Shine Mountain by Julie Hunt

"But if the instrument could give, it could also take away, 

 and what it took was harmony."

I am reading my way through the CBCA Notables (Younger Readers). A few of the titles were in my local public library including Shine Mountain. How did I miss this one last year?

One of the things I love about reading is when a book is so inventive, so powerful and so unpredictable I just have to keep reading and reading. I started Shine Mountain one morning and devoured about a third. Then I had to go out but Shine Mountain was calling me home. I just had to get back into the world of Ellie and her friends (human and animal). I left everything when I came home and sat down to read right through to the end.

The opening scenes of Shine Mountain read like a movie. Pop is dying. Unfamiliar family members have gathered at the farm. Ellie and Oma know the time is close and so they are making their preparations. Late in the evening the shine-moth arrives.

"A slab of moonlight fell on Pop's bed and I saw the shine-moth land on the bedhead. It was still for a moment, then it opened its wings and began a slow, steady beating. Pop gave a sigh as the insect took over his breathing. He looked so relieved I thought he might die right then ... "

Pop still has a few hours left. The shine-moth grows bigger but there is time for Pop to write his will.  All of this goes along as expected with gifts for various family members but then Pop asks for a box which is under his bed. Pop asks the family to bury this box with him in his grave.

"I thought it was a little jewel box at first. It was a pretty thing with a pattern of leaves carved on what seemed to be the lid, but when Tod opened it I realised it was a button-box, a tiny concertina."

Pop plays a tune, sings a song and Oma joins in. They sing about Spring and the music seems to work. Plants start to grow, the ice cap on top of Mount Ossa begins to melt. Pop quietly dies and is buried along with the button box but the lawyer has a greedy eye. He sets off late in the night returning to the city on his horse but on the way he stops at the grave and digs up the button box. Ellie sees him but she cannot get close enough to stop him. The lawyer is drunk. There is an accident. The button box lies broken on the ground. Ellie knows there is a mystery about this old instrument but she has also seen the good effect it seemed to have on the farm and on her Oma. She picks up the pieces and organises for the repairs.

The dangerous thing, though, is that while the music of the button box can bring prosperity it can also bring terrible hardship. As quickly as things became good so they become bad. The heat ramps up. Crops die and Oma is failing. Ellie needs to set things right. She needs to take this button box back through the Palisades to Shine Mountain but this will be a dangerous journey in every way - physical danger of course but also the danger when she discovers the truth about her identity.

There is a link on the publisher web site (Allen and Unwin) to a set of very useful discussion questions to use with Shine Mountain.

I don't talk about covers often enough. I adore this one. It is by Geoff Kelly and he did the map too. I have said this before but I enjoy exploring maps.  Perhaps you have seen one of Geoff's earliest books - Power and Glory by Emily Rodda. It was an amazing book about a computer game. More recently Geoff did the covers for two new Paul Jennings books A different Dog and A different Boy.

Okay here is my BIG request/prediction/wish/plea/hope - Shine Mountain just HAS to make the CBCA short list. YES YES it is that good! If it is not on your reading pile go out and grab a copy now. Are you still with me?  Off you go and find this book - NOW! Fingers crossed for Julie Hunt.

I would link Shine Mountain with The Firework Maker's daughter by Philip Pullman.

I loved so many parts of this story: Luca's gift of weather making; the kindness of the wonderful Meridian and her ability as a Way-Lady; and the idea of map making using dust or dirt from your home. The descriptions are also wonderful. I can just see Harlan's shoes: "His boots had pointed toes and they were laced up at the side with leather thonging."

There are links in Shine Mountain with other books by Julie. An accordion (found in The Coat) and the coat itself worn by Harland: "He wore old-fashioned garb, a ragged frockcoat that hung on his thin frame and a wide hat that was turned up at the back.". If you look at The Coat illustrated by Ron Brooks it looks just like this. I asked Julie about this and she said she seems to have a 'thing' about concertinas, coats and white gloves. The white gloves are a reference to her book KidGlovz.

This is a mysterious magical quest for truth, identity, and reparation. It is designed to shine a light on the importance and necessity of stories handed down over time.  It is a movement of music in four parts. The story is made up of strands of the characters’ lives interwoven with the strongest strand being Ellie, in the middle, to hold it all together. Kids Book Review

Read my earlier post about Song for a Scarlet Runner also by Julie Hunt.

Here is a button Box concertina - click the link to hear it played.

Image source and video of this instrument being played: https://www.buttonbox.com/new-concertinas.html