The House at the Edge of the World by Nadine Aisha Jassat illustrated by

"A memory knocks on the door of my own chest

the leaves outside the library on our last day.

The one I'd held in my hand

as I wished for hope. ...

Did I call Hope House to us? ...

Or did the house call us to it?"

Amal and her sister Sara have been forced to leave their home which was in a small-town library run by their parents. Just as it seems the family of four will have nowhere to live a letter arrives telling them they have inherited a house.

This house is, as you would guess from the title of this book, quite spooking looking. Turn the cover upside down to see the house itself. The people from the nearby town of Middle Morrow do not hold back telling the family all the legendary ghost and horror stories they associate with this house over its century long history. 

None of this adds up though because the house itself seems so welcoming of the new family. They awake to find the kettle has been boiled and the fire is lit. Over their first few days the walls appear freshly painted and somehow the ragged curtains are repaired. 

Then two very shady people arrive and tell the family that they will be evicted because they have no claim to this house - they are not related to the late owner who died ten years ago. Now the race is on. The family, and especially Amal and Sara, have thirty days to solve this mystery and prove that they should be able to stay in this house which now feels like home.

I have had this book on loan from the library where I work as a volunteer for over two months. I keep renewing the loan and then not getting on to reading it.

Today I started this 306 page book (it is a verse novel of sorts) and I finished it this afternoon. If I still worked in my school library this is a book I would heartily recommend for readers aged 10+. Kids love to look like they are reading 'long' books and at 300+ pages this book look impressive but because of the verse-novel style setting out it is a very quick read. This book is called a verse novel and that is the format but really it felt more like a regular narrative with short lines - that's not a criticism just an observation.  You can see more books by Nadine Aisha Jassat here. 

The story is presented in a verse format with eye catching ‘chapter’ headings. This creates an impression of immediacy, of easy access to reading and would indeed attract many. However, much of the verse narrative could be presented in the more conventional prose format creating a more familiar flow without losing any momentum. Books for Keeps

This book also contains (and I am happy to say all of this feels very natural) a blended family. Mum is Muslim dad is Christian. Amal grapples with fairly serious mental health issues - she has the awful anxiety messages in her mind of 'what if' which always extrapolates to bad outcomes but she also has some terrific coping strategies. I should also mention Amal's sister Sara. I have read way too many books where teenage sisters treat their younger sisters so badly. It was so wonderful to read the opposite in this book. Sara is so kind and supportive of Amal and she understands her anxiety at a deeply intuitive level. This makes a natural partnership of the two sisters as they work together to solve the issue of who should own this special house. I also love their little dog called Po Tato.

Publisher blurb: When Amal and her family unexpectedly inherit the enchanted clifftop home, they can't believe their luck. But their joy is short-lived when a mysterious couple arrives, claiming the house is theirs and giving Amal's family just thirty days to pack up their stuff and leave before they demolish it completely. The clock is ticking, and Amal is determined to save Hope House from destruction. How will she unravel the secrets of the house and its mysterious benefactor in time to save it?

Companion books:

Out of the wild Night

The Swallowtail Legacy

The Parker Inheritance

Here is the Kirkus review

11 Ruby Road 1900 by Charlotte Barkla

Bookseller blurb: It is 1900 and Dorothy and her family have just moved to a new house at 11 Ruby Road. Ruby Road is a busy street, bustling with activity - families and children, noisy carts and animals. The house is close enough to see the city and very different from the rural life Dorothy has known. Best of all it has a secret writing room that only she knows about! Dorothy has big plans for her new neighbourhood - she wants to put on a play and write it herself! But there are other reasons for her family's move to the city and, as Dorothy starts to learn about her new house, she discovers more about the period of time she's growing up in.

I picked up 11 Ruby Road 1900 from a charity book sale for just AUS$2 - this is a little surprising because this is a fairly new book published in 2024. The book that focuses on 1950 will be released in August this year. 

I would have liked a little more detail on historical facts but all in all, a jolly good read for kiddos from around Year 3 upwards. It would certainly be a good read-around-your-topic for history topics focused on this period ...  Just so Stories

Dorothy is bright, driven and rebellious, regularly in trouble at school but only for matters of principle! As the middle child of 6 girls, she looks to her older sisters for social precedents and sees herself as a trailblazer for the little ones. Curious and willing to break tradition, she is a perfect translator for young readers of the morals, values, opportunities and limitations facing young Australians, particularly women, in this era. Storylinks

Here are all three books from the series so far:

Here is the Lamont review of 11 Ruby Road 1900. Read more about Charlotte Barkla here. Walker Books have written some very detailed teachers notes. I am not sure I would use this book as a class novel but if you had a small book club style group (probably of girls) these notes might give you some ideas to discuss. As a character Charlotte annoyed me - she is too selfish and bossy for me. But I did enjoy the way she changed her play to link with the pressing issue of the times - votes for women. You could perhaps read chapter 20 and link this with your study of Australian history. The teachers notes have some useful ideas about this aspect of the story. I also worry about the awful teacher but perhaps her attitude to 'naughty' students is more a reflection of the times. 

