Three Strike Summer by Skyler Schrempp

"First the rain stopped falling. Then the wheat stopped growing. Then the dust storms started coming. Then the tractor stopped working, and the jars in the cellar started dwindling, and Pa stopped joking and joshing like the words dried right up in his mouth."

Times are so hard. The have to leave the farm. This is the place where the young child Little Si is buried. Gloria is in such a rage. Everything is so unfair. She picks up a rock and hurls into the window of the bank manager's car!

"Gloria. Mae. Willard. ... I ain't ever been as mad with one of kids as I was today. Never. But I never raised a hand to you, and I'm not about to start. ... I raised you better than to be smashing things up and cussing at your sister and paying no mind whatsoever to your ma, so you knock it right off, hear?"

Gloria is the wild child of the family. She is not afraid to speak up especially about an injustice. One of the biggest of these in her life is that the boys will not take her seriously when she says she wants to play baseball. Gloria knows she is a fine pitcher but those boys won't even give her a chance. 

"She'd been sneaking off whenever they practiced and hanging around the baseball diamond, waiting and hoping they'd give me a chance."

And now they have to leave their farm and Gloria will have to find a new team and start all over again to try to convince these new kids that she sure is a real fine player. What will happen on this new farm in California? The family, and all farm workers, are treated so badly by the farm manager. Picking peaches is hard, hard work. And there are so many rules. Things were bad before but now they seem way worse. At every turn the family debits are rising. But for Gloria there is one glimpse of happiness - she manages to talk her way in the boy's gang and their baseball team and there is a big game lined up with kids on the next farm. Surely, with Gloria on their team, her gang will win. And somehow this will also make things fairer for her folks and for the other workers. All of this will mean breaking the rules and keeping secrets from the adults but Gloria is so determined to win and also to expose the corruption she has witnessed among the farm bosses. 

"When you don't fight for what you deserve, the world just digs its heel into you little bit more. If you don't speak up for yourself, probably no one else will ... "

Three Strike Summer is a punchy, inspiring historical middle grade book about family, baseball, and life on farms during the Great Depression. Featuring a spunky female protagonist who won’t take no for an answer, this book explores a wide range of themes from gender inequality to poor worker compensation and dealing with death and grief. Reading Middle Grade

This is one of those books that I just 'gobbled up'. I read it as an ebook during my recent trip. I love the way Skyler Schrempp describes the door knocking pattern - "a shave and a haircut, two bits". This book will also give readers a wonderful insight into life during the Great Depression and the beginnings of workers unions, worker saftey and workers rights. Listen to an audio sample read by the author. Here is the web page for Skyler Schrempp. 

I cheered when I read the review by Betsy Bird:

Three Strike Summer? The pun in the name is the name of the game. This here’s a baseball book, loud and proud. You’re fairly sure of the fact when, in Chapter One, Glo uses her golden pitching arm to nail a rock through that car window of the bank man repossessing their house. ... I don’t know it for a fact, but suspect a person wholly unaware of the rules of the game would still get swept up in Schrempp’s storytelling. ... For me, one of the best parts of the book was an almost off-handed comment from Glo’s ma late in the story. At the beginning of the book Glo is furious and baffled by her mother’s willingness to just pick up and leave the family farm without so much as a blink. When at last Glo is able to ask her about it, almost at the end of the book, her ma says honestly, “Aw, Gloria… You couldn’t have paid me a million dollars to keep on living in a house that my baby died in.” Glo’s little brother died, probably because of the Dust Bowl, in that home. It’s so simple and so human and so understandable. Plus, I love children’s books where kids get this sudden clarifying instant where they can see everything adults have to go through and try to hide.

Narrated by Gloria in a conversational tone that brings the setting to life, readers feel her grief, outrage, and gritty determination. Descriptions of the Dust Bowl years and hardscrabble life in the camps are searing, and Gloria matures as she learns about others’ struggles. While she organizes a ballgame, Pa organizes the peach orchard workers to strike for better conditions only to be betrayed. Pa is in danger of being clobbered by police until Gloria and her teammates intervene, illustrating the importance of hope, honor, and team spirit in combating hardship. An informative author’s note explains the historical context, including the reasons behind the all-White communities Gloria inhabits. Kirkus Star review

Here are some text quotes to give you a flavour of this writing:

"I knew that bank man was coming. I knew what he was there for. And I knew what would happen when he was done with us."

