Laughter is the Best Ending by Maryam Master illustrated by Astred Hicks

"They had sent me to a kids' camp so that I would find kid friends but I came out the other side, proudly announcing that I was now besties with an 80-year-old potential villain who was about to kick the bucket." 

Zee, short for Ziba, has a worried mother. Mum thinks Zee has no friends (this could be true) so she decides Zee needs to go to a holiday camp. This is a camp called Youth Fusion and their brochure promises the kids who attend will make new friends.

On the first night of the camp the kids are told they will play a game of 'Murder in the Dark'. They are told to form themselves into teams of four. Zee has been sitting beside a girl called Tifanee (with two ees). She is a bold confident and funny character and Zee is sure it would be good to link up with her over the five days of this camp. (By the way Zee absolutely does not want to be here). On the other side of the camp fire the girls see a couple of boys - perhaps they will join their team of four.

Then the camp authorities announce one of the kids has gone missing and so the focus shifts and Zee, Tifanee, along with twins Moses and Jonah, decide they need to find this kid. That involves searching an old run-down mansion that is rumored to house a woman who murders children and perhaps even eats them! (Yes I agree this plot line sounds okay for Primary school readers but I will explain my thoughts in a moment). 

Here are some teachers notes from the publisher. Listen to a sample of the audio.

You might like to read a few reviews:

• Kids' Book Review
• Paperbark Words (Joy Lawn) - interview
• Reading Time
• What book next

I will begin with the things I liked about this book. The cover is terrific. Use of Fluro orange is very eye catching and the title written on a pile of books links well with some aspects of this story especially the ending. The title is also perfect and enticing. And it is true Zee does laugh at the funeral (but to find out why you have to read the whole book). If you flip inside this book you can see the book design is quirky, interesting and appealing, with changes of font and you will see the way conversations are presented as play scripts. Zee makes lots of lists which appear in frames and at times these are very funny.

Now for the aspects of this story that I liked but which I think make it a better fit for a reader aged 12+.

Zee is crazy about Oscar Wilde (I am fairly sure no Primary school aged reader will have read or have any interest in him). In fact the title of this book is adaptation of a quote from The Picture of Dorian Gray "Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship and it is the best ending for one."

Zee talks about liking old language such as the writing of Jane Austen. And she recognises the camp chaos is closely like the plot from Lord of the Flies (not a book I would share in a Primary school library - I am still traumatised). 

Zee goes to high school and much of commentary about peer group relationships relates to her experiences there: "School is a cesspool of people checking each other out. Judging each other. Rating each other. And it's 99 percent based on looks .... I hate a lot of things about it, but the grotesque catwalk of who's hot and who's not bothers me most."

I really liked Zee but her tone is totally teenage: "whenever I'm dreading something, like really, truly, genuinely dreading something, whether it be the first day at a new school for zombies or root canal with a demon dentist, I get super sleepy."

Here's an example from Tifanee "I'm Tifanee by the way. Spelt with two ee's cause my parents are idiots. Any idea how we can break free from this touchy-feely hellhole?" Tifanee is an Instagram influencer.

Zee mentions her favourite poets - Kahil Gilbran; Rumi; and Maya Angelou. 

Zee and Dame Viv (she's the 80-year-old I mentioned in my opening quote) visit a state library to view a rare folio of Shakespeare's work and then they watch the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds. 

Companion books:

The Unexplainable disappearance of Mars Patel

The Parker Inheritance

Walking with Miss Millie

Laughter is the Best Ending has been listed as a 2025 CBCA Notable title BUT in my view it is in the wrong category - it is listed as a Younger Readers title but all of the content I have explained above surely shows this is a Young Adult title and it should perhaps have been entered and judged as an Older Readers book. I really did enjoy Laughter is the Best Ending but it think it better suits a High School library and High School readers. Here are the criteria for you to compare.

