Pure by Julianna Baggott

I kept getting told how fantastic this book was, but how off-putting and gross it was because of all the malformed bodies etc that it contains (post nuclear holocaust). Some even said it was hard going because of this. So, I thought to myself, let's see what all the fuss is about.

I found that because I knew that it would have deformities left, right and center, I wasn't grossed out at all. In fact, putting aside the fact that I really think that most of these afflicted people would be dead (which is explained briefly with chemical and nanotechnology which was designed to create this grotesque fusing), I wouldn't have expected any less for the world which was being created.

So, did it all work?

Yes, absoultely! Julianna Baggott has given us a world so vivid and alive and filled with the horror and hope of survival it's almost palpable. You nearly feel gritty, yourself, as you read about the soot and ash and dust that permanently grays they sky and every thing else. All of which is perfectly contrasted with the pure 'Dome' that is so clean and spotless, it's ripe for conspiracy.

I really enjoyed the journey this book took me on. My only criticism is that it felt a little long and perhaps could have been pared back in places to create a slightly more fast pace story. But, even as it stands, it was a great read!

 

4 Gold Stars

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The Mercy Watson Series by Kate DiCamillo and Chris Van Dusen

     

      

 Kate DiCamillo is a crazy genius. Her beautiful lyrical junior fiction novels are nothing short of Amazing. The Tale of Desperaux, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, and The Magician's Elephant are all by far some of the best junior fiction out there.

But how could such a wordsmith create an early reader that stands along side such beautiful junior fiction?

Easy, she says, I'll just invent a porcine wonder: Mercy Watson!

Mr And Mrs Watson, own a pet pig, whom they love dearly. Her name is Mercy.

What does Mercy love? Toast with butter on it. A Good deal of butter. It is her diving force. It is what drives her to get help when the Watson's floor is falling in, it is what leads her to capture a thief in the middle of the night, it is what causes her to bring a whole community together.

She really is a porcine wonder, a dear, a darling.

And boy, does Mrs Watson love dealing out the toast with butter on it!

These books are great fun! They made me chuckle constantly and laugh out loud on many occasions. They work well as early chapter books because there is quite a lot of repetition, but that very repetition is half of the humour.

The fact that she is so clearly driven by her stomach, and her love of buttered toast, yet all her actions are misinterpreted as heroically motivated that it is very amusing to see the mismatch between her thoughts and how she is interpreted.

Yes, Kate DiCamillo is truly fantastic. I can't recommend any of her books highly enough!

Chris Van Dusen's illustrations are PERFECT for this series too. Bright, bubbly, slightly retro, fun, and capture the characters brilliantly! They are too good!

Mercy Watson is a porcine wonder. You should get to know her.

 

4.5 Gold Stars

Find them on Goodreads:

Mercy Watson to the Rescue

Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride

Mercy Watson Fights Crime

Mercy Watson: Princess In Disguise

Mercy Watson Thinks Like a Pig

Mercy Watson: Something Wonky This Way Comes

Skellig by David Almond

Having worked with Children's books for nearly 8 years now, I had heard of Skellig around about, and always thought I might read it one day. I mean, it won the Carnegie and the Whitbread book of the year and was turned into a movie. In recent years, I've read a few of David Almond's other books and each time I'm surprised by something else. He is a brilliant writer.

Earlier this year, my lecturer at uni and I were talking about good books etc. and she asked if I had read Skellig. I hadn't, at the time, and she said I must. She told me that when she first started as an assistant to a lecturer when she had just left uni, her boss asked her the same question and when she said no, her boss handed her the book and said 'go home, and do nothing today other than read this book'.

Last year I watched the movie that had been made from the book, which was good, but now that I have read it, I can see why there has been so much fuss over this book.

Michael's new born sister is having health issues. She's in the hospital and his parents are worried sick, but are trying to keep a brave face and not neglect Michael in their concern. they have just moved into a new home. A Fix-er-up-er is putting it mildly. Michael is also worried about his sister, he feels that if he stops thinking about her then she might die.

Then he discovers a strange man who is sitting in the old, junk-filled shed. He looks like he has been there for years, unmoving, he eats spiders and bugs and has some strange humps on his back under his coat.

Michael then meets Mina, a precocious home-schooled girl who becomes his friend. And together they do what they can to help this strange man they can scarcely believe exists.

