Merry Christmas

hey guys, merry christmas!! i wanted to give you guys all something for christmas so i've put together a bunch of carols, not traditional ones thou, aussie ones. take a look! i've linked them because i wanted to put up more than one. at least watch the first one, very funny and a bit true too.
Jingle bells- this is a book as well. very funny.

6 White Boomers- i remember singing this when i was about 6.

Aussie 12 days of christmas- this is a weird one so here's a proper one

TheThree Drovers- much more traditional

A Rose for the ANZAC boys

A Rose for the ANZAC Boys by Jackie French is a WW1 story through the eyes of 3 young women. don't worry, there still adventure, blood and suspense. Midge is a 16 year old kiwi sent to England to learn how to be 'lady like'. There she meets Ethel and Anne and is flung into the war and the open a canteen for soldiers in France. they not only give out food, but care for many wounded men. later midge ends up in the ambulance service.

these young women also suffer as their young ANZACs fight, brothers, cousins, boyfriends all of. what's worse a death notice or them being on the missing list? my favourite thing that this book shows is how the world radically change in just a few years, especially in a feminist view. Then it changed back again. women worked, ran everything and often faced almost as much as men did. then when the soldiers came back they were honored (which the deserve) and took over again. the women who worked to save men and saw them die were expected to go back home, forget and raise families or play tennis. can you imagine what a hard transition that would be?

i love Jackie French's writing, her picture books, novels and non-fiction. check out her other work as well. this book was defiantly a 'stop and think' novel. a good feminist view on war. i hope you join me in this though: thank you for all the women who serve during war. thank you for the women who helped at the front lines of WW1 and WW2 and the women left at home who kept the world running, sewing uniforms and bandages for them, sending food and running factories.

Cicada Summer

Title: Cicada Summer
Author: Kate Constable
First Published: 2009 by Allen & Unwin, Australia

Eloise has been mute since her mother died. She doesn't speak, she doesn't laugh, she doesn't even smile. She just gets carried around all time by her father, swimming in a sea of his girlfriends, business plans and strange nicknames and escapes into a world of her own when she decides to draw. Until this summer.

This summer, Eloise's dad decides to re-build his mum's (Mo) old house and turn it into a hotel. Because of that he leaves Eloise with Mo and goes back to the city.

Mo never leaves the house, and all her errands get done by the next door neighbours. She has spent 20 years writing a book about sea voyages, and isn't pleased about Eloise staying.

When Eloise and her dad go to see the house before he leaves, Eloise sees her. The ghostly girl on the staircase. After that, day after day, Eloise comes to the house on her bike and travels back in time....or she thinks. There she meets who she thinks is is the same girl she saw on the staircase, helping her paint the old summer house. Slowly, she finds out that Anna, the girl, is her mother. But is she?

When her dad tells her the awful news on Christmas Day, Eloise realises she has to work harder than ever to save the Anna and her time. But will she find her voice?

This is a really good book, sorry no time for a comment, but I give it a 5/5!

Blueback

title:blueback
Aurthur: Tim winton
first published: pan Macmillan 1997

Abel has grown up by the sea living from the land. his best friend is a fish, called Blueback and ever since we meet him he has wanted to understand the sea, what fish thought, how does it all hold together. he goes to university and get a degree in marine biology, his mother stays by the sea. in her letters she tells of how things are going wrong, but what can they do?

this book is so beautifully simple, you could read it in an afternoon. it makes you want, like able to be one with the ocean. i think it is a great skill to make someone want what your character wants. this book is all about where we belong and how we belong to the planet, not the other way round. it sounds weird and i might not have read it if it wasn't one of our school books, but i highly recommend it.

i dare you again!

because no one actually took part in my last dare i get to re-use it.
i dare you to read a book set or written by an Australian Aurthur and post a review on your blog. for inspiration check out our reviews or ask for suggetsions. picture books count so you could check out shaun tan. everyone who takes part will get a badge for their blog.
please take part and leave comments and in anyone knows how to make a badge let me know.

finding darcy

title: finding Darcey
Aurthur: sue Lawson
first published: 2008 by black dog press

finding Darcy by sue Lawson is the best book in a long time. i couldn't put it down which is what I've been looking for all holiday. Darcy is living with her gran(misery) and her great gran or Grandma(batty). her SOSE teacher the newt or Mr newton has set an assignment about WWII which is a taboo topic in her family, if she mentions it she's more likely to get shot than an interview. the more research she does into her great grand father the harder it is to ignore the elephants sitting the corners of her grans perfectly clean house.

the thing that makes this book sing is how realistic it is, especially Darcy. you couldn't get a more realistic picture of a teenager(my opinion) she is very confused and wants answers and information, she can sulk, lose her temper(i do both of those a lot) and faces bullies. i really love this story and it makes me wonder about my own family history. my only problems with this book is if you're not paying full attention you might get a little confused and that you may need google, a good encyclopedia or someone with a bit of knowledge about australia in WWII.

i'm off to watch 27 dresses and do a little WWII and family research. do you guys have any cool family war stories?

