Snoop by Gordon Korman

This story is a wild romp - yes, it is filled with improbabilities but I am sure readers aged 10+ will enjoy 'snooping' with Carter - watching all the improbable things that are happening in his small town you just have to be prepared to suspend your disbelief.

Carter has two broken legs thanks to an accident while skiing with his father and Martin his younger brother. Who caused the accident? Well Martin was just learning to ski but, yes, he did crash into Carter but why didn't Carter just step out of the way. Well Carter was watching a video his phone. 

Now Carter has two broken legs and is confined to a wheelchair. He can't even get back to his bedroom because it is up the stairs, so he has to 'live' in the guest bedroom which smell like onions because it is beside their kitchen.

At first Carter survives his enforced time at home by watching videos on his laptop and phone. Carter discovers he can watch more than silly dance routine videos - he can watch the live cameras from around his town. This is only the beginning of his snooping. He finds a way to access more private cameras inside shops. This is a small town, and Carter begins to notice the behaviour of various people. The pregnant lady with her mischievous toddler at the park, the two owners of rival cafes who seem to be determined to sabotage one another, and then he starts watching a man who seems suspicious and a red car that sits in the same spot with the driver inside. 

Now take a look at the cover - about a third of the way into the book I finally thought about the cover. That is a red panda - an endangered animal Why are endangered animals roaming around his town? Carter's tech is taken away by his photographer mother. Is there a way he can still spy on the town and on his classmates.

There is an appropriate layer in this story about the dangers of addiction to devices but, while this is an important message, it did not feel too didactic in this story and in fact it is good to view the way Carter is able to change is own relationship with his phone and laptop especially after he is forbidden from using them. Read more about this here. Gordon Korman is a Canadian author. He has written over one hundred books. 

Blurb from author page: If Carter hadn’t been checking his phone, he might have seen his brother coming down the ski slope. And if Carter had seen his brother in time and avoided the crash, he might not be stuck at home for weeks, with both legs in casts. He’s never been so bored. Just to connect himself to the world, he starts checking out the live feeds from cameras around town. Before he knows it, he’s hooked – watching his classmates when they don’t know he’s looking, spying on neighbors, and discovering some other highly unusual things – things that no one else is noticing. Things that just might be illegal. But the biggest problem is once you start snooping, the hardest thing is to look away.

Korman dishes up an expert mix of entertaining foolery, peer and family dynamics, and cautionary messages about both the ethical nuances of online snooping and the hazards of jumping to conclusions. Kirkus

Here are some other books I enjoyed by Gordon Korman:

The Unteachables

Masterminds

Criminal Destiny

Shipwreck; Survival; Escape 

There are three books in this series The Island Trilogy - perfect for reluctant boy readers

Look for the others too - The Titanic Trilogy, The Dive Trilogy, and The Everest Trilogy.

How to be the New Person by Anna Branford

"I even have music for the beginning and the end of each video that I play in my head. And I always round it off with something like: If you would like to see more videos by Hazel Morrison, don't forget to subscribe to my channel!"

I really enjoyed reading a slim book for a change this week. I seem to have had so many 400+ page complex fantasies it was refreshing to read this book with 117 pages in about half an hour.  I am going to say, however, that being slim does not designate either a lesser story or a younger audience and once again I find myself disagreeing with the suggested age listed on the cover of my advance reader copy (8+).  I would say this book would be suit a mature reader aged 9 and even better, a reader aged 10+.  

Hazel likes to imagine she is making videos - those self help ones you have seen on YouTube.  I used to imagine, as a Primary aged kid, that someone was filming me in the school playground for a television show so this idea really appealed to me.

Here are some early example of Hazel's video ideas:

• Eight important tips for successfully buttering toast!
• Putting your hair in a ponytail: a step by step guide!
• The do's and don't's of cleaning up the sink after you've brushed your teeth - everything you need to know!

