Water, Water by Cary Fagan illustrated by Jon McNaught

Overnight something catastrophic has happened to the world. Rafe finds himself alone in his room with just his dog. His room has somehow become detached from his house. The room is floating on an endless ocean. His parents and whole neighborhood are gone. From the other things he finds floating on this endless sea it seems everything in the world has been destroyed. 

Luckily Rafe is a resourceful kid and luckily his room has some useful things and even luckier on the water there is debris which he can use including cans of food. Then a girl washes up next to his floating room - she is on an air mattress with her cat. She does not speak English but Rafe helps her to climb into his floating room and the pair quickly establish a wonderful friendship.

The chapter headings reflect the problems Rafe has to solve. For example 50.RD is a box he pulls out of the water which contains fifty plastic ducks - can you think of a way he might use these? Stovepipe Hat is the chapter where the kids meet some pirates. It's a thrilling scene when they manage to escape. One of the things Rafe has in his room is his homework from school. He has been assigned a novel to read and his book report is due but he has not even opened his book. With all this time to fill he starts to read and the story, as with all good stories, totally transports him away from his current difficult and uncertain situation. This book also becomes important at the end of the story - this discovery will make you smile. 

You can see I have given this book five stars. This is a book that you should add to your school library and it would also be a terrific family read aloud. This book has 150 pages and 17 short chapters so it is a very quick book to read (and enjoy).

This apocalyptic Robinsonade makes unusual middle grade fare. Each episodic chapter addresses a new problem to be solved—finding food, surviving a storm, evading pirates—and, for the most part, the challenges are all handled in short order. Fagan never addresses why this flood has occurred (tsunami? rising sea levels? climate change?), if its effects are global or localized, or probes any sadness on Rafe’s part now that he is an orphan. In fact, many younger readers may read this as simply a grand fantasy adventure tale. ...  Water, Water is an accessible adventure that may spark deeper discussions. Canadian Review of Materials

Publisher blurb: One morning Rafe wakes up to discover his bedroom is floating in a vast sea of water. Alone with only his dog for company, Rafe adapts to this strange new world by fishing cans of food out of the water and keeping watch. Boxes float by, as does a woman, playing her cello. Then, one day, Rafe fishes out a young girl, who joins him in his room — they don't speak the same language, but they will face this uncertain future together.

This book is a splendid new discovery by Canadian author Cary Fagan. I previously loved The Collected Works of Gretchen Oyster. In 2022 I said it was my book of the year! I am not sure how I discovered Water, Water but I think it might have been when I was perusing the Tundra book publisher catalogue. The paperback edition [9780735270053] of Water, Water was published in 2024. I absolutely adore the cover and the internal illustrations are also terrific and mirror the cover in their use of aqua blue, black and white. Jon McNaught lives in Edinburgh. 

Cary Fagan (born 1957) is a Canadian writer of novels, short stories, and children's books. Here is partial list of his books:

• Gogol's Coat (Tundra Books, 1999), illustrated by Regolo Ricci, 
• The Market Wedding (Tundra, 2000), illus. Regolo Ricci
• Daughter of the Great Zandini (Tundra, 2001), illus. Cybèle Young
• The Fortress of Kaspar Snit (Tundra, 2004), novel
• Ten Old Men and a Mouse (Tundra, 2007), illus. Gary Clement
• My New Shirt (Tundra, 2007), illus. Dušan Petričić
• Directed by Kaspar Snit (Tundra, 2007), sequel novel
• Mr. Karp's Last Glass (Tundra, 2007), illus. Selçuk Demirel
• Ten Lessons for Kaspar Snit (Tundra, 2008), sequel novel
• Thing-Thing (Tundra, 2008), illus. Nicolas Debon
• Jacob Two-Two on the High Seas (Tundra, 2009), illus. Dušan Petričić
• Book of Big Brothers (Groundwood Books, 2010), illus. Luc Melanson
• The Big Swim (Groundwood, 2010), novel
• Banjo of Destiny (Groundwood, 2011), illus. Selçuk Demirel
• Ella May and the Wishing Stone (Tundra, 2011), illus. Geneviève Côté
• Mr. Zinger's Hat (Tundra, 2012), illus. Dušan Petričić
• The Boy in the Box (Penguin Canada, 2012), novel; Master Melville's Medicine Show, book 1
• Danny, Who Fell in a Hole (Groundwood, 2013), illus. Milan Pavlovic
• Oy, Feh, So (Groundwood, 2013), illus. Gary Clement
• Little Blue Chair (Tundra, 2017), illus. Madelie Kloepper
• A Cage Went in Search of a Bird (Groundwood, 2017), illus. Banafsheh Erfanian
• Wolfie & Fly (Tundra, 2017), illus. Zoe Si
• Mort Ziff is Not Dead (Penguin Canada)
• What Are You Doing, Benny? (Tundra, 2019), illus. Kady MacDonald Denton
• The Collected Works of Gretchen Oyster (Tundra, 2019)
• King Mouse (Tundra, 2019), illus. Dena Seiferling
• Mr. Tempkin Climbs a Tree (Kar-Ben Publishing, 2019), illus. Carles Arbat
• Son of Happy (Groundwood, 2020), illus. Milan Pavlović
• Bear Wants to Sing (Tundra, 2021), illus. Dena Seiferling
• Water, Water (Tundra, 2022)
• Boney (Groundwood, 2022)
• Hans Christian Andersen Lives Next Door (Tundra, 2023)

