August and Jones by Pip Harry

Jones Kirby and her mum and dad have had to sell their family farm and move to the city because after years of dreadful drought they can no longer afford to live in the town of Cotton. Their new flat is small and right beside a railway line. For readers who live in Sydney you might know the suburb of Wollstonecraft. In the alternate chapters we read about August. He lives with his footy mad dad, older brother Archer who has the potential to be a football (Australian Rules Football) star, mum and his sister Lexi. I just need to make a comment about Lexi - I love her!  She is a beautiful older sister. There is a scene near the beginning of this book where August tells Lexi he has been chosen to show Jones around the school. Here is part of his conversation with Lexi that made me cheer!

"Want me to tell you the school tour I'm going to do for Jones, in order of importance?"

Her reply: "Absolutely."

So Jones has to go to a new city school leaving her two best friends back in her old class. When Jones was a baby she lost her eye to retinoblastoma. She now only has vision in one eye but she knows how to navigate her way around, she is keen on climbing and running and she is very used to answering curious questions about her prosthetic eye. 

August has his own issues at home. His dad is crazy for football but August is not a skilled player and he really does not want to practice or play this game every weekend. He prefers reading, telling jokes and learning new facts. He is also learning, thanks to Lexi, how to knit. His mum and dad keep fighting and it is clear that very soon they will separate. 

August and Jones become the very best of friends and Jones suggests they should write a bucket list. At the top of their list they put - see a sloth - but it turns out there are no sloths in Australian zoos so they have to settle for a Francois Langur monkey at our Taronga Zoo here in Sydney and best of all this monkey has a new baby named Meimei. Also on their list is running a 10km race across Sydney and climbing Mount Kosciuszko.

It is SO lucky that the class teacher asked August to show Jones around the school on her first day!

Here is the publisher blurb: Eleven-year-old Jones Kirby has just moved to Sydney from her farm in country New South Wales. She's missing her alpacas and wide-open paddocks and can't get used to her family's tiny city apartment. She's also worried that her vision is blurry - she lost her eye to cancer as a toddler. Could it be another tumour? Enrolling at her new school, Jones meets shy, awkward August Genting. He loves fun facts, the library and knitting as much as Jones loves rock climbing and being outdoors. Who would have thought they'd become fast friends? At home, August's parents are fighting. And for Jones, the news from the doctor is not good. To cheer themselves up, the pair hatch a brilliant plan: the August and Jones Must-See Bucket List. Together, this brave duo will set out to meet a rare monkey, run across the Harbour Bridge and even climb Australia's highest mountain.

Here are some review comments for August and Jones:

Kindness and love are celebrated in this story of an unusual and moving friendship. Reading Time

This was a wonderfully heart-warming story about friendship, and what it means to find that one person who will stick by you and do all they can to support you and be there for you. That you can share everything with and be yourself with. The Book Muse

In this interview with Paperbark words Pip Harry talks about writing her book during the pandemic. 

Here are the judges comments for August and Jones:

August and Jones explores complex and challenging concepts such as parental expectations, drought, unemployment, changing homes and schools, anxiety, depression and childhood cancer. The characterisation is strong, with adults and children presented in an authentic and believable way. Contrasts in family life are highlighted with Jones's supportive family juxtaposed with August's angry father, depressed mother and sibling ties. The book is written expertly and sensitively, balanced with humour, showing how friendship, love, personal strength and belief in oneself and others can help overcome difficulties, change and loss. Jones’ cancer is never used for sympathy, and she remains positive despite the hardships she faces.

As I read this book I had so many personal connections with the story. At my former school we had a student with retinoblastoma. He had lost both his eyes but nothing could stop this wonderful boy. I feel so privileged to have met him. I recognised all of the places in the story, even the cafes because I have been to many of them here in Sydney. I'm terrified of heights so I really sympathised with August when he is too frightened to ride the chair lift at the ski field. Pip Harry read a story in our Sydney Morning Herald (October 19, 2019) about two kids just like August and Jones. You need a subscription to read the article but I found this report from the ABC about Mathilde and Jarrah.

I have been reading my way through the 2023 CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) Younger Readers shortlisted titles. When the list was announced I had already read three of the six and today I completed my final title - August and Jones by Pip Harry.