Tomorrow all will be beautiful

Title:tomorrow all will be beautiful
written by: Brigid lowry
first published: 2007 by allen and unwin

tomorrow all will be beautiful reminded me of warm afternoons talking with my friends and those family stories you know so well yet love to hear again. it showed the glorious belief that we can always find a little good. this books is a collection of short stories and poems done in a collage style, differnt story types and picture in the background.

some of the stories envolve some very sad stuff and there is quite a few mentions of depresion but it left me feeling alive, full of fun and wonder. i was dreaming and playing with a peacock feather. then when for a walk alone matilda bay.

i thought it was a very nice book and i discovered that you can publish short stories and that they can be in all different formats.

it's an odd book to review for me because i can't say what it was about because there was no main story line but for me it show why life should sparkle because there is always a bead of hope if you look.

this doesn't relate to tomorrow all will be beautiful but, i would love some suggestions for our blog and opinions. What would make it better and make people comment?

thanks. remember to look for that little bit of good. where'd you find it?

Once

Title: Once

Author: Morris Gleitzman

First Published: 2005 by i don't have time to find out who :D

'Once I was living in an orphanage in the mountains and I shouldn't have been and I almost caused a riot. It was because of the carrot.'

Felix is a Jewish boy living in an orphanage in 1942. His parents were Jewish booksellers, and once they all lived together in a cosy house with carrot soup for dinner. But then things start to get hard, and his parents leave Felix at the Catholic orphanage with only a small suitcase, a few books and a creamy white notebook, and promise to come back for him when stuff gets sorted out.

But then one day, the Nazis came ad burned the Jewish books. Felix thought that his parent's book are in trouble, so he ran away hoping to help. Everything was going fine until Felix realises that it's not only the books that the Nazis want and hate, preferably dead...

Together with Zelda, he sets out on a search for his parents and finding himself in more trouble than ever...

This was a truly fabulous book, so sad though. Felix just sounds so honest and innocent, sometimes you just wish his parents would pop up and give him a hug. Until you find out the truth...

I loved all the characters, mainly Mother Minka and Zelda and Felix and Barney. You'll see why. Also, BING BING GOOD NEWS ONCE AND THEN FANS!!! Morris Gleitzman decided to write another sequel to these books called 'Now' (are you psychic or something Anna???). It will be out in 2010, can't wait!!!

Annabel, Again

Title: Annabel, Again
Aurthur: meg mckinlay
first published: 2007 by walker books australia

Annabel, Again is a cathy cassidy, jaquline wilson genre book, but without the drama and in my opinon better than jacqueline wilson. this book, set in australia envolving 'the sun', stalker crows and some physco chickens is very funny. it's has the kind of jokes my friends and i make all the time.

annabel and livvy have been best friends since elephants brought them together in kindy, not only have they been best friends they were each others only friends. so what happens when annabel has to leave livvy and move to the other side of australia? well according to livvy's mum it's time to move on. livvy throws herself into things to forget and life keeps going on around her. then annabel moves back, things can be the way they were before, but what happens if annabel doesn't want just to slip back into her life with livvy?

this is a great book, a bit easy and writen by a lady my dad works with. i have a signed copy. it says: always keep an eye out for secret tortoises!

ok guys

sorry i'm very busy at the moment and i'm sure stacey is too. i just discovered a writing contest i want to enter and it closes on tuesday so i'm very busy. i told u i wouldn't put up another dare until someone completed augusts one and i'm not. sorry to be a meany but only one person said they'd take up the challenge. thanks jenny. here fantastical blog is here
i'll try and review but i haven't read much lately. i need to go to a library. only 2 more weeks of school this term.

Then

then by Morris Gleitzmen is a very sad book. i think the line "then we froze" sums this book up to perfection. you can never tell what's going to happen, though i sometimes got a bit confused, that could have just been me. i also thought the ending was rushed. the description was perfect, it wasn't just their story it was their emotions, these are the only books I've read that show what it would have felt like to be a Jew in the Holocaust. another great thing about this book is it reaches out to lots of age groups, so a 10 year old could read it, but i still loved it at 13. i hope that Morris Gleitzmen writes a third book. what about 'Now'?

dare stuff!

if people have questions about the dare challenge can we please be specific? I'll try and clarify.

each month this blog will have a challenge for anyone who would like to take part. this month we dare you to read an Australian book, meaning any book by an Australian writer then post a review.

if you have any questions please ask and if you don't know any Aussie books i have lots of recommendations.

