Four stars for The Phar Lap Mystery
The Bookseller +Publisher has given a four-star (Excellent) rating to My Australian Story: The Phar Lap Mystery by Sophie Masson, published by Scholastic.
In 1930 someone tried to shoot Phar Lap, and in her latest novel, Sophie Masson splices fact and fiction together seamlessly to present a narrative that is both informative and entertaining. The case of attempted murder has never been solved, so a private investigator is hired by an unknown person to find the culprit.
His inquisitive 11-year-old daughter Sally tags along to help solve the case. Who is behind it? Crooked bookies? A doping ring? Some underground gangsters?
What’s good about The Phar Lap Mystery is that young readers age 10-plus don’t necessarily have to be keen horsey fans to enjoy it; the book introduces the novice to various equine terms such as the role of bookmakers and includes interesting facts—for example, how the name Phar Lap comes from the word ‘farlap’, which means ‘sky blink’ or ‘lightning’ in the Thai language.
Masson has used original newspaper articles and interviews as sources and kept the names of key figures, which gives the novel an air of authenticity about it even though the whodunnit aspect is obviously fictional.
Set during the Depression years, the novel reflects the straitened times well, and relationships between father and daughter and their circle of friends and family are also beautifully depicted.
—Thuy On is a Melbourne-based freelance writer and reviewer.
Topics: Sophie Masson, Young Adult | No Comments »
2010 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards – Shortlists
Congratulations to my authors whose work has been shortlisted in this year’s Prime Minister’s Awards.
Harry & Hopper, by Margaret Wild (with Freya Blackwood) has been shortlisted in the Children’s fiction category, and The Winds of Heaven by Judith Clarke, and Swerve, by Phillip Gwynne, have both been shortlisted in the Young adult category.
Topics: Awards, Judith Clarke, Margaret Wild, Phillip Gwynne | No Comments »
Gregory Rogers: The Hero of Little Street
Congratulations to Gregory Rogers, whose beautiful picture book, The Hero of Little Street, has received short listings for the 2010 Children’s Book Council of Australia, Picture Book of the Year Award, the NSW Premier’s Prize, Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature, Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards 2010, and the 2009 Aurealis Award for Best Children’s Short Fiction/Illustrated Work/Picture Book.
The Hero of Little Street was recently published in the UK, where it is receiving glowing reviews:
Gregory Rogers’ extraordinary The Hero of Little Street is a wordless picture book teeming with the sort of action that cries out for repeated viewings. A small boy, escaping from a gang of bullies, first slips into London’s National Gallery and then takes refuge in a Vermeer painting of 17th-century Holland. Many adventures later, he comes back to reality, now accompanied by a fierce band of dogs to see off any opposition. This feast of a book has to be seen to be believed.
— The Independent
Equally anthusiastic was Armadillo Magazine:
Escaping from a gang of bullies a young boy escapes into London’s National Gallery. Could this be the perfect hiding place – full of mystery, treasures and of course paintings!
Boy is enchanted by one particularly mischievous dog and a painting by Vermeer which they both escape into for an adventure that neither of them would have been able to imagine. Following this escape their adventure continues through the picture coming to a thrilling and exciting climax.
The world of Vermeer is not an ideal place for a young boy and his dog, there are some hair-raising adventures in store for them and with a vivid detail this book takes its reader on an exciting journey through paintings, history and power of the imagination.
There is no text in this graphic novel for younger readers, it is based entirely on a sequence of comic strip style illustrations – only in the sense of their layout.
This is a beautifully and intricately drawn story which relies on the graphic novel format for its layout but the imagination of the child and adult reader for the development of the story for every individual who reads it.
Each and every time this book is ventured into I guarantee that the story will change for it will inspire in its young readers the forgotten art of storytelling. Allowing embellishment where the reader wants it and constant change depending on the interpretation of the reader on the day.
This is a bold and brave approach to storytelling for a younger audience, beautifully conceived and cleverly presented.
It is a must, not only for the very young, but also anyone who is stuck for inspiration and in need of a reading book with a very different approach. — Reviewed by Louise Ellis-Barrett
Topics: Childrens books, Gregory Rogers | No Comments »
Laura Buzo: Good Oil
‘I feel about this manuscript the way I felt about the first draft of Melina Marchetta’s Looking for Alibrandi. Here is a fresh, beautiful, young contemporary voice, a new writer with wonderful potential and a novel you can fall in love with. It is told in two voices — 15-year-old Amelia and 21-year-old Chris and is a wonderful portrait of an unconventional relationship. The style is smart and sophisticated, hip and accessible, warm and funny.’ — Erica Wagner, Publisher.
‘Miss Amelia Hayes, welcome to The Land of Dreams. I am the staff trainer. I will call you grasshopper and you will call me sensei and I will give you the good oil. Right? And just so you know, I’m open to all kinds of bribery.’
