Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Fill Out This Application and Wait Over There



Title: Fill Out This Application and Wait Over There
Author: Ruth Starke
First Published: 2009 Omnibus Books

Thousands of teenagers are employed in today's job market, but who is writing their story? I, Hailee Moxie, am the writer and this is my employment diary.

Hailee just fnished high school and is ready to fullfill her life goal: to go go on a one year backpacking journey to Thailand.

But as her mother points out, she has no job and therefore no money. And so begins her search for the right job. She starts working at her local supermarket SpendUp, and during the time is looking everywhere for a second job.

But working, as she also realises, is awful. Spending hours listening to whiney customers and crabby managers is the worst. And is it really worth the money?

This is a pretty good book, I haven't read anything with this idea before. You kind of dislike Hailee for being a bit selfish and lazy, but she changes as she makes so many new friends. But as a warning, this book does contain a bit of rude stuff, so it's not for everyone.

I liked the way it was written, in a diary form. though sometimes it was a little hard to tell which job she was talking about, and also a bit hard to remember who was who and all. But still, a pretty good story.

Sorry, this was a pretty wacky review, it's just kind of hard to review this book. Ah well, I tried :-)

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Requiem for a Beast


Title:Requiem for a Beast
Authur:
Matt Ottley
pages:96
First Published: July 2007

this is a story told from many points of view, but we are mainly told the story of a young stock man trying to capture a bull. at the beginning we are introduced to lots of the aspects of Requiem for a Beast through the young stock man's dream. over the course of this book we unravel what this dream means and what mysteries all these stories and memories hold. this book shows how many stories often are linked together and how it can take many people to get a complete picture. for the about the first 40 pages we are show many different ideas, people and events and it isn't until the end we understand how they fit together.

i love the way the book is put together. it is not just a picture book it is an experience. Matt Ottley did not only write a story, he painted all the incredible pictures and composed the CD that comes with the book. it is all these parts that make this book as amazing as it is. the way the book is written varies, some pages have just an image some have many cells like a graphic novel. some of the text is poetic while some is very colloquial. some times we barely have a sentence per page but others are completely text.

i found this book to be very worth reading and would encourage anyone who tries it not to be put off but it complexity. to really understand and appreciate Requiem for a Beast you need to understand a little Australian history about the relationship between the aboriginals and white Australian and about the stolen generation. part of the beauty of this book was the undertones about that travesty and what is now happening. we see this in not only the aboriginal elders memories, but also in metaphors we are shown throughout. this is a book you have to be dedicated to reading because you need to Analise the images to get the most out of it.

I'm sorry this is such a confusing review, it is not at all like your normal book so it is hard to know what to say. it is definitely worth reading.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Allie Mcgregor's True colours


title:Allie Mcgregor's True colours
Aurthur: Sue Lawson
First Published: 2006 by Black Dog Books
Pages:218

Allie has her fair share of problems. she is sharing a room with her 6 year old sister because they're having renovations, is trying to fit in at school and is now being called the hormonal one by her Dad on his radio show, which basically everyone in town listens to. oh, and her Mum has cancer. Poor Allie's life is spinning out of control, but slowly Allie learns all about good friends, courage and how to important it is to talk. after a few major mishaps.

As always Sue Lawson has Given as a believable character. Allie is constantly in a Bad mood and earned herself the name 'The Hormonal One', but as her 6 year old sister reminds everyone, she just sad about Mum like me. Allie is trying so hard to ignore the fact that her mum is sick that she can't see what's in front of her. she accuses her best friend of being jealous and finds herself with a bunch of bitches who all where they're hair the same way. i thought that Allie's hair was a brilliant metaphor and i have never would have thought how girls wear would be so clever.

i think this book isn't as good as her other books Finding Darcy and After, but i think it is directed at a slightly younger audience. over all i think she did a good job talking about a common but scary issue. i love how it related into the Cyndi Lauper song True Colours, which is a beautiful song.

click here for the original

and here's the Glee version