The Sideways Orbit of Evie Hart by Samera Kamaleddine

 

Evie lives with her mum, younger sister and stepdad. Lee met her mum on a holiday in Bali. He is originally from England and so I did enjoy some of his colloquial expressions. Evie is in Grade 6 and this is the year of change. Her stepdad Lee is leaving Sydney to go and work in Dubbo. There is a sense but it is not exactly specified that mum and Lee are now breaking up. Mum writes daily horoscope predictions for a major magazine and she is working on a book. Mum is often busy in her study but she does have a notice board in there which has wise phrases which at times are helpful to Evie. Up until now Lee seems to be the one holding the family together in terms of transporting the girls to school and activities and also doing the evening meal. Lee is still home for a few months and so he encourages the girls to make worry boxes. 

"Sadie was filling hers with loose little beads and small plastic toys she'd been collecting from Coles even though we were supposed to fill the boxes with feelings. The kind that made you worry."

Evie has so many worries. Will she forget Lee. Will he ever come back. How will she and Sadie travel 400km to Dubbo in western NSW. Why does Nicole pick on her in class. Will she find friends in high school. How will they eat when mum can't cook very well. 

Luckily Evie is enjoying her class with Mrs Owen who declares they will be studying the Earth and Solar System this year. I am a little bit confused about this because as a teacher I do know that no class ever works on one topic for a whole year - a term is the usual time frame for a science topic like this. Anyway, this means that there are heaps and heaps of facts about astronomy woven into the story. 

Publisher blurb: Evie Hart likes rules. A lot. But as she embarks on her very last year of primary school, it feels like all the rules around her are being broken. When Evie's class starts learning about the Earth's place in the universe, it makes Evie think about her own place in the world and where she belongs. Which has her more worried than ever. When your mum writes a horoscope page for a living, it's hard not to think about what the future holds. Especially when she and the only dad Evie has ever known are acting like they're on different planets. But the more Evie learns about the sky and the stars, the more she learns that changes in the world can't always be controlled. And maybe that's not a bad thing. From the inaugural winner of the Matilda Prize comes a tender and moving story about one girl's journey to find her place in the world.

If your reading friend aged 10+ is keen on space and learning more about the universe they are sure to enjoy all the lesson information Evie shares. This book might also comfort young readers who are going through changes in their lives. 

Readings Melbourne review: This is an enchanting read for young space lovers, with each scientific fact and astrological point aligning metaphorically with Evie’s changing life. It’s also a great read for when big feelings are overwhelming, for learning how to navigate anxiety and change, especially at home, and about extending kindness even in unexpected places. 

There are some marvellous characterisations in this novel, with primary and secondary characters created with authenticity and appeal, in particular, Evie’s garrulous friend, Farrah, and neighbour, Nance O’Neil, whose pink-iced buns are a weekly salve to the family’s ups and downs. Evie’s journey from her fretful worries to a more confident person, finding some security in her own identity, is a pilgrimage that most young people take, as they grow into the adults they will become. Just So Stories

Astrid the Unstoppable by Maria Parr translated by Guy Puzey

Astrid lives in a remote village with very few inhabitants. She is the only child living there. Astrid lives with her father and she has the beautiful friendship of an older man called Gunnvald. He is her godfather and best friend. Winter is bitterly cold but Astrid loves her village of Glimmerdal and she enjoys skiing, her pet seagull, riding sledges built by Gunnvald and singing.

Life is safe and predicable. Astrid would like a friend her own age and she does wish her mother would come home more often. Her mother is a research scientist currently working in Greenland. Astrid thinks she knows everything about her village and especially about Gunnvald but one day a mysterious letter arrives and her world is turned upside down.

Here is the Norwegian cover. Astrid is really called Tonje:

Books in translation often have a different pace. I really enjoyed Astrid the Unstoppable - in fact I read the whole book (314 pages) in one sitting.  In 2009 this book won the Brage Prize for Children's Literature in Norway.

