Brother's Keeper Julie Lee

"Let me give you some advice. You won't have much of a future as an orphan girl. Your only saving grace is your brother; at least he is a son who can carry on your family name and support you once he has grown. Take care to of him; put his needs before your own. That's how you survive in this world."

War arrives in North Korea. Sora Pak, her father Abahji and mother Omahni, baby brother Jisoo and younger brother Youngsoo live in fear of punishment or banishment by the communist regime. There are informers everywhere. The family have hidden their precious bible and they only speak against the authorities with their closest friends the Kim family. Mr and Mrs Kim tell Sora's parents they are planning to leave and take their son Myung-gai and daughter Yoomee and head to South Korea to the town of Busan.  At first the Pak family think this will be too dangerous they even try to hide Abahji in a hole in their field but then things escalate and they now have to flee. 

Sora is told to look after her brother Youngsoo. Her mother says - he is your responsibility. Sora has no idea how these words will impact her life. The family are separated early in the journey and Sora is left with just her brother and a 300 mile destination. The journey is arduous and treacherous; the siblings have no food, and survive mainly by finding kimchi hidden in abandoned farmhouses  But Sora is a very intelligent girl and she is a survivor. 

Sora must get herself and her eight-year-old brother, Youngsoo, to South Korea alone--across rivers, over mountains, around enemy soldiers and border guards, and even through Pyongyang itself, all while staving off frostbite and starvation. Can two children survive three hundred miles of war zone in winter? Julie Lee

Since this is loosely based on her own mother's experience, the notes and photographs about this make this story even more powerful. There are so many good things about this book that it's hard to list them all. Even the cover is excellent! Ms Yingling

A journey of wartime survival parallels the strength Sora needs to fight for her own dreams. Kirkus Star review

Anyone labouring under the delusion that historical fiction is dull will be disabused of that notion after reading this book.  There is plenty of action and suspense.  Sora is a fascinating protagonist: she’s smart and dreams of a future as a teacher or writer, yet still wants her parents’ approval and tries to be a good daughter (which means giving up school to take care of her brothers). Kids Book a Day

This book is for mature readers aged 11+ and I do need to warn you (spoiler alert) the ending is not a fairy tale. The words "and they all lived happily ever after" do not apply to this book. This is a long book 300 pages but I was totally engrossed in the story and desperate for the two children to survive. The scene when they finally climb on board a train is quite harrowing and may distress some readers. Sora takes such good care of her brother and so the scolding she receives from her mother when they do arrive in Busan is utterly dreadful. 

Awards:

• 2020 Freeman Book Award Winner 
• 2021 International Literacy Association Children's and Young Adults' Book Award Winner
• 2020 Jane Addams Children's Book Award Finalist
• 2021 ALA Notable Children's Book
• Junior Library Guild Selection
• 2021 ALA Rise Selection
• 2021 Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year - with Outstanding Merit
• Kirkus Best Middle Grade Book of 2020

We meet Myung-gai Kim in the first book and his story continues in the sequel or companion book which will be published this year:

Bookseller blurb: Trapped in an enemy tunnel, a young refugee experiences the Korean War firsthand in this searing story of survival, loss, and hope, a companion to the Freeman Award-winning novel Brother's Keeper. Myung-gi knows war is coming: War between North and South Korea. Life in communist North Korea has become more and more unbearable--there is no freedom of speech, movement, association, or thought--and his parents have been carefully planning the family's escape. But when his father is abducted by the secret police, all those plans fall apart. How can Myung-gi leave North Korea without his dad? Especially when he believes that the abduction was his fault? Set during a cataclysmic war which shaped the world we know today, this is the story of one boy's coming-of-age during a time when inhumanity, lawlessness, and terror reigned supreme. With only each other, Myung-gi, his mother, and his twelve-year-old sister Yoomee do everything they can to protect one another. But gentle, quiet, bookish Myung-gi has plans to find his father at any cost--even if it means joining the army and being sent to the front lines, where his deepest fears await him.

You might also look for these

Running on the Roof of the World

We are Wolves

Boys and whales - what's the story?

The Storm Whale

The Tale of the Whale

I have noticed quite a few books which feature whales and whale rescues. They always seem to involve young boys. Often the boys are lonely, some perform heroic deeds rescuing the whale. Quite often a father may be involved. The father is often a side character who at the end of the book reunites with his son or perhaps finds a way to better express his love for the son.

