Mikki and me and the Out-of-tune Tree by Marion Roberts

Alberta is a keen boogie boarder. It is the Summer holidays in her small Australian coastal town. Alberta is looking forward to five weeks of freedom spent in the ocean. But, you knew I was going to say but didn't you, but Alberta, who is known as Birdy, is knocked off her bike and it is not an accident. Her arm is broken so there will be no boogie boarding for Birdy. Six weeks in a plaster cast.

Luckily Mikki Watanabe lives in her street. He has no interest in the ocean. His family, who originally come from Japan, have a beach house at Kingfisher Bay. Mikki and Birdie team up to investigate the forest area nearby and they make an amazing discovery. There is a small grove of towering pine trees. Mikki has a spiritual connection to trees. He is keen to make a video about their discovery and Birdie is equally keen to stand in front of the camera. Then they discover the council have plan to bulldoze this special area. Can their YouTube videos gain enough coverage so that this special place can be saved?

I did like the way Marion Roberts included the video chat and comments into her story along with advice from the book by Birdie's mum - Tammy's Bracken's guide to Modern Manners. I was not quite so interested in or convinced about Tammy's mental health issues and shoplifting. I really liked the community activism and the way Birdie and Mikki navigate the complexities of local government. This harks back to a very old classic Australian book - Battle of the Galah Tress by Christobel Mattingley. I also kept thinking about the television documentary made with Judi Dench "My passion for trees". 

This film follows Judi's experience through the seasons and her mission to understand the role of trees in history and the future. Judi joins tree scientists and historians to unlock the remarkable secret lives of trees and the stories that they cannot tell. With scientific techniques and equipment at her disposal, she is able to truly understand how trees work and gain an insight into their secrets. She meets a designer with a microphone to hear the trees around her, and a scientist with 3D scanning technology reveals her favourite oak in a new light.  BBC One

Marion Roberts mentions this book (for adults) as one that inspired this story:

You might also enjoy A Good Day for Climbing Trees.

This book will be published in April, 2022. Thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance reader copy. 

Darius Bell and the Crystal Bees by Odo Hirsch

“Mrs Simpson was making walnut cakes … Darius counted ten cooling on the kitchen bench and suspected there were more in the oven. Mrs Simpson was icing one of them. She slapped the thick white cream on with a spatula and then rapidly spread and smoothed it with the skill that came from having iced thousands of cakes over the years…. ‘I don’t suppose any of you would like a piece,’ she said. Darius smiled. He didn’t suppose any of them needed to answer. Mrs Simpson cut three large pieces from the cake.”

When you pick up a book by Odo Hirsch you can be sure of several things. There will be delicious cakes, you will be in the hands of a master storyteller and at its heart any book by Odo Hirsch will ultimately be a celebration of community. Darius Bell and the Crystal Bees fulfills all these promises.

Darius Bell and the Crystal Bees is the sequel to Darius Bell and the Glitter Pool but it can stand alone. In this installment the bees have all mysteriously died throughout the district and this will have disastrous consequences for fruit and vegetable production for the coming year especially on the Bell estate. Mr Fisher, the gardener, has an enviable reputation as a master grower but with no bees his crops will not be pollinated and so the fruits will not form. His family will have to find work elsewhere. The Deavers, who are the estate bee keepers, can offer no solution so Darius attends a meeting of apiarists at the town hall. They suggest bringing in bee hives from other areas and it seems all will be well but the mayor George Podcock sabotages this plan. He loathes the Bell family. What can Darius do to save the crops and stop his friends Mr Fisher and his daughter Marguerite from leaving?

The answer comes unexpectedly from several sources involving his classmates, his mother and brother, his ambitious and hideous school principal, Mrs Lightman and his dedicated science teacher, Mr Beale.

I read this book in one sitting. Just like those cakes, I cannot help but devour books by Odo Hirsch. Look for this one in your library today and be prepared to cheer as our hero wins the day once again!

Read more about Odo Hirsch here.