No Purchase Necessary by Maria Marianayagam

I got to the section with the Mercury bars and stared at the chocolate bar in front of me, my heart pounding so loud I was sure Scary Al could hear it from behind the till. I glanced up at the cash register. Scary Al was ringing up a customer. I should do it now, I told myself, but my hands trembled in my pockets. What on earth was I doing? This was not me. ... “Some people must steal to survive,” I whispered to myself. I needed to do this to survive Bridge Creek. I’d find a way to pay for it someday.

Ajay and his family (father, mother and younger sister) have come to America from Sri Lanka. Amma and Appa have very high expectations for their children. Ajay does not want to disappoint them, so it seems easier to tell them a lie about the grade for his poetry assignment. His father expects Ajay to always score over 90 but for this assignment, set by Ms Livingston, where students had to respond to the Robert Frost poem ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay', Ajay scored 79. This lie, telling his parents he scored 90, is the first of many. You could think of the term 'slippery slope'.

Ajay is a new student at Bridge Creek Middle School. Jacob is also fairly new too, but Jacob is a bully and has already acquired a couple of thuggish friends. Early in the story there is a terrible scene where Jacob sees Ajay eating a Sri Lankan Sandwich: 

"Just as I was about to take a bite of my sandwich, Jacob walked up with his goons. He stopped in front of me, blocking out the daylight, and my insides went as cold as my outside. He looked at my sandwich and scrunched up his face. “What’s this stinky sandwich, Uhh-jay?” That also wasn’t my name. ... “Swi Lunk what?” Jacob howled. “What kind of meat is that?” Brad and Eric snickered again. ... “Yeah, it’s gross,” I said, and immediately felt guilty. It was my favorite. “You should throw it out,” he said as he munched his chocolate bar mindlessly. I’d never tried a Mercury bar, and here he was chewing it like a piece of stale gum. He was testing me, and I was ready. I needed to prove to Jacob Underson that I could be cool. Carefree. I shrugged. “Okay.” I walked over to the trash can and threw out my uneaten sandwich. Jacob smirked, then turned around and walked away."

From that day on it broke my heart to read that Ajay always bought a simple ham and cheese sandwich to school. He also cleared his locker every day and carried every book home just in case he needed one for a school assignment. Ajay puts so much pressure on himself. Thank goodness he does excel at maths and karate. 

It's that chocolate bar that leads to the next problem and the incident that 'snowballs' into so many terrible lies and dilemmas for Ajay. Jacob tells Ajay to steal a Mercury Bar from Scary Al's store. Ajay is terrified but also desperate for approval so he takes the chocolate and stashes it in the waist band of his trousers. Jacob is 'mock' horrified and he tosses the treat away. When Ajay picks it up he finds he has won the prize. But how can he claim this million dollar prize when he didn't buy the chocolate; and how can he tell his parents; and what about Scary Al, the store owner - surely, he will contact the police; and then there is the complication of his new friend Mindy - the way all of this happened this chocolate bar should have been her purchase. Oh and what do the words "no purchase necessary" actually mean?

There is so much tension in this story which is driven by the complex moral dilemma of what to do if you win one million dollars but actually it seems impossible to claim the prize.

Here are a couple of text quotes:

My throat tightened. That was the thing about Appa and Amma. They could be one hundred percent scary and one hundred percent loving at the same time. And maybe we were all like that. Not a list of things, but a messy pile—jumbled, overlapping, and contradicting.

I wanted to tell them about the chocolate bar, but my heart started palpitating when I thought about it. I couldn’t. The right thing to do was to let it go, I decided. I’d paid Al back. I wasn’t redeeming the prize. It was time to move on and start over. But for some reason, it still felt like I had miles to go before I got some sleep.

I had all these rituals because I wanted my life to be perfect. Perfect student. Perfect son. Perfect everything. And what about my life was perfect anymore? Nothing. I was a thief. And now I’d nearly killed someone.

He cleared his throat. “We put high expectations on you because we don’t want you to ever struggle the way we have. We do it because we want you to have better lives than we’ve had.” He turned to Aarthi. “But maybe, somewhere along the way, we became too hard on you.”

For more plot details read this detailed plot summary by Ms Yingling - I love her final comment:

This made me SO anxious the whole time I was reading it, which just shows how good the writing was, but it was not a good feeling! I thought of a dozen different ways that Ajay would have been able to claim the prize, and it was frustrating when he didn't take any of my advice! 