The obvious companion text is this famous Australia book My Place.

I also thought of this book where a group of kids are putting on a play:

The Secret Hen House Theatre

And this wonderful book by Katrinia Nannestad:

Silver Linings

Games by Robin Klein

Kirsty invites Patricia to come along for a weekend in an old country home owned by her Aunt Maude. Kirsty and her best friend Genevieve are 'cool kids' who wield their power over quiet shy girls like Patricia. The three girls catch a train and then walk along undefined paths to reach this remote house. Kirsty has a plan to invite a group of boys who go to the school next door to their posh girl's academy. To fill in time (and later we discover) to scare innocent Patricia, Kirsty and Genevieve hold a seance. They tell Patricia about a woman who was murdered in the house years ago and then they weave all sort of mischief into the seance and place things around the home such as a solitary candle at the bottom of the stairs to try to spook Patricial. BUT while they are playing their game a young boy arrives. Kirsty is utterly obnoxious towards him and he flees. But did he really leave. And who replaced the fresh wildflowers Patricia picked and had placed in a vase in the kitchen with dead weeds? Who left a single white glove on the windowsill in the upstairs room where she was trying to sleep? How did the music box suddenly started playing? Why is there no one there when the phone rings? And what about the piece of paper in the typewriter which has the words "Polly put the kettle on". Oh and there is that awful lingering smell of lavender. 

There are lots of mysterious and frightening noises around the house and there is a wild rainstorm raging outside which all adds to the atmosphere of this 'ghost' story but it is also a story about these three girls - one vicious, one cool and calculating and one a gentle girl who feels out of place in the school as a scholarship student. Patricia starts out weak and compliant happy to have been invited to this weekend but as the night progresses, she gains confidence and finally enough strength to confront the cruelty of Kirsty and Genevieve. Patricia is a strong girl and way more mature - she has been caring for her mum ever since her dad died. Her mum clearly has serious mental health issues.

The chapter titles in this book add to the mystery - "This is the house that Jack built"; "Here comes a candle to light you to bed"; "Simon says"; "Hush a bye baby"; "Polly put the kettle on"; "Three blind mice see how they run"; and "I spy with my little eye."

"There is a fine build-up of suspense, and the supernatural element is created with skill. There are three levels of games played: the malicious games of Kirsty and Genevieve, which are played on Patricia; the menacing game that Darcy plays on the girls; and the fame the author plays on the reader." The Oxford Companion to Australian Children's Literature by Stella Lees and Pam Macintyre.

I have a box of older books collected from charity bookfairs, street libraries, and library discards. I found Games at the bottom of the box last week and thought I would revisit this having first read this book in 1986. 

Has this book stood the test of time? Yes, even though there are no mobile phones which modern readers might find curious. And there is a reference to AIDS. What I did discover is that this book is very much a Young Adult title - for ages 13+. It contains very strong language - oddly I had no memory of this. In fact, I had this book in my former Primary School library but after this reading I would certainly pull this book off my shelves and pass it on to a local High School. It is interesting to look at the range of covers above. The first one is the hardcover from 1986 and this is the one I had in several Primary School libraries. 

I took at The Proof of the Puddin': Australian Children's Literature 1970-1990 by Maurice Saxby to see what he thought of Games. He used these words in his descriptions:

• "cruelly repulsive Kirsty and Genevieve"
• "two obnoxious teenagers in the skillfully plotted and adeptly narrated thriller, Games."
• "a cat and mouse game."
• "Patricia is led to take stock of her life and reassess her sense of social values."
• "vicious"

Take a look at my previous post about Robin Klein. 

The Best Hiding Place by Jane Godwin illustrated by Sylvia Morris

 

Hide and seek is a game that all children (dare I say even around the world) love to play. One of my favourite books to read to the youngest children in my school library for over 20 years was this one about little Moonbear playing hide and seek with his friend the moon.

