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?