One more thing. There is beautiful music in this book which reminded me of the Swedish movie "As it is in Heaven" and I wish I could hear the goat herding lullaby that Astrid sings (page 96, 97) while her friend Gunnvald plays his fiddle. The music in this book has the power to heal and I adore that. The final scenes in the church with the choir and two fiddles are especially wonderful.

Readers looking for a warm and cozy tale to bundle up withon the couch during the winter months will find plenty to enjoy here. Kirkus

The writing in this book is also top-notch. Descriptions of the characters and setting are vivid,and the author gives a clear picture of Glimmerdal and its inhabitants that makes the reader feel like a part of this fictional universe. Read at Home Mum 

After reading Astrid the Unstoppable you will also want read Heidi by Johanna Spyri because Astrid reads this book herself after she finds a copy in Gunnvald's house.  There is also a mention of Ronja the Robbers daughter by Astrid Lindgren and I read some comments in an essay about Astrid the Unstoppable mentioned another book series about a boy called Emil by Astrid Lingdren which I have not read. The series from 1963 begins with Emil in Lonneberga.

I knew the name Maria Parr and I was delighted to discover she is the author of Waffle Hearts - a book I loved and one I regularly recommended to my keen grade 5 and 6 library users.

I would follow Astrid the Unstoppable with The Girl who bought Mischief by Katrina Nannestad.

Ellie's Dragon by Bob Graham

His "little claws tickled in the palm of her hand. ... 

She called him Scratch."

Ellie is shopping at a large supermarket with her mum when she spies something on top of an egg carton. It is a newborn dragon.

"It was pale and luminous with shifting rainbow colours, like oil on water ... It was quite the sweetest thing she had ever seen."

Just pause for a moment and look at those words. Bob Graham is a master of illustration but he is also a wordsmith. These words let us really 'see' this egg and they are perfectly placed. Pale, luminous, like oil on water - when you pick up the book you can see an illustration of the shell on the title page and it does look luminous. Later in the story, when Scratch takes his night flight, the city and the moon also look luminous.

Ellie takes the tiny, newborn creature home and she makes him comfortable in her dolls house. She shows the dragon to her mum but mum cannot see him. Later we read the teacher cannot see him either.

"Her mum saw nothing but an empty matchbox and cotton wool."

The idea of an imaginary creature, like a dragon, that only children can see is a beautiful story device.  The child, listening to this story, will smile knowing they have this special ability to see something the adults can't. As Ellie grows, so does her dragon. By the time she goes to school he learns to fly but sadly Ellie misses his first flight from the dressing table down to the floor in Ellie's bedroom. He also outgrows his dolls house home which even contained a thoughtfully placed box of dragon litter.

Scratch the dragon comes along to nursery school and he joins in with birthday celebrations. He even eats the candles on her eighth birthday cake while they are still smoking! Then one night while Ellie is asleep, Scratch ventures outside into the night sky.

Ellie lives with her mum but on weekends her dad takes her for outings. Scratch comes along too even though dad cannot see him. Bob Graham tells this very simply by saying: "Ellie's dad came to call for outings on weekends."

Ellie keeps growing and things begin to change between Scratch and Ellie. When she turns eleven Scratch begins to fade and on her thirteenth birthday "Scratch's breath barely melted the icing on the cake. He didn't even eat the candles."

Then comes the saddest lines in the book -

"And then he slipped quietly away into the night."

BUT, in a beautiful story moment, we discover that is not the end. You need to grab this book because I promise the ending will give you the biggest possible smile.

There are so many tiny and special details in the illustrations - if you know Bob Graham then you will know he is a master of this. I suggest you grab your copy of the book and follow along as I attempt to share some of the delights I have found inside:

Dedication "For Eleanor seven pounds, one ounce".  I am guessing this is Bob's granddaughter?

Opening end paper:
Bob Graham loves to include story details in his end papers. I think my favourites are the ones in Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten and also in Max.

A man is buying a box of dog food - he looks exactly like Bob Graham himself - we know Bob loves dogs (Let's get a pup)

The lady in the pink top - I'm sure she is the mum from Home in the Rain

I spied a man who has just moved over from the checkout. I am sure he is from A bus called Heaven 

On the pages:
Egg carton complete with barcode! Look for the egg carton in Dimity Dumpty

Missing the dragon's first flight - In Silver Buttons we see Jonathan take his first step and in Queenie the Bantam, the hen is the only one who sees Caitlin's first step.