Teacher Notes and video at Lemniscaat

Here is a video of the whole book (presented with a perfect pace)

A wordless book and winner of the Bull Bransom Award 2020

There are lots of middle grade novels about rescuing whales. 

I did some research about our fascination with whales - here is a quote:

What they decided, Nieburg said, was that feelings about the helplessness of the whale seem to give rise to any of a number of unconscious feelings people have about themselves, particularly about their own sense of helplessness in the world around them. Los Angeles Times

Not every book about the rescue of a whale involves a young boy. Here are a few others to explore:

Storm Whale

Whale in a Fishbowl

The Music of the Sea

You might also like to look for these Non-Fiction books about true life whale rescues:

Troll and the Oliver by Adam Stower

Troll wants to eat the Oliver. The Oliver tricks him at every turn until finally the Troll pounces. He gobbles up the Oliver only to discover Olivers taste revolting. Luckily the Oliver has been busy baking cup cakes and of course all Trolls LOVE CAKE!

The word "the" is very important in the reading of this book. It is one of the aspects that makes this such a funny story. You could talk to your students about reversing the title - Oliver and the Troll and introduce the grammar concept of the as the definite article.

My friend gave me this book to read from her school library last week. I did wonder why? It is not new. It is not a book translated into English - I am collecting these. Oh now I know - cake!  There is a cake recipe in the back.  Perhaps this is a hint that I should get cooking. In this video Adam Stower talks about his book.

Here is an alternate cover:

Nicely tuned to a preschool sense of the ridiculous. Kirkus

This is sure to become a story time favourite. Books for Keeps

After, or perhaps before, reading this book you will want to read some other famous troll stories such as The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  I would also suggest you take a look at The Finger Eater by Dick King Smith.

Too Small to Fail by Morris Gleitzman

Oliver wants a dog. The perfect little dog is in his local pet shop. Oliver doesn't need to tell us - it is clear his mum and dad will not allow him to have a dog. Oliver visits the pet shop every day and sadly now the pet shop owner has banned him from entering the shop. As Oliver sits looking in the window trying to explain to the little dog why he cannot buy him a lady arrives. She enters the shop and, to Oliver's consternation, she buys "his" dog. Adding to this crazy scene she then dumps the dog into his arms and tells him to follow her down into the car park. Who is this crazy woman? How does she know Oliver's name? Where is she taking him?

Oliver is a rich kid with a sad life. His mum and dad own a bank. The woman who bought Oliver's dog (he names him Barclay after the bank his mum and dad like) is owed thousands of dollars by Oliver's parents. They are refusing to pay so Nancy has taken matters into her own hands.

All of this action takes place in the first two chapters of Too Small to Fail. If you keep reading (please keep reading this terrific book) you will also encounter an amazing camel, a tough young girl who has every reason to be sad and an ambitious young man who works for the bank. Barclay will be held for a ransom, Oliver will be kidnapped and some new and surprising friends will be made.

You can click the three review quotes below for more plot details.

It seems timely to read this book by Morris Gleitzman. In Australia we have just had a Royal Commission into banking practices. Too Small to Fail is set around the time of the Global Financial crisis in 2008. Mr and Mrs Newton (mum and dad) are motivated by greed and use fraudulent practices to make their money. Oliver has no idea about all of this but the dishonesty of his parents slowly becomes apparent and we watch him make sense of the adult corporate world.

Morris Gleitzman is also our Australian Children's Laureate for 2019-2020 and I recently read Melody Trumpet by Gabrielle Tozer and the parents in this story reminded me of the awful and misdirected parents in Too Small to Fail.

I saw Too Small to Fail at a charity book sale. I have been keen to re-read this book for some time. I have often referred to it here on this blog. This is one of the many books by Morris Gleitzman and it is one that I really enjoyed but perhaps it is not as well known as his more recent titles.

Here is an excellent set of teaching notes for Too Small to Fail. I do think it would be the perfect book to share with a Grade 5 class.

You can hear Morris reading the first chapter of his book here. The covers above are from UK and Australia.