If you enjoy Water, Water and want another dystopian story involving a flood and survival look for this book:

Across the Risen Sea

The final scene in Water, Water reminded me of this amazing picture book for older readers:

As Time went by

You might also look for this verse novel if you like survival stories:

Alone

Jed and the Junkyard War by Steven Bohls

Jed has been taught extreme survival skills by his parents and I do mean extreme. On the morning of his twelfth birthday he wakes up and his parents are gone. He finds some instructions about climbing through the back of the dishwasher. He must wear a strange watch and NEVER tell anyone his name.

Jed does climb though the dishwasher and he finds himself in a very strange world where everything is made from junk. His parents have told him to search for Grandpa Jenkins but Jed only has vague memories of this man. He finds himself on a wild pirate ship where food comes from tin cans. By lucky chance one of the things inside the pack his parents left for him, along with batteries and water, was a can opener. He uses his opener to prepare their first taste of hot food not just strange cold meals straight from the cans.

"The crew were supposed to take one whiff of the cooking food and suddenly realise how tragic their every meal had been up to that point. Probably too much to ask but they weren't supposed to be disgusted just by the preparation."

If you enjoy raw adventure stories with lashings of steampunk, and a little violence, I think you will really enjoy this dystopian story BUT I have a warning. Nothing is really resolved at the end so you will want to find the sequel. Oh and I should say the ending of this first book is going to utterly shock you. I would recommend this book for ages 11+.

I picked this book up from a major book chain because all kids books were 20% off. The book was published in 2016 and my copy has languished on the bookstore shelves since April 2019. The cover really appealed to me - do you like it?

Publisher blurb: Jed is a regular kid with a normal, loving family . . . that is, if it's normal for a loving family to drop their child off in the middle of nowhere and expect him home in time for Sunday dinner. Luckily, Jed excels at being a regular kid who-armed with wit and determination-can make his way out of any situation. At least until the morning of his twelfth birthday, when Jed wakes to discover his parents missing. Something is wrong. Really wrong. Jed just doesn't realize it's floating-city, violent-junk-storm, battling-metals, Frankensteined-scavengers kind of wrong. Yet. A cryptic list of instructions leads Jed into a mysterious world at war over . . . junk. Here, batteries and bottled water are currency, tremendously large things fall from the sky, and nothing is exactly what it seems. Resilient Jed, ready to escape this upside-down place, bargains his way onto a flying tugboat with a crew of misfit junkers. They set course to find Jed's family, but a soul-crushing revelation sends Jed spiraling out of control . . . perhaps for good.

A well-wrought debut with enough of a start on both the plot and worldbuilding to leave readers impatient for the follow-up. Kirkus

If you like Steampunk look for this series by Peter Bunzl. Spoiler alert - the ending of Cogheart resonates with the ending of Jed and the Junkyard war. 

Cogheart by Peter Bunzl

Song of the Far Isles by Nicholas Bowling

Music is everything in the community. On Little Drum everyone is born with a birth instrument and this stays with them right through their life. This tiny island is also home to the dead - the ghasts. The ghasts sing songs to help the community with decisions and they guard the Great Barrow which contains eight of the nine ancient musical instruments - fiddle, barrow fiddle, seahorn, bombard, reed pipe, bagpies, bodhran, and handpan. 

One instrument is missing - the cithara. This is Oran's birth instrument and she is one of the most skilled players on the island. The ancient instrument was stolen many years ago and is it now on the Headland, at the Court, home to the Duchess. 

One evening when everyone is gathered in the local tavern the Duchess, ruler of the Far Isles arrives. She declare all music illegal and instructs her guards to confiscate every musical instrument on the island. Oran refuses. Now read this, the first of many harrowing scenes in this book:

"She felt a tug. She missed a beat, and the tune faltered. Then another, and Lord Magmalley wrenched her birth instrument from her hands. ... With the ragged edges of the tune still trailing in the air, Magmalley swung the cithara against the trunk of the tree. It held together at first. One of its curved arms became crooked, the bridge came loose, the strings slackened. He hurled it again, more violently, and this time the wood snapped completely with a sound like bones breaking ... He smashed the instrument against the tree over and over until it was in five or six splinterd pieces."