Runt by Craig Silvey

Evie and Rhino by Neridah McMullin

The Raven's Song by Zana Fraillon and Bren MacDibble

Xavier in the Meantime by Kate Gordon

The Way of Dog by Zana Fraillon

The early scenes in August and Jones when Jones and her family pack up their farm reminded me of this wonderful (but sadly now out of print) verse novel:

Jones has cancer. You might like to also read these books:

Exit through the Gift Shop

The Honest Truth

Sick Bay

Lenny's Book of Everything

Here are two other books by Pip Harry:

Are you there, Buddah?

The Little Wave

The Raven's Song by Zana Fraillon and Bren MacDibble

There are three linked stories in this book written by two authors. Novels by two authors fascinate me. Perhaps the two voices  in this novel were penned one by each author - Bren MacDibble might have constructed the story of Shelby who lives in the future and Zana Fraillon perhaps tells the story of Phoenix who sees visions of the Raven girl. Phoenix lives with his Gran and aunt and his four siblings and there are hints that he is living in our present world especially when he uses his mobile phone. 

Here are some text quotes to give you a flavour of this writing and also some plot fragments:

Shelby:

In this future place only 350 people can live in each community. And each are allocated exactly seven hundred hectares. "Three hundred and fifty kind, ethical, truthful people on seven hundred hectares ... "

"The next township is beyond that fence line, 'bout two hundred and sixty kilometres south of us. ... (that) is a long way to walk, even if we were allowed out there. And the doctor has the only phone on our seven hundred, just for emergencies and government business ... "

"I'm co-owner of an egg farm with three hundred and eighty hens and twelve roosters. I'll never get a sibling coz of my da not wanting another partner even if one was allowed to come here, no matter how many times I tell him to ask, so one day this township will rely on me for all its eggs."

"there's only twelve school-age kids in this whole township ... No babies have been approved to be born for five years straight ... "

"people in the old days lived in giant mega-cities smothered in dirty clouds and had lots of technology and lived unsustainably and used fossil fuels and drowned the world in plastics and pollution and parts of the honoured world died ... and new diseases told hold and killed most of their children and now we have to stay in our township and keep our hair short and our hands clean ... "

"Lunch is the main meal of the day, all our township operating on solar ovens or solar-powered electric ones, coz even woodfire smoke is pollution and we're proud of our near-zero pollution. Although it's been a long time since the government drone's delivered us extra supplies as a prize for our efforts ... The drones used to arrive at least twice a month, bringing chocolate, fabrics, medicines and seeds ... "

When Shelby and her friend Davy are sent out to check on the fence they discover it has been cut and they see curious flower posies tied to objects along the path. They are forbidden from leaving their community but Shelby is curious and then they spy an old man. He is placing those posies along the path but where is he from and where is he going? The children follow him and they make an amazing discovery. He has led them to a ruined city. They watch as he heads into a building and inside they discover something shocking:

"There's shapes of things in there like rows of giant eggs. ... There's people in the egg things. How? Why? But little faces. Children! There's kids in them. Kids waiting to hatch?"

Meanwhile Phoenix keeps having visions of the raven-haired girl and a bog. He and his siblings know the bog is dangerous and they know to keep away but the youngest boy - Walter falls in. Phoenix does manage, after a dreadful nail biting struggle, to rescue his precious little brother but when the children come home something is wrong. Walter is unwell and so is Phoenix. The children are taken away and put into isolation in a medical facility. This strange new virus is dangerous and highly contagious. 

The third story comes through echoes of a poem or folk song - a song with a warning - which is quoted at the beginning of the book. Here is an extract:

Upon one moonlit night she came 

Down hillside steep and rocked

Into the place of inbetween

The Ravened Girl of the bog ...

Can you hear she calls for you?

Through time's great swirling fog

Listen, listen, listen ... 

Sings the Ravened Girl of the bog

Listen, listen, listen ...

Sings the Ravened Girl of the bog.

Have you ever listened the radio talking about books and just wanted to SCREAM!  On Saturday I was listening to our ABC Radio National program - The Bookshelf with Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh. They were talking with a guest from New Zealand and as usual asked their guest about their current reading - books they have been enjoying. The guest, Claire Mabey, Founder of Verb Wellington, mentioned The Raven's Song. This is a book I have only just read. It is shortlisted for our CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) Book Awards Younger Readers category. I was a 2021-23 judge for this award in the Picture book Category. At our recent judges in Meeting in Melbourne the three Younger Readers judges talked very enthusiastically about this book and so I purchased it straight away. It was one that I had missed reading last year when it was released.  

