Eighty-nine questions for after by Ashleigh Barton

"Every moment matters"

Ester is a tidy girl who carefully regulates her life. She is also a girl with so many fears that she seems to be way too cautious. Everything is sanitised and all dangers are avoided if possible. Her mind is filled with questions which she notes down in her book - one on each page - mostly about unsolved mysteries. She is sure these questions will be answered in the afterlife. Once her life was actually carefree, then her Dad and Grandma Maggie died and so now all she can see is danger everywhere. She even avoids a flowering bush in their garden in case there are bees which could sting her.

"She hopped in on Mum's side of the car and climbed across the console to get into her seat, just in case the hot pink flowers were full of bees. Not that Ester had anything against bees in general, but she had never been stung before and didn't want to take the chance that she was allergic. She wasn't willing to risk having an anaphylactic reaction and ending up in a real hospital with actual sick people. Or worse."

Ester is terrified of getting sick so when mum tells her that after school she will need to wait at the hospice where she works, Ester is certain this will be the worst place ever. Luckily, she is able to sit in the almost empty sitting room with a lovely view of the garden and there she meets a boy named Peter who, unlike others in her life, IS interested in her big book of questions. They sit together each afternoon doing homework and talking about the questions. 

Ester does not want to meet any residents but her mum introduces her to Joan and it is Joan who sets Ester on a course to solve a mystery and along the way to gain courage and make two friends. I am mentioning two friends because aside from Peter a new family have moved in next door and they have four kids including a girl named Mackenzie (Mack). Mackenzie has an ambition to become a Private Eye Detective.

What is the mystery? Joan lost her sister 62 years ago. They were circus performers. All she has is a faded photograph and a flyer from the circus. Can these fragments give Ester and Mack enough clues to solve this mystery and reunite the sisters? They will need to hurry because after all Joan is now living in the hospice and so clearly her life is nearing its end. 

(Did you ever read a book called Boss of the Pool by Robin Klein? The scenes in Eight-Nine questions for after where Ester tries to avoid meeting the people who live in Sunflower Cottage reminded me of that book.)

Publisher blurb: Ester Star is a germophobe and hypochondriac and she's convinced she's going to die. To prepare for her imminent and inevitable demise, Ester keeps a list of all the questions she hopes to have answered in the afterlife - things she knows she'll never have the answers to during her lifetime. What really happened to the dinosaurs? Just how big is the universe? Are ghosts real? She's up to eighty-nine questions and counting. When Ester's usual after-school sitters announce they are moving away, her mum comes up with an alternative arrangement that turns her world upside down. 

Every day after school, Ester is to spend her afternoons with Mum at work. At a hospice. Terrified of all the things she might catch at a hospice; Ester is anxious every second she's there. But soon she meets Joan, an elderly lady who used to be in the circus. Joan tells Ester she doesn't believe in the afterlife, but she does have one question she'll regret never having answered while she's alive. Why did her sister disappear all those years ago, after they had been so close growing up in the circus together? With the help of Peter, another kid who spends his afternoons at the hospice, and her new next-door neighbour, a tech whizz named Mackenzie, Ester sets out to have Joan's question answered. Will Ester realise there's more to life than worrying about dying?

Ester is the main character in this story but it is Mack (Mackenzie) who I really wanted to meet and hug. She is so wonderful in the way she seems to understand Ester and all her fears and phobias but at the same time she is always ready to push Ester to try new, and sometimes, very daring things.

"That's the trick about fear,' Mackenzie said. 'If you act like you're not scared, you'll trick your brain into believing that you're not. That's my theory anyway. It's not always possible, but it usually works for me."

If you grew up in Sydney in the 1960s or 1970s you may well remember the African Safari park - it terrified me. The scene from page 162 onwards would be a perfect way to introduce this book to your library group.

You can hear Asheigh Barton reading the opening chapters of her book here (start at 2.38). In this post for Paperbark Words Ashleigh talks about the inspiration for her book and the research she completed. The publisher Hachette have made a set of book club discussion questions to use with Eighty-nine questions for after. 