Oran decides to travel to the Headland, retrieve the ancient cithara, play it for the Duchess and through music change her decision and restore her community.  All of these are lofty and worthy goals but Oran can never anticipate all the things that will go wrong on her quest.

She and her friend, a young ghast called Alik, set off in her small boat. Early into the voyage they are attacked by enormous creatures called wispfish. They devour everything - the boat and her supplies. Luckily she is able to save the urn which contains Alik's ashes - carrying these off the island is the only way he can travel with her. Equally luckily Oran and Alik are rescued by the the Opera. This is a sailing boat filled with performers who also double as pirates. They are heading to the Headland because they plan to steal back all of the confiscated instruments. As a reader at this point you might relax - Oran has a ride, the Opera performers are a friendly group and surely it will be easy to retrieve the ancient cithara.

Of course everything goes wrong. Oran is captured and thrown into an underground dungeon.  She does, however meet Dugald, son of the Duchess. He is able to take her to the attic room containing all of the precious musical instruments but the pair are discovered and the next day Oran is taken into the town where the hangman and his noose are waiting.

The landscape and the characters come crashing down on you in a sweeping melody. ... the story is infused with myths and folklore and has an excellent plot that will make you tap your feet to the story's unique rhythm. ... Mr Ripley's Enchanted Books.

There are so many twists and turns in this story and such a brilliant invented world - I am happy that I have discovered Song of the Far Isles. Another gem of a book from Chicken House!

Take a look here on Etsy to see a cithara. You can hear this ancient instrument here (Scroll forward to 3.58). I was not surprised to read Nicholas Bowling is a musician. 

Other books by Nicholas Bowling:

The Birthday Invitation by Lucy Rowland illustrated by Laura Hughes

Ella is having a birthday party. She writes her invitations and sets off to deliver them but one invitation falls out of her bag. Ella has no idea about the journey her invitation takes until everyone turns up at her house for the party!

Everyone - a wizard; some pirates; a parrot; the princess; a knight; a pilot; and finally it reaches her friend. How did all of these characters end up reading the misplaced invitation?

If you read this book with a young child there will be a lot to discuss beginning with the information Ella did not include on her invitation. Here is it what it says

"Invitation - Please come to my birthday part love Ella."

Putting the missing details aside this is an imaginative story with a happy ending.

The Birthday Invitation is one of those magical books that makes you smile and feel happy inside. With a fabulous story and impeccable rhyme, I highly recommend adding this one to your (or a friend's) storybook collection. Kids' Book Review

Here is an activity pack from Bloomsbury to use with this book. Laura Hughes from Hastings UK, has a delightful illustration style. I have a Pinterest collection of Birthday books. Here are some favourites:

Sky Pirates: Echo Quickthorn and the great beyond by Alex English

Echo Quickthorn and the Great Beyond is the start of a dazzling new series featuring mechanical dragons, carnivorous plants, sky pirates and perhaps worst of all … pickled squibnuts! Read on if ye dare… Simon and Schuster

This book has all the ingredients for a rollicking plot and Alex English combines each element into a very satisfying and fast moving adventure.

Ingredients:

• Echo - An orphan living with the royal family - parentage unknown
• Golden Hairpin in the shape of a wolf with an emerald eye - an object owned by Echo and her only connection to her the mother who abandoned her when she was a baby
• An inscription on the hairpin Messrs Evergreen and Spruce, Port Tourbillon Where is this place?
• A prophesy that is an impossible riddle "When Tuesday arrives on a Sunday night ... "
• A Kingdom with strict rules - no one can leave this city. If they do they are sure to die out in the Barren. No one has ever returned.
• Horace - The Crown Prince, son of the King, a boy who likes butterflies but not adventures
• Maps - showing the world is much bigger than the children and citizens have been told
• The arrival of a stranger from the outside - now Echo along with Horace, need to find the truth, and hopefully rescue her mother
• Sky Pirates and Hot Air Balloons and elements of steam punk fiction
• Loyal friends

Blurb: Echo Quickthorn is an orphan and ward of the King of Lockfort She has grown up believing that nothing exists outside the kingdom’s walls and that adventures are taboo. No one in Lockfort looks like her or shares her dreams of exploring. Echo has always felt like maybe she belongs somewhere else, but how can she when all that exists beyond Lockfort is a barren wasteland?