Now back to my story. Why am I mentioning the book program and the interview? Because Claire Mabey said two things about this book - one surprising and one shocking! The Raven's Song as you can see has two authors. Claire Mabey claimed one of these authors is from New Zealand.  I needed to investigate this because we associate both with the children's literature here in Australia. Zana Fraillon is the author of the award winning book The Bone Sparrow (IBBY Australia Honour Book) and her new book (also a CBCA shortlisted title - The Way of the Dog)  and Bren MacDibble has three titles which I adored reading.

The Way of Dog

I now discover Bren MacDibble is originally from New Zealand but she lived in Melbourne for twenty years and now lives in Western Australia. 

How to Bee

Across the Risen Sea

The Dog Runner

Now for the shocking thing - Claire Mabey said she had just read The Raven's song to her own child aged 5! She does say it is a Middle Grade title but she read it to her young child who it seems followed this very complex story. In my view, The Raven's Song, will be enjoyed by mature readers aged 11+ although I should mention the publisher says 9+.  I guess Claire Mabey is very literary and so her child has probably been exposed to some wonderful fiction but I just despair that the general public listening to this broadcast will now think this is book (yes it is wonderful) is for a very young child - it is not. I hope penning the text quotes above demonstrate this.

This is a dystopian novel and that is one of my favourite genres. 

Judges comments about The Raven's Song: A stunning novel set in both the near and distant futures linked by the ancient motifs of the raven, the land and bog bodies preservation being the theme that ties everything together but never overshadows the characters' emotional journeys: Phoenix's loss and world in pieces, and Shel's discovery challenging everything she ever knew. Masterfully written and engaging, each object, action and word choice is purposeful. Pandemics, climate change and conservation, are the backdrop for this story, told in a way that never intrudes on the reader's journey and desire to explore the world. It provides parallels between our own reality and the resulting in an engaging and thought-provoking read.

In this video Bren and Zana talk about their book.

Personally I don't want to relate this book to our COVID world of the past two or three years. I didn't even think about the pandemic when I was reading this story - it was just so absorbing and intriguing and I really appreciated the way Zana Fraillon and Bren MacDibble made me work hard as a reader to follow their two very different stories. The ending was such a clever revelation and a jarring surprise. If you want to read more plot details click on these review comments:

Bren and Zana’s story is wonderful and evocative, and I loved that the uniqueness of the characters came through clearly and eloquently, allowing readers to inhabit the worlds and lives of Shelby and Phoenix. The Book Muse

The story will open up your mind, placing an emphasis on the connections that we have with people, caring for our planet and ancestry. Better Reading

One living in the future and one in the past, Shelby and Phoenix’s stories start separately and then entwine. Chapters alternate between them, revealing secrets one at a time. It’s exhilarating and addictive. Kids' Book Review

By coincidence I have just started reading another Australian middle grade novel by two authors - The Letterbox Tree by Rebecca Lim and Kate Gordon. It is due for publication in May 2023.

A Trip to the Hospital by Freda Chiu

Rani has a broken arm - she needs to go to hospital and later she will need some surgery. Momo doesn't feel well because her asthma is making it hard to breathe - she travels to the hospital by ambulance. Henry has been visiting the hospital for many years. Today he has an appointment with a physiotherapist because he needs strong muscles to help with his prosthetic leg. All three children are in safe hands. The staff work hard, they smile (we can see through their masks) and inside the hospital walls are bright colours. Hopefully it is not too scary.

Publisher blurb: Going to hospital might seem scary or worrying - you might be hurt, you might feel sick or maybe you just have to visit a friend. But don't be worried! Hospitals are amazing places filled with clever people all doing incredible things, including making you feel better. Follow Momo, Rani and Henry on three very different adventures inside a busy children's hospital. A picture book that shows children all the interesting things that happen inside a hospital, helping them feel safe and secure, and ready for their first visit.

I volunteer at a children's hospital in their library. This book is simply perfect and should be a gift to all children who have to visit hospital and it should be added to all Primary and public library collections. Oh and in the interest of full disclosure I do need to mention one of the children in this book is named Momo!

