Dodger

title: Dodger
Aurthur: Libby Gleeson
First Published: 1990 by Turton & Chambers

Mick is cast as the artful dodger in the school musical, Oliver. on the edge of the popular crowd he isn't sure what they'll think but after a couple of mishaps he is convinced to take the risk. but being in the musical doesn't always go smoothly. what mick doesn't know is that his history teacher Penny has stuck out her neck to have him in the musical because she wants to give him a hand. after a run in during the first lesson mick penny's special project, for reason she can't explain she is drawn to him. in a letter to her friend she writes "i see him as one of those immature kids who's got to prove himself to kids who are a bit older and a bit more established in groups or friendships. the responsibility of being in the play could be really good for him, make him grow up a bit". this is exactly what mick does, it also gives him a change to make some friends who aren't footballers who don't give a stuff. with all these changes stuff gets mixed up for mick and lots of old issues come to head, unfortunately in the middle of the play. mick had kept a lid on how he felt about his mother's death and his father working as a long distance truck driver for 3 years.

i really enjoyed this book and found it over all very realistic and easy to understand and relate to. the letters from history teacher penny to a friend help us get a very different view of mick and life as a teacher. for someone like me who is considering being a teacher she is exactly the type i want to be, interesting, nice, but still in control. it shows teachers in a much more human light which i think is a nice change, it's something i forget while I'm at school. the book flows very well but i found the ending a little sudden, i would have liked to know more about what happened after the musical. even though the ending was quite sudden it was a good ending. some novels about grieving over a death have very dramatic endings, with Dodger the ending was much closer to life. though this is a very good, and over all very realistic book i found how quickly and easily Mick turned his life around a bit fake. in my opinion at least, you don't just stop being friends with 2 popular and quite mean guys. especially because at the beginning he was very concerned of what they thought and what they would do. i also felt that time wise it was strange, at the start it was first term and suddenly it was third term. once you are caught in the story neither of those things things matter much. it was only when i got to the end and went WHAT!? that i noticed these faults.

this book was very good and a had subtlety i've never seen before in a book about a child losing their mother.

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 :-)

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.

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

~~~ LOOK!!!!~~~

our interview with jacklyn moriarty is up on CBS. come on! id that cool or what??
lots of comments please or i'll guilt trip you later.

Interview With Jaclyn Moriarty!!!

I'm so sorry we haven't been posting, but guess what!!!!!!!!!!! We have our very first interview with the amazing author Jaclyn Moriarty!!! She wrote lots of awesome books, including Feeling Sorry For Celia (reviewed here) and Finding Cassie Crazy (here). So, without further ado, here it is! (The questions in pink are by me, and Anna's are blue!)

What character from your books would you like to write letters to most and why?

- Actually, I'd like to start a correspondence with Mr Garcia, the History/Drama teacher from 'Dreaming of Amelia'. I've got a crush on him. I'd like to hear from Lydia too, but I think she might get sharp with me.

If you could, which of your books would you transform into? And what would you tell the characters?

- Maybe 'the Spell Book of Listen Taylor', in the part where there's snow in Sydney. And I would tell the characters how unhappy and lonely Listen is, and that they should rescue her, and also that the grown-ups should all grow up and stop cheating on each other. Also, I might steal the book of spells and bring it back to the real world with me.

Or else 'Dreaming of Amelia', I guess, so I could follow up on my correspondence with Mr Garcia. Maybe go get a coffee with him.


Have you ever wished you could turn your books into movies? Which one, and who would play the main character(s)?

- Just about every day I wish that someone would turn my books into movies. I would be happy to see them all as movies, but especially 'Finding Cassie Crazy' and 'Dreaming of Amelia'. I like Ellen Page and Michael Cera a lot; they are both very welcome to be in the movie. Actually, I'd also like to see 'The Spell Book of Listen Taylor' as a movie, and I'd like Joan Cusack in it, as Fancy Zing, and Jennifer Anniston as Marbie Zing, and Dakota Fanning as Listen, and Johnny Depp as Nikolai Valerio.


I thought "Dreaming of Amelia" had a much darker tone than the other Ashbury books, why so?

- I think that each Ashbury book gets a little darker than the one before, so it made sense for the final one to be the darkest. There are gothic elements in 'Finding Cassie Crazy' and 'Bindy Mackenzie' and I wanted to draw them out for the ghost story. I think it's important to look at the shadows as well as the light, and to keep changing the perspective all the time. I hope it is not too dark though, I wanted it to be funny and bright as well, and I think that the ending is bright and hopeful.

Is there a reason your books are written in a varying, scrapbook type style of letters, post-its and school assignments? what made you show Elizabeth's lack of confidence through letters from herself?

- I like to approach a story from as many different angles as possible, so that the truth is always slipping out of reach. I think that a collection of different genres takes us closer to shifting perspectives, and I'm especially drawn to the mystery of the spaces in between documents. The idea of showing Elizabeth's lack of confidence through letters to herself came directly from one of my teenage diaries-- I was re-reading it and saw that I had written whole passages in the second person, saying things to myself like 'You are such a loser!' and 'You are so ugly!'. It was as if somebody else was attacking me, and it made me think about how powerful the critical voices in your own head can be. They're right there so you believe them.


What was your favourite Australian book when you were younger. if you can't think of one,
what was your favourite book as a teenager?

My favourite Australian books were 'Seven Little Australians' by Ethel Turner, and 'Playing Beatie Bow' by Ruth Park; and then I fell in love with everything that John Marsden has written.

so

i suppose we forgot the hard part about this blog would be we actually have to read AUSSIE books. which there are lots of and we love them, but so many good books are english and american.

also we seem to have a comment issue. in saying that i mean THERE ARE NONE!
oh well.
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