First Awards!

Hi! CherryDiva here. MEGA NEWS: The lovely Sara from Dragonfly Book Reviews has given us our first two awards! Yay! Thanks SO much Sara! Here are the rules...

Kreativ Blogger Award:





Rules: I think you're supposed to write seven of your favourite things and nominate seven other blogs. Well, since there's two of us (Anna Banana and ME!) I think we'll bend the rules a bit and make it that I'll list four, and Anna will list four. Cool. So...



CherryDiva:

1. Blogs

2. Candles

3. Sweet Biscuits

4. Cherry blossoms/cherries!



Anna Banana:

1.this blog: i think we've done almost enough posts to email publishers. nothing like fee books (stacey i gotta talk to u about that)


2. uni book sale next weekend!


3.bubbles. we got little bottles of bubble mix at a 1st party.


4.my bro goes to america on friday. V. excited for him.




Now, seven blogs we nominate. Hmmm....



1. Jenny

2.Lylastar10

3. Amber

4. Kate

5. Beanie

6. Meggin

7. Sasha



Okey dokes.



The Hearthfelt Award:



(The Picture won't upload coz it's an animation. Imagine a cute mouse peeking out from a little tea cup.)



Rules: (Copied cheekily from Sara's blog :] )

Do you reach for a cup of cocoa or tea when you're relaxing, seeking comfort, sharing a plate of cookies with family and friends? You know the feeling you get when you drink a yummy cup of cocoa, tea, or a hot toddy? That is what the Hearthfelt Award is all about, feeling warm inside.

Put the logo on your blog/post. Nominate up to to 9 blogs which make you feel comfy or warm inside. Be sure to link your nominees within your post. Let them know that they have been nominated by commenting on their blog. Remember to link to the person from whom you received your award.

Okaaay.

1. Blog Of A Jennybean

2. Anna Banana (I, CherryDiva nominated Anna. She isn't that selfish to nominate herself!)

3. This Homeschooling Life

4. stacey if you get to out me i get to put you!

5.we're giving it back to sara leslie. you don't have to do it again thou.

6.kate.

7.amber.

8.sasha

TTYL!

The Slightly True Story Of Cedar B. Hartley (who planned to live an unusual life)

4 ½ stars


No, I am not kidding, that is the actual title. Pretty long, huh?

Cedar B. Hartley is a dog-loving, almost-but-not-quite-thirteen-year-old girl with hellish red hair. She likes to hang out on the street, do bat-pole positions and take her dog Stinky on walks. But it all changes one day after school. No one greets her at home-not Mum because she's at work, not Dad because he died when Cedar was small, and not Barnaby, her brother, because he ran away a few months back. Not even Stinky is there - he got lost and Cedar goes off to find him. No one has seen him and he's no where TO be seen, so Cedar and her best friend Caramella make posters to hang around town.

Then the boy with the river voice calls. His name is Kite and he's found Stinky. As Stinky and Cedar reunite at th oval, Cedar learns what amazing things Kite can do, and she wants to be able to do them too. Instantly, this changes not only her whole summer, but her whole life.

I think this was a fabulous book. It was Martine Murray's first novel, and it got quite a lot of praise. You should definitely read it.

i dare you!

each month I'm going to or Stacey might( she doesn't know I'm posting this yet) give you all a dare. they will be Aussie or book related mostly. you have to post about the dare after you complete it leaving a link to our site them comment and let us know you've completed it. after you complete so many dares you will get an award. it will probably be three challenges completed. this dare isn't included because it is a trial run and we will set up a poll to find out what people think of the idea.

august dare 2009
i dare you to find an Australian book and give a review. simple. try and find a book you haven't read before, maybe one by a different author. if your not sure about if a book is australian or not just leave a comment and we'll let you know. you have until the 10th of september to complete the dare and make sure you vote on our poll. their will be a new dare next month for spring YAY!
we really beat you guys in the cricket last night. next game is going to be interesting.

Raven hill/ teen inc series

these books are way to easy for me but i still love them. they would probably be great for younger brothers or sister. Emily Rodda writes lots of kids books, including the well known Deltora quest series.
this series is about 6 friends and their job finding business, following the original slogan no job is too big or too small. somehow 15 year olds involved in robbery, arisen and other massive events seems believable.
so far i have read about 5 of these books and found them great, my fave is the gignerbread house.
they are publised under two names teen power inc was the name originally but when they were reprinted in america they we're called raven hill mysteries.

if this doesn't make sense i'm sick don't blame me blame my brother.