From the moment 15-year-old Amelia begins work on the checkout at Woolworths she is sunk, gone, lost. head-over-heels in love with Chris.
Chris is the funny, charming, man-about-Woolies — but he’s 21, and the six-year difference in their ages may as well be 100.
Chris and Amelia talk about everything from ‘Second Wave Feminism’ to Great Expectations and Alien, but will he ever look at her in the way she wants him to? And if he does, will it be everything she hopes?
A coming-of-age story that is warm, funny and a little bit heartbreaking.
Topics: Laura Buzo, Novels | No Comments »
Lian Tanner: The Keepers Trilogy
It has been an exciting twelve months for Tasmanian children’s author, Lian Tanner, as these items from the Publishers Lunch website show:
June 5, 2009
Children’s: Fantasy
Lian Tanner’s Museum of Thieves, the first in a trilogy about a young girl who escapes the oppressive city of Jewel, where children are required to wear guardchains for their protection, and finds refuge in the extraordinary living Museum of Dunt, an ever-shifting world where she meets up with an eccentric cast of characters and evolves into a courageous and resourceful heroine who saves her city from destruction, to Michelle Poploff at Delacorte, at auction, in a three-book deal, by Jill Grinberg of Jill Grinberg Literary Management, on behalf of Margaret Connolly (NA).
January, 2010
Hachette India has signed a trilogy of children’s books, The Keepers, a fantasy tale by Lian Tanner that takes Goldie Roth, a brave girl from the tyrannical city of Jewel, on a thrilling journey of destiny and danger.
The three-book deal for the Indian subcontinent was negotiated by Vatsala Kaul Banerjee, Editorial Director, Hachette India, for an undisclosed sum with Margaret Connolly, the author’s Australian agent. This is the first international book or series to be acquired while still at the manuscript stage by an Indian children’s publisher.
Earlier, Jill Grinberg, handling US rights on behalf of the author and Margaret Connolly, had accepted a handsome six-figure offer from Random House/Delacorte for North American rights. Allen and Unwin won a tough Australian auction that included translation rights. The German rights have recently been sold to Arena Verlag.
The first book, Museum of Thieves, is scheduled for international publication in fall 2010.
Topics: Childrens books, Deals, Lian Tanner | No Comments »
Kathleen Stewart: Men of Bad Character
From the acclaimed author of The After Life comes a compelling novel about modern love and dangerous liaisons.
When Rose’s eighteen year relationship ends in the most shocking and unexpected way, she emerges from years of what she thought was love and realises the extent to which she was being emotionally manipulated and controlled. While trying to pick up the threads of her shattered life, she meets a charming and elusive new man.
He offers hope and possibilities for the future, but as Rose is drawn further into the labyrinth that is Gary’s life, she starts to wonder if he is the man she thought he was.
Kathleen Stewart is the author of eight novels, including Spilt Milk and Nightflowers, and two collections of poetry. Her memoir The After Life (2008) was published to great acclaim and was shortlisted for the Nita B. Kibble Award.
Topics: Fiction, Kathleen Stewart, Novels | 1 Comment »
Margaret Wild & Nina Rycroft: No More Kisses
No More Kisses is the new picture book by Margaret Wild and Nina Rycroft, to be published by Little Hare in April, 2010.
Topics: Childrens books, Margaret Wild, Nina Rycroft | No Comments »
Les Murray: Taller When Prone
A poem from the new collection.
Fame
We were at dinner in Soho
and the couple at the next table
rose to go. The woman paused to say
to me: I just wanted you to know
I have got all your cook books
and I swear by them!I managed
to answer her: Ma’am
they’ve done you nothing but good!
which was perhaps immodest
of whoever I am.
Les Murray’s new volume of poems, Taller When Prone, is to be published in Australia in April, 2010 by Black Inc, and is his first collection since 2006′s The Biplane Houses.
With characteristic grace and dexterity, these poems combine a mastery of form with a matchless ear for the Australian vernacular.
Many evoke rural life – its rhythms and rituals, the natural world, the landscape and the people who have shaped it. There are traveller’s tales, elegies, meditative fragments and satirical sketches.
Above all, there is Murray’s astonishing versatility, on display here at its exhilarating best.
Topics: Les Murray, Poetry | No Comments »
Top Ten Best Book listing for The Reformed Vampire Support Group
Congratulations to Catherine Jinks, whose novel, The Reformed Vampire Support Group, has just been selected by the prestigious American Library Association as one of the 2010 Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults.
Topics: Catherine Jinks, Young Adult | No Comments »
Trudie Trewin & Cheryl Orsini: Wibbly Wobbly Street
The cover of Wibbly Wobbly Street, by Trudie Trewin and Cheryl Orsini, a picture book to be published by Scholastic Australia in May, 2010.
Topics: Cheryl Orsini, Childrens books | No Comments »