Pigeons - How to Heal a Broken Wing and the row of birds on the power pole wires in Pete and Roland

Going to the movies with dad. Fans of Bob Graham will laugh to see the movie is Max. Grab your copy of Max and have fun comparing the movie screen scene with the end papers in Max.

Imaginary friends invisible to adults - we have seen these in Jethro Byrde Fairy Child

The inclusion of a sad moment followed by a very special ending - this reminds me of Pete and Roland

On the night Scratch takes his flight outside Rosie has been reading a book - it lies on the floor beside her bed - it's The Poesy Ring. Bob Graham has done this in previous books. One example is in Queenie the Bantam where we see the family reading Rose Meets Mr Wintergarten.

When I shared with book with Dr Robin Morrow (former President of IBBY Australia) this week she saw another special connection. Ellie asks her mum for some matches because Scratch "wants to eat the tops off."  Robin connected this with the famous Margaret Mahy book A Lion in the Meadow.

You might also think about the concept of time in Bob Graham's books.  Ellie's Dragon takes place over ten years you could compare this with Silver Buttons, for example, which takes place over just one minute. Here are a set of teaching notes from Lamont Books for Ellie's Dragon. In a class discussion you might like to talk about the mobile phones we see Ellie and her friend's using and the link between this and the 'disappearance' of Scratch. Also, it is fun to imagine the other eggs in that carton - perhaps someone else took a dragon home from the supermarket.

I have one more tiny detail to share - it is a bit of a mystery to me. On the page near the end where we see the huge 'Super Saver' Supermarket you need to look carefully at the cars parked outside. Something very odd has happened to one of the cars.

There can be no doubt this gentle story of imagination, growing up and hope will be listed by the Children's Book Council of Australia in 2021 both as a notable book and as a short-listed title for the Picture Book of the Year award.

I would pair this book with:

And with these junior novels:

Yin's Magic Dragon

Falcon's Egg

One more book from me. This one is very old (1962) and I only have a vague memory of the story but it is one that might link with Ellie's Dragon:

Why do you cry? by Kate Klise illustrated by M Sarah Klise

You can cry for any reason. Or for no reason at all.

Today I have watched a few YouTube videos (COVID-19 stay at home) and as usual many of the ones involving music, young children and acts of kindness leave me in floods of tears. I am a crier. I cry over television commercials, I cry when kids sing in school assemblies, and of course I cry in movies.  I was very intrigued by the title of this book - why do you cry?

Little Rabbit declares, aged five, that he is "done with crying."  He has lots of friends who he plans to invite to his birthday party but he decides the friends can only attend if they meet his criteria:

"I'm inviting everyone who's big like me, and doesn't cry anymore."

Little Rabbit heads off to interview his friends and he makes some surprising discoveries.

Squirrel - cries when he is excluded from a game
Cat - cries when she is alone and fearful
Horse - cries for lots of reasons - pain from a bee sting, seeing a snake or if a new haircut looks terrible

It seems no one can come to the birthday party. Even mother cannot attend because she sometimes cries too. "Sometimes I cry when I watch a sad movie ... or when I have a bad toothache and sometimes I cry when I look at you."

Little Rabbit has discovered so much about crying. He is persuaded to change his mind and so he decides everyone is allowed to attend is birthday party and it is a big success.  Only one person cries?

This is a fairly old book (2006) but I think it is still in print.  I would pair this book with Sloppy Kisses.

There are several books about Little Rabbit by Kate Klise:

Our tree named Steve by Alan Zweibel illustrated by David Catrow

You may have noticed the message on my sidebar where I say I want to share new discoveries.  Our tree named Steve is not a new book but it is a new discovery for me. This book was published in 2005 but I am happy to report it is still available.