Somehow, Gleitzman managed to create a believable voice narrating a funny, sweet, yet somehow serious story.  It was addictive, humorous and I stayed up late especially to finish it. Book Addicted Girl

Too Small to Fail is funny and sad simultaneously, which all Morris Gleitzman stories are. The child's point of view is taken seriously and given value, as it is in all Morris Gleitzman stories. There's a serious message at its heart, as there is in all Morris Gleitzman stories. The Bookbag

I love how Morris Gleitzman consistently manages to combine really intelligent and advanced themes with an intensely childlike sense of fun.  Kids Book Review

I would follow Too Small to Fail with What do you think Feezal, How to Steal a Dog, Melody Trumpet, and One Dog and his Boy.

The puppy who wanted a boy by Jane Thayer illustrated by Lisa McCue

Here is another very old Christmas book. First published in 1958. I am amazed to say it is still in print (see below).  The copy I have is from 1985. When I picked it up I thought it might be the Christmas book from my childhood that I keep hoping it will find.  More about that in a minute.

A puppy tells his mum he wants a boy for Christmas. She tells him he must be good puppy and Petey does try very hard over the following weeks.  Sadly when the time comes his mum cannot find a boy so it seems Petey needs to take matters into his own hands so he sets off in search of a boy. Every boy he finds already has a dog and none of them are prepared to give their boy away. He asks a collie racing with a boy on a bicycle, a bulldog sitting in a car with a boy and a Scottie walking with his boy along the sidewalk.

"But he couldn't find a single boy who would give his boy away. Pete's ears began to droop. His tail grew limp. His little legs were very tired. (then) he saw a sign: HOME FOR BOYS."

This is a wonderful Christmas story for a young child with a heart-warming ending that will leave you with a huge smile of happiness just like the one on Petey's face.

As I mentioned there is a Christmas book I long to find it is also about a puppy. My memory is that all the puppies in the litter are given away at Christmas into various heroic roles such as working with the police and fire brigade. One puppy is left over. On Christmas morning a little boy finds this last puppy in his Christmas stocking. This was the perfect book for me - the child who longed to find that puppy in my own stocking. Does anyone know the title or author?  It would be a book from the 1960s.

 This copy is available - published in 2005. 

Here is the original book from 1958 illustrated by Seymour Fleishman

Here is a review of The puppy who wanted a boy by Three Books a Night as part of her annual Christmas book celebration - this post comes from her selection of books mentioned in 2014.

Dog by Andy Mulligan

There are some species on this planet who 

deceive us, and enjoy doing so.

This book is tough.  It is so tough to read it took me over a week to reach the end. I  kept having to stop for a day or two to recover from the violence and emotional blackmail.  Now I guess you might be thinking NO I won't read this book but actually I am going to say the opposite - do read this book. It is so powerful and well worth riding its emotional roller coaster BUT do not skip to the end. You can trust Andy Mulligan. There should be a happy ending but the twists and turns of this journey will shock and possibly disturb you even more forcefully if you don't know the outcome.

It is interesting to think about the animal characters in this book. Spider, the puppy is good and Moonlight, the cat is pure evil but the other animals characters are harder to characterise perhaps even ambiguous. It is easy to understand why Spider is so confused.

Dog his name is Spider he is very young - only 11 weeks old when we meet him.
Thread tells him:
"Take a look at yourself little dog. You're weak, and you're skinny ... you're still lopsided and clumsy. You're out of proportion too, and you're probably not aware of it, but when you close your mouth your jaws don't shut properly. One tooth remains visible, so you look awkward."
He is a puppy, he is naive, he is trusting and he is loyal.
"He had a home. He had a name. Best of all, he had an owner who needed him - and that was simply too good to be true."

Cat her name is Moonlight. Be warned if you love cats this might not be the book for you. This cat fits the stereotype - she is manipulative, selfish, cruel and very vain. Moonlight relishes her power over Spider. She even convinces him that he might be part cat!
"... and suddenly she was beside him, pressing herself into the rough brickwork, so they were shoulder to shoulder. Spider leant against her, feeling the warmth of her fur. For the first time he caught the scent of his companion, and he was utterly confused."
"The mirrors told her she was still beautiful; there was one up ahead so she practiced her purposeful stride. There was one to the right as well, so she checked her whole aerodynamic form, adjusting her tail and lifting her hips."