One night Moonbear decides to play hide-and-seek with the moon. When it’s Moonbear’s turn to hide, the moon finds him every time. But when the moon ducks behind a cloud and doesn’t come out, Moonbear gets worried. Is the moon lost forever?

In this new Australian picture book - The Best Hiding Place - a group of children - perhaps they are cousins - are playing hide and seek inside their Grandparent's house. It seems as though they have played this many times before and so all the kids have found terrific hiding places except for the littlest child - he always climbs into the washing basket. 

The cover of this book is SO perfect showing all the rooms where the children hide during their game. I have special memories of other books from my childhood that showed houses in cross section like this. I love exploring all the little domestic details.  AND notice this is game to play inside AND this is a game that does not involve devices! All of that is a lovely, perhaps unintentional message. 

Sylvia Morris has met some interesting challenges here in a creative and effective way – showing multiple points of the action on one page; giving readers an insight into a domestic environment – probably one that children will recognise; and allowing us to “hear” the boy inside the cupboard. As readers we watch his emotions change from confidence (he won't be found) to doubt and even terror (perhaps he will never be found). 

The scene where we see the boy hiding in the darkness inside the musty cupboard adds a perfect amount of tension and feelings of claustrophobia, especially with the addition of the slightly scary, and possibly smelly, old teddy bear. Readers will feel every long minute or perhaps hour that the little boy waits to be found. One of the best illustrations in this book is the close-up image of the boy’s face with just a slither of light coming from the slightly open door. 

The final illustration is perfect – show don’t tell – no need for the words to say anything, little Sam is heading back into his favourite hiding place and this is exactly what a child his age would do! The addition of the bead necklace invites readers to re-visit the illustrations to work out where this trinket came from. The colour palette has a slightly retro feel which is very appealing. 

The title page, which has all the children and their names, works really well – notice how Archie standing slightly away from his siblings or cousins. 

Jane Godwin says: This story was partly inspired by re-reading Winnicott’s iconic book Playing and Reality, and thinking about the traditional, well-loved game of hide-and-seek, and realising that although it appears simple, it is actually rich with meaning. No wonder it has endured for centuries and throughout the world! Hide-and-seek reflects a child’s personal development. It’s a game that deals with both sides of our selves - the private, ‘hidden’ self, and the communal, public self. We love to hide, but being found, being discovered for who you are, is also a great joy. Hide-and-seek is a game of aloneness and togetherness, and the power and intensity of both.

Sylvia Morris is an illustrator for our NSW School Magazine. This is her first picture book and it was a New Illustrator short listed title. (I was one of the judges for the CBCA 2021-23).

Here are the judge's comments (which might repeat some of my words because I contributed to this):

The colour palette in The Best Hiding Place creates a lovely retro and nostalgic quality. Each and every image allows the reader to peek inside different parts of the house, often showing multiple points of action on one page. Archie’s claustrophobia in his hiding spot is conveyed effectively to create a sustained moment of tension that readers will identify with. Distinct characters and relationships are shown, and some humorous details invite readers to re-visit and examine earlier illustrations. The illustrations perfectly capture those mixed feelings of playing hide and seek as a child, which will appeal to readers of all ages.

Jane Godwin is the author of picture books, junior novels, middle grade and young adult novels.

Don't forget

Ivanhoe Swift left home at Six

Go Go and the Silver Shoes

What do you wish for?

The secret Library of Hummingbird House by Julianne Negri

Focus on Tuna

Focus et Fortuna

There is a lot going on for Hattie right now. Mum and Dad have split up and Hattie finds it very hard to manage the new routine of living week about with each parent. Hattie has a little sister called Ivy. Ivy is only five but she is also very odd and often Hattie finds her quirky behaviours very annoying. Then there is school. It is a school filled with rules. The Principal carries the nickname The Enforcer. I lost count but there are more than 200 rules which the kids need to follow at this school. And at school she also has to contend with a bully called Taylor Dellabella.

On the happy side, Hattie lives near a beautiful old house with a splendid Mulberry tree in the garden. This tree is her happy space and every year on her birthday her father ties lollies to the branches of the tree so Hattie has now renamed it the Mullolly Tree.

Dates are important in this story. Hattie finds an intriguing old diary in Hummingbird House. Inside she reads the names for the full moon such as Wolf Moon (January); Harvest Moon (October); Pink Moon (April) and Hunter Moon (October). She also reads a set of dates for the Triple Moon. Two of these dates are very significant. Today is 27th April the next triple moon is scheduled for April 30, 2020. Meanwhile in 1970 there was a triple moon on 4th November.  Two days before the triple moon of 2020 Hattie wakes up in the middle of the night. She decides to visit her tree and Hummingbird House. Inside the house she meets a girl called Hypatia who tells her the date today is 2nd November, 1970 - fifty years in the past.

