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?