Both of these reviews have lots of plot details:

This is a tender book, which is equally heartbreaking and joyous, filled with adventure and experiences, and learning to live. Learning to see life as more than dying and asking the big questions. It is also about friendship and acceptance. Peter and Mackenzie accept Ester for who she is. They don’t judge, and they seem to understand she is the way she is, which I thought was beautiful. She was allowed to have her fears and worries, and allowed to grow throughout the novel. The Book Muse

Those important themes of loss, grief, anxiety, mortality are deftly handled and paired with hope, joy, empathy and kindness. Ester’s character arc is handled with such skill as we see her gentle but sure transformation. There is never a second that this becomes trite or mawkish, it is always essentially authentic and the reader cannot help becoming fully immersed in the plot and, most definitely, liking these characters – even the irascible ones. Just So Stories

I've been a bit of a reading slump for a couple of weeks - until today! I don't know why but I was sure Eight-nine questions for after would be a good book - and now it discover it is so much more - it is a fabulous book and an absolute page turner. I read the whole 271 pages in one sitting. This book will be a CBCA 2026 Younger Readers Notable and hopefully also on the shortlist. I love the way this book has Australian place names but the story still feels as though it will easily translate to an audience in the US or UK. 

Eight-nine Questions for After is a book with a big heart. It is story that I am sure will linger with me for a long time. 

Companion books:

Long Road to the Circus

Picasso and the Greatest Show on Earth

The Remarkable Secret of Aurelie Bonhoffen

As Brave as You

The Goldfish boy

Busted

Magnolia Wu Unfolds it all

Snap (this is a very old book and long out of print)

If you want to build on the idea of asking questions - Ester has a book with 89 questions and luckily they are all listed in the back of the book. Ester's questions are used as Chapter titles - I really liked this structure. Here are some other excellent books filled with questions:

Pablo Neruda Book of Questions

Twenty Questions

Where does pepper come from?

Ashleigh Barton goes from strength to strength with her writing. Here is her web page.  Check out my previous posts:

Freddie Spector Fact Collector

How to sail to Somewhere

How to Sail to Somewhere by Ashleigh Barton

"Bea turns away, blinking her eyes back into focus. She can't believe that, after all this time dreaming about it, Somewhere is actually so close she can see it."

There are two girls in this story, Bea and Arabella, and quite unexpectedly their lives collide. Arabella is in Bea's class at school but Arabella is one of those popular girls who always has a swarm of other girls around her. Bea has never even spoken to her. 

"Arabella has always seemed like the kind of person who doesn't want to speak to Bea, but may be Bea has been wrong about that too. ... hanging with Arabella is like hanging with royalty. Arabella is pretty and rich and confident. She's also somehow stony, like nothing bothers her ... This makes her untouchable, alluring and being her friend is an instant ticket to being popular. And Bea can't understand it, but popular is all anyone seems to want to be. They're not concerned about being nice or smart or clever ... or resourceful or creative or pioneering or anything like that."

What Bea doesn't know is that Arabella is not really friends with all of those girls. Bea, herself, has one or two good friends but they always head away from this small seaside town in the summer. She usually has her uncle to keep her company because her extremely busy parents disappear very early each day and always return late at night. Usually, summer is her time of joy when her uncle Bryon comes to stay. He is a fantastic uncle and together they have so much fun but this year he has not come and no one has told her why or if they have told her she simply does not understand. Before he left last year Byron showed Bea a map and said that next summer, they would sail together to a small star-shaped island off the coast called Somewhere. 

Here is a description of Byron:

His smell "that combination of freshly washed cotton, chewing gum and his peppermint shampoo."

And "the way his eyes crinkled when he laughed and how his smile was always slightly crooked or the way he always listened when you spoke, watching you like what you had to say was genuinely interesting even if you were just telling him why sandwiches are better without their crusts."

I mentioned there are two girls in this story. Everyone knows Arabella lives in a mansion with solid gold doorknobs and marble walls and an indoor swimming pool and fifteen cars. Bea is amazed to be invited there by Arabella and then she is even more amazed to discover none of this is true. And then Arabella shows Bea that she also has a map of the island named Somewhere and suddenly this summer it seems these two girls are destined to become friends.  The girls make a plan to sail to Somewhere. Bea wants to go there because it was the place her uncle promised they would go to together but why does Arabella so desperately want to go there and also how is the old fisherman Ray connected with all of this? And what about Uncle Bryon he is not here and yet somehow he seems to be directing the action with mysterious clues, secret keys, hidden rooms and one very special book. I loved the way the girls used their local library to search for more information about the island. 