From the CBCA awards:

8.1 Judging criteria for CBCA Book of the Year: Older Readers 

Entries in this category are books for young people aged between 13 and 18 years (secondary school 

level). Readers require a degree of maturity to appreciate the themes and scope of emotional 

involvement. Books in this category may be fiction, drama, illustrated text, poetry or graphic novels. 

Age appropriateness: The story is written in a way that would engage 13–18-year-olds (or a sub-age group within). Mature topics are explored and give the readers the opportunity to be challenged with alternative points of view or perspectives. The writing extends the reader’s experience and may help the reader understand more about themselves and the world. 

8.2 Judging criteria for CBCA Book of the Year: Younger Readers 

Entries in this category are books published for children in the age range from 7 to 12 years (lower to 

upper primary school level). Books in the category may be fiction, drama, graphic novels, illustrated 

text or poetry. 

Age appropriateness: The story is written in a way that would engage 7–12-year-olds. (or a sub-age group within) Light introduction of mature topics might be explored and may give the readers the opportunity to be challenged. The writing is engaging, stimulating and extends the reader’s 

experience and/or imagination. It also may help the reader understand more about themselves and the world. 

I previously read and enjoyed these books by Maryam Master:

Exit Through the Gift Shop

(I also list this as a YA title)

No words

One more thing to think about. I recently talked about endorsements on books (these are not blurbs). On the back cover of Laughter is the Best Ending it has this praise by Anna Fienberg - no problem she is a fantastic writer - but why say she is the author of the Tashi series - those books are for very young readers and have no relationship with this book by Maryam Master. I'm puzzled. 

'I found it so energising! Zee plays with words like a gymnast. We click with her from the very start - she's funny, frank, fair and feisty! This story will be a hit with young readers.' Anna Fienberg, author of the Tashi series

Cog by Greg van Eekhout

Cog looks like a twelve year old boy but in fact he is a robot or a biomaton. He lives with Gina. She teaches Cog new things each day:

"I am programmed for cognitive development, and to learn by consuming information with my sensors, which are similar to human eyes, noses, ears, tongues and skin. I am capable of learning through reading, through smelling, through hearing, through tasting."

Things are going well for Cog until he is badly hurt in an accident with a truck. When Cog wakes up he finds himself in a science facility. It is there that Cog discovers the truth and this discovery is truly terrible for Cog, his sister ADA, his new friends and even more importantly it could mean the whole world is in danger. Nathan has plans for world domination and be warned he has plans to insert computer chips in human brains too.

I love the word placement in this book.  Take a look at these sentences

"Nathan smiles, but it is a very different kind of smile. It is a smaller kind that shows no teeth. I am unfamiliar with this kind of smile. It does not convey happiness or excitement or agreeability."

"The man strikes Proto with the hockey stick. Thwack. Proto clatters to the ground."

"So first we're going to gouge the X-module out of your brain."

I should mention the characters from the front cover are Cog, his sister ADA, and their new friends Trashbot and Proto the dog. The other important character is Car and he is heroic but also very funny.

Blurb from author site: Cog looks like a normal twelve-year-old boy. But his name is short for “cognitive development,” and he was built to learn. But after an accident leaves him damaged, Cog wakes up in an unknown lab—and Gina, the scientist who created and cared for him, is nowhere to be found. Surrounded by scientists who want to study him and remove his brain, Cog recruits four robot accomplices for a mission to find her. Cog, ADA, Proto, Trashbot, and Car’s journey will likely involve much cognitive development in the form of mistakes, but Cog is willing to risk everything to find his way back to Gina.

You may already know that I am drawn to books about robots. This is because they are often funny (there is a terrific supermarket scene in Cog) but these stories are often also dystopian and occasionally even political and always seem to be about the misuse of power. Cog contains all of this and more.