There are many things to love about Chiu’s bright and dynamic debut picture book. The clear, simple language; the inclusiveness of the illustrations (workers, visitors, patients and families); the breadth of information, covering emergency visits, scheduled operations, recovery and rehabilitation; and the person-centred focus and capabilities of hospital staff. Reading Time

Freda Chiu spent time at Liverpool hospital in the paediatric unit and her experiences really shine through in this book. You might like to linger over the end papers (front and back are different) have been designed to match messages in get well soon and thank you cards. 

A Trip to the Hospital was entered (and short listed) for our Australian Children's Book of the Year Award for a New Illustrator. I was not able to talk about this book on my blog until after Book Week which happened last month. Take a look at my post about another book from this category For Love.

The judges said: The cover of this debut picture book which depicts the main characters beaming out will do much to allay readers’ fears of going to hospital. Chiu has cleverly captured the busyness and complexity of a hospital by using a mix of page layouts. Her bold style is perfectly matched to her use of mixed media such as pencils, gouache, crayons, pastels and collage. This original style allows the reader to explore the content and the artistic media on each page in detail or to read each image as a whole. Chiu quietly introduces inclusive adult and child characters in a natural way. She does not shy away from the reality of illness and injury, but her ability to convey the individual personalities of staff members will reassure readers.

Teachers Notes are available on the publisher web site - Allen and Unwin. You can see inside this book here on Freda Chiu's page. 

The exuberant child-like illustrations, use of bright colours, inclusive adult and child characters, and the variety of page designs are all excellent features of this book. The graph paper background on the cover and on the page where we meet all the medical specialists, is also very effective. The cover is terrific – this could be a frightening topic but these three smiling children will assure young readers (and their parents) that they are in safe hands with this exploration of hospitals and medical procedures. 

Fake by Ele Fountain

"There's a lot of money to be made from keeping people in one place, with only their screens. Think of all the shopping for a start. Why change things if most people are happy? ... 

The ones making all the money are smart. 

They're very generous to the people who made the laws, so they won't rush to change them."

The best authors of dystopian fiction do not reveal everything at the start of their story - they carefully insert tiny fragments of information so as a reader you can 'join the dots' and infer the way of the world in this future time. I adore this style of writing. 

As this book opens, Jess who is fourteen is about to head away to school. She is leaving her beloved younger sister Chloe behind. On the first page we read the word ROOM (I am not going to tell you about this you need to read Fake to understand this). Then on page 15 there is a mention of a portal watch which Jess uses to connect with her friend Finn. It is some sort of video phone.  Chloe and Jess also have a pet kitten. Surely this is not a problem but then Finn comments "Keeping a pet. That's an offence." It is now time to leave but how will Jess get to her new school. We read that the transport has been charged.  

"No transport has space for luggage - big transports waste electricity. ... Families used to have massive cars which could carry everything. Transports only have room for seats, to save energy."

Then we read these chilling words "mum warned me that some students will never have met another child before." and there is a mention of live-learning. The other students take health supplements and have their online shopping delivered by drone. In her trunk Jess has bought some of her fathers precious books. Mae, her room mate has never touched a paper book. 

In this world of the future, children learn on screens at home so they are protected from diseases until they are fourteen when their immune systems have developed.  

"After the antibiotics stopped working I thought they made all kinds of laws to protect us. ... But that was twenty years ago during the Scarlet Fever epidemic."

There is no money, only credits. Chloe needs expensive medicines and her parents, who live on a farm, have very few credits and the price of the medicine keeps rising. Jess has learned about coding and computer hacking. She has a plan to help her family but days in the new school are busy and tiring and working on complex coding at night might not be a good idea because mistakes can easily happen. Mistakes with shocking consequences for her precious family. 

This book is such a terrific commentary on our modern world - on our use of and dependence on technology; on the implications of disease such as the Covid Pandemic; and our concerns with personal privacy when the State collects so much data about our lives. Heavy stuff!  Yes. I nearly gave this book five stars but, to me, the ending was a little rushed and perhaps a little too perfect but this aspect of the story is sure to deeply satisfy young readers aged 10+. 

