perceptions, and we the readers know this, but yet love them anyway.

Do you have a favourite fairytale book or movie, or a twisted tale? I am intrigued by the complexity of Rumplestiltskin, and I’ve written a contemporary short story based on it. I’m also thinking a bit about Snow White, and making notes for a twisted short story from the point of view of Snow White’s mother.

Red sings from treetops – book review

February 26, 2016 by Karen Comer 4 Comments

I pulled this lush, beautifully written, gorgeously illustrated picture book out for Miss 9 to read. She needed to describe her physical features, and this was the perfect book to jumpstart her imagination – even though it has nothing to do with descriptions of people.

Let me explain.

This book, Red sings from treetops, a year in color, is a Caldecott Honour book. It was written by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski, and published in the US in 2009.

The book begins in spring, and follows the seasons of the year. (Australians, be warned that autumn is, of course, fall in this book. And our ‘colour’ is ‘color’ – important to explain this to kids if they are reading the words themselves.) Each season goes through the many variations of colour – red, yellow, purple, black, white, blue, pink, green etc.

Like all the best picture books, it’s hard to separate the illustrations from the words. Zagarenski used mixed media on wood, along with computer illustrations, to create the layered pages. She uses a lot of paper with text on it for the collage components – something I love to do in art as well.

A picture of geese flying in the sky and an acorn in a hand is accompanied by this text for autumn –

Brown,
fat and glossy,
rises in honking flocks.
Brown rustles and whispers underfoot.
Brown gleams in my hand:
a tiny round house,
dolloped with roof.

This book may not be for every family – there’s no plot apart from the passing of the seasons. BUT, it is an excellent resource for teachers and parents. So many possibilities – poetry, colour, art, descriptions, seasons, nature, change, growth, senses …

Here’s the description of blue for summer –

And where is blue?
Humming, shimmering,
snoozing in the lazy haze.
Dancing on water
with yellow and green.
In summer,
Blue grows new names:
turquoise, azure, cerulean.

Love that last phrase – imagine guiding a group of ten year-olds to grow new names for other colours!

And here’s Miss 9’s description of herself –

My hair is medium in length and light brown-coloured. My eyes are the colour of bluebells singing in the sun. My hands are like a knife cutting through the water. My voice makes hearts sing.

An hour after I wrote this post, Mr 12 asked me for some help with his poetry homework. So I pointed him in the direction of Red sings from treetops, and found a few examples of metaphors for him. And this is his poem –

BLACK

Black is night, mysterious and unpredictable,
Black is my T-shirt, warm and comfortable.
Black is a crow, silent and unforgiving,
Black is a cat, friendly and trustworthy.
Black is death, cold and dark,
Black is ebony, tall and strong.
Black is sleep, dreaming and motionless,
Black is a vampire’s heart, bloodthirsty and evil.
Black is a sweep, tall and dusty,
Black is a starless night, beautiful and dark.

So if you pass a girl with eyes the colour of bluebells or a boy with a comfortable black t-shirt, you’ll know they belong to me!

The stars at Oktober Bend – book review

February 9, 2016 by Karen Comer 6 Comments

Miss 9 and I had a girls’ afternoon out on the weekend – we do like to leave our boys behind and go to places likes cafes, craft classes, cheese shops and gardens every now and again – and went to a fabulous book launch at Readings. We were there for the launch of The stars at Oktober Bend by Glenda Millard, her latest young adult book. Miss 9 was there to ask Glenda to sign her first book from the Kingdom of Silk series.

There was cheese, there was champagne, and then the formalities. An Allen and Unwin editor introduced the book, then Mike Shuttleworth from Readings told us why he loved it. I agreed with his point about Glenda offering a different sensibility, a different way of viewing the world.

Glenda’s book is told from the point of view of fifteen-year-old Alice who has an acquired brain injury. She has difficulty voicing her thoughts but writes them beautifully in poems, which she leaves around her small Australian town for strangers to find. Manny finds them. He is a refugee, a child soldier who is trying to establish a new life in Australia.