Here in Australian you will need to wait to read this book. I read an ebook version. The print copy (256 pages) is only in hardcover so far and it is very expensive but hopefully a paperback edition is planned. This book will be devoured by readers aged 10+ and it fits that expression "windows and mirrors". For some this book will be a window into the life of a migrant family and the cultural expectations of parents and while others are sure to relate (mirrors) to the pressures placed on Ajay and his sister and the unfairness of the way Amma and Appa are treated in their new country. 

Maria Marianayagam lives in Alberta, Canada: "My stories call upon a childhood and adulthood of multiple identities. I am a Canadian who was born in India. I am a Catholic but also Tamil Sri Lankan. I love writing but have a degree in chemical engineering. We all contain multitudes–and I draw on our intersections to inspire, empower, and engage young readers."

The novel’s plot twists will especially entrance and surprise younger audiences and those able to suspend disbelief and go with the flow of this completely age-appropriate and appealing story. Utter fun. Kirkus Star review

No Purchase Necessary is a warmhearted coming-of-age story about figuring out who you want to be and standing up for what’s right. Marianayagam has crafted an enjoyable, humorous, and thoughtful story that sheds light on immigrant struggles and the pressure kids face to be like their peers. Reading Middle Grade

Bookseller blurb: Ajay Anthonipillai has a million-dollar problem. Ajay has lived his life dutifully following the rules set by his Tamil parents.

• Rule #3: Straight As only
• Rule #5: There is no such thing as a no-homework day.
• Rule #10: Never watch scary movies.

However, moving to a new school gives Ajay a new rule to follow: Get on seventh-grade all-star Jacob Underson's good side. When Jacob asks him to steal a Mercury bar from Scary Al's convenience store, Ajay feels this is his chance to finally "get cool" and stop eating alone. But Jacob rejects the stolen chocolate bar, leaving Ajay to unwrap it and discover that it contains Mercury's Twenty-fifth Anniversary Grand Prize...one million dollars. Faced with an extreme dilemma, Ajay will have to bear the weight of his actions and battle his morality in deciding whether to claim the prize that may change the life of his family forever.

There are some interesting book and poetry references in this story. Ajay loves The Hardy Boys book series. Mindy loves Nancy Drew. Ms Livingston sets assignments on famous poems by Robert Frost: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening; and The Road Not Taken.

Companion books:

Scar Town

The Eleventh Trade

These two are for younger readers:

Bored Book One: Milo finds $105

Mr Chickee's Funny Money

The Worlds we Leave Behind by AF Harrold illustrated by Levi Pinfold

"They hadn't invited her, hadn't forced her, hadn't encouraged her, hadn't wanted her to come, but there she was, a little kid suddenly in their care. 

And now they were in the woods and it had all gone wrong."

Imagine you have hurt another child - you are a child yourself - and you most certainly did not mean for this to happen. Now think about the reaction of the older sibling of this child. Their anger spills over. You already feel so much guilt. But what if you meet someone who offers to remove one of the people from this event? To wipe out all trace of them. 

The little girl is Sascha. The boys are Hex and Thommo. Sascha follows the boys down to the river. The boys are there to ride on a rope swing. Sascha begs them for a turn but she is stuck and accidentally knocks into Hex. He is an impulsive boy who never thinks about consequences. He picks up a lump of mud and hurls it at the little girl. She falls and there is a snap as we hear her arm break. Thommo and Hex (Hector) have been friends forever. When Sacha falls Thommo runs away. Hex thinks he has deserted him but actually he has gone for help. When the older brother and sister of Sacha arrive, Hex leaves quietly knowing an ambulance is coming. That night, though, he feels terrible. On Monday he visits his old friend Thommo but he is turned away. He decides to revisit the rope swing but when he arrives Sacha's sister Maria arrives and in her anger she lashes out at Hex. 

He runs away and finds himself in a strange part of the woods outside a small cottage. He meets an old woman and her dog. She offers him comfort and more:

"How many were there? ... 'Two' he said. 'Yes. And look, you are just one.' ... 'Don't you wish you could do something? ... I can help. I can even the score. I can make it so they never hurt you again."

Revenge. Retribution. The woman offers to make the world forget the kids who caused him harm. 

"Only you would know they'd ever existed at all. And your world will heal, reshape itself around the hole ... No one will miss them or remember them. No one will be hurt by their loss ... "

The woman gives him an acorn. He is told to crush it if he wants these kids removed. What he doesn't know is that Maria, Sascha's sister, has also visited the old woman and she also has an acorn.

And what about Thommo - it seems he has totally forgotten Hex ever existed and yet every now and then he gets a niggling feeling that something is wrong. 

This is one of the strangest, most disturbing, and yet intriguing books I have ever read. And I need to say there is no neat resolution. Older readers might link this story with a fairy tale such as Hansel and Gretel but this tale is way more sinister and it has no happily ever after. 