But everything changes when an eccentric professor crash lands his airship outside her bedroom window in the dead of night, claiming to have come from another city and armed with a map of magical, unheard-of places that exist beyond the kingdom walls.

Is this the opportunity she’s been waiting for to go on the adventure of a lifetime? Echo must leave behind everything she knows to discover unimaginable places and finally discover the truth about her family…  LoveReading4Kids

Sky Pirates is due for publication on 5th August and an audio version will also be available. Echo Quickthorn and the great beyond is the first book in the Sky Pirates trilogy. The cover art is by Mark Chambers.

I would pair this book with these:

Seven Professors of the Far North

The Mapmakers Race

Authors of these books have highly praised Echo Quickthorn and the great beyond:

Across the risen sea by Bren MacDibble

Bren MacDibble takes us once again into the dystopian world of the future. This time the land is covered in water and small groups of people cling to life on tiny islands. Each island has it's own laws and rituals but there is room for some sharing between the communities and debris washed up from all the destroyed cities is now scavenged and adapted for use as shelters. Life feels difficult at times but the people have manged to make comfortable dwellings and they have access to plenty of fish. There is danger though - violent unpredictable storms, dangerous crocodiles, sickness and perhaps the threat of invasion or war.

As this story opens some strangers arrive at Cottage Hill - three tall people who speak a strange language. They are wearing shiny headbands and their boat has a sun image on the prow. It is clear they are powerful, wealthy and have come from a distant place known as Valley of the Sun. The three people, two sisters and a brother, climb the hill above the little island settlement and begin to cut down trees. Over the coming days they erect a tall pole and place two circles of logs around it. They hoist a metal box onto the top of the middle pole and attach wires which stretch down to the ground where they are buried under the inner circle of logs. After their task is completed the three strangers sail away. They refuse to answer any questions.

Old Marta, the leader of their island, knows all of this has something to do with 'teknology' but exactly why this strange contraption has been placed on their island is a mystery.  Neoma and her friend Jag are told to go and sketch the box so Marta can take a drawing to show the inhabitants of other near-by islands in the hope they may know what all this means. Neoma is a curious and fearless girl. She digs into the dirt below the box, even though they have been told by the strangers not to touch any part of this installation. She receives a powerful electric shock and has to run quickly into the sea to put out the flames burning her skin and hair.

Jag and Neoma have managed to complete a drawing of the tower and box so Marta takes Neoma to visit the nearby islands. There is something odd about the island of Jacob's Reach. It is clear their leaders are not telling the truth and there must be some reason why there are no children around.

I think my favourite scene comes next when Neoma, her Ma and Jag head off to Silver Water in their makeshift catamaran Licorice Stix. Silver Water is a high rise building which is now flooded. The kids climb up the stairs until they reach a former restaurant - well Neoma doesn't know it is a restaurant because she has never seen a place like this. No one has found this so it has not been looted and the kitchen is filled with food. It has been eleven years since the flood but the canned food is still okay so Neoma fills her sack. She and Jag then have to rush away because a very dangerous storm is approaching. I held my breath as Neoma's is forced to leap into the sea after tossing her salvage over the balcony rails.

On their way back, as the wild weather and water rages around them, they see a boat. It is the one that visited their island earlier - the one with the strangers from Valley of the Sun. The two women are in the boat. One is dead and one is badly hurt. What has happened? Are Neoma and her community now in danger? The people from Valley of the Sun will be back and they will want answers but no one has anticipated they will also want a payment and this payment comes in the form of a person. Jag is captured and taken prisoner and Neoma thinks this is all her fault and so it is up to her to rescue her friend and hopefully solve all the mysteries - the dead woman, the island of secrets, and most importantly to discover the purpose of device beaming a red light from the top of their island.

Bren MacDibble is a master storyteller. She gives her reader fragments of information that signpost past events and give a sense of place and of climate change:

"Marta was a young woman in the before-times. Before the risen sea drove everyone to the hills. ... She says when she was older she visited the great walled city of Sydney after most of it moved to New Armidale. She remembers when clouds were just white, she says the green is bacteria and it's the way the earth tries to make things right and clean ... "

"The surf coast was where the rich people lived, pretending it was safe from the flooding that was washing out the poorer coastal towns and making salty swamps of farmland. But Cyclone Summer sent six cyclones nose to tail and destroyed it. Survivors moved inland to a mountain range same as the poor people. But the sea rose so quick they din't get to take everything they owned."

My advance reader copy (thanks to Beachside Bookshop) of Across the risen sea has 270 pages but so much is contained within this thrilling story. I would summarise the plot into three 'acts'.