The book is written entirely in lower case, as we see everything through Alice’s eyes, with small sections of the book in Manny’s voice. Despite my last post about editing your own work and the importance of communicating clearly, the lower case writing draws us immediately into Alice’s way of seeing – might not be correct grammar but it expresses Alice’s voice authentically. A perfect pairing.

I’ve lost count of how many books I’ve read and owned by Glenda. What I love about her writing are the characters and her language. Miss 9 and I told Glenda we would like to live with the Silk family – those characters are so creative, sensitive, brave and thoughtful. And Alice is a beacon for every teenager on the outsider, everyone struggling to express themselves aloud, for every young adult on the brink of falling in love. As for her language, this is one of Alice’s poems:

and when he comes
i will
pass to him
new poems
on fine white pages
sonnets and songs
rows of notes
for words to waltz to
and when he reads them he will
know that i am
more
than twelve
more
than broken much
more
he will take
my hand press my fingers
gently into his
scarred places and i
will know their meaning.

Or this is her voice –

there were fewer silences than there might have been during that first shared meal. hope prised open the tiny doors of my caged heart. twice now manny had seen me fitting. twice he had not turned his back. he had listened to fragments of my stumbling speech and begged me to speak again. his wanting to listen made no difference to my speech. it was no clearer, quicker or more fluent. my words did not sound like birdsong or poetry. but many watched me and waited while i spoke. asked me when he didn’t understand. laughed with us when we laughed at my mumblings and his misunderstandings. that night we had everything we needed – food for our hunger and conversation for our souls.

And lest you think that this book is just about stars and poems, the last section is so gripping you will not be able to put it down. Promise. This is a beautiful book for the young adult in your life – it will encourage them to look at poetry, the evocative language will expand their vocabulary and the story of two outsiders will make their world a little larger.

Glenda told Miss 9 about the next three books she was writing – we both can’t wait to read them.

Reading widely

January 29, 2016 by Karen Comer 14 Comments

I went to a fabulous seminar at Writers Victoria this week, presented by Danielle Binks about reading widely for writers. It may seem a little odd to think that writers need a tutorial about reading, because after all, if you write books, then it must surely follow that you read books and would hardly need to be told how to do so. Yet as Danielle explained, writers usually fall into two categories of readers – we either read only in our own genre or read too narrowly within our own genre.

When I look back on my reading list for last year, I can see that I read mainly middle grade fiction, adult fiction that would probably be classified as women’s fiction, a little bit of young adult fiction, and non-fiction about creativity and parenting. So plenty of room to add crime fiction, science fiction, fantasy, biographies, autobiographies, historical fiction. And even though there is so much room for improvement in this area, I think I need to read more widely in middle grade fiction, for 8-12 year-old readers.

I love my monthly bookclub meetings – mainly for the lovely friendships but also because I read books that I haven’t heard of before.

And why, you may ask, is all this important? Well, Danielle explained that if you only read in your own genre, you will never break beyond it, you will only be a pale imitation of the best writers in your field. Seems to me that it is true in any field.

I remember watching Australian Story a couple of years ago and seeing Professor Graeme Clark, who invented the cochlear implant, explain how he came across his brilliant idea. He was sitting on a beach, turning over a shell in his hand and observing how blades of grass were flexible enough to reach all the way inside it. He could see how similar the shell was to an ear, and he knew then how to solve the last piece of the puzzle. If he had stayed in his lab, ignoring the beach, he would not have changed the lives of thousands of deaf people.

Back to reading and writing – how can you write an original book if you are living and breathing the narrow world of your genre?

I think reading widely is true for kid readers, too. One of the greatest gifts reading can give anyone is a sense of compassion. You can understand the deaf protagonist’s perspective, you live the life of the athlete who was never quite good enough, you become the mother living hundreds of years ago who lost half her babies in childbirth, you understand the protagonist who was brought up by an alcoholic father. For kids, reading can offer insights into the home life of a school bully, into the feelings of the kid who can never keep up at school, into the thoughts of the kid who is never invited to parties. And if you read the same sort of book all the time, your world is narrow, and your compassion is limited.

So, I intend to read more widely this year to become not only a better writer but a more compassionate person! Anyone else have any reading plans for yourself or your kids this year? Or a book recommendation to help me read more widely?