Blub from publisher page: Hex never meant for the girl to follow him and his friend Tommo into the woods. He never meant for her to fall off the rope swing and break her arm. When the finger of blame is pointed at him, Hex runs deep into the woods and his fierce sense of injustice leads him to a strange clearing in the woods – a clearing that has never been there before – where an old lady in a cottage offers him a deal. She'll rid the world of those who wronged him and Hex can carry on his life with them all forgotten and as if nothing ever happened. But what Hex doesn't know is someone else has been offered the same deal. When Hex's best friend Tommo wakes up the next day, he is in a completely different world but he only has murmurs of memories of the world before. Moments of deja vu that feel like Tommo's lived this day before. Can Tommo put the world right again? Back to how it was? Or can he find a way to make a new world that could be better for them all?

Compact and disquieting: a horror story with plenty of food for thought. Kirkus

... this isn’t a blood-and-guts-type horror story. Instead, it’s a nuanced story of friendship, social nuances, betrayal and eventually vindication. There’s magic, mystery and things that lurk in the dark. Cracking the Cover

Harrold’s solutions to the alternative worlds that might be produced by the children’s absences are thought provoking, and the explanation he provides for the witch’s intervention in the children’s lives owes as much to a vintage American tv series as to the brothers Grimm. It’s a handsomely produced tale about the darkness that can come to any of us on any day, the decisions that we take or avoid, and the possibilities, for good or ill, that stem from those choices. A perceptive and disturbing book. Books for Keeps

The book is illustrated throughout by Levi Pinfold’s beautiful black and white drawings which create a haunting atmosphere, reinforcing the author’s narrative and sometimes reaching even further into a world of horror and the supernatural. Just Imagine

I have a bit of a 'love hate' relationship with books by AF Harrold. I found The Song from Somewhere else difficult to read because of the violent bullying and I shudder whenever I see The Imaginary in a bookstore. That book disturbed me SO much. On the other hand, is earlier books about Fizzlebert Stump were all terrific. 

Here are two other books illustrated by Levi Pinfold who now lives in Queensland. His book Paradise Sands is truly spectacular.

Paradise Sands

The Secret Horse of Briar Hill

Our Sister, again by Sophie Cameron

"Welcome to Project Homecoming and exclusive trial by Second Chances Ltd.

You are part of one of the most ambitious and pioneering projects ever carried out in the field of Artificial Intelligence. 

One that, if successful will change how we think about 

and experience life and death forever."

Life is a mystery and so is death but we do know that when someone dies we cannot see them again. In books there is an unwritten rule that death is never reversed or so it seems to me. In this book a young girl is 'brought' back and this has huge implications. This book will most certainly make readers think deeply about grief, death, what it means to be human and also the implications of technology in our lives.

Isla's sister has died. Mum is wrapped up in grief and so when she reads about a way to bring Flora back to 'life' she readily agrees. What does this mean? What are the implications for the family of agreeing to the Second Chances Homecoming Project. What are the implications for the community who have all signed confidentially agreements? And what about the other teenagers who were friends with Flora? They have grieved and attended her funeral and now she is back. But they are older because three years have passed. If this version of Flora is frozen in time and only has the memories. possibly unreliable memories, collected by Second Chances, is she a real person? Mum does not want to see the truth and dad is sure this is totally wrong, so he has left the family and moved away from their island home. Now that Flora is back should she go back to school? Is there any point in sitting exams? And of course, the kids in her class from before have left the school and are at college.

Is Flora person or a robot? "As Flora turns towards the harbour steps her hair falls to the side and shows the back of her pale neck. ... Carved into her skin, only just visible above her jacket, is a small square."

Is this Flora, really Flora? "The returnee has been created using vast amounts of data, in addition to photos, videos and extensive interviews with your loved one's friends and family."

"Our returnees look entirely human ... We are confident that this new arrival will be an extremely close match to the person you remember. However, please be aware that there are some differences. Returnees do not need to sleep, they cannot be fully submerged in water, (they do not need to eat), and they don't fall sick with human illnesses."

The food part about the returnee made my stomach squirm. In the first few days Flora does eat with the family but the food goes into a food compartment in her body and she has to regularly empty it. Eventually she just gives up this charade of eating. 

"Losing Flora so young made me realise that growing old is a gift not everyone gets."

Dad "doesn't think she's human ... He says you can't rebuild a soul and you can't be a human without a soul."