Finding Cassie Crazy

Title: finding Cassie crazy
Aurthur: Jaclyn Moriarty
first published: 2003-pan Macmillan Australia
* * * * */5

this is my second review for the DBR b-day challenge for the chick-lit category. at first i thought the book was just ok, then at actually started to dislike it, it seem negative and like nothing was going to happen, yet i was compelled to keep reading. this is an addictive book about best friends, Cassie, Lydia and Emily and they're pen pals from brookfeild. these school already have a rivalry so how is it why in their own way ended up writing and writing all the time to each other? what up with Cassie why won't she share her secrets or letters? and how come no one has heard of her pen pal? for a story i thought needed more events it sure proved me wrong. the humor and character understanding was great, the characters develop, change and behave just as real people do, as i was reading i didn't even notice how different the characters were ending up. the format of letters, diaries and other personal documents is great, though it can be a little confusing because the story is from the point of view of 5 people and only one person can think at a time.

as my grandpa always says this has a sting in the tail meaning their are crazy twists and turns, which as the book progresses get better and better, though some weird people might find it a little dull at first it is well worst sticking with. this is so realistic, except for the going to the movies in double maths, my school does the roll every lesson. the book has everything from what it's like to to be thinking about a career even though it seems so far away and humor to deep questions. the least of which would be 'is Cassie crazy?

Sunny Side Up

Title: Sunny Side Up

Author: Marion Roberts

Type: Children/Teen Fiction

First Published: January 2008

Suitable For Ages: 8-13

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

*****/5

Sunny Hathaway is a normal, happy 11-year-old living in Melbourne with her Mum on weekdays and her Dad and step-mum on weekends. She's not one of the girly, giggly girls who go gaga over lipstick and Zac Efron. She's just a dog-loving Aussie gal running a pizza-making business with her best friend, Claud. Or she was.

All that ended, or maybe everything started, when Sunny's mum invited her boyfriend Carl and his two kids over to decorate the Christmas tree, Sunny's grandma (who her mum hasn't talked to for years) sending presents and wanting to meet up, Claud falling for Sunny's enemy, Buster, and developing a fake laugh, Carl moving in, not to mention the heat-wave going on. Suddenly Sunny is stuck in a whirl-wind of secrets, lies, growing up, and pizza ingredients. Will life ever go back to being sunny side up?

I loved this book because the author made everything so believable, and it's set in Melbourne which is where I used to live. Sunny is a smart, imaginative list-making character who you'll fall in love with by the end of the book.

Mr Monday

title: mister Monday-book 1/7 keys to the kingdom series
Aurthur: Garth Nix
first published in Australia 2003 by Allen and Unwin
pages: 328
****/5
Mr Monday is the first of seven books, 6 of which have been written. this is an adventure, mild fantasy type book about Arthur Penhaligon young orphan of loving adopted parents. on his first day at a new school Arthur briefly meets Mr Monday and is forced to save the other world from certain doom. he with the power of the key has to untangle the secrets and defeat the guardians, Mr Monday, grim Tuesday, drowned Wednesday, sir Thursday, lady Friday, superior Saturday and Lord Sunday who are suppose to guard, protect and help make prosper their regions of this world. arthur's world is relying on him to stop the devastation of the magic world spreading to his while managing his life at home. how long can he keep it from his parent?
i loved this series especially the first book. their is two series websites, one Australia and one British. the english versions have different covers.

Hi! Hi! Hi!

G'day everyone! CherryDiva here. So, Anna's already told you about the blog, but I guess I'll do it again. Just for fun.

So, if our names sound familiar (how can you forget a name like Anna Banana or CherryDiva?) it's because we already have our own personal blogs!

Mine's here.

And Anna's is here.

Go check 'em out. Seriously. So anyway, like Anna said, we have joined forces (that is hilarious! I totally cracked up when I read that! Well done, Anna!) and created this Aussie book reviewing blog, as we think that Australian literature doesn't get as much praise as it deserves these days (well I think so anyway). We'll cover different books, which we enjoyed reading. I hope y'all have a fun time reading this!

Oh, I almost forgot. If you are an author/publisher and want us to review your book, be more than welcome to leave a comment! Actually anyone should, and must leave a comment as I LOVE comments! It's one of the best things about running a blog! Other that followers, of course.

Well, the first review should be up soon so visit again soon!

TTYL,

CherryDiva

Hello and Welcome!

Welcome to Cherry Banana Split run by Cherry Diva and Anna Banana. We have joined forces to introduce you to the world of Aussie literature and show you even more books. Now a lot of you know this has been a long time in the making so please now where here and here to stay visit us a spread the word that Cherry Banana Split is open for business!

Details and still being worked out so bear with us as we get set up. We both love comments so feel free to leave your opinion or a question. Now we will be having a compition (oooo! exicting) so keep watching this space and enjoy all we have to offer.