Spider his name is Thread. Right from the start he tells the puppy "Spiders never lie, because it's not in their nature; we can only deal with the facts."  And yet when our puppy meets Jesse she says "You don't listen to spiders, surely?" and Flea says "It must have wrecked your confidence, because that's what spiders do. They're complete liars - everyone knows that. They make webs! They're stealthy. That's how they survive. ... They're generally sadistic, solitary and desperately unhappy. They lie for the pleasure of lying, and they feed off the misery of others."

Fox her name is Jesse. Meeting Jesse is such a relief because she is the first animal who is genuinely kind to Spider. She has no agenda. Jesse sees Spider is skinny, hungry and anxious but oddly this little black and white dog is keeping company with a group of cats. Jesse loathes these cats. Jesse is a good friend. She shares her home and food and sets off with Spider on his journey to find Tom. Sadly foxes do not do well in open country when men and dogs are hunting.

Flea has no name. It jumps onto Spider just as Jesse is chased to her death.
"... he saw the tiniest insect he'd ever seen. It had wormed its way deep into his coat, but he could still make out a greyness. It seemed to have its head jammed out of sight, but even as he watched, the little creature shifted itself around and looked up guiltily. There was a tiny spot of blood on its face, and Spider knew at once that it was his own."

The plot in essence is quite simple - a boy wants a dog, a boy gets a dog, a misunderstanding means the dog runs away, the dog survives several awful scrapes and then .... I am not going to spoil the ending.   It is the relationships that make this book so interesting. Click the review quotes below for more plot details. From this site there is a link to the first chapter as a reading sample.

I recommend this book for readers aged 11 and over - and while I rarely say this I do think this is a book that will especially appeal to boys. If you have read and enjoyed Pax then Dog would be the perfect next book.  You might also follow Dog with the Paul Jennings title A different dog. I would also recommend reading or re-reading the classics Charlotte's Web and The Incredible Journey which feature much kinder relationships between animals. Readers who enjoyed One Dog and his Boy when they were younger might take a look at Dog.

Here is an interview with the author. Here is my review of another book by Andy Mulligan Trash.

Original, thought-provoking and with a dark humour, this is an ultimately uplifting read, and very memorable. LoveReading4Kids

This edgy, unsettling story features talking animals and their various relationships with the human world. Books for Keeps

Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen

"One minute I was twelve years old and wondering where I could get enough money for an inner tube for my old used ten-speed. I didn't have any money and my parents didn't have much either ... The next minute, it seems, I've got a business of my own, with employees, and I'm rich."

This is such a terrific and very short book and it is an excellent way to learn about economics oddly enough.  Lawn Boy is given a old ride-on mower for his birthday.  When a neighbour sees him mowing the family front lawn he asks Lawn Boy (as the narrator we do not learn his name) to mow his yard and so the business begins.  One day, as he is mowing, a man called Arnold comes over and makes a deal. He cannot pay Lawn Boy but he can invest money in the stock exchange.  " ... if the company does well the shares go up in value and you sell the to someone else and make money."  I did panic at this idea of course.  I imaged our hero would be left with no money at all.  I think I need to tell you by the end of the summer, working with a great team including a boxer, he makes close to $480,000!

Take a look at some of the chapter headings in this book :

• The Principles of Economic Expansion
• The Growth of Capitalism
• The Law of Increasing Product demand versus Flat Production Capacity
• Labor acquisition and its effect on Capital Growth
• Business and the art of Creative Misrepresentation

The character I really like in Lawn Boy is Grandma.  She seems to speak in riddles but really she is a voice of wisdom.  The final sentence is Lawn Boy will confirm this but meanwhile here is how our narrator introduces her :

"My grandmother is the kind of person who always thinks that no matter how bad things might seem, everything will always come out all right.  Her hair could be on fire and she'd probably say, "Well, at least we have a light to read by."

Lawn Boy would be a terrific book to read to a Grade 5 or 6 class.  Our senior students have read Hatchet so they are familiar with Gary Paulsen.

Here are some reviews you might like to read
Literary Lady
The Big Bad Book Blog
Kirkus

Listen here to an audio sample.  Here are some ideas teachers might use as a way to present a quick book talk about Lawn Boy thanks to the wonderful Nancy Keane.  Here is an extensive set of teaching notes.