Exploring a number of ethical questions, Our Sister, Again is simultaneously an intriguing mystery and a moving story of grief, family bonds, and what it means to be human.  Book Trust

It's an emotional story, and heartwarming too. The Book Bag (read this full review - it is very thoughtful)

This is an incredibly powerful, compelling and absorbing read that raises issues around personhood, ethics and social media.  ... And, that ending – it brought tears and smiles – and was exquisite! Book Craic

Bilal's Brilliant Bee by Michael Rosen

If I still worked in my school library I would most definitely add this book to my collection because firstly, and this might seem strange, but I love Bilal's name. We had very few children in my previous school with multicultural heritage. Equally this book could be terrific in a school where there are kids with the name Bilal which is an Arabic or Turkish name. Secondly, I do like the moral dilemma layer of this story. Did Bilal cheat and so should he confess? These books (see below) are short with only 90 illustrated pages and short chapters that are sure to keep readers turning the pages guessing how the story could possibly have a happy ending.

Bilal finds schoolwork difficult. He never seems to be able to find the 'right' answer to the questions asked by his teachers but one day a bee arrives in his classroom and, very surprisingly, Bumble the Bee is able to give Bilal answers to those pesky questions. 

After school Bilal watches a television a quiz show What's what? Win the Lot! with his grandmother. Now that he has the help of Bumble he is able to answer any question on the quiz which consists of 101 questions. The winner takes home every prize in the studio. The early questions are easy but of course they get harder and harder. So far no one has ever won this quiz. I am sure you have guessed that Bilal goes on the quiz show and he answers nearly every question with the help of Bumble. 

Then comes questions 101 - What is the barcode on the label on the bottle of water in my pocket? An impossible question and certainly one Bumble the Bee cannot answer but I am certain Bilal will surprise you.

Typical of former Children's Laureate Michael Rosen, this book is funny, sly and gloriously accompanied by Tony Ross' instantly recognisable bold illustrations. Book Trust

This book is one title from a set of eight books by Michael Rosen illustrated by Tony Ross. Strangely one online book seller lists books from this series as over AUS$23 while another lists them at just over AUS$14. It pays to shop around. Bilal's Brilliant Bee was published in 2016 but it is still available. 

I have previously talked about Choosing Crumble.

The Wrong Shoes by Tom Percival

From the opening lines of this book a reader will know this will be a story filled with raw emotions, pain and sadness but hopefully also, well, hope!

"This is no fairy tale. Not unless it's one of those really old fashioned ones, where basically a whole load of terrible stuff happens to some poor unsuspecting kid. ... But you know what? Even in those stories where people get ripped in half, chewed up and spat out, eventually there's a happy ending. And that's the difference, see? Because this is just my life, and nothing's guaranteed."

Will is a high school student. He lives with his dad who has lost his job and has been in a workplace accident. Mum left some time ago and she lives in a different part of the city with her new partner. There is no money which means there is very little food and certainly no extras - go back and read the title - Will IS wearing the wrong shoes. No, this does not mean they are not the latest fashion though of course that is true. But there is more to it. These shoes are wrong because they are old, second hand, and have a split in the sole. When it rains, and it seems to rain quite a lot in this story, Will's feet get wet. His feet are cold and Will is cold and he is also hungry. These shoes also mean he stands out at school and is an easy target for bullies and cruel comments. Will also has no school supplies, and his school bag is from years ago. His one consolation is that he loves to draw. But as the story opens Will bumps into the school bully. It is raining, his shoes are wrong and then Chris Tucker (the bully) grabs Will's bag and his precious notebook filled with drawings is thrown into a puddle. And this is only the first of a series of utterly dreadful events.

Will does have one true friend but Cameron has such different life circumstances. His family are well off. He lives in a large comfortable home, and he has plenty to eat and he has in fact just been given expensive new shoes. In an act of kindness Cameron offers his old shoes to Will, but Will cannot see this as a kindness. He thinks Cameron's offer comes from pity. Will is way too proud to accept charity and so this precious friendship is shattered.

Meanwhile Will gains some information about Chris Tucker. He sees him being recruited into a gang of older kids who commit crimes around the town such as shoplifting and probably worse. Chris suddenly changes his manner towards Will. He seems to understand what it is like to live on the 'wrong side of town'. But Will needs to be careful because Chris has his own purposes for befriending Will and before too long Will is going to find himself in a shop stealing something for Chris. 

Tom Percival does give his readers one tiny glimpse of hope early in this story when Will sees a huge and majestic owl. Later in his art class at school he draws this special creature and his art teacher pays Will a huge compliment.

"That's incredible,' says Mr Prince. 'Really, it's remarkable ...' His warm deep voice pauses ... Usually I'm about as happy to get a compliment as a cat is to be sprayed with cold water, but on this occasion I smile. He's right. It really is something special - even I can see that."