This book is amazing. It is such a well synthesised family-drama/fantasy/identity-themed/discussion of evolution and the afterlife it is really something!

Not a word is wasted. It's not a very long novel (170 well-spaced pages) but for all that, it holds so much.

What should I say now? I feel like echoing the question that was passed to me: 'Have you read Skellig? If not, you must!'

 

5 Gold Stars

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Ghost At The Point by Charlotte Calder

This book took me by surprise. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it looked interesting and when I started it, there was no turning back.

I guess the most straightforward way to describe it would be Historical, Junior, Australian Fiction. But really, what does that tell you?

What can I tell you about it? That it was really compelling, creepy (the ghost story and set-up works brilliantly), and good fun. It’s set on an island inspired by Kangaroo Island in the 1930s and captures the rural Australian community feeling perfectly. The main character, Dorrie, is a believable, likeable, independently minded girl and is a great protagonist. Her relationship with her grandfather is succinct, yet genuine, what you might expect of people who live in a semi isolated part of an island with a small population. And when her grandfather has an accident and has to spend some time in hospital, she manages to get back to their house unattended because she wanted to stay at home, rather than having to stay with cousins.  But that’s when everything comes to a head.

The persistent and sinister treasure hunters from the mainland turn up in the middle of the night, and the presence of the ghost is felt more than ever. Isn’t that the way? Scary things tend to happen when you’re alone, miles from the next house, and it’s the middle of the night, right?

The no-good treasure hunters, the truth about the ghost, the mystery of it all comes together so well at the end I was reminded of the well constructed mysteries like The Famous Five.

I can strongly recommend this book. Particularly if you (or your child) have a leaning towards stories set in times gone past. But more than that, this book is a well constructed, mysterious ghost story. I really liked it!

 

4 Gold Stars

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Broken by Elizabeth Pulford

When I heard about Broken, I got excited. I thoroughly enjoyed Tussock and so Elizabeth Pulford’s writing was more than enough to make me want to read it. But then I heard that it is narrated by a girl who is in a coma and my interest spiked. Further, the cover is beautiful!

Zara is broken, the back cover tells us, she’s in a coma, trapped in the world of her subconscious. We learn at the very beginning that she was on the back of her brother’s motorcycle when there was an accident. Jem, tragically, died immediately. Zara is in a coma, unaware of his death, unaware of her own vegetative state. All she knows is the broken pieces of her life, over-lapping, intersecting and scrolling through her mind without much rhyme or reason.

She hears snippets of conversation from the hospital room, she remembers things from the past, she knows Jem is missing and she needs to find him. He is her secret keeper. He is the only one she told the whole story to after she was kidnapped as a seven year old and kept in a cupboard for six weeks. She desperately needs to find him. Has he disappeared into one of his comics that he was so obsessed with? Armed with a pencil and an eraser she draws her way in after him to find out.

Piece by piece Zara must sift through her past to unlock secrets she has kept deep inside her.

I really liked this book. The fragmented text types, the disjointed narration, the blurring of reality and fantasy within the comic book; they all build to make a believable picture of a girl in a coma. At no point did I feel it was gimmicky or forced. Even as great idea “narrated by a girl in a coma” is, it is a great premise that could have easily fell flat by a less skilled author. Once I had finished I didn’t think the story in Broken could have been told in any other way. It all works.

This is a YA read that is different other things out there.

 

4.5 Silver Stars

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JudgeABook: After The Snow by S.D. Crockett

I don't know why, but crows and ravens have always fascinated me. And not in a 'harbinger-of-death' kind of way. They seem so astute, so thoughtful. And the shiny blue-black of their feathers is mesmerizing. Have you guessed why this cover jumped out at me yet?

The title I also found engaging. 'After' automatically conjures events and consequences and following-ons that seem to disappear into the white unknown that the future is, even as the elusive snow melts before us.

It is clear how strong I think this cover is? I hope so.

The 3rd step will be interesting. What can I come up with from 'raven' + 'After' + 'Snow' ?

Who would have thought that the midnight bird would find a place to hide in the fallen snow. Surely the contrast would be too great. 

I had not considered the still-smoking remains of my family's home. I had not considered it because until I had emerged from the trees I had expected to find the familiar building intact. 

Tracks in the snow told me they were alive. I had to believe that these markings were their fleeing steps and not the bearers of corpses.

A harsh cry split the air.

 

 

4.5 Gold Stars

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