There is something truly comforting about a story that is filled with delicious food. Ashleigh Barton has included a wonderful cafe in her story. Arabella's dad works there, and he is happy, as all good chefs are, to share his food with an appreciative audience. Bea is given food at home but it is nowhere near as delicious as the food served at Fishbone. Older readers might make the connection about the nourishment of food and Bea's need for comfort. Arabella has delicious food from her father but she too has an emptiness inside because she is holding onto a dreadful misunderstanding about her own absent mother. 

Add this book to your book shopping list - it is sure to be enjoyed by keen readers aged 9+. And after reading this book you will also want to go to your own local fish cafe or perhaps enjoy a picnic of cheese and pickle sandwiches, honey cake with strawberry jam and homemade lemonade. 

If you are book talking this new Australian book with your library group I would begin with these sentence:

"Where are you going to go?"  "I don't know. I'll go anywhere. Somewhere."

How could this be misinterpreted?  What if there is an island off the coast called Somewhere?

Here are some detailed teachers notes by Dr Robyn Sheahan-Bright. And here are the webpages for Ashleigh Barton. How to Sail to Somewhere was published just four days ago so it will be in your local bookshop right now!

Publisher blurb: Beatrice Glass - Bea - lives in a tiny fishing village that's sleepy all year until the summertime, when the tourists flock in and most of the locals leave. But summer is also when Bea's favourite person in the entire world, her fun and hilarious uncle, Byron, comes to stay. On their last day together the previous summer, Byron had given Bea an intriguing antique book containing a map of Somewhere, a mysterious island off the coast, and promised that next summer they'd sail to Somewhere together for their best adventure yet. That was last year. Now summer has arrived, but Byron hasn't. And now it looks like he never will. Are the book and Byron's disappearance linked? Byron has left some clues for Bea - a scavenger hunt of sorts designed to bring her and her new friend, Arabella, together and give Bea one last magical summer. Could Somewhere hold the key to both Bea's and Arabella's future?

My 2025 CBCA Younger Readers notable and short list predictions were totally wrong but anyway I am going to say that How to Sail to Somewhere is sure to be a 2026 notable - fingers crossed. 

There’s magic in this story. ...  a joyous magic that comes with discovering something new, making new friends and going on an adventure that means something to both of the main characters. Loss is a central theme in this novel, showcasing the power of facing how you feel about loss, and family finding ways to talk about things that are painful for everyone. Because not everyone always knows how to address things. ...  Grief is a powerful emotion that everyone responds to differently, and I liked that this book acknowledged that. This is a quiet gem of a book that will have something in it for every reader. The Book Muse

It’s evocative and emotional, without being syrupy or sanctimonious. I predict that readers will not only fall in love with these characters, but with the setting itself. Here’s one to add to forthcoming ‘best of’ lists without a doubt. Just so Stories

Companion books:

This is book is a perfect match with How to Sail to Somewhere - highly recommended.

Junonia

Summer of the gypsy moths

Jubilee

Freddie Spector Fact Collector: Space Cadet by Ashleigh Barton illustrated by Peter Cheong

Freddie has a new obsession - space. He collects every fact he can, and he shares these on post-it notes all around his house. If you met Freddie you could ask him any question about space and he is sure to know the answer. Actually, questions are one theme in this book because five lucky students from Freddie's school have been selected to ask one question each of Astronaut Lilly Jun who is on the International Space Station. She will talk to the students via a video call. Freddie really wants to ask a great question - not something silly. I won't spoil the question he does ask but it is brilliant! You do need to read the whole book which is just over 100 pages, however, before this is revealed. 

The other thread in this book, one that keeps the plot moving, is the mystery next door. Freddie is woken by a noise in the night. He looks into the neighbor's backyard and he is shocked to see a huge hole. Freddie is certain a UFO has arrived and that means an alien is now inside the neighbours home. All of this is confirmed when the neighbour almost slams the door in Freddie and his sister's faces and later when Freddie sees a strange red light in the upstairs rooms of their house. There is also the mystery of green slime on the path leading into school. Did the aliens leave this here?

I did not expect to enjoy Freddie Spector Fact Collector as much as I did. This book is the first in a new series and it is one your readers in grades 2 and up are sure to enjoy. The scattering of illustrations by Peter Cheong are also sure to appeal to newly confident readers and they will enjoy the pages filled with Freddie's sticky notes. I did learn a few interesting things about space myself after reading these.  