Here is the blurb from the back cover:

"Two year old Sari couldn't pronounce the word 'tree' and called it 'Steve'. Dad and Mum thought Steve was the perfect place to hang Sari's swing. Adam thought Steve made a great third base. And Lindsay enjoyed her first crush under the shade of Steve's branches. In fact Steve was there for all the family's milestones - and he was strong and funny and generous. Now the years have passed. Dad is writing a letter to the kids with news about Steve, who is no longer the tree he once was."

There is a glorious marriage between the text and illustrations in this book. I laughed when I saw the page "... and whenever our dryer broke down, he held our underwear with pride."

On every page Steve is placed on the left side. He is so huge we can only see the lower trunk. The colours change on each page with the seasons and mood. Kirkus describes this "Steve’s almost-face shines in each illustration of this sentimental tribute."

We have recently had huge storms here in Sydney and it is a storm like this that finally topples Steve but turn the page for a surprise.  Steve can live on - but not in the way you might expect.  This is the perfect book to share with a young class. Then you could go for a tree walk and celebrate the beautiful trees in your own neighborhood.

Another book in our school library illustrated by David Catrow is I wanna Iguana. If you click his name you will see he has illustrated a very large number of picture books.

I would pair this book with The Crooked Apple Tree by Eric Houghton.

The Heart and Mind of Frances Pauley by April Stevens

Frances is a very special girl. She thinks deeply about things. She adores being outside even in very cold weather. She loves to observe nature. She has lots of questions about the world and she loves to learn new things. Her discovery of the World Book Encyclopedia is just perfect.

"They were impossible to put down. The color photos, the short paragraphs, about absolutely everything.While she could have sat at her family's big computer in the living room and probably found all this stuff, having the books to hold while she was up on the rocks made them especially perfect. Plus when she looked on line, there was too much information for her to sort through. In a book it was more pared down and not so overwhelming."

You might imagine Frances would enjoy school.  She does love her teacher Mr Stanley but the reactions of the other kids to her intelligence can be harsh.  Then things become more complicated when a new boy arrives. He seems to be even brighter than Frances and worse, the teacher is giving this boy all of his attention.

I guess you could say Frances 'dances to her own beat'.  She adores people like Margaret Mead and needs to be outside on her rocks not stuck inside where things are also hard, especially with Christinia.  Her relationship with her sister has become so difficult. They don't speak to one another at all. Her sister says she hates Frances. I found this aspect of the story heartbreaking. Frances does not understand why her sister is unkind and so different. Luckily Frances does have one very special friend - the bus driver Alvin. He is a keen reader and library user and he loves to discuss facts and philosophy with Frances. Every day she sits behind him on the bus.

"Alvin was different from any other grown-up, and at times she didn't even view him as one. He was just her friend. The only person who Figgrotten felt really understood her. The truth was, he was like that with all the kids, respectful of their true natures."

Did you read the name 'Figgrotten' in this quote.  Frances has decided to rename herself - Figgrotten.

"Her real name was Frances Pauley, which she felt didn't suit her, so she put all sorts of words together, backward and forward. Once "fig" and "rotten" rolled off he tongue together that first time, it stuck. And from then on she thought of herself not as Frances but as Figgrotten, adding the extra g because that's the growly way it sounded to her."

Frances spends hours each day up on some rocks near her house. "Some people hate being alone. Some people like it. I like it a lot' ... It was when she was around people that the feeling of being alone was a problem. The feeling of not being quite part of a group was not the best."

I love the words of wisdom from Alvin:

"Alvin do you like to be alone or do you like to be around people? 
Both. Everyone needs both. Solitude and friendship."

"Never forget that everyone needs plenty of understanding. Just as you do. Just as I do. People are very different, but they are very, very similar too."

"An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind."

One day Alvin is not on the bus. The world that Frances knows, and relies on, starts to spin out of control.

You can read chapter one on the publisher web site where you will also find an audio sample. This book moved me to tears. In fact I cried and cried. I would pair The Heart and Mind of Frances Pauley with Junonia by Kevin Henkes and Jubilee by Patricia Reilly Giff.

