Detention by Tristan Bancks

I hardly know where to begin with this utterly splendid book. The story line still haunts me hours after I finished it. Reading this book yesterday consumed me. I started on my morning train, spent my day working as a library volunteer and finished the book on the train coming home. I was desperate to see how things turned out but, as with all the best books, I felt bereft once it ended. Not because the ending was sad (although there are still things to be resolved) but because the glorious experience of reading such a beautifully told and finely nuanced story was over.

Dan has a very difficult life. His home is in a run down caravan in a park filled with lost, lonely, poor and displaced people. Some are former criminals. Dan's mum is rarely home and Dad is struggling at school. He has been placed in a special class for reading. I found his description of the class so poignant and powerful:

"Miss Aston calls the class 'Reading Superstars' to try and make them feel like they're the Avengers ... Dan's embarrassed to be in a 'special class'. She can call him a superstar all she likes but he doesn't see illiteracy or dyslexia or whatever as a superpower."

Being in this class feels like detention every Thursday morning for the small group of students but for the second voice in this story detention truly is a reality. Sima and her family have been living in an Australian immigration detention facility on the mainland for over six months and this has come after their frightening escape from Afghanistan, long months in a camp in Indonesia, a frightening boat trip across the open ocean to Australia and over a year of being detained on Christmas Island. Today is the day Sima and others will attempt an escape. The detention centre is near Dan's school. The escape goes badly wrong, Sima is separated from her family and she finds herself on the run. The police are looking for Sima and Dan's school is put into lock down. Sima takes refuge in the boy's toilet. Tristan Bancks made me feel I was really there with Sima. I could smell the awful stench and feel her utter terror as she tries to prevent boys entering her cubicle.

Earlier in the day, Dan has found a dog that has been abused. He is desperate to help the dog but he has to spend the morning in class. He plans to run back to the dog as soon as this class is over but then the school alarm rings for the lock down. Dan becomes quite desperate to get away because he needs to get water to this dog. He convinces the teacher to let him go to the toilets. He hears a noise and finds Sima. Police are patrolling the school. Here is a true moral dilemma. Will Dan expose or hide Sima? Should he tell his teacher? Who is telling the truth about asylum seekers? Is it the authorities? Is it the media? Or should he believe Sima herself who explains the dangers if her family are sent back to Afghanistan.

The tension in this book is so palpable. The plot just races along and the individual voices of both characters demand to be heard. For me this is certainly a five star book. I should also mention the chapters are oragnised as alternate voices. This is a form I really enjoy and Tristan is able to give Ben and Sima distinct voices which resonate with honesty. The device of time as chapter headings also drives the story which begins at 5.28am as Sima prepares to escape through the detention centre fence. The next chapter is just 3 minutes later. Dan joins the story at 7.32am and his next chapter it 7.37am. By page 203 the time is just 12.01pm on the same day.

I suggest age 11+ for this book which means it can be an addition to a Primary School library and in fact I would like to say it should be an added to every Primary and High School library. I will make a bold prediction that Detention will be short listed for several awards in future months including the CBCA 2020 awards. Detention was published on 2nd July this year. Huge thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my Advanced Reader Copy.

You can listen to an interview with Tristan here. This is a brilliant way to gain insights into his writing process. Also take a look at Tristan's web site.

Megan Daley said this book is OUTSTANDING and I thoroughly agree. Click here to read her review: Tristan’s writing is gripping, insightful and compassionate.

A bike like Sergio's by Maribeth Boelts illustrated by Noah Z Jones

The first thing I thought when I finished this book was - how clever to write a book with a strong moral message presented with such a light touch that you only consider the moral after reading. Then I read this decoloresreview and I saw some aspects of this story in a different way.  I am now planning to read this book to a group of Grade 2 children here in Sydney. None have ever experienced poverty, I don't think they will notice the skin colours used by Noah Z Jones but I do wonder what they may think of the 'message'.

Ruben has no bike. All of his friends have bikes but Ruben's family are poor. We know this because when his Mom writes her grocery list we see her counting the money in her purse and then crossing things off her list. 

For me this is not entirely a book about honesty it is also about 'walking in another person's shoes'.  Ruben picks up a dollar in the grocery store that has been dropped by a regular customer. He decides to keep the money - it is only a dollar he thinks. But when he gets home he discovers it is not one dollar it is one hundred dollars. When you are exploring this book in Australia you would need to show the children US money. In Australia our notes are all different colours and of course we no longer have a one dollar note. 