• Astronauts on the Internationa Space Station see sixteen sunsets and sunrises over earth every day.
• Halley's comet will return in 2061.
• Black holes don't last forever - they slowly evaporate.
• Mercury's moons are named after famous people like Dr Seuss, Beethoven, and Maya Angelou.

Huge thanks to Three Sparrow Books for the advance copy of Space Cadet due out in July this year. It is published by Hachette. I have previously talked about other books by Ashleigh Barton. And Peter Cheong - Every Night at Midnight. 

Publisher blurb: Freddie Spector loves collecting facts - about anything and everything. His latest obsession is space. It's all he talks about: stars, planets, galaxies, astronauts, space travel - and, of course UFOs and extraterrestrials. Freddie writes all his facts on sticky notes that his mum and big sister, Henrietta, keep finding in weird places - like in their sock drawers or their sandwiches. But whenever Freddie collects facts on a topic, his very active imagination always gets involved too. And, after noticing some very suspicious goings-on, Freddie realises it's up to him to discover the answer to a burning question: could aliens have landed in his neighborhood? Fast-paced and funny, this series is all about an everyday eight-year-old boy whose love of facts and extraordinary imagination come together with unexpected and hilarious results.

Here is the second book in the series which will also be released in July, 2024.

Solomon Macaroni and the Vampire Vacation by Ashleigh Barton illustrated by Sarah Davis

Bookseller blurb: It's holiday time for Solomon and his cousins. Uncle Dracula has planned a surprise visit to Paris. There will be fine food, fabulous fashion and fang-tastic art. When the cousins become captivated by a magical Mona Lisa, Solomon gets a bad feeling they're up to something. Again. Soon they have accidentally unleashed mayhem on the city of love and Uncle Dracula is too busy testing his renewed vampire skills to notice. Can Solomon and Lucy save the day before it's too late?

You might like to begin by reading my post about the first book from this series. While it is not essential to read the first book in order to understand this second, I think it would help you make more sense of the main characters especially Solomon, his cousin Lucy, and Uncle Dracula.

Solomon Macaroni and the Vampire Vacation will be released tomorrow (3rd October, 2023) - I received an advance copy just over a week ago - thanks UQP. When you read this book it might be good to have a map of Paris and perhaps grab some books about the Mona Lisa. Paris itself feels someone like an extra character in this book. As a way to introduce this book to your students you could discuss why the vampire children want to steal the Mona Lisa - I am sure no one will guess the real reason or the consequences of their heist. 

Here are some fiction and nonfiction books about the Mona Lisa:

I enjoyed the first book in this series about the Titanic. 

This new instalment was published early in 2023

Read more about this on the publisher page. Published in 2023.

I like the way Sarah Davis has illustrated these two covers and alliteration of the titles is fun. There are some very funny moments in this second book. Here are a few examples:

• Uncle Dracula (Dad) shops on EeeeBay. Oh and he keeps saying he slept like a dog when it should be, as Lucy tries to tell him, slept like a log.
• The cranky jetsetter taxi driver, Walter, is a wonderful character (but his taxi is not big enough for the whole family they should have booked a maxi-maxi taxi). I love his taxi rules.
• Leaving for Paris they accidentally leave the youngest child at home - poor Elvis - rather like a scene from the movie Home Alone. The group were halfway across Austria when dad remembered what/who was missing.
• On their previous holiday they stayed at the Fangi-la in the Maldives.
• The getaway car, after they steal the Mona Lisa, is a hot pink, glittery stretch limousine convertible. "Thyme's face ... lit up like it was Halloween. 'A limo!' she exclaimed. 'I've been asking Dad for a limo for centuries. He says they're for show-offs and hens' parties."
• Vincenzo, their own driver from Transylvania, has come to Paris to help but when the magic is unleashed Lucy explains bad things happened to his family in the past - something to do with magic beans and a scam.
• In the library Le Jardin des Livres you will discover a whole new meaning to the idea of speed reading plus the Brewey Decimal System invented by Tabith Brew. Now used in most libraries in the world!

Solomon Macroni and the Vampire Vacation is a long book with 287 pages of fairly small print but the mayhem of the plot means the story just races along to a very satisfying conclusion. 