If you read this book with a class there are some excellent character descriptions you could explore:

James - "Everything seemed to hang from him a bit: his dark brown hair and his jacket and even his jeans. He wore black-rimmed glasses that looked a bit big for him... "

Frances - "Figgrotten did not even try to manage her own hair, as it was not that kind of hair. It felt like dry grass, and after a bad experience with a burr once, she kept it shorter and most often wore a hat. It was one of those hats with the earflaps that hung down. She wore it not only to cover her hair but also because when she wore it she felt snappier."

Mr Stanley - "came into the room that morning dressed in his usual snappy outfit. Purple vest, grey tied, button-down shirt. And his shiny brown shoes that made a wonderful clean clicking noise as he walked."

Author April Stevens’ carefully crafted, beautiful prose imbues this tightly plotted, engrossing tale with weighty themes that neverfeel heavy-handed or preachy. The Heart and Mind of Frances Pauley sings outheartfelt truths about Stevens’ quirky and genuine characters, who will resonate deeply with lucky readers. BookPage

A moving depiction of unique characters, grief, and the benevolent power of forgiveness.

 Kirkus Star review

FRANCES PAULEY is an exceptional book. Stevens has created the sweetest and most compelling heroine and has told her tale with such grace and beauty. Figgrotten is full of wonder and tenderness but her sadness and anger feels so very real. Grief, friendship, family, self-acceptance, and the joy of nature; FRANCES PAULEY packs it all into a short, thoughtful, emotional, and splendid novel. KidsReads

The secrets of Magnolia Moon by Edwina Wyatt illustrated by Katherine Quinn

"Magnolia wondered gloomily if they would ever again hang upside-down from the old fig, inventing new kinds of animals or guessing what type of fruit they would be."

Magnolia is nine and a half and her life is changing. Her best friend has moved away. Mum is having a baby. Magnolia has moved up to grade four with a new teacher and new friends.  Magnolia is a very special girl. She is positive, forthright and honest. She is also a problem solver, which I love. She thinks up practical solutions for any problems that come her way.

Here is an example. She visits her friend Imogen May for a sleepover. Imogen explains there is a ghost in the new house. Magnolia wakes up in the middle of the night and she hears the ghost. She leaves Imogen May sleeping and heads downstairs.  The ghost is in fact Ernest, Imogen May's brother. He is frightened of the noises made by the toilet when it is flushed. Magnolia takes charge. She leads Ernest up to confront the toilet. "I am going to flush you now, and you are going to get on with it and not make a fuss ... And you are to stay there, and you are not, I repeat not, to follow us down the hall."

I love the way Magnolia makes sense of time. "Time was tricky like that. It could be long and short all at once. And it was always going backwards and forwards getting stuck between yesterday and tomorrow."

"There's a whole year to go, which is a lifetime if you are a giant jellyfish."
"Barrow is a whole hour away, which is a lifetime if you are a cake in the oven."
"Six months .. but that is a lifetime if you are a bed bug."
"It was only three weeks since the girls had seen each other ... that was a lifetime if you were a bar of soap."
"There were five more hours until the end of school which was a lifetime if you were a sandcastle."

If you were using this book with a class you could make a lifetime book with a different example on each page.

I also love the tiny observations of life:

"Magnolia turned her pillow to the cool side."
"There were piles of washing all over the floor, spilling out of the basket in a tsunami of towels and sheets and tiny singlets."
Magnolia's new friend Casper Sloan makes his own lunch each day. He uses an alphabet system. On the w day Magnolia guesses it will be "won tons with wasabi, then waffles with white chocolate and watermelon." No he is having "watercress on white bread, walnut cake and wheatgrass juice."

And I love the delightful names:

Chimneypot Parade
Thistledown Preparatory
Applewhistle Lane

I think you can tell I really loved this little gem of a story. This is a quiet book which gently observes daily life for Magnolia allowing us to know her secrets.

I first read The Secrets of Magnolia Moon in June this year. Walker Book Australia kindly gave each of the people attending an advance copy. I am never sure how long I need to wait to talk about a new book so I put it to one side. The Secrets of Magnolia Moon was published in October and it is receiving so many positive comments.  Megan Daley read this book to her little girl and they both loved it.

