~~~ 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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Guitar Highway Rose

Title: Guitar Highway Rose

Author: Brigid Lowry

Publisher: Allen & Unwin 1997

My name is Rosie E Moon. I am fifteen years old. My star sign is Aries on the cusp with Pieces, which is why I am a creative warrior-woman from Mars who loves to swim.

Rosie is bored and anxious. She wants a nose ring, to stop fighting with her mother and for her parents to give her space and trust.

One day she meets Asher. Asher, the former gypsy boy with funky clothes and dreadlocks. Asher, with the guitar and the attitude. Who just wants to get away, his head exploding with homesickness and the need to clear his head. . .

I'm thinking of taking off again.

Asher.

What?

I want to come with you.

Exactly how it says on the blurb: Sometimes we know we shouldn't and that's exactly why we do.

This is such an amazing book. Not only is the story wonderful and the characters believable, but the way the book is written is simply...wow. Little bits of what the characters are thinking, conversations, room descriptions, dreams, etc. all written beautifully with juicy words. Loved it.

People Might Hear You.

Title: People Might Hear You. Author: robin Klein Pages: 199 first published: penguin 1983.

frances has lived with her aunt forever. they've never had much, she always slept on the couch and they move to where her aunt can find work. resently though she' made a best friend and life seems pretty good. when her aunt Loris announces one morning that she's getting married and hand frances a note for the school office saying she won't be coming back frances get slightly confused. she is even more confused when her aunt explains that the wedding is today and that no, frances can't come. that night she and her aunt move to mr tyrell's house under the cover of darkness and frances is thrown into a whole new way of life. she no longer goes to school she stays at home with her new step sisters behind fences so high and frosted windows and study's the rules of the temple. she's taught that the world outside is evil anf that everyone who isn't part of there religion is going to perrish in a great war. but slowly as frances fear subsides she starts to think, " how can the be true?".

though i love the characters in this book in some ways i think frances seemed to be missing something. she was completley beleiveable in her actions though. if someone surrounded me with their religion and told me i would die in a horrific war i sertenley wouldn't question them. but eventually your mistakes like talking in meals or wanting to go outside would show just how crazy it is. my favourite thing is how frances is at first willing not to try because she doesn't want to die, but because she thinks if her aunt is happy there it can't be all wrong. she also didn't want to ruin her aunt's happiness. my only problem with this book was the ending. it left lots of questions, but i supose that they would have been hard to answer, how would anyone know what would happen to a cult if people got out and told the world.

it is a beautiful book and i'm still glad that robin klein let Helen see the stars.

lord sunday

lord sunday is out today. well, i bought it yesterday and it offically came out today.
it's the final book in a series of seven and if the others are anything to go by it is gonna rock!
here's my review of the first one, mr monday

I Lost my Mobile at the Mall

Title:I Lost my Mobile at the Mall
Author: Wendy Harmer
First Published: 2009 by random house Australia
Pages: 319

this book is awesome!
at first i thought i wasn't going to love it. you know, OK but not great. but quickly i got to know our main character elly, how she loves words and worries . i kept reading and not only had she lost her mobile, she had a broken heart, no computer, lots of confusing thoughts about society. and a few other problems to tackle. her lack of technology for 2 weeks really changed the way she saw everything.

i love how realistic this book was and how interesting the characters were, her boyfriend defiantly wasn't what i expected. my favourite thing was its take on just how connected we are now compaired to any other time, even though maybe we're less in-touch than we think. also the minor view on cyber bullying that came with it.
when Elly searched cyber bullying this came up " like drinking and driving, emotions and the internet don't mix. Don't react or you could end up being a cyberbully yourself" which reminds me what goes on online is not the same as is in real, saying something is going to come across differently than if you read it.

i also love all the quotes scattered through the book from jane eyre and websites. a very nice touch.