The Mayor, in collaboration with a corrupt developer, has plans to knock down Hummingbird House so she can build high rise apartments. The race is on. The girls need to discover the truth about Hummingbird House, they need to decipher the meaning of Focus et Fortuna. And, armed with the truth these two girls, separated by time, must find a way to protect this beautiful house and Hattie's special tree?

Some parts of this plot might sound familiar from other time slip stories but I really warmed to Hattie and her drive to stop this demolition. I also loved the final chapters which neatly tied up all the loose threads in a very emotionally satisfying way.

If you are sharing this book with a Primary school group it would be good to discuss the topic of protesting. Hattie makes a list of all the ways she can think to stop this development so she can save her tree and Hypatia's house - posters; petition; graffiti; public speeches; letters to the paper; media attention; sky writing; sit ins; blockades.

The setting for this story is Melbourne with references to trams and Brunswick which makes sense because the author lives in Melbourne and she works at the State Library of Victoria. I can certainly see why Julianne takes such delight in using a rich vocabulary in her story. I was also intrigued to discover there really is a Brunswick Bomber.  Around the suburb where Hattie lives someone has been yarn bombing.  Here are couple of examples so you know what this means:

Image source OurPermaCultureLife

Image source The Conversation

I am sure someone will work on teachers notes to go with The secret Library of Hummingbird House with a special emphasis on all the delicious words Julianne Negri has included.  There are the vocabulary words from Hattie's school and the lost words used by Hypatia.

Hattie's vocabulary words from school (2020):

trepidation

statuesque

mayhem

stealthily

quandary

awry

discombobulated

enthralled

Lost words used by Hypatia (1970):

labscate

dipsopathy

whiffle

erstwhile

epeolatrist

phrontistery

selenology

brontology

forsooth

blatherskiting

No need to worry about the meanings of these - they are beautifully explained in the context of each conversation.

The secret Library of Hummingbird House will be published in July by Affirm Press. One tiny note of caution. My Advance Reader Copy of The Secret Library of Hummingbird House compares this book with Playing Beattie Bow. I have to say this is a very wild claim and one which has no real basis except to say both books involve a time slip.

One more thing - go back and look at the cover. It hints at so much that is revealed in the story - the moon, the tree, the yarn bombing, the girl at the window with a library behind her and the hummingbird.

Other time slip stories:

The Time Tree

The Four seasons of Lucy McKenzie

Cicada summer

I would also pair this book with A good Day for Climbing Trees which is another excellent book about trees and protesting and community activism.

I will predict The secret Library of Hummingbird House will make the 2021 CBCA Notables list for younger readers.

Her Perilous Mansion by Sean Williams

Almanac (I love that name) receives a letter inviting him to take up a job in a grand house as an apprentice second footman. Having spent his whole life living in an orphanage this sounds like a dream come true but his arrival is very odd.  There is no one to greet him and stepping across the threshold of the house is very disturbing. His feet fly out from under him and pain shoots through him. He recovers quite quickly but still no one appears. Instead he finds a letter instructing him to put on his uniform and expect the arrival of another new staff member. Next to arrive is Etta. She comes from a huge family and as the youngest child of twelve she has felt unwanted her whole life. Just like Almanac, Etta is also 'attacked' as she crosses the threshold of this mysterious house.

What is going on here? Almanac and Etta seem to be the only servants. There are voices of others in the house but they cannot be seen in person - are they ghosts? Right from the start is is clear Almanac and Etta have different talents and that they will need to work together and use their talents to solve the mystery of the house starting with its name which Etta thinks is Spoilnieu Manors while Almanac is certain the sign said Sir Palemoon's Ruin.

Now onto those talents.  Etta knows all about magic and the way it is sometimes hidden in libraries. Searching for and then searching in the library of this strange mansion becomes Etta's task. Meanwhile Almanac has a talent for organisation. He is skilled at putting things in order and the basement of contains years of mess and muck that need clearing and sorting.

Etta is sure there is a spell on the house. The ghosts - Ugo the chimney sweep and Olive who lives in the boiler room can communicate with Almanac and Etta but they have to follow certain rules. While they cannot lie they are also unable to answer urgent questions about the house itself which is surely under a powerful spell and more importantly they are not able to talk about the way Almanac and Etta can escape.