ACT 1. Installation of the 'teknology' on the island and the subsequent mystery of Jacob's Reach which is somehow linked to the death of the woman from Valley of the Sun. Jag is kidnapped.
ACT 2. The rescue of Jag which involves a dangerous pirate woman, a visit to the famed Valley of the Sun (this place is utterly amazing) and the making of a new friend.
ACT 3. The full truth is revealed.

I am going to make a prediction that Across the risen sea will be short listed by the CBCA for their 2021 awards. AND even though it is only June (this book is due for publication in August) I am going to predict Across the risen sea will be among the winners next year.  YES it is that good! This is a thrilling story, a mystery, a story of heroism, pirates, survival and so much more. I read it all in nearly one sitting and I was on the edge of my seat through the whole amazing 'voyage'.

In her letter to the reader Bren MacDibble says:

"I've let adventure lead me on a wild ride with this one. There's sinkholes, crocodiles, sharks, pirates, floating cities, and floating farms. I hope you and those you share books with will also enjoy the ride."

If you haven't discovered the powerful story telling of Bren MacDibble I suggest you RUSH out now and grab her earlier books:

How to Bee

The Dog Runner

Pirate Boy of Sydney Town by Jackie French

Jackie French writes the best historical stories because she is able to seamlessly blend huge amounts of research into her stories. Books like Tom Appleby Convict boy, for example, never feel like a history lesson and yet these books are packed full of so much history. If you love historical fiction I highly recommend books by Jackie French but these books are also perfect for anyone who is curious about our early Australian history.

Ebeneezer (Ben) Huntsmore lives a comfortable life on his English estate called Badger's Hill but his known world is turned upside down when his father unexpectedly arrives and declares Ben and his mother must now travel to the distant colony of NSW - specifically to Port Jackson. 

The voyage is terrible and Ben's mother, along with many others, succumbs to typhoid. His father has taken a human cargo of convicts on this voyage. It seems impossible that any of these poor wretches could possibly have survived.  Ben opens the hatch and one convict crawls out. Others have survived but his father closes the hatch before Ben can can free them. The convict who crawls out is called Higgins. He is a cunning survivor.

Mr Huntsmore is one of those men who is always looking for the next scam, the next 'easy' way to get rich quick. His latest plan is to attack Dutch ships off the coast of Western Australia and plunder them for gold.

Ben is not sure he wants to join his father but perhaps he has no choice.  Also on board their ship, called Golden Girl, is a native man called Guwara. These three, Ben, the convict now manservant Higgins and Guwara form an unlikely allegiance but later this develops into the strongest bonds of friendship after the sailors on the Golden Girl mutiny and Mr Huntsmore is killed.

This is a powerful adventure story. All your senses will be on high alert as you read about the smell of half dead convicts held below ship, the desperate thirst as Ben and his companions try to survive in the bush and you will experience the taste of strange foods such as hoppers (kangaroos) and even emu and emu eggs.

Here is a set of excellent thematic teaching ideas from the publisher Harper Collins. You can also read a chapter sample.

One interesting extra in Pirate Boy of Sydney Town is the way Jackie French includes references to previous books such as Nanberry and Tom Appleby.

Complex and confronting at times but with redeeming hopefulness, courage, unexpected friendship and loyalty and the perfect illustration that ‘class’ does not maketh the individual, this is a wonderful study of human nature at its best as well as its worst. Just so Stories

This is a scintillating read from Australia’s most prolific writer, Jackie French. The novel is fiction, based on real events. It is full of vivid scenes filled with swashbuckling action, tension and twists and turns, and laced with romantic innuendo. Kids' Book Review

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome audio read by Gareth Armstrong

"In the boathouse below the farm there was the Swallow, a sailing boat, a very little one ... If there had been no island, no sailing boat, and if the lake had not been so large, the children, no doubt, would have been happy enough to paddle about  ... But with a lake as big as a small sea, a fourteen-foot dinghy with a brown sail waiting in the boathouse, and the little wooded island waiting for explorers, nothing but a sailing voyage of discovery seemed worth thinking about."  

One of my treasured memories is of a family friend giving me the Puffin box set of the first four books from the Swallows and Amazons series. I remember reading them and marvelling at the way these kids knew so much about sailing. All that special terminology. Right from the first page where we meet Roger and see him tacking across a field pretending to be the tea clipper Cutty Sark. Then later when their father says the four can sail to their island the Master (John), Mate (Susan), Able-seaman (Titty) and ship boy Roger just seem to know exactly how to sail their little boat Swallow.

"Is there a cleat under the thwart where the mast is stepped?"
"Susan got the sail ready. On the yard there was a strop that hooked on one side of an iron ring called the traveller up to the top of the mast, through a sheave and then down again."