" ... a compelling thriller with fantastic characters set in a futuristic world where everyone is isolated from each other in their homes."  Books up North

"Well, this is an absolute corker of a story, one that feels slightly surreal as you read and relate to particular events and situations. There is a true link to what we have endured during the initial Covid 19 lockdowns and fear from society."  My Shelves are Full

Companion reads:

Chance of Safety

Where the River runs Gold

Catch me if I fall

Among the Hidden

The Girl who could Fly

Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk

"Life is a matter of moments, strung together like rain. To try to touch just one drop at a time, to try to count them or order them or reckon their worth - each by each - was impossible. To stand in the rain was the thing. To be in it. Which I would do. Which I would do to make my father well ... "


Ellie's family have moved Echo Mountain following the stock market crash we know as The Great Depression. Father was a tailor but mother explains "people who have no money don't pay a tailor to make their clothes, and they don't buy new ones when the ones they have will do."  Mother had been a music teacher but with less children at school, less teachers were needed.  The shop is closed, the house is sold and the family move to a remote forest location near Echo Mountain. Life is hard for the whole family but they work together to build a cabin and find ways to trade with neighbors. Then comes the terrible accident. Father is badly hurt and lies in a coma. Mother, older sister Esther, little brother Samuel and Ellie try to keep going. Tending to their own needs and keeping father comfortable and quiet. But it is this quiet that is frustrating Ellie. She is sure her father needs noise, action and discomfort - anything that might make him wake up. Ellie, herself, carries a huge personal burden. She is sure the horrific accident is her fault and it seems her sister thinks so too.

There are tiny moments of happiness for Ellie in spite of all this sadness and guilt. Their dog Maisie has pups. One pup appears "dead" but Ellie does not bury the pup as her mother has instructed, instead she plunges him deep into a bucket of cold water and brings him "back to life". It is the first time, as a reader, we see Ellie has a gift of healing. An instinct or inner voice that will become so important over the coming weeks. Ellie loves her pup and she decides to name him Quiet.  "I like that (said Samuel) ... It's a heartbeat name."

Other moments of happiness for Ellie come in the form of tiny wooden carvings which appear as precious gifts hidden in places around the forest, their home and even in her jacket pocket.

The mystery of these little treasures is connected with an old woman who lives on the top of the mountain. People call her the "hag" but Ellie needs to learn the truth about this old woman. Making the journey up the mountain, meeting the carver, a young boy called Larkin, with his own sadness, and finding the old woman along with the discovery of her own talents, will have consequences which almost feel miraculous.

I adore Ellie. She has a deep emotional intelligence and a love of nature and her mountain. "I myself was two opposite things at the same time. One: I was now an excellent woods-girl who could hunt and trap and fish and harvest as if I'd been born to it. Two: I was an echo-girl. When I clubbed a fish to death, my own head ached and shuddered. when I snared a rabbit, I knew what it meant to be trapped. And when I pulled a carrot from the earth, I, too, missed the darkness."

Every word in this book is liquid gold. I read huge numbers of books each year and mostly I can read a novel quite quickly especially if the story is good. With Echo Mountain I did not want to read quickly. I did not want to miss any of the exquisite words. I did not want this story to end. I did not want to miss any story fragments. As I read Echo Mountain I filled the pages with little book tab stickers so I could go back and savour each precious passage. There is a beautiful truth and raw honesty to the writing of Lauren Wolk which at times left me breathless.

Here are a few text quotes to give you a flavour of this writing:

"Those gifts had been meant for me. I was sure of it. Which meant that whoever was making them knew me and understood that I was the kind of girl who would love finding them tucked in the corners of my world, all of them carved from good hardwood, all just short of alive."

"Being a middle child made me good at turning the other cheek, But being good at something didn't make it easy."

"Then I left the shed and walked up the path and, after a bit, into the woods, through the hemlock grove so full of shadows that almost nothing grew between the trunks of the old trees, the deep layer of dead needles underfoot like the soft coat of a great, sprawling animal that didn't mind the weight of me."

"... the little cabin was filled with other things as well. On one wall: shelves of books in all colors and sizes, like the keys of a new instrument I badly wanted to play."

"She was right - it wasn't much of a spring. But when I pushed the jar flat in the moss where the water bubbled out of the rock, a pool rose and flowed into its mouth as if the jar were the thirsty one. The water was cold and clear and, as I sampled it, delicious. Like poured winter. Fresh, Perfect."

"We have done our best ... But I fear that Esther and I are not meant for this kind of life.' She met my eye. 'Not like you seem to be.' Which was both praise and accusation. Enough bitterness to spoil the sweet."