If you have a super curious, quirky kid of 9 or so who needs a book to read, offer this one. Then, if you are a smart, quirky grown-up, read it yourself. Charlotte's Library

The author nicely inverts gender roles, making Cog introspective and shy while his sister—a weapon android—is brasher and braver; watching the pair grow together as they explore humanity provides pathos and humor.  A thought-provoking tale for younger readers about hubris and what it means to be human. Kirkus

If the theme of world domination interests you try to find The Seven Professors of the Far North and The Girl who could Fly.  Here is Greg van Eekout's web site and here are some companion reads about robots:

Runaway Robot

Boot Book One (there are three in this series)

The Wild Robot (and sequel)

Troofriend

Tin

Melt by Ele Fountain

Firstly if you visit or work in a school library where they use genre labels or genre as a way to shelve their fiction titles then I have no idea where you will find Melt. It is a survival story; it is a thriller; there are themes of global warming; it is also about forming new friendships; and I guess this book could also have a label of crime fiction.

Bea's father is a geologist. He works for various petroleum companies looking for, and reporting on, sites with oil reserves around the world. The problem is some of the places on our planet should not be exploited - they should be left as pristine environments but oil companies are driven by profit and not environmental concerns. So in part this book raises the issues surrounding exploitation of the Arctic circle which is home to the Inuit people. 

Bea and her family have moved to yet another new town because her father's work takes them around the world. This means Bea has to navigate yet another school and sadly in this one there are some vicious bullies. Luckily her father announces he needs to fly north in a small company plane to get an over view of the Arctic landscape and Bea will be allowed to go too. Her father has been teaching her how to fly but the pair are keeping this information a secret from Bea's mother. The first flight goes well but over the following weeks Bea senses something is wrong with her dad. He seems distracted and distant. Finally he announces they can fly north again but this time something goes horribly wrong. When they arrive at the remote and tiny Northern airport, Bea watches in horror as her father is beaten up by two men. She races back to the small plane and flies away.

Meanwhile Yutu lives with his grandmother in a small isolated Arctic village. Yutu longs to test his own independence and head away hunting on his own. He convinces a friend to loan his snowmobile, he tells his grandmother he will stay the night with a friend and then he sets off. On his second day the weather turns nasty, the snowmobile crashes and Yutu's life is hanging in the balance.

The scene is set for Bea and Yutu to meet, to help each other, and to solve the mystery of the kidnapping of Bea's father and importantly to discover the way all of this is connected to oil exploration in the arctic. 

I enjoyed the use of alternating voices in the early chapters of this book. I also enjoyed learning more about customs and food of the Inuit people especially through Yutu's gentle grandmother. 

The environmental message never overwhelms but simply runs through the plot and ensures that the adventure itself has greater impact. It is an exciting read with some perilous moments that will keep young readers gripped. A Library Lady

Here is a review by a reader aged 11 and here is a review with more plot details. Thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance reader copy of Melt. Here is the web site for Ele Fountain.

Publisher blurb: A boy lives in a remote, snow-bound village with his elderly grandmother. Their traditional way of life is threatened by the changing snow and ice: it melts faster every year. When the sea-ice collapses while he is out hunting, he only just escapes with his life and is left stranded in the Arctic tundra. Meanwhile a girl is trying to adapt to another new school. Her father promises his new job at an oil company will mean they never have to move again, but not long after he starts, his behaviour becomes odd and secretive. When their fates take a drastic turn the girl’s world collides with the boy’s and they find themselves together in a desperate search for survival, and for the truth.

Companion reads:

The Last Bear

Swimming Against the Storm

The Girl who could Fly by Victoria Forester

 

Betty and Joe McCloud celebrate the long awaited arrival of their baby girl years after they have given up hope of a family. Piper is a perfect baby until the day when she rolls off the kitchen table and does not crash to the floor. Instead she floats in the air. This is just the beginning. Piper can fly. Piper loves to fly. Piper tries to fly at every opportunity. Betty is a no nonsense woman. She know the people of Lowland County, especially Millie Mae the town gossip, will not tolerate difference or the unexplained so Piper is kept safe at home. (Listen to this audio sample) She does not mix with the other children from the town, she is not sent to school and it is only at Church each Sunday that anyone ever sees her. Everything is okay but of course Piper longs for a friend. Finally Betty announces they will attend the annual Fourth of July Picnic. The day goes really well except Piper discovers the other kids don't want to be her friend. Piper has promised her Ma and Pa she will not disgrace them at the picnic. She will not fly but everything goes wrong during the kids baseball game and Piper cannot help herself. The ball is heading her way:

"Piper's entire body was tingling before she could even think straight. There wasn't a doubt in her mind what she was going to do. She was going to catch that ball and show them all."