My copy of Lawn boy has a very appealing double cover which you can see here.  You lift the green flap to reveal the full cover as seen above.

On Track by Kathryn Apel

I have been looking forward to reading On Track.  We purchased this book last year for our library but it some how disappeared.  Last week it 'turned up' hidden under a shelf.

Why have I been looking forward to this book?
1.  It is a verse novel and I adore verse novels
2.  It is about sport and I am always looking for books which might appeal to my senior boys
3.  I read one glowing review and one less complimentary review and so I was curious - how could one book elicit such divergent views?

I read this book over two sessions.  I read the first 80 pages waiting for a take away order of fish and chips and the remaining 215 pages today.  I know this is an odd thing to say but if you read this book please stay with it until page 175 because that is when the action really kicks in.

Now don't panic.  You will reach page 175 before you realise because this is a verse novel and so each page can be read very quickly.

Shaun and Toby are brothers but they don't really know each other at all.  Each brother is wrapped up in his own worries and feelings of inadequacy.  Toby is doing well academically - A grades for everything and yet he feels like a failure in his parents eyes.  Shaun is not doing well at anything. School is hard, physical activities are hard and he knows he can never be as 'good' as his brother.

In these two extracts you can hear the voice of Toby.

Shaun 
is only
11 months.
9 days, 
4 hours and
22 minutes
older than me,
but that is enough
to make him
oldest.

Toby : Not good enough
Sometimes it feels
like my body doesn't belong 
to me, like I tell it to do stuff
and it doesn't.  My feet stumble along
and trip over each other, my hands fumble
and drop, and it's almost like I'm wrapped in
invisible bubble wrap ...

This verse novel did have some emotional highs and lows as you would expect from this genre but not quite enough to satisfy me.  I also had some difficulty distinguishing the two boys 'voices' at first. Perhaps I was not concentrating.  This did pass after a while and I found there was a rhythm to the writing.  I think my early problem might relate to the way the voices do not always alternate. Later in the book I enjoyed this structure.  I am looking forward to putting this book into the hands of several of our Grade 6 boys - we read some verse novels last year and many of them enjoyed these books both for the way you can read them quite quickly and for their powerful storytelling.

You might like to think about the title with your students.  The boys compete in an athletics carnival on the track.  Toby has some major hurdles to over come and so he must stay 'on track' with his training.  Shaun wants to win the discus competition and so he works hard to also stay 'on track'.

After reading On Track I recommend look for Motormouth and Tom Jones saves the world by Steven Herrick.

Here are a set of very detailed teaching notes.

Perhaps you would enjoy reading a range of reviews of On Track book:

Kids Book Review
Aussie Reviews
Children's Books Daily
Reading Time

The small aventure of Popeye and Elvis by Barbara O'Connor

Think of Tom Sawyer with a small dash of  Pippi Longstocking and you have The small adventure of Popeye and Elvis.

I read this book in one sitting.  I picked up this book because I recently watched the movie of How to Steal a dog.  I was keen to read another story by Barbara O'Connor.  I am smiling right now because I am so happy I read this book - it is fabulous.

Popeye lives with grandmother Valma in South Carolina.  Life is dull and boring.

Popeye is so named because he has one good eye and one bad eye - the result of an accident back when he was three. Valma holds onto her fragile sanity by reciting the kings and queens of England in alphabetical order.  She has a lot to contend with.  Popeye's father lives far away, his mother comes and goes and her other son Dooley is unemployed and constantly in trouble with the law.

"Everyday the same
So what if the rain stopped? Popeye thought.
It would still be boring.
It would always be boring in Fayette, South Carolina.
Every day would always be the same.
Popeye was certain about that.
But Popeye was wrong."

One day a large motor home arrives.  It has become bogged in the gloppy red mud and the giant wheels are sunk deep down.

Life has been so dull for Popeye but now the adventures can begin because living in this motor home is the most amazing family including Elvis - the oldest boy.  Popeye and Elvis set out to find adventures.

Valma teaches Popeye a new word each week.  Barbara O'Connor uses these as a story device and she includes a dictionary definition as each word helps Popeye make sense of the excitement that comes from meeting this family and of making a new friend.

"Popeye couldn't help but notice how different Elvis was from all the others. 
Elvis was taciturn
taciturn: adjective; reserved or uncommunicative in speech, staying little
All the others were loquacious
loquacious: adjective; talkative."

