Just a Girl

Title: Just a Girl
Author: Jane Caro
First Published: may 2011 by university of Queensland press

I do not remember when I discovered how my mother died, it seems to be something I always knew, a horror I absorbed through my skin.

Determined, passionate and headstrong, Elizabeth I shaped the destiny of a kingdom.

Her mother; Anne Boleyn, was executed by her father Henry VIII. From that moment on, Elizabeth competed with her two half-siblings for love and for Britain’s throne. In the gilded corridors of the royal palace, enemies she couldn’t see – as well as those bound to her by blood – plotted to destroy her.

Using her courage to survive and her wits to confound those who despised her, this young woman became one of the greatest monarchs the world has ever seen.

Even though she was just a girl, she had already lived a lifetime
(blurb from goodreads) 

Quick Review
plot is brilliant and Elizabeth is a intriguing characters, but the suspense and tension needed was't there. The writing was good, but the past tense narration made it seem a bit anti-climatic.  

Ramble Review
i love a good historical novel, and the english monarchy around the Elizabethan Era was full of scandal and drama, making it perfect for a novel. it started well, with Elizabeth looking back over hr life the night before her coronation. From the very beginning Elizabeth was an interesting character, very insightful. unfortunately choosing to write the novel in this reflective, past tense style wasn't the best choice. there were many great dramas in Elizabeth's life, but the wisdom of her narration made it seem like nothing was really happening. I kept waiting for 'something to happen' even when people were dying or fighting. 

One thing I did love was the atmosphere. This is hard to describe, but it was perfect. The writing was very tight. the feeling created, and the settings were not only believable but fascinating. 

Over all it's a shame the exception of plot let the book down, because it had such potential. definitely worth reading it you like historical fiction or have an interest in the British royalty. 

Pin-Up Post: Aussie books for ANZAC day

today is ANZAC day, so I'm posting fabulous war stories by Australian authors (of course). this is our first pin-up post. each Pin-Up post is a list of books fitting a theme, all as Australian as i can manage.


A rose for the ANZAC boys by Jackie French
The 'War to end all Wars', as seen through the eyes of three young women It is 1915. War is being fought on a horrific scale in the trenches of France, but it might as well be a world away from sixteen–year–old New Zealander Midge Macpherson, at school in England learning to be a young lady. But the war is coming closer: Midge's brothers are in the army, and her twin, Tim, is listed as 'missing' in the devastating defeat of the Anzac forces at Gallipoli . Desperate to do their bit – and avoid the boredom of school and the restrictions of Society – Midge and her friends Ethel and Anne start a canteen in France, caring for the endless flow of wounded soldiers returning from the front. Midge, recruited by the over–stretched ambulance service, is thrust into carnage and scenes of courage she could never have imagined. And when the war is over, all three girls – and their Anzac boys as well – discover that even going 'home' can be both strange and wonderful. <



Soldier Boy by Anthony Hill 28 June 1915, young James Martin sailed from Melbourne aboard the troopship Berrima – bound, ultimately, for Gallipoli. He was just fourteen years old.
Soldier Boy is Jim's extraordinary true story, the story of a young and enthusiastic school boy who became Australia's youngest known Anzac.
Four months after leaving his home country he would be numbered among the dead, just one of so many soldier boys who travelled halfway around the world for the chance of adventure.
This is, however, just as much the story of Jim's mother, Amelia Martin. It is the heartbreaking tale of the mother who had to let him go, of his family who lost a son, a brother, an uncle, a friend.
It is about Amelia's boy who, like so many others, just wanted to be in on the action.

Once by Morris Gleitzman
Once I escaped from an orphanage to find Mum and Dad.
Once I saved a girl called Zelda from a burning house.
Once I made a Nazi with toothache laugh.
My name is Felix.
This is my story.
Everybody deserves to have something good in their life.
At least once.
this is my favourite war story, the perfect balance between emotion, action and facts. the sense of understanding gained is incredible, and it's beautifully written.

Hitler's Daughter by Jackie French
Four kids tell a story at a bus stop in country Australia on a rainy Monday. But the story seems to have a life of it's own. It's the story of a girl in another time and another country. her name was Heide, and she was Hitler's daughter.
Could- just possibly- the story be true?
this was the 1st story i really read about war, i read it in year 6 for our reading groups, and though the protagonist doesn't have a clue what's going on it was an enlightening read, i loved it.

the blurbs to these are from the author's website or penguin, for more details check those websites or our reviews.
I'm planning to do more of these posts, they're quite fun :)
what do you guys think of the name Pin-up posts? like a list of books you plan to read. I'm still working on it.

Soldier Boy

Happy Easter everyone. in australia tomorrow is ANZAC day,a very important day in australia, so i'm doing an ANZAC series on both my blogs. this is a mini-review i posted in 2009 of a book that i found incredibly interesting, that i thought i'd repost. enjoy!