Every so often I am able to start a book like Her Perilous Mansion and find myself enjoying it so much that I finish the whole book in just over one day. Huge thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance reader copy. Her Perilous Mansion will be published in May, 2020. I think it will appeal to readers aged 10+.

One strength of this fantasy comes from the beautifully drawn main characters. Sean Williams tells his reader just enough background details so that it is easy to understand why and how Etta and Almanac react to their strange situation and cope with their own differences of upbringing and temperament. I especially loved Almanac. There is a great scene where Etta and Almanac are fighting over their theories about the spell. Etta flings water from a full glass all over Almanac. His reaction is to laugh. What a brilliant way to diffuse the tension of this moment.

The other big character in this book is the house itself. It is so well described that I felt able to see every grand room and enjoy every hot chocolate in the warm kitchen.

I am going to make a huge (early) prediction that this book will be listed as CBCA Notable title in 2021.

I would follow this book with these:

Escape from Mr Lemoncello's Library

Floors by Patrick Carman

Quicksand Pond by Janet Taylor Lisle

"I wanted to come down and speak to you girls. 

I know what you're doing. ... I give my raft to you."

I know this is an odd way to begin my review but this book has 240 pages and for 239 pages I was entranced. Then I reached the last page and well, I don’t like to say this, but I felt confused. Perhaps I need to read the final chapters again.

Ms Yingling said: “The ending was a bit odd. It didn’t really wrap things up in any successful way. I don’t like it when I get to the end of a book and expect there to be more pages when there aren’t.”

Putting the ending to one side I absolutely loved the atmosphere created by Janet Taylor Lisle. I felt as though I was on this pond, watching Jessie and her new friend Terri, repairing their raft and lazing in the sunshine. 

Jessie, Jonathan and Julia are staying in an old rundown cottage for the summer. Their father Richard Kettle has memories of his summer job and summer friendships in this New England beach side town. Mum has stayed behind in Pittsburgh working hard in her legal practice.

The scene and long summer should mean lazy days and easy living but we learn early in the story this town has a past and this past continues to have a devastating impact on the present.

Many decades ago, when Miss Henrietta was a small girl, two men arrived late one night. They entered the old and grand family home near the pond intent on robbery and murder. Henrietta is the only living witness to this horror. The wrong man is accused. This man languished in jail for many years and eventually he dies there. He is Terri's grandfather, Eddie Carr, and the town has never forgotten or forgiven.

Henrietta has returned to the old home. She is now very elderly, frail and dependent on others. To her carers it seems her mind is muddled but she remembers every tiny detail of the events leading up to the murder of her parents. She also remembers her happy times rafting on the pond when she was a child. She is delighted when she spies Jessie and Terri on her raft. It needs repairs but that is not a problem. Her father's workshop still has all the tools and lumber the girls will need.

Jessie knows her friend Terri is connected with the murder from long ago and she wants to believe her grandfather is innocent. Terri's mother has died, and her father, Mitch Carr, is now very violent and often drunk. Life is so hard for Terri. Jessie wants to help but has no idea how. Then there is a fire. Henrietta's workshop and garage burn down and suspicion once again falls on the Carr family. Jessie needs to be sure there is justice for her friend and justice for the events of the past.

Here are some examples of the wonderful descriptions by Janet Taylor Lisle:

Arriving at the holiday cottage:  "They lugged in duffels, scrubbed out the gangrenous fridge, sponged off the counters, and emptied drawers littered with mouse droppings."

Julia: "was beautiful, everyone said so. She had a heart-shaped face, unblemished skin, and chocolate-brown eyes with thick brown lashes that curled up naturally at the ends. She would never in her life need a drop of mascara."

Terri "She could be quiet. Sometimes she didn't speak for an hour or more. She kept apart during these spells. She'd walk away and sit by herself, fingering the name charm on her throat and looking at the pond."

The setting of this book reminded me of The small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis.  I would follow this book with Half a Chance and Return to Gone-away.

Here is an interview with the author Janet Taylor Lisle. I plan to hunt out more of her books very soon. Read this review for more plot details. Listen to part of Chapter One here. Quicksand Pond began as a short story by Janet Taylor Lisle. My copy of this book also included a set of discussion questions.

Unfolding slowly in simple, quiet prose, this sensitive, compelling story alternates between Jessie’s present experiences and Henrietta’s befuddled memories until they collide in a disturbing, pivotal climax.  A suspenseful, realistic, finely crafted story exploring friendship, trust, and how we judge others.  Kirkus Star Review