Hazel is navigating quite a lot in her life right now. Hazel's older sister Tess has been badly bullied at school. Mum and Dad have decided the best way to end this dreadful situation, which is affecting Tess's mental health, is to move to a new part of the city and of course to a new school. Tess will go to a new High School and Hazel will have to leave her best friend Gina and go to a new Primary School.

On her first day at the new school the scene nearly broke my heart. Hazel is assigned to sit with a group of three girls. It is clear they don't want her to join them. Then the teacher says Hazel will need to pair up with one of these girls on the class assignment which is a project about problems that affect young people. Olivia does not want to pair up with Hazel. 

Meanwhile, Mum and Dad have not really been focusing on Hazel because they are so worried about Tess:

"Hazel! Oh she's fine. We're so lucky with that kid. We never have to worry about her She's made of tough stuff.' It's funny to hear him say that about me. I think about the thick tough brown tape we used to seal up our packing boxes because ordinary clear sticky tape wasn't tough enough. .... I think about the enormous tyres on tractors and bulldozers that carry heavy giant rocks and get rained on and covered in mud and still keep going with no problem because they are so tough. Is that what dad thinks I am? Is that what he's telling Gran?"

Luckily there are two rays of sunshine in this story. One is the beautiful elderly lady next door who offers tea, biscuits and that all important listening ear to Hazel and the other is Laura - one of the three girls at her table. By the end of the book I wanted to hug Laura for her bravery and kindness.

Younger readers who enjoyed the Violet Mackerel books are sure to recognise Hazel because she has a very similar outlook on life and a lovely straightforward manner of sharing her problems. Perhaps you can join the dots and think about the title and the school project and Hazel's interest in making videos. Perhaps you can even think of the real life problem that is the focus of her film.

Huge thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance reader copy of How to be the New Person. 

I am sure this book will be a CBCA Notable title for 2023 at least I do hope it is. How to be a New Person will be published in October, 2022. Add it to your library shopping list today!

Mikki and me and the Out-of-tune Tree by Marion Roberts

Alberta is a keen boogie boarder. It is the Summer holidays in her small Australian coastal town. Alberta is looking forward to five weeks of freedom spent in the ocean. But, you knew I was going to say but didn't you, but Alberta, who is known as Birdy, is knocked off her bike and it is not an accident. Her arm is broken so there will be no boogie boarding for Birdy. Six weeks in a plaster cast.

Luckily Mikki Watanabe lives in her street. He has no interest in the ocean. His family, who originally come from Japan, have a beach house at Kingfisher Bay. Mikki and Birdie team up to investigate the forest area nearby and they make an amazing discovery. There is a small grove of towering pine trees. Mikki has a spiritual connection to trees. He is keen to make a video about their discovery and Birdie is equally keen to stand in front of the camera. Then they discover the council have plan to bulldoze this special area. Can their YouTube videos gain enough coverage so that this special place can be saved?

I did like the way Marion Roberts included the video chat and comments into her story along with advice from the book by Birdie's mum - Tammy's Bracken's guide to Modern Manners. I was not quite so interested in or convinced about Tammy's mental health issues and shoplifting. I really liked the community activism and the way Birdie and Mikki navigate the complexities of local government. This harks back to a very old classic Australian book - Battle of the Galah Tress by Christobel Mattingley. I also kept thinking about the television documentary made with Judi Dench "My passion for trees". 

This film follows Judi's experience through the seasons and her mission to understand the role of trees in history and the future. Judi joins tree scientists and historians to unlock the remarkable secret lives of trees and the stories that they cannot tell. With scientific techniques and equipment at her disposal, she is able to truly understand how trees work and gain an insight into their secrets. She meets a designer with a microphone to hear the trees around her, and a scientist with 3D scanning technology reveals her favourite oak in a new light.  BBC One

Marion Roberts mentions this book (for adults) as one that inspired this story:

You might also enjoy A Good Day for Climbing Trees.

This book will be published in April, 2022. Thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance reader copy.