Word of this event spreads to the world media and to the authorities and within days Dr Hellion arrives at the farm. 

"I am the director of an institute that specialises in providing assistance to people, much like youselves, who find themselves in ... difficult situations."

There is a clue early on, though, that the offer of help from Dr Hellion might not be quite what it seems. "Dr Hellion produced an official-looking identification card."  Here you can sense the power of one word official-looking - not official?

Betty and Joe agree Piper can go with Dr Hellion to her special school. When Piper arrives, you may be thinking as I was, that this place is not going to help Piper - it is some sort of underground prison. Why is the food so delicious, why is school so boring, why are these others kids here and what about that beautiful silver giraffe?

I first read this book in 2009 but the story has lingered with me and so last week when I spied it in the Book Bunker at Westmead Children's hospital I grabbed it with both hands. I have put the new and older covers above. I read this book late into the night and I was not disappointed. I had forgotten some small plot details but the essence of the story was still a strong memory. I think mature readers aged 11+ will enjoy this book. The publisher say 9+ but I found the torture scene where Dr Hellion tries to break the spirit of Piper exceptionally harrowing. Click this review for more plot details:

This fantasy has an air of reality, maintained by the aw-shucks flavor of the dialogue and its determined, good-as-gold heroine. Kirkus

I am excited to discover this book is still available in paperback and for a good price and that there are two sequels from the series now called Piper McCloud and great news for me my local library does have the second book:

I would pair this book with:

The Mysterious Benedict Society

The Unexplainable disappearance of Mars Patel by Sheela Chari

This book was one of four advance copies kindly supplied by Beachside Bookshop. I was not sure this was a book for me but boy oh boy I was wrong!

I think this quote gives you a good flavour of the story plot:

"Mars listened to the podcast over and over. It made no sense. And yet in some mysterious way it did. Didn't the podcast say before that something big was going to happen? Then something had. Aurora and Jonas were both gone. And now his mom was lying to him. Just where did Ma go on her second shift? Did Oliver know something Mars didn't? Was Oliver trying to warn him?"

Cast of characters:

Mars Patel - born leader; highly intelligent; father missing; mother always working; real name Manu.

Caddie Patchett - special skill sensitivty to the thoughts and emotions of others

JP McGowan - very strong; gender non specific or non binary; asks everyone to use 'they' as a pronoun.

Toothpick - electronics whizz. Real name Randall Lee; nickname Pick.

Jonas Hopkins and Aurora Gershowitz - missing kids

Epica Hermandez - the gang don't like her but she has a huge crush on Toothpick.

Oliver Pruitt runs Pruitt Prep High School. Very few students will pass the GIFT test to enter his school. Is he an evil genius or just a mega rich guy who runs an interesting school?

Mr Q gives us an insight into these kids during detention: "Look, you're not here because you're bad kids. You're here because you're smart kids but you haven't figured out how to stay out of trouble. ... Plus, I see how you treat each other ... and the things you wonder about, and I think you kids are all right."

Think about - The setting which is HG Wells Middle School; Principal Dorena Fagan; Mr Q the mysterious teacher; the use of drones to spy on the kids; and the way school is filled with surveillance cameras.

I also enjoyed the invented email addresses: Saira Patel (Mom) eyesontheprize@zapmail.com; Mr Q (teacher) squartz@hgwellsmiddleschool.org. I also enjoyed the "names" of the kids who comment on Oliver's blog posts: oreocookies; galaxygenuis; lostinlondon; thisismars; wormhole; staryoda; wanna-b.