Then there is the good news about an art competition with a huge money prize but remember those opening sentences I shared at the start of this post. Perhaps real life is not actually about happy endings?

Books enable us to see into lives we have no awareness of, and they also can reflect our own situations back at us, making us feel seen. I hope that any child who reads this book and is currently struggling will take Will’s resilience, determination and hope to heart and will keep going, keep working as hard as they can to do the best that they can, despite the obvious unfairness of it all. Tom Percival in The Big Issue

You will hold your breath reading this book. In fact I had to keep putting it down and desperately hoping other terrible things would not happen to Will. I am so glad I have read this book. The writing is so powerful - I was hugely invested in Will. I wanted to help him, talk to him, comfort him and guide him to stop and think about his choices and reactions. I kept hoping he would reach out to the adults in his life - his dad (he thinks he needs to protect him); his mum and her partner; and his teachers especially his wonderful art teacher. 

Huge congratulations to Tom Percival on his first full length novel. Here is an interview with Books for Keeps. The interview says:  ‘Realistically I wanted it to be a good story, a good journey, for people to feel transported. I want them to feel Will is real, that they’ve met him and understand him a bit. I want people like Will to feel seen, for people to make an effort to understand them even if they’ve misjudged them, and I want the Wills to feel that they’re right to be angry, that things aren’t fair and shouldn’t be like that.’

I picked this book up from one of our large chain bookstores in the city. They have a display shelf as you walk into the children's book section with the new release titles. The bottom shelves are usually Middle Grade and Younger and then as you go up the shelves the titles move to Young Adult. The Wrong Shoes was on a low shelf BUT from my reading I'd like to suggest it is a Young Adult title - I would say 12+. 

It is, at times, quite a dark tale. I felt so desperately sorry for Will, and his emotional turmoil is so raw sometimes it's very moving. And yet there is always this glimmer of hope underneath. The hope of things turning out for the best in the end. The story ends in a positive manner, but gratifyingly without an unbelievable 'everything is brilliant' ending, making it a more realistic and therefore satisfying conclusion. The Bookbag (this is a fabulous review but she suggests ages 9+ but I think this book is way too confronting for that age.)

• ‘An extraordinary, powerful and moving book that has the potential to change lives.’ Hannah Gold
• ‘Every chapter is full of experience & empathy & most importantly, heart’ Phil Earle
• ‘Reading fiction is about walking in the shoes of people whose lives are very different to ours and allowing more readers to see themselves in stories. The Wrong Shoes is the perfect example of both – the right book at the right time’ Tom Palmer
• ‘A brilliant book – such a perfect marriage of words and illustrations and an important story told with real heart’ Christopher Edge
• ‘A hopeful, honest, big-hearted read. You’ll be rooting for the main character, Will, from the very first page . . .’ Clara Vulliamy

Here are some other books I recommend. They are all for readers aged 11+ but they have similar themes and tone:

The Truth as told to Mason Buttle

Shelter

A different dog

Night bus Hero

As right as rain

I recognised the author Tom Percival on the cover of The Wrong Shoes.  I really enjoyed some of his previous picture book titles:

The Invisible

The River

The Sea Saw

Herman's Letter

The Midnight Children by Dan Gemeinhart

"The feeling that woke Ravani Foster on this moonlit night? 
It was loneliness."

"This story, like all stories, is about choices. And Ravani in that moment, chose to not hide. Instead he raised his hand in a silent wave. 

Sometimes, when two lonely souls find each other, there is a reaching out. 

The girl bought her own hand up. But not in a wave. She raised a single finger to her lips. She made no sound, but there was no mistaking what she was saying: Shhh."

Ravani lives in a town named Slaughterville. Yes, it is a small town with an abattoir and this place is the main employer. Ravani's dad works there, and I do need to give a warning that sensitive readers might find the early scenes in this book very distressing but stick with me this book is fabulous!!

Late one night Ravani sees a strange scene outside from his upstairs window. Ravani lives at the end of a dead-end street called Offal Road. Up until this night the house next door has been empty. The old man who previously lived there, he was the local undertaker, has now moved into an aged care home. As Ravani Foster, who has woken in the middle of the night, looks out from his room he sees a large white truck arrive, and from out of the back step seven children ranging in age from five or six up to sixteen or seventeen. The final child, a girl about his age, takes a little longer to emerge. There are no adults.

"Her hair, which was tied back with a black ribbon, looked silver in the moonlight. But Ravani thought that in the sunlight it would look gold. She wore blue jeans and a white T-shirt. One hand held a suitcase, just like the other children, but the other held something else: A white umbrella. The lacy, pretty kind that fancy ladies carried at fancy events like horse races or country picnics. ... She looked left, and then she looked right, and then she looked up."