There are so many delights in the language of this book.  I adore words like : bajillion, qualm, whoop and dang.

You can watch a brilliant trailer for this book on the author web site.  Here is a comprehensive set of teaching notes.  Here is a detailed review from the School Library Journal which is well worth reading.

There are boats in this book made from Yoo-Hoo milk cartons - see below. I have also included an alternate cover.  This book would be an excellent read-aloud for a middle primary class.

The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander

This is a difficult book to talk about because I feel it will not appeal to everyone.  Here is the publisher's description :

Diary of a Wimpy Kid meets The Sopranos in this 

laugh-a-minute mystery  from an exciting new talent."

"You need something?
I can get it for you.
You have a problem?
I can solve it.
That's why they come to me. By 'they' I mean every kid in the school.  First graders up to eight graders.  Everyone comes to me for help, and most of the time I am happy to provide it. For a small fee of course.
My office is located in the East Wing boys' bathroom, fourth stall from the high window.  My office hours are during early recess, lunch and afternoon recess."

Christian, known as Mac and his special team are running a very successful business, they are popular and have made plenty of money.  This money is needed so the boys can attend a special baseball game if their beloved team make it through to the finals.  Everything is going well until a little third grade boy comes to the office.  He calls himself 'Fred' and he tells Mac that Staples is after him.  Staples is a legendary high school-er famous for extortion and violence.  A gang war seems inevitable now that Staples has moved into Mac's territory.  

Here is a very detailed review of The Fourth Stall and the web site for Chris Rylander.  Finally here is a terrific little trailer.  You might also like to know there are two sequels which will arrive in our school library shortly.  I don't often limit a book by specifying an audience but I do think this is a book that will especially appeal to boys in grades 5 and 6.

Billy Twitters and his Blue Whale problem by Mac Barnett illustrated by Adam Rex

When I saw the cover of this book Billy Twitters and his blue whale problem I immediately thought of one of my most favourite picture books Billy's Bucket.  In addition to the main character called Billy there are a lot of things that could link these two books.  The main thing is that these boys both have gumption.

Billy's parents constantly threaten him :  "clean up your room ...brush your teeth ... finish your baked peas or we're buying you a blue whale."  Billy our narrator is, however, a very smart boy.  He knows this is impossible since a blue whale is the biggest animal in the world.  "It's not like you can just have one delivered to your house overnight" or can you?  The next page has no words just a double spread showing an enormous delivery truck arriving from the company called "Fedup delivering punishments worldwide." The delivery guy even has Fedup on his cap and in the distance you can see another man with two large flashlights directing the truck which contains the blue whale.

Mum and dad explain the blue whale is Billy's responsibility and this includes taking the whale to school. Billy tucks his skateboard under the whale and tows him with his bike up the hill.   When he arrives the science teacher is delighted.  Even though Billy enjoys talking about his whale he has to endure a hard time among his peers.  On the way home the bus breaks down but the whale saves the day.

Billy arrives home but his torture is not complete.  Dad gives Billy the blue whale owner's manual and Billy sees all the instructions for washing, waxing and checking the whale for barnacles but his biggest problem is how can he feed the whale.  He needs krill and ten thousand gallons of sea water.  How will Billy solve this problem? The ending is such a terrific twist this is a book you will want to read over and over again.

One more thing you must look closely under the dust jacket and at the marvelous end papers which reminded me of an old fashioned newspaper.  You can read about the process of illustrating this book here. Here is the web site for the author.  Extra Yarn also by Mac Barnett is a very special title which I will review in coming weeks. Here are some lesson ideas.

Definitely funny and slyly subversive.

Noah Barleywater runs away by John Boyne illustrated by Oliver Jeffers

As a marketing strategy books often have recommendations or other details on their covers.  This book, Noah Barleywater runs away, has a sticker that says "From the author of the Boy in Striped Pyjamas".  For me this is not a recommendation.  I rarely say I dislike a book but I thoroughly disliked The Boy in Striped Pyjamas and so I did hesitate to open this book.

Now that I have read it, however, I can say I really did enjoy Noah Barleywater runs away.  This is a brilliant storytelling using the story of Pinocchio woven into the story of why Noah has run away.  I must confess that while I think I "know" the story of Pinocchio I have no memory of actually reading this famous story so that will be my next book.  Luckily I own a wonderful version illustrated by Roberto Innocenti.