Title: Soldier Boy: The True Story of Jim Martin, the Youngest Anzac
Author: Anthony Hill
first published: Penguin 2001

i thought Soldier Boy was a fabulous book, but most of my year hated it. It is the true story of Jim Martin the youngest ANZAC, written by Anthony Hill. This story is so thought-provoking in understanding peace and war that I was asking so many question to my parents. Jim Martin was 14 when he went to fight; this I think was the scariest part because I can't imagine people in year nine at my school going off to fight in Iraq.the realistic quality gained from being a true story makes Hill's book really effective at showing bravery and idiocy of war, which is quite an achievement. this is more of a book for a keen reader because it isn't an action book, it isn't like your average YA or kids novel. while most people found it boring i thought the ideas and the questions it made me ask were well worth the more factual writing style. i'd be REALLY interested in your opinions on this book.

Everyone should read this book. You understand so much more of what World War One was really like, why people lied about their age to go and get shot at, why they thought it would be fun and exciting. I have gained a new respect for all soldiers, ones from past wars, ones from the present, dead and alive. it gave me a new understanding of their stories and their importance.

Sugar Sugar

title: Sugar Sugar
Author: Carole Wilkinson
First Published: Black Dog Books in 2010

Jackie sets out for France in 1972 to try and become a famous fashion designer. she has been living a drab life in London, working for a boring fashion company as a sales girl, with a bunch on crabby part-time models who only eat salads and hard boiled eggs. she decides suddenly take a few days off and travel to Paris to show her designs to a famous designer in hope of getting a job.

somehow she ends up chasing two American girls in a vintage British cab to get back her folio. from here she continues chasing people right to Afghanistan, having the worst of luck on the way. she makes quite a few new friends, with the help of some drugs, lack of food, Dolf's guitar and Val's dice.

i quite liked this book it was very different to what i was expecting though, it wasn't your usual girl travels to Paris story.
here are some things that i liked:

-it's slow winding pace. it's very peaceful and appropriate and doesn't make the book boring

-the descriptions of the different places. i loved hearing about Yugoslavia and turkey, it showed how beauty can be all kinds of different things. i especially loved Jackie's descriptions of home, red dirt, the beach, soft green grass and eating peaches in summer.

-the characters were very realistic, they had so many faults and not token faults. one character was 'the moody one' and another 'the one who has a big mouth'. all characters made mistakes and changed and grew. i know this was true because i found myself being mad at Jackie who i quite liked, and liking Dolf something even though i thought he was annoying.

-i like the paisley pattern at the beginning of every chapter.

here are some things i didn't like:

-i felt that i didn't really know Jackie for the first half of the book. i even managed to forget her name, which isn't a good sign. i felt she was a little undeveloped at the beginning.

-there were lots of characters coming and going, and of course they all had names native to there countries. i found myself a little confused at time.

-it somehow felt a little heavy. this must be just be because i don't really know what i mean.

overall i liked this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes more slowly paced books. it's quite thought provoking at parts and you feel like you get to visit all the countries, while at some points it makes you wish you were traveling across Europe and Asia in a London taxi. my favourite thing about this book is how you could see the characters grow and develop.

The Night They Stormed Eureka

Title:The Night They Stormed Eureka
Aurthur: Jackie French
First Published:2009 by harpercollins

Sam has lots of family troubles and decides the only thing she can do is to run away. she ends up on the Ballarat gold fields in 1854, not long before the Eureka Stockade. she is picked up by a couple who run the 'best little cook shop on the diggins' and gets everything she's ever wanted, a family that loves her and friends who help her. life in the diggings is very different to life in the 21st century, to Sam seems so simple. the longer she spends there, she realises it is just a hard. she has to make some incredibly hard choices that could effect Australian history and culture from then on. she knows about the bloodshed and death, should she warn them that they will be attacked at dawn on Sunday so they save lives? would Australia be better off as a republic? with the help off her friend the professor she learns that all she can do is ask her self weather this bit is good or bad. Sam's trip back in time teaches her so much. it showed me how far we have come in 150 years, things people thought were impossible, like education for women, are now standard. my favourite lesson, and the most predominate, is that people can achieve things when they stand together that they could never get near alone.

i really enjoyed this book, but i found not a lot really happened. it was not boring in the least, but they're was really only one exciting or major event. this is mainly because even though their are no battles or fights Sam is the characters are constantly fighting themselves. Mrs Puddleham, Sam's adoptive mother, is battling with the memory of the baby she lost on the ship to Australia and her friend George is pushing the strains of being a half aboriginal who wants an education.

this is very easy to read and understand compared to other historical novels because Sam knows as little as we do. there are also appendices at the back including recipes from Mrs Puddleham and an explanation of things that you might not understand, including terms like "redcoats" and some extra information of the stockade which was useful and interesting.

i am very happy that this novel wasn't ruined with an "it was a dream" ending. towards the end i was worried that Jackie Frech would cop out have her wake up and say she was dreaming, but instead she gave us a propper believe ending, which left me wondering what happened to Sam but sure that she would get the help she needed and be happy.

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.

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.