These children, especially that girl, are set to change Ravani's life and later even the whole community. 

I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but this book feels like a jigsaw - you need to pay attention to every little piece because Dan Gemeinhart very cleverly and neatly ties all the pieces together into a very, very satisfying ending. 

Here are some important text quotes:

"The cow watched his approach. Its ears perked up. Ravani stopped in front of the condemned creature. He put his hand on the barbed wire and looked into its eyes. There was a sparkle there. A warmth.  ... Ravani looked around quickly. There was no one in sight. ... A choice was made. A mistake, perhaps, but a choice to be sure. Ravani undid the latch."

"I'm not looking for a friend' she said. 'Me neither,' he lied."

"Tears spang hot to Ravani's eyes. Tears because Donnie's knee hurt, tears because he had dirt in his mouth, tears because he was tired of the cruelty and the loneliness, and tears most of all because he knew it was no use. That no matter what he did, no matter what he did or didn't say, that he would always be the sparrow caught in the kestrel's claws."

"He was tired to his soul of being lonely. And he'd thought for too long: Someday. Someday I'll be happy. Someday I'll have a friend."

"The first secret is that I have secrets ... the rest you'll have to wait for."

"The paper was long - really four of five pieces taped together. Drawn all the way down it, in ruler perfect neatness, were piano keys. Pencil lines marked the ivory keys, black keys scribbled dark with black crayon. 'This is my practice piano,' Virginia said ...'It's almost as good as having a real piano.'"

I also love some of the words and expressions used by Virginia - bullspit; no sweet Juniper; cheese and rice Rav - I said a spider not a rattlesnake; and holy spit, mister. Oh and the character names like Hortense Wallenbach - editor of the local newspaper and Mrs Grunchly - boat race official. And when Rav's mum invites Virginia over for piano lessons the piano I sighed with happiness. Oh, and each kid has a special talent - thank goodness for this. (You might relate this to Savvy by Ingrid Law).

Bookseller blurb: In the dead of night, a truck arrives in Slaughterville, a small town curiously named after its windowless slaughterhouse. Seven mysterious kids with suitcases step out of the vehicle and into an abandoned home on a dead-end street, looking over their shoulders to make sure they aren't noticed. But Ravani Foster covertly witnesses their arrival from his bedroom window. Timid and lonely, Ravani is eager to learn everything he can about his new neighbors: What secrets are they hiding? And most mysterious of all...where are the adults? Yet amid this shadowy group of children, Ravani finds an unexpected friend in the warm and gutsy Virginia. But with this friendship comes secrets revealed—and danger. When Ravani learns of a threat to his new friends, he must fight to keep them safe, or lose the only person who has ever understood him.

The place names in Slaughterville set the tone for life in this town - Carcass Creek; Skinister Slaughterhouse; and Red River.

Ranani loves birds - try to find Twitch by MG Leonard. And the way the children are being hunted reminded me of the movie scenes with Robert Helpmann from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. 

Listen to an audio sample from page 2 onwards. In this interview Dan talks about his book. And here is Dan reading his first few pages. Here are some very detailed teachers notes. 

Reading a book like The Midnight Children I marvel at the imagination of authors like Dan Gemeinhart. This is a story of extreme contrasts, of the deepest of friendships and it is an exploration of complex relationships.

A story of fierce friendship, bravery, loyalty, and finding—or making—a place to belong. Kirkus Star review

Colby Sharp 'This is the book that will stay in their heart. ... from the opening pages you will know that this book is special! ... Read it, it's PERFECT.'

Stop and look at the cover - a young boy has filled a jar with fireflies, his face is bathed in their light, it is very dark and we assume very late. Stretch out the cover - there are five other children watching this boy - hidden among the trees. The boy looks quite well dressed whereas one of the other children is wearing patched pants that are perhaps too big or too small. 

One of the things that happens when you read lots of books (from around the world and from here in Australia too) is you start to 'know' some authors and this makes it easy to anticipate a terrific story. I was so keen to read this book I bought it in hardcover so here in Australia it cost over AUS$30. I do hope a paperback edition is released so you can add this to your own shelves or library collection.  I also adored this book by Dan Gemeinhart:

The Remarkable story of Coyote Sunrise I really want to read the sequel Coyote Lost and Found

Years ago, I read another book by Dan Gemeinhart and then I am so happy to say I convinced a Grade Six teacher to read it to her class - and everyone (children and teacher) enjoyed it! This is important because this teacher (as with many others) was locked in to reading the same books to her class year and year - I rejoice that I expanded her horizons just a little.