"I turned back to my father. I hated the way his skin pulled hard across the bones of his face, as if someone were making him into a drum. As if he were hollow. As if someone was supposed to hit him to make any music at all."

I also need to mention the bees in this story. I so appreciated that Lauren Wolk did not alter their natural responses. There are no magic moments with these bees. Ellie does need their honey but taking the honey means she is stung and stung badly. I felt every hurt and every sting.

Now take a look at the two covers. Which do you like? The top one is from the UK edition and the lower one is from the US. I much prefer the US cover because it hints at all the story elements - bees, stars, bottles of healing plants and the little pup called Quiet.

Character driven and a work of literary art and hope and all about the amazing spark that flickers and burns in each of us. This is wonderful. A Book and a Hug

Carefully paced and told in lyrical prose, characters … are given plenty of time and room to develop against a well-realized, timeless setting. A luscious, shivery delight. Kirkus Star review

There’s a loneliness to the kind of life Ellie leads, but the trade off is that she feels truly free. Hand this to the kid that yearns for that freedom. For wide-open spaces and mysterious figures hiding in the shadows and snot nosed brothers and lots and lots of puppies.Hand it to someone who needs their own mountain. Even if it’s just a literary one. Elizabeth Bird School Library Journal

I hope you can find Echo Mountain in a library or bookshop. This is a book to treasure. The Wall Street Journal said this is a book for our uncertain times that will soothe young readers like a healing balm. Here are some other wonderful books by Lauren Wolk which I have mentioned previously:

Beyond the Bright Sea

Wolf Hollow

I would follow Echo Mountain with Black-Eyed Susan by Jennifer Armstrong; Shiloh by Phyllis  Reynolds Naylor; and Shine Mountain by Julie Hunt.

The secret of Nightingale Wood by Lucy Strange

Connections ..

At the end of last term a number of my classes and I shared the wonderful book The Talking Eggs. Blanche, the hero of the story, goes to the house of the old woman and encounters multicoloured chickens that sing like nightingales.  I like finding connections like this.  We don't have nightingales here in Australia but I found this little film of one singing and it certainly is a beautiful sound.   The famous fairy tales of Hans Christian Anderson and in particular The Nightingale  is another interesting connection with The secret of Nightingale Wood.  On the 2nd April we celebrated the birthday of Hans Christian Anderson and copies of this fairly tale were part of my display.

"I had always been Henry, even though my full name was Henrietta Georgina Abbott. Maybe my parents wanted two boys.  Now that my brother Robert had gone, they had two girls. Just me and Piglet."

Listen to an audio sample read by the author herself from Chapter 8.  Here is a review well worth reading.  In this video the author talks about her book.

Lets start by looking at the names in this book :

Hope House - Little Henrietta does not stop hoping her mother will recover
Nightingale Wood - a place of mystery and magic
Helldon - the old lunatic asylum and a place that terrifies young Henry.

I read one review with the word atmospheric - the perfect word to describe this mysterious story. Henry with her mum, dad and new baby sister (nicknamed Piglet) have moved to Hope House - a long way from their original home in London.  Clearly there has been a tragedy.  Her brother Robert is dead but readers have to be patient to discover how this has happened. These events are slowly explained in a style reminiscent of The Secret Garden and Tom's Midnight Garden.  Almost as soon as they arrive at Hope House, Henry's father leaves.  The children are left in the care of Nanny Jane and a village lady called Mrs Berry who comes each day to cook their meals.  Father has also enlisted the help of the local doctor - Doctor Hardy.  Henry is immediately suspicious about his motives and methods and her fears are further confirmed when the doctor declares he intends to send Mrs Abbott to Helldon and carry off little baby Piglet to his own house.

"Dr Hardy's hands were fat and crushing, but his wife's were cold and scaly and her fingernails were thick, yellow claws.  I felt as if I had just shaken hands with a giant lizard."

Throughout this book there are references to classic children's stories, poetry and famous fairy tales.  Perhaps reading this book might inspire young readers to seek out these classics.

Here are a few :

• The Railway Children
• The Secret Garden
• Wind in the Willows
• The Owl and the Pussycat
• Alice in Wonderland
• The Red Shoes
• The Pied Piper of Hamelin
• Peter Pan
• Treasure Island
• Little Women