I had no idea what all of this meant as a young reader (and I still have no clue) but that did not take away from my enjoyment of this adventure story. Better still the setting is an island and I have long had a fascination with the idea of living on a small island. You can read the plot for yourself on this wikipedia entry.

This week I have been listening to the audio book of Swallows and Amazons and I found myself lingering in my car so I could continue with the story long after I should have moved on to other things. I had thought I remembered the plot but in reality most of my memory had faded with time. I was surprised by so many things and even laughed out loud several times. I enjoyed all the feasts, the lake and island exploration and the crime solving after Captain Flint is robbed but the aspect I enjoyed most was meeting Titty all over again. John is too busy being the perfect Captain, Susan is too busy (yes it is a stereotype) with cooking and caring, Roger is sweet little boy (perhaps a little too compliant) but Titty is the character I loved. There has been some debate about the name Titty and sadly this was changed for both movie adaptions. Putting that aside here are some words of wisdom from Titty:

"Instead, Titty took Robinson Crusoe. 'It tells you just what to do an an island.'

"It'll be best for him to walk the plank,' said Able-seaman Titty. 'Then we'll take his treasure and buy a big ship, and live in her for ever and ever and sail all over the world. .. We could discover new continents ... There must be lots that haven't been found yet."

Talking with mother about illness : "Of course we've had plague and yellow fever and Black Jack and all other illnesses belonging to desert islands ... But we cured them all at once."

"Abe-seaman Titty, as surgeon to the expedition, washed the knee, and tied it up with Roger's handkerchief. Roger tried to blow his nose in the corner of it that was left after the tying."

"There were two tents, and a shipwrecked mariner on a desert island ought only to have one. .. then she remembered that for part of the time she would not be a shipwrecked mariner, but would be in charge of an explorers' camp, while the main body had sailed away on a desperate expedition."

"Captain Nancy shook her by the hand and slapped her on the back. 'By thunder, Able-seaman,' said she, 'I wish you were in my crew. This morning when I saw that you'd done us all by yourself, I could have swallowed the anchor. You did just exactly what we had planned to do."

Food:
"Then there was a big rice pudding, which had been bought with them on the top of the things in one of the big biscuit tins. It too became a common dish, like the frying pan. Then there were four big slabs of seed cake. Then there were apples all round."

"Then there was cold chicken. Then there was a salad in a big pudding basin. Then there was an enormous gooseberry tart. Then there was a melon. Then there was a really huge bunch of bananas which the female native tied in a tree as if it was growing there."

"Look here,' said Susan, 'hadn't we better have dinner before all the lemonade has gone.' 'Jamaica rum,' said Titty with reproach. 'We've got a lot of sandwiches,' said Peggy. 'We've got pemmican,' said Susan, 'and sardines. We finished the meat pie and the next one doesn't come until tomorrow."

It is interesting to compare audio editions.  My copy was narrated by Gareth Armstrong. Here is a different one (audio sample) with Alison Larkin.

I have been thinking about why I loved Swallows and Amazons so much as a child. Partly it was the setting on an island (which I have mentioned), partly the delicious sounding food but I think the heart of the matter would have been my fascination with this family of four kids (five really but I am not counting their baby sister). I know this could be a criticism, but I did enjoy the way they all got along so well. No conflict, no arguments, no disputes. These kids are kind, but not in an overly sentimental way, to one another. They genuinely encourage each other and seem to accept that each of them have their own talents and strengths. Mother is pretty special too - happy to take on various roles, allowing the kids to have such freedom, arriving with cake and presents, organising the supply of fresh milk and other treats and best of all those amazing tents she made anticipating their expedition.

Here are several cover designs below.

BETTER DROWNED THAN DUFFERS IF NOT DUFFERS WON'T DROWN

The Jolly Regina - The Unintentional Adventures of the Bland Sisters by Kara LaReau illustrated by Jen Hill

"After all, they left us alone for all these years.  Then they gave us to pirates, which was almost fun, until we almost died. I don't know much about parents, but I have a feeling ours aren't exemplary"

In this book you will meet twins Jaundice and Kale Bland.  They live in Dullsville.  Jaundice wears gray and Kale wears brown. Their daily routine is exactly the same each day.  Oatmeal and tea for breakfast, a ten minute lunch break to eat a cheese sandwich with a glass of flat soda and an evening spent reading the dictionary.

"Kale is seldom seen without her backpack, in which she currently carries Dr. Nathaniel Snoote's Illustrated Children's Dictionary ... (this) is the Bland sisters' favorite reading material, and their main source of education."

Along with word definitions (many of which appear as chapter headings in this tale of wild women pirates, high seas adventures and dangerous situations) the dictionary also has informative Sidebars with extra information such as how to sew.  The girls have set up a business of darning other people's socks.  Are you wondering about the parents?  Well they left on an errand and have not been seen for several years.