The Honest Truth

Here is the third book I have read by Dan Gemeinhart - but I need to give a warning - there are some very violent parts to this story - it was a harrowing book to read but it also a very powerful story of redemption that is sure to linger with you.

Good Dog

Read these quotes from Dan Gemeinhart about his writing - ithey resonates with me:

I do agonize over every line, and I do a lot of cutting things out and putting things back in and changing things out and all that kind of stuff, trying to make it right, especially for a young reader. Like, I take that responsibility really seriously, that these kids have a lot going on in their lives, these younger readers, and a lot you’re competing with, you’re competing with sports in school and PlayStations and all these things and Tik Toks, phones and all that stuff. And so, I want my books to be books that young readers enjoy, and they want to read the next chapter, and they’re drawn into it to the magic of the story. And I don’t want to waste their time because they’re pretty busy.

So, one of my steps of revising, because I’ve got three kids, is when I finish a rough draft, I then read it out loud to my family because we read books together every night anyway. And so, when I finish a book okay, now we’re going to read Dad’s terrible rough draft, and reading it out loud is a great way to find those false notes where it looks good. You on the page, in your head, it sounded fine, and then you read out loud, and it sounds fake, or it sounds cheesy, it sounds too much, or it just sounds false.

... books aren’t just a great way to spend a summer day or to entertain you. Like, you can learn something, you can say something, you can really experience something bigger than yourself through stories.

Companion books:

The Greatest Show on Earth

The Collected works of Gretchen Oyster

The truth as told to Mason Buttle

When Zachary Beaver came to Town

Scar Town by Tristan Bancks

 

"The three of us lean on our handlebars, breathing and sweating hard, late afternoon sun pinkening our skin and the sky. We stare at the house that's poking from the water about fifty metres from shore - weatherboards caked in mud and water weed, a ragged monster rising from the deep. Only the attic and half a storey below are visible above the waterline."

You could introduce this book using this sentence. What do we know? There are three kids - perhaps they are friends. A house is rising out of the water. Why? What could have caused this? How does the phrases 'a ragged monster rising from the deep' make you feel? Does this change the things you anticipated about this story? Think about the contrasts here - extreme heat and (possibly) murky water.

Will is with his friends - twins Dar and J. J's real name is Juno but watch out she will punch you if you call her that name. This house, rising up from the lake, is so tempting. It is part of the old town that was flooded to make way for a new dam many years ago but with the drought the town is slowing reappearing. J is clearly the leader of this group, and she declares they all need to swim out to the house to investigate. Will is cautious but he decides to follow his friends. Inside the house they make two life changing discoveries - money, lots of it, and human bones. 

Scar Town feels like a real place - this is the prophetic nick name of Scarborough. Perhaps you have seen towns like this where there is a new town built beside an older town which is now submerged under a lake. The town has been 'drowned' to allow a dam to be built. An example of this is Adaminaby, a small farming town nestled in the Snowy Mountains on the border between New South Wales and Victoria states, was submerged under 30 metres of water in 1957 when the local valley was dammed to form the man-made Lake Eucumbene. In 2007 Australia was under drought conditions and so slowly the old town began to reveal itself. This is exactly the scene in Scar Town.

Will's father was the town cop. Seven years ago he, and nine other people, disappeared. Will and his mum have stayed in the town but their anger over the inaction of the authorities who never seemed to fully investigate what happened gives this whole story an undertone of grief, blame and unresolved anger. There is also a layer of decision making/moral dilemma. Should Will tell the police, or his mum or someone important about the money? Is it possible those bones might be his dad? Why is so hard to say no to J? Is this whole mystery way too big for three kids to handle?

Here are some text quotes to give you a flavor of the story:

"We've come across plenty of bones in the past year with the drought. Some famers had to walk away from their properties, leaving cattle to die. But these look different, and I wish like anything that we'd just taken the money and run."

"I want to shout at her that it might be my dad in that wall, but I know she'll tell me that's the perfect reason to go back to the house, and I can't do that. I want to keep my share of the money as much as she does. If I could find out what happened to my dad and use the money to help get mum and me out of Scar Town, my life would be two hundred per cent better."

"When mum first told me my dad had disappeared, I thought she was saying he'd become invisible. Being a cop, my dad was already a superhero, but invisible! That was next level. I used to set a place at the table for him and tell guests not to sit in a certain seat because Dad was sitting there. It wasn't my mum's favourite thing. I don't know how many times she explained he wasn't invisible. He was gone."

I often make predictions for our CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) awards. I am absolutely certain Scar Town will be on the 2024 Younger Readers Notables list, and the short list and at this stage (there are still a few reading months to go) I am going to predict Scar Town will be the 2024 winner!! Yes, it is that good and YES you need to read this book and put it into the hands of your mature readers aged 10+. Here are some Teachers Notes for Scar Town. Listen to an audio sample. Read the first few pages here including my text quote at the start of this post. 