"He had taken the bank man outside so we didn't have to hear him beg."

"I wanted to belong somewhere, even if it wasn't Oklahoma. I wanted to be someone people listened to, even if I was loud sometimes and maybe said the wrong thing once in a while. ... And I wanted to play ball for real, not just by myself, knocking old apples out of a tree with a creek tone, or watching everyone else play. I wanted to be on a team."

"I missed her biscuits. I missed her breads. I missed her green beans ... I missed smoky bacon and golden, runny egg yolks. I missed her blackberry jams, dark and sweet enough to keep a smile on your face all night. And fritters fried."

"Anyone congregating in groups at any time of day will be personally escorted off the property. We employ good, decent folks here, not lazy sons of guns, not rabble-rousers, not Reds."

"Meanness is funny like that. The bigger you get the smaller, they have to make you feel."

"I just wat there trying not to see Davey falling again and again. Kicking myself for telling him to go up that ladder in the first place. Downright dumb. Downright selfish."

Companion books:

Read more here

Someplace to call Home

Echo Mountain

The Pickpocket and the Gargoyle by Lindsay Eager

There are a host of very different characters in this splendid book. The setting feels like an ancient European city such as Paris or Rome and the unfinished cathedral, which has several gargoyles on the roof, is so well described I felt as though I was roaming right through the city and standing on the cathedral while I 'lived' through the whole year covered by this story. The descriptions of the sights, sounds and smells are so vivid. The derelict cathedral is at the centre of the story. It was built one hundred years ago in Odierne and is apply named Cathedral Sans Nom. A huge gargoyle observes the life of the city. He is not alone on the top of this building, but the other gargoyles are on the opposite side facing east and they shun him. Our alternate chapter narrator is the gargoyle facing west. One evening a young woman holding a tiny baby, climbs up to the roof of the ruined building in an attempt to escape the police. When she is finally cornered, she jumps into the river clutching her tiny baby. Eight years have now passed by the gargoyle still feels so much pain. His job is to protect but he failed to protect the mother and child. But what can he do. He is a gargoyle. He cannot move and he cannot talk, except to the pigeons who try to roost in his open mouth. He is powerless and deeply sad. 

Then we meet Duck. Duck is rescued as a tiny baby girl from the Saluire, the river that runs through the city. She is taken in by a gang of pickpockets and petty criminals all of whom are really children themselves. The gang call themselves Crowns. Duck does not know this yet but it is not a coincidence that the gang have moved into Odierne. The gang leader Gnat (this is the most perfect name for him) organises for Duck to work for Griselde as a baker's apprentice. His scheme is to have Duck steal bread and money to pass onto the Crowns each Saturday at the market. But Duck has a destiny. It is clear from the beginning she has a talent for baking and for creating delicious flavor combinations especially with her favourite herb - rosemary.

As I said at the beginning of this post, each of the characters in this book is so well drawn. Baker Griselde is a huge woman with enormous patience and good sense. Her journeyman Petrus is a thin suspicious figure who is always watching Duck. In the gang Ash, is both Duck's rescuer and her one true friend. Gnat, leader of the Crowns, revels in the power he wields over this group of young orphans but Duck has learnt to watch his face closely and from time to time she sees tiny hints of his true character and yearning to know about his own past and possible family. As for Duck, it is a joy to watch her transformation from a timid, almost silent child, into a young girl who learns to read, to bake and who gains enough confidence to question Gnat especially now he seems to be conspiring with the dangerous rival gang the Red Swords. 

Publisher blurb: Fished from the river as an infant and raised by a roving band of street urchins who call themselves the Crowns, eight-year-old Duck keeps her head down and her mouth shut. It’s a rollicking life, always thieving, always on the run – until the ragtag Crowns infiltrate an abandoned cathedral in the city of Odierne and decide to put down roots. It’s all part of the bold new plan hatched by the Crowns’ fearless leader, Gnat, to ensure the Crowns always have a steady supply of food and money. But no sooner is Duck apprenticed to the kindly local baker than her allegiances start to blur. Who is she really: a Crown or an apprentice baker? And who does she want to be? Meanwhile, high above the streets of Odierne, on the roof of the unfinished cathedral, an old and ugly gargoyle grows weary of waiting to fulfil his own destiny to watch and protect. Told in alternating viewpoints, this exquisite novel evokes a timeless tale of love, self-discovery, and what it means to be rescued.