Katherine Quinn is an illustrator from New Zealand.

I will make the prediction that The Secrets of Magnolia Moon will be a notable title for our CBCA awards in 2020 and from there a short listed title in the Younger Reader category.

I loved the previous picture book by Edwina Wyatt - In the Evening. I would pair The secrets of Magnolia Moon with Where Dani goes Happy follows.

The Secrets of Magnolia Moon is a whimsical and gentle portrayal of friendship and problem solving, with each page to be savoured. And I think young readers could do with more of that. Kids Book Review

Little Bear's Little Boat by Eve Bunting illustrated by Nancy Carpenter

Tuesday Treasure

It's a beautiful tale to read with the very youngest book fans, regardless of whether they're worried about outgrowing their metaphorical boats or not. Who wouldn't want to float on Huckleberry Lake with Little Bear? BookBag

If I was making a shelf of books for a young child I would certainly include Little Bear's Little Boat. This is a book about growing up, about changes and about generosity.

"It is little bear's destiny to grow and grow until he is BIG BEAR. It is a little boat's destiny to stay the same size."

Little bear loves rowing his boat on Huckleberry Lake. He catches fish and basks in the sun. Over time, though, little bear grow bigger and eventually he is too big to fit into his little boat. He really wants someone to use and enjoy his boat so he goes in search of a another little bear. He happily gives his little boat to the young bear but he explains:

"The little boat will stay the same size because that is its destiny. When that happens you must find a another little bear to fit into the little boat. Because it is also a little boat's destiny to keep sailing on a blue blue lake. Will you promise?"

I would pair this book with Puffling by Margaret Wild. I would also read it alongside Three Bears in a Boat by David Soman. You might also look at the beautiful series of books about Big Bear and Little Bear by Martin Waddell.

Here is the sequel to Little Bear's Little Boat - Big Bear's Big Boat.

Where Dani goes happy follows by Rose Lagercrantz illustrated by Eva Eriksson

If only all early chapter books were this beautifully conceived. New York Times (on My Happy Life)

Dani is desperately missing her best friend Ella who has moved far away. Her father needs some time away so he has headed off to Rome and Dani has to stay with her grandparents. Dani has a brilliant idea. It's Ella's birthday. Dani can deliver a gift. The gift is not a thing it is Dani herself. Dani just needs to get to Northbrook. Grandma cannot take her because she has visitors coming, Grandpa cannot take her because the car is in for repair so a decision is made that Dani can go by herself on the train. Grandma phones Ella's mum Sonja and the arrangements are all set.

This is not a smooth adventure. In fact it is filled with disappointment.  The ending will make you smile but not in the way you expect.

I am late coming to this series. I may have read the first book, My happy life, but I only have a vague memory of doing this. This latest book can stand alone but I am planning to read the whole series in the right order over the coming weeks. These are very short books so it won't take me long to catch up with the first five titles and they are filled with fabulous illustrations. 

In my former school library these books were very, very popular. Huge thanks to Beachside Bookshop for giving me number six in the "My Happy Life" series.  This series is from Sweden. I love the way Gecko Press pick up on books from other countries. The translator is Julia Marshall. Rose Lagercrantz and Eva Eriksson are both previous winners of the Astrid Lindgren Prize.

There is a sadness to these stories but they are also filled with optimism. The tone and emotional themes are very different from some of the books we offer our younger readers here in Australia. Dani's mother died when she was very young. Dani's father is often sad. Life is not always a smooth journey for Dani but somehow she pushes through. In each book Dani gets a little older and perhaps a little wiser about the ways of the world.

You can read about each book by clicking each of these links to the Kirkus reviews (several of them have a Kirkus Star):

1. My Happy Life

2. My Heart is Laughing

3. When I'm Happiest

4. Life according to Dani

5. See you when I see you

6. Where Dani goes happy follows

Writing with exceptional insight and humor, author Lagercrantz develops Dani’s emotional maturity in this story, giving her a growing awareness of both life’s complexity and adult fallibility, all the while maintaining Dani’s bone-deep optimism. Kirkus