Ruben feels bad about the money and he also realises if he tries to spend it on that long desired bike serious questions will be asked. At the end of his first day with the money he checks his bag and discovers the money is gone. 

"Rain is falling as I retrace my steps from school to bike shop to home.

Leaves and money look the same.

Rain and tears feel the same.

It's nowhere."

Ruben suffers through another long day at school. To add to his torment their math topic is money. Ruben checks his bag one more time and discovers it is still there in a small zip pocket. He heads over the grocery store to buy milk and juice for his mom and sees the lady who lost the money. "I remember how it was for me when that money that was hers - then mine - was gone."

Here is the Kirkus review. Here is an excellent trailer made by the publisher. Take a look here at some other picture books about owning a bicycle. My friend at Kinderbookswitheverything also has a terrific Pinterest collection on this topic.

With a group of older students I would read Mr Chickee's Funny Money for another perspective on finding money.

Good Dog by Dan Gemeinhart

You. Me. Together. Always.

... one thing wouldn't budge: the hard tug of his love for that boy. That love was the biggest truth he could ever imagine.

His heart glowed to a gold more glorious than any Forever. It shone brighter than all the blue skies and green fields and sunny days of anywhere and everywhere put together.

A few years ago I read another Dan Gemeinhart book - The Honest Truth - it captivated me. Last month I spied this book by Dan at a library book fair and the Teacher-Librarian kindly gave me this copy. Good Dog is a 'harder' book than The Honest Truth. Harder in the sense of emotional distress. The lines between good and evil are powerfully drawn. The scenes between the hell hounds and our two dog heroes Brodie and Tuck are harrowing. This is not a book for the faint-hearted.

Brodie has died. As the story opens he is in the afterlife but this is a place of transition. Brodie cannot move on because he has unfinished business back with his boy. He is allowed to go back to the land of the living but there are conditions. He will be invisible to humans and his time will be short.

"You're not going back as you were. You're going back as you are. A spirit. Nothing more. You're going back to a living world ... but you're going back dead. ... Your spirit will still have life for a while, down there,' the angel said. 'You'll even be able to see the glow of it. But with each moment in that world, it will fade. When your glow is gone, Brodie, you'll be stuck. You'll be lost. Forever."

"Every time you really touch the world, every time you make yourself real enough to do something - like jump on a truck - it costs you a little bit of your soul. Even walking down this sidewalk right now, all this touching of the world ... it's taking a little of our souls, just a drop at a time."

Brodie listens to these warnings but he knows he simply has no choice. His boy needs him. Snatches of his former life and especially his final moments with Aiden play out in his mind in fragmented flashbacks. For the reader, these are like pieces of an unfolding puzzle. I enjoy storytelling like this where the reader has to put in some work to understand what has happened in the past.  The reader also has to trust the author will keep you safe over the course of this dangerous journey.

All of your senses will be on high alert when you read Good Dog. Here is an example - the hell hound bites into Brodie:

"Darkly's teeth sank into his shoulder. No. His teeth sank into ... him. It was like nothing he'd ever felt. His teeth sank deep, and a high, ripping whimper was torn from Brodie's throat. But it didn't feel like pain, this bite. It felt far worse than pain."

I'd like to talk about motivations at this point. Brodie needs to help his boy and this is easy to understand but what of Tuck? He is a loyal companion to Brodie but he also has unfinished business from his former life. Tuck is such a great dog. I wanted to reach out and hug him. He is full of life and bounce but it is the cat Patsy who is the most complex character and I found myself constantly questioning her true motives for helping Brodie.

"Why are you even here, Patsy? Really. If you don't wanna help, if you think we're too dumb and this whole thing is stupid, then why are you hanging around?' 'I told you, sausage-for-brains, I was bored.' 'No way,' Brodie snapped. 'You wouldn't come all this way and go through all this stuff just 'cause you were bored. There's gotta be another reason. Tell us. What is it?"

I would recommend Good Dog for a very mature senior Primary student. I would follow Good Dog with The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett and Dog by Andy Mulligan.  For a slightly younger audience take a look at One dog and his boy by Eva Ibbotson which has the same emotional arc. Here is a video where you can see Dan talking about his book. Click on the reviews below for more plot details.


Action-packed, highly suspenseful, and deeply moving. Perfect. Kirkus

Brodie senses before he thinks; his narrative flows in visceral waves of experience. These sensory pleasures are no match for the emotional sturdiness of Brodie’s good heart.  BookPage