Noah runs away travelling through two strange and unwelcoming villages where he witness very odd things such as a moving apple tree that begs him not to take its fruit.  When he reaches the third village he meets a talking donkey, a helpful dachshund and a man in a toy shop.  The toy shop is a magical place.  Every toy is handmade from wood and most special of all the shop is filled with hundreds of puppets. The building is oddly shaped and positioned beside a very special tree that seems to be almost hypnotic.  Noah enters the shop and spends the whole day with the toy maker.  The two of them take turns to tell their own life story.  The toy maker has had a very eventful life beginning with absolutely horrid bullying in school and then the discovery that he is an outstanding runner.  His running takes him on an adventure around the world. Noah talks about his family and in particular his mother who has organised the most wonderful and memorable outings for Noah over the last few weeks.  As Noah reveals more and more of his story the curiosity of the Toymaker grows and grows as he tries to discover why Noah has run away especially when everything he describes seems to point to a loving family.

Here is a description of the toys :

"There were houses and villages, boats and trucks, every conceivable toy that an interested mind like his could dream of - and every one of them was made of solid, dark wood which seemed to give off a glow of richness and, yes, even a sort of distant hum. ... Almost everything was painted carefully - and not with just any old colours either, like the toys he had at home ...These were colours he'd never even seen before; ones he couldn't possibly even begin to name."

Reading this book is a wonderful experience. I especially loved the quirky shop with its moving door called Henry and the real cuckoo cuckoo clock. This book will probably be very different from any you have ever encountered but this is a book I highly recommend for middle and senior primary students.  One reviewer quoted inside the front cover said : "a carefully crafted, whimsical gem."

Here is a detailed review by Lois Lowry writing in the New York Times.  Take a look at the author web site.

Here is a comment from The Australian newspaper :

Quality novels for primary school-age children are quite hard to find, so this book is very appealing. There are many worthwhile series books, often filling important niches, but the inimitable stand-alone novel is rare.

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox illustrated by Julie Vivas

As a young child I regularly visited my little Nana in nursing home and now as an adult I am sadly visiting my mum each day as she has moved into care.  Memories are a slippery thing. I can hardly remember anything about my early years at school, for example, and yet I was there every day of the year.  Equally as a teenager I traveled with my family to Europe but most of this three month long trip is lost to me now.  Loss of memory is not something confined to the old but older people do feel this loss more acutely.  I know my mum does.

An old people's home, a nursing home, a care facility what ever you call it, is the setting for Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge.  Wilfrid lives next door and he is a regular and very welcome visitor.  I can certainly testify that a visitor with a smile and a word or two can lighten the day of an older person.  He knows all the people "But his favourite person of all was Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper because she had four names just as he did. He called her Miss Nancy and told her all his secrets."

Wilfrid overhears his parents talking about how Miss Nancy has lost her memory.  Wilfred is a curios and persistent boy so he goes in search an answer to the most important question of all -  what is a memory.  Each older person shares their wisdom with Wilfrid.

"Something warm"
"Something from long ago"
"Something that makes you laugh"
"Something as precious as gold"

To us these might seem like intangible things but not to Wilfred.  He sets off to find memories for Miss Nancy.  He finds a shoe box of shells he gathered last summer, a puppet that always made people laugh, a medal from his grandfather, his football and a warm egg from under a hen.  He gives these treasures to Miss Nancy "then she started to remember... and the two of them smiled and smiled because Miss Nancy's memory had been found again by a small boy, who wasn't very old either."

This is such a precious book.  If you have not seen it try and find it soon - you will be richly rewarded by this special reading experience.  Read Mem Fox's  thoughts about this book listen to her reading the story.  You could try a readers theatre version of this story and here are some detailed lesson ideas.  You can also see the whole book here and a review.

There is so much warmth in the illustrations by Julie Vivas. You just want to hug Wilfrid and his friends. I notice that my copy of this book is signed by Julie Vivas.  I know I have met her several times but I have no memory of where or when this signing happened.  It was fun to discover this today. After reading this book look for another old book long out of print called A rabbit named Harris by Nan Hunt.  It is another special book that deals with the difficult issue of memory loss in the old in a gentle and sensitive way.

Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats

As I walked through the bush the other day the birds were singing including our wonderful Australian Whip birds.  When I hear a Whip bird I just have to whistle to try to trick the bird’s mate into answering me.

Whistle for Willie is a book about learning to whistle but this cannot be your only reason for seeking out this book.  Ezra Jack Keats is a very special story teller and illustrator. Take a look at my review of Jennie’s Hat.   Once again Ezra Jack Keats uses fabulous collage papers and graffiti back grounds to show the inner city world of our hero Peter.  Peter takes a journey through his neighbourhood. He sees a large empty cardboard box.  He would like to hide in the box and whistle as a trick to surprise his dog Willie.  Peter tries and tries but no whistle comes but he is a boy with a dream and with perseverance.  So Peter tries one more time.  “He blew and blew and blew.  Suddenly – out came a real whistle!”  I especially love the way Peter’s mum joins in with his imaginative play.

You might also like to look at A Snowy Day which is the first book about Peter.  You can read about all the Ezra Jack Keats characters here.  Also here is a short video of someone reading this book.  One more thing I have discovered there is a sculpture of Peter and his dog in Prospect park in Brooklyn New York.  I visited the park this year but I did not know about this statue. Perhaps one day you will visit this.  Beside the statue you can see Peter's little chair.  This playground is sponsored by the Ezra Jack Keats foundation.

Here are some more details :

Brooklyn also has an Imagination Playground ...Conceived by Christian Zimmerman, vice president for design and construction at the Prospect Park Alliance, it celebrates storytelling.

Inside, a huge bronze dragon curls through a frame shaped like an open book. In warm weather, water cascades over the creature and spews from its mouth. “We chose a dragon because it’s in children’s literature throughout the world,” Mr. Zimmerman said.

On the other side, a bronze sculpture by Otto Neals portrays a boy seated on a rock reading, one hand stretched toward a playful dachshund; a little bronze chair sits nearby.

The figures are Peter and his dog, Willie, characters created by Ezra Jack Keats (1916-83), a Brooklyn writer and artist often credited as the first picture-book author to weave stories around a black child. In the 1990s the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation approached the Alliance about commissioning a sculpture commemorating his work. It soon became part of the planned playground. The space includes a stage and colorful steel animals with cutout faces.
When the playground opened in 1997, the sculpture of Peter was a deep blue. “The ears soon lost their patina,” Mr. Zimmerman said, “because kids would sit on the rock and whisper to Peter.”

Wonder by RJ Palacio

When I sat down to review this book I opened at a random page and read “sometimes you don’t have to mean to hurt someone to hurt someone.” This is the kind of hurt that August has lived with for his whole life of ten years.

I first heard about Wonder at the end of last year when a panel of reviewers were discussing Christmas books on a radio program. Kate Colley of Bloomin books said to look out for Wonder in 2012 so I wrote down the name and waited. Now it seems this book is everywhere. It was even reviewed in my local newspaper. So a couple of weeks ago I bought a copy of Wonder and that same day I sat down and read it. I read the whole book in just one sitting. Yes it is that ‘good’. Good is not the right word. This is such an important and moving book. It deals with a difficult subject using humor and just the right amount of emotion. It also a book that uses a story device I really enjoy where each chapter or section tells us about the same events from different viewpoints. Oddly though, it has taken me quite a few weeks to include this book in my blog. I think this might be because I am unsure about the audience. Certainly adults will be moved but I am not entirely sure how upper primary students will react. The cover, it must be said, is eye catching.

August himself does not tell you about his face as he makes the enormous move from homeschooling to Middle School so I am not going to reveal these details nor am I going to try to retell the plot. I can only say if you want to know more you should read this very thoughtful and detailed review which also includes a video of the author reading one chapter. You might also read an interview with the author. One thing that should happen as a result of reading this book is that we all might try to make the world a kinder place.

Mature readers in Upper Primary classes who have enjoyed the books of Andrew Clements or EL Kongisburg (The View from Saturday) should look for Wonder by RJ Palacio. This book also reminded me of Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli and Sally Marshall is not an alien by Amanda McKay. If you read Wonder and are moved by it then read Secret Friends by Elizabeth Laird but be warned for this one you will need a box of tissues.