As the book opens a kidnapper arrives and the girls are caught in a burlap sack.  Kale loves burlap but after travelling in this sack she decides it is quite chafing. When the girls are finally released they find themselves on a pirate ship - The Jolly Regina with her all women crew - Deadly Delilah the Captain, Lefty the first mate with her hook hand, Peg who has one leg, Millie Mudd the lookout and Fatima the cook.

There are quite a few laughs in this book and some clever vocabulary.  It might be a good family read-a-loud but be warned adults will laugh (especially at all the puns) and this may leave a younger audience puzzled.   Chapters begin with words like tepid, predicament, paraphernalia, bereft and vehemence.

Here are some examples of the words you will encounter in the text -

• left to run an errand of unspecified nature
• relative peril
• surmised
• sundries
• the distinct, briny aroma of the ocean

I recommend reading this detailed and thoughtful review by Jen Robinson and one from Kirkus.  This book is also available from iTunes and I may use this version with one of our classes this year so everyone can see the perfect little illustrations scattered throughout the text.

You can also read the inspiration for this book by Kara LaReau.  This is the first book in the series. The second which you can see here will be published next year.   A big thank you to my local bookshop for introducing me to this rollicking adventure.

Peter Pan audio book read by Judy Dick

I recently read a review of Peter Pan and quite by coincidence I had been listening to the audio book each day driving to school.  In this review there were comments about the story being filled with stereotypes.  I disagree.  Peter Pan is a story written at a particular time and it is such a powerful adventure it seems silly to worry about whether Wendy is darning stockings or the way the boys expect Wendy to step into the role of mother and care for them.

The audio version bought this book to life for me.  Several times I had to stay sitting in my car so I could listen through to the end of a chapter.  I had forgotten about the devious ways of Tinkerbell and the long, hazardous journey to Neverland.  I had also forgotten the silly behaviour of Mr Darling and the heroism and insights of Nana.

One of the most interesting things that struck me as I listened to Peter Pan was the brilliant vocabulary employed by JM Barrie.  He absolutely does not talk down to his audience.  I adore words like :

miscreant
reproof
phlegmatic
strident
raconteur
perfidious
miasma
blithe
artifice

Using the audio book of Peter Pan would be an easy way to introduce this classic story to your class. There are so many cross references in modern literature which rely on a knowledge of books like Peter Pan.  One example from our library reading this term is Jeremiah in the Dark woods by Alan Ahlberg. In this little junior novel we meet several fairy tale characters and a crocodile with a clock inside.

There is so much to discuss in Peter Pan.  Here is a unit of work.  This description of Hook, for example, could be used in so many ways with a class.

"In person he was cadaverous and blackavized, and his hair was dressed in long curls, which at a little distance looked like black candles, and gave singularly threatening expression to his handsome countenance.  His eyes were of the blue of the forget-me-not, and of a profound melancholy, save when he was plunging his hook into you, at which time two red spots appeared in them and lit them up horribly. ... In dress he somewhat aped the attire associated with the name of Charles II ... "

Here is the cover of my edition of Peter Pan illustrated by Michael Foreman.  I have ordered some new copies of Peter Pan (the novel and some simpler picture book and junior editions) for our school library because oddly we only had an unappealing small paperback edition with tiny printing.  One of my treasured memories is of visiting the London statue of Peter in Hyde Park when I was travelling with my mum as a young teenager.

Finding Serendipity by Angelica Banks

It has taken me a long time to actually get my hands on this book. Last year we had a week of competitions in our library for Book Week and one of our talented students modeled her answer on this book Finding Serendipity.  Since then it has been out on loan constantly.

Essentially in this tale we explore the mystical idea - where do writers get their story lines and inspiration. Tuesday's mother Serendipity is a very famous author but one night it seems she has disappeared. Tuesday follows her through an open window. To do this she takes hold of some sliver threads that have appeared while she was writing using her mother's typewriter.  Luckily her dog Baxterr is able to travel with her.  She arrives in a strange land where she meets a boy called Blake Luckhurst and a wild girl, who is a character in her mother's books, called Vivienne Small.   Blake takes Tuesday to meet the librarian.  She is the custodian of stories and it is her job to make sure all authors reach 'the end'.  Tuesday is convinced her mother must be at 'the end' and so she embarks on a wild adventure involving danger, pirates and her dog.  She also makes a terrific friend in Vivienne and perhaps changes the ending of the book her mother is writing.