Here the picture books by Ashleigh Barton:

Solomon Macaroni and the Cousin Catastrophe by Ashleigh Barton illustrated by Sarah Davis

Solomon is an only child. He is, perhaps, slightly eccentric. Solomon is, however, a smart boy. He likes things to be clean and tidy and he enjoys vegetarian cooking. His life is a happy one with his mum and dad until the day his vampire parents announce they are off on a world cruise - not for a couple of weeks but for one hundred years. You have probably guessed from the cover and realise Solomon is a vampire but he is certainly a very unconventional one. 

Solomon cannot stay home alone so he is sent to stay with his Uncle and cousins. He packs his perfectly ironed cape, his Power-Steam Iron 450 and his pack of jumbo sized Wipe-off-anything Wipes.  His uncle Dracula tries to be kind but the cousins are simply dreadful - well five of them are dreadful. Only cousin Lucy treats Solomon with kindness.

As the story opens Solomon is invited by his cousins to come to their beach. This beach is part of their enormous mansion in Transylvania. Solomon is not to keen on swimming but he is cajoled into joining his twin cousins. The three of them swim out into the 'ocean' when a huge shark appears. The shark attacks Maude and Claudette and there is blood everywhere. Oh no - I gasped when I realised that this was just one of many practical jokes by the unkind cousins. 

Oddly, though, there is a sadness in this family. Their precious mother has died and their father won't talk about her. 

Publisher blurb: You’ve never met a vampire like Solomon Macaroni before – he’s friendly, polite and makes a mean tofu Bolognese. Understandably, when his parents go on a one-hundred-year cruise without him, Solomon is not impressed. Especially because it means having to stay in creepy Transylvania with his six cousins, who are the rudest and naughtiest vampires in existence. (Well, apart from Lucy. He likes her.) Not even his uncle, Count Dracula, the oldest vampire in the world, can stop their pranks. Solomon wishes he could spend the next hundred years alone at his own house with his spider friend, Fred, instead. But when his cousins venture into the spooky Wildwood on a dangerous mission, Solomon – against his better judgement – agrees to help Lucy rescue them. At least, that's what he thinks he's doing. In the forest, Solomon must draw on all he knows – about old magic, wet wipes and the importance of a well-timed entrance – to save his catastrophic cousins and possibly the world.

This book will be published in July, 2022.  Thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance reader copy. This is a longer book (my copy had 280 pages of fairly small print) so it does need some reading stamina. Also thanks to University of Queensland Press for sending a review copy. 

I enjoyed:

• Meeting Solomon and his spider friend Fred
• The descriptions of the amazing mansion designed by Uncle Dracula
• The tone shift when Solomon and Lucy enter the Wildwood
• The kindness of Uncle Dracula and his wacky inventions

Young readers are sure to enjoy the practical jokes by the awful cousins and the tension in the final chapters. 

Here is Ashleigh Barton's web site where you can see her previous picture books. Companion read to pair with Solomon Macaroni and the cousin catastrophe:

Solomon reminded me of Arthur in One Night at Lottie House (for younger readers) and Charles in No place for Grubbs (Aussie Bites also for younger readers).

What do you call your Grandpa? by Ashleigh Barton illustrated by Martina Heiduczek

"In every country around the world are grandpas short and tall.

Though they go by different names, we love them one and all.

A Poppy here, a Grampa there - or maybe he's a Pa?

Turn the page, let's meet a few of the finest near and far ... "

What do you call your grandpa?  I called mine Paa Paa.  I'm not sure why? His name was Charles Frederick but everyone called him Fred.  I only had one grandfather. My mum's dad died in 1924 - my mum barely knew him. In this book we meet grandfathers from around the world and discover their names. Each scene has been carefully designed to show different cultures, people and daily activities along with different times through the day.  I especially like the way the each grandchild has a name from their culture.

Israel - Saba is loved by Levi

Wales - Taid is loved by Seren

Brazil - Vo is loved by  Miguel

Belguim - Bompa is loved by Sandrin

The Philippines - Lolo is loved by Kaya

Grab your atlas and prepare to journey around the world. There is much to explore in this book.

This book is listed in the 2021 CBCA Notables - Book of the Year Early Childhood.

As you might expect the sequel - What do you call you Grandma - this is due for publication later this month. Both books would make perfect presents for new grandparents.