Short, punchy sentences, along with realistic dialogue create instantly relatable, believable characters. Tristan has a way of weaving words into graphic vividly cinematic scenes full of tension and strong emotion.  Serious themes of friendship, family, and loss underpin the fast paced action making this much more than just a thrill ride read. Story Links

Bancks has again written an un-putdownable read that races along and puts the reader firmly in the position of having to consider what they would do if they were in that situation. By creating characters that are, in so many ways, just like them, Bancks hooks the reader into being more than just an observer, and places them in the position of having to take a stance. The Bottom Shelf

I have enjoyed EVERY recent book by Tristan Bancks:

Two Wolves

Detention

Cop and Robber

The Secret of the Magic Pearl by Elisa Sabatinelli illustrated by Iacopo Bruno translated by Christopher Turner

Publisher blurb: Hector lives with his family at the Marina in an Italian coastal town where they organize tourist expeditions to explore the many wonders of the sea. Hector’s dream is to become a deep-sea diver, just like his father. Then, one day, an unscrupulous entrepreneur opens a much newer center next door, forcing them to close their business. This man has a single purpose, to find the legendary Pearl in order to sell it and make money. Hector decides to find a way to thwart the plan and save what matters most to him: the sea, his family, and his dream.

This book was published in 2021 but it is a new discovery for me. I'm sure I have seen the cover on Social Media so when I saw this in the library I visit each week [they purchased it in March 2023] I grabbed it quickly. The format of this book is one I really love. A large size illustrated story - not a picture book and not quite a small junior novel - although that is the intended audience. The story is told in just seventy pages with a colourful illustration or two on every page. 

The chapters are divided using a full page illustration based on Nautical flags and each chapter has a heading which gives you an idea of the plot line:

1."About why the story of the Pearl is the truest"

2. "About why Amedeo Limonta is the bad guy in this story."

7. "About why sinking in the sea is like walking on the moon."

13. "About why I am, and always will be, a deep sea diver."

Here is the deep sea diving suit used by Hector's dad:

Here are some text quotes from this book:

"I have tomatoes on toast for breakfast. I put on my diving suit and Mom takes a photo of me near the fridge and next to Dad's diving suit. Before she lets me go, she gives me a hug and says 'Be careful! Keep your eyes wide open. You're going to see marvelous things down there! Break a leg!' She always says this thing about breaking a leg. I've go no idea what it means."

"The moment I'm in the water I feel a unique silence - as if someone has closed off the world with a stopper. How much water is in the sea? I'd love to measure it."

"The first day is a big success.  Hundreds of people line up to see the Pearl, which shines with a glow that takes everyone's breath away. No one needs a flash to take a photo; the Pearl shines a light of her own."

The Kirkus Star review said: Beautiful, remarkable, amazing, and wonderful in every way. 

The setting for this story reminded me of this picture book:

For Love

This book was originally written in Italian with the title Mio padre e un palombaro. 

Now for the bad news [again sorry]. Here in Australia this book costs over AUS$35 and so I am sure it is going to be way too expensive for the average Primary School to consider. Perhaps it will be released in paperback soon and if that happens I highly recommend this as a splendid addition to your collection. It could also be a terrific read aloud for Grades 3 or 4. You can see inside this book here [in Italian]. Here is a delightful short video with subtitles where the author and illustrator introduce their book. Read more about Red Comet Press here. I am very keen to see Peng's Vase by Paolo Proietti which is a book from this publisher.  It looks like a terrific companion book to go with The Empty Pot by Demi.

Review comments for The Secret of the Magic Pearl:

“Beautifully illustrated with magical pictures by Iacopo Bruno, this Italian fantasy by Elisa Sabatinelli takes us to a village out of time with a boy who loves the ocean and dreams of diving like his father and grandfather before him. Keep an eye out for this book and the other titles from Red Comet Press! Bravo!”  – Brian Selznick, Caldecott Medal Winner

Spellbinding. Sabatinelli creates an energetic and guileless voice in Hector, as he describes the settings and unique characters surrounding him with beautiful, evocative language; readers are transported to windswept coastal Italy, witness to small town shenanigans and stormy sea journeys with the turn of each page. Bruno’s illustrations are equally immersive, seamlessly weaving through the chapters with spreads and margin artwork that is sometimes educational, sometimes comical, and always captivating. Baby Book Worm

If you like the idea of large format illustrated books with splendid stories look for these:

Mysterious Traveller

Night Sky Dragons