There is probably an official term for this genre but I am going to call this book a hybrid. There is an actual podcast where you can listen to the mystery; the podcast has a Facebook page; the book itself contains blog posts with comments; text (SMS) messages; emails; and a narrative story line. There are nine short podcast episodes to enjoy but I recommend you wait before listening and read the book first! It was published this month - October 2020.

This terrific start to a book series contains intriguing characters, conspiracy theories, customised drones, holograms and a tantalising mystery that could be leading readers anywhere in this world... or beyond.Shelf Awareness

Slick science, corporate conspiracies, and an endearingly nerdy protagonist make this a fresh, exciting sci-fi adventure. Dogo Books

Who will enjoy this book? The publisher Walker Books US (Candlewick) list this book as 8-12. I think it would be more likely to appeal to an older group of 10-13. There are sure to be sequels.

The format of this book reminded me of  Skeleton Creek which combined web files with the mystery narrative.  I would also pair this book with:

Edsel Grizzler and the Voyage to Verdana

Fans of The Mysterious Benedict society will also enjoy The Unexplainable disappearance of Mars Patel. If you enjoy books based around a diverse group of kids with special talents you might also look for The Unteachables by Gordon Korman.

Pip Street A brotherly bother by Jo Simmons illustrated by Steve Wells

"They understood that this was their last hope; their final chance to save Mr Keiths and keep Walter off Pip Street. They were on a quest. ... A thrilling, noble, car-boot-sale-to-fix-a-mobility-scooter quest. And that's the best kind of quest there is!"

When I wrote my comments about the first book from the Pip Street series the author (yes yes the author) wrote a comment!! This is so thrilling for me.

I really enjoyed the first installment and now I jump forward to book four - A Brotherly Bother  I think you might understand the premise, setting and characters if you take the time to read the other titles in this series.

Once again we have a serious problem which will impact the lives of the people living on Pip Street and once again it is up to Bobby and his friends to "save the day".  A stranger arrives riding a "chariot-sleigh-thing" pulled by five malamutes.  He is on the hunt for oil and gas and he intends to start digging under number 8 - the home of Richard Keiths.  Our intrepid friends visit Mr Keiths and discover another disaster.  His trusty mobility scooter named Pegasus has broken down.

"It's an apostrophe, isn't it, Bobbby?' said Imelda  "Catastrophe," said Bobby."

The scooter can be repaired but the price is so high - way more than Mr Keiths could ever pay - 500 pounds! Adding to this series of issues Mr Keiths explains that his bother, Walter, can claim number eight for himself under the conditions of his mother's will which specified Mr Keiths can only keep the house if he lives there but without his Pegasus he will be forced to move.

So now Bobby needs to raise 500 pounds and save their street from the excavators.  A little hint about how this might be achieved comes in chapter 3 entitled "How Much?"  This is the name of a television program where people bring items to be valued and when they hear the amazing amount everyone shouts 'how much?'

Since he may have to move Mr Keiths begins to clear out his garage.  Wait a minute though I know you are anticipating a treasure worth a fortune will emerge from this clutter and perhaps it will but in the meantime there is some serious money raising to be done involving the cat Conkers, a bake and car boot sale and even some time spent in a dressing gown!

Here are a few of the chapter opening sentences which will show you just how very funny this little book is :

"The next day was Wednesday, the day that almost always follows Tuesday."
"The next day was Friday, one of the most popular days of the week."

Imelda will make you smile too with her quirky vocabulary mishaps.

"What in the name of spangles was he on about?"
"Bobster ... you have a heart made of silver and gold and extra-sweet jam."
"You have caused so much trouble since you first mushed onto this street."

Jo Simmons has a terrific web site where you can play games and learn more about the characters in this series.  You can listen to some audio samples of titles from this series here.  If you have trouble finding this series you can buy ebook versions.