Here is a lovely description of mothers and special night time rituals :

"They will pull your covers up over your shoulders if it's cold, or fold them at the bottom of your bed if it's hot.  They will turn your light down, or off, and pick up that pair of shoes you've left lying in the middle of the floor.  For the briefest moment, they will watch you sleeping.  They might stroke your cheek, or kiss your head, or whisper a good dream into your ear.  Or perhaps they just stand there and think how lovely you are, and blow you a kiss, and leave you to your sleep."

Here is a web site for the author who is in fact two people.  This link also contains news of the sequel.  You can read more of the plot here.  If you click here you can read some quotes from this book just like the one shown below.  I have also included the US cover which looks quite unappealing to me.

I did not race through Finding Serendipity but it is a gentle story of love and determination.  If you enjoy Finding Serendipity you might also like Inkheart by Cornelia Funke and The Voyage to Verdada.

Louise, the adventures of a chicken by Kate DiCamillo illustrated by Harry Bliss

This book, Louise, the adventures of a chicken,  has all the right ingredients for a terrific picture book. Chickens!  A brilliant author! and glorious illustrations.

On the title page we see Louise looking out to the horizon early on morning.  Later that same day perhaps, on the next page, Louise gives the farmer's wife a sideways glance as she takes her first steps away from the farm.  There are four chapters which describe Louise's adventures.   The first is an adventure with pirates who argue over the best way to cook her!  Luckily there is a ship wreck and luckily Louise is washed up on the right shore and she is able to hop back to the farm.

"She tucked her beck beneath her wing.  She closed her eyes; and there safe in the warm henhouse, Louise slept the deep and dreamless sleep of the true adventurer."

One adventure, however, does not satisfy Louise and so in Chapter two she sets off again to join the circus. Here she performs on the hire wire carrying a pink umbrella but after a few performances this becomes 'mundane'.  Then the lion gets loose and excitement builds.  Louise narrowly escapes from the jaws of the hungry lion but all of this is a little too much for Louise and she she bids the circus adieu.

Back home she "closed her eyes; and there safe and warm in the henhouse,  Louise slept the deep and peaceful sleep of the true adventurer."  Of course this is not the end. Chapter Three sees Louise setting off on another adventure.

This book is a joy to read.  It has two simple messages - the grass is perhaps greener on the other side of the fence or is it? Contrasted with there's no place like home.  Here is a set of teaching notes.  Also you might like to read an interview with Kate about this book.  Here is a little video extract.

If you enjoy Louise, the adventures of a chicken you should also look for Daisy by Brian Wildsmith and Queenie the Bantam by Bob Graham.  You should also take a look at Peggy which was a very popular book in our school library last year.

The Man whose Mother was a Pirate by Margaret Mahy illustrated by Margaret Chamberlain

“The little man could only stare. He hadn’t dreamed of the BIGNESS of the sea. He hadn’t dreamed of the blueness of it. He hadn’t thought it would roll like kettledrums, and swish itself on to the beach. He opened his mouth and the drift and the dream of it, the weave and the wave of it, the fume and foam of it never left him again. At his feet the sea stroked the sand with soft little paws. Farther out, the great, graceful breakers moved like kings into court, trailing the peacock-patterned sea behind them.”

These lines continue to ring through my ears years after the first time I read The Man whose Mother was a pirate by Margaret Mahy to a class of Grade One children. The imagery and alliteration are perfect. I always include this book in my story bag when we explore this talented writer from New Zealand.

Margaret Mahy is a true master of language. This is one of the reasons I often ponder our good fortune of speaking English in Australia and sharing this with so many countries in the world. This gives us enormous quantities of quality children’s books from which to find our favorites.

The little man in this story has never seen the sea even though is mother is a pirate. One day he decides to dispense with his sensible brown suit and shoes, his books of figures and routines and along with his mother travel to see the sea. His boss gives him two weeks leave with the threat that if he fails to return he will be replaced by a computer! This is especially funny when you realize this book was first published in 1985.

Loading his mother into a wheelbarrow they set off for the sea. His mother tries to tell the little man about the sea but her words cannot fully prepare him for the wonder of it. There are of course some obstacles along the way. At one point they need to use a kite to fly over a river. Then they meet a pessimist who warns “The wonderful things are never as wonderful as you hope they’ll be. The sea is less warm, the joke less funny, the taste is never as good as the smell.” But they are determined to travel on. Suddenly as they come over the hill the little man sees the sea.

They join a rosy sea captain and the little man finally discovers his true destiny and his real name – Sailor Sam. Needless to say he does not go back to the office. In the final scene Sam sends a letter to his boss in a green glass bottle. “Having a wonderful time … Why don’t you run off to sea, too?” We have a huge collection of books by Margaret Mahy in our school library - why not borrow one today?