I have had this book on my to read pile for many months. I picked it up a couple of times but the opening prelude to the story didn't quite grab me. This book has 448 pages and so I did keep pushing it to the bottom of the pile until this week. I did take the whole week to read this book but near the end I devoured the final chapters because they were so gripping. I was desperately hoping Duck would finally find her true place in the world even though Gnat had so horribly used and betrayed her.  After reading this book (or perhaps listening to an audio version if one is made) you will want to head off to your own local bakery so you can also devour some delicious breads in as many different forms and flavours as you can find. I recommend this book for keen readers who have good reading stamina aged 10+.

Here is an excellent review by Margot Hillel for Reading Time:

This is a book about loyalty and choices, particularly having one’s loyalty tested when required to choose sides. It is also about belonging and community; about what makes a home and what constitutes a family. It is a multi-layered book that will benefit from discussion in a class but is also a rich, individual reading experience.

"The craft of the baker is described in mouth-watering detail, and the reader gains some insight into how medieval guilds might have operated. ... Those interested in historical fiction (with a touch of magical realism) will enjoy this one." Reading Time Margaret McKay-Lowndes March, 2023.

Companion books:

The Threads of Magic

A Very Unusual Pursuit

The Wrong Shoes by Tom Percival

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Truth as told to Mason Buttle

Shelter

A different dog

Night bus Hero

As right as rain

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

The Invisible

The River

The Sea Saw

Herman's Letter

Fly Me Home by Polly Ho-Yen

In 2017 one of our large chain book stores added this book to their shelves and there it languished until May 2024 when I picked it up for 50% off the original price. SO, I wondered why no one had bought this book? The cover is okay - not very striking but not unappealing. I do know Polly Ho-Yen and I have read three of her previous books but perhaps her name was not a familiar one here in Sydney. The blurb is certainly enticing:

Feeling lost and alone in a strange new city, Leelu wishes she could fly away back home – her real home where her dad is, thousands of miles away. London is cold and grey and the neighbours are noisy and there’s concrete everywhere. But Leelu is not alone; someone is leaving her gifts outside her house – wonders which give her curious magical powers. Powers which might help her find her way home . . .

Polly Ho-Yen does not tell us where Leelu has come from, but we do discover the reason for her father's absence and knowing this you can surmise she has come from Nigeria or another African country where (spoiler alert) same sex relationships are banned. But these themes are not revealed until Chapter 42. Her father has been protesting against these laws.

Leelu and her family move to a new city and a flat in a very poor part of the city. Outside their flat there is a constant pile of rubbish. Mum has to work at night and so Leelu and her older brother Tiber stay home but then Tiber falls into bad company, leaving the house at night to meet up with a street gang so now Leelu (her real name Lillian Elvira Olawale) is left home alone. The neighbours on one side are a huge noisy family of young boys and one little girl named Betsy. Betsy becomes a wonderful friend to Leelu. School is a terrible experience. We are not told explicitly but it is clear Leelu has learning difficulties. Every task is confusing and impossible and so she just stops talking. In fact all the kids at school thing she is unable to speak. 

Early after their arrival at their new flat Leelu finds a small treasure near the garbage bins. When mum says she will toss a coin to decide who claims the bed near the window Leelu rubs her treasure in her pocket and wishes, wishes, wishes she will 'win' the bed so she can see the moon and know her dad is looking at the same moon too. The treasure works! But how? And where did this come from? On subsequent days she finds more tiny treasures - a walnut, an acorn, some moss in a match box and a pinecone. Each one works but only once. The Leelu meets the other neighbour - an eccentric man whose home is filled with objects just like her treasures.

He has a strange way of talking and never seems to directly answer her questions but along with Betsy, Leelu is sure she has found a special friend. Especially as thing are becoming desperate, and she has no idea when her dad will come, and her brother is clearly in trouble and then mum gives up her job and the landlord wants his rent - now!

Here are a few phrases by Bo:

"Heads, shoulders, needs, and toes"; "Of course, a horse, of course"; "I am trying to do something quite splentacular"; "And then it might be too late. Tick tock, tick tock."

Check out my labels for this post - if your school has issues with the themes of same sex marriage then this might not be the right book for your library. I loved the magical realism, the quirky voice of Bo (the man next door) and the way Polly Ho-Yen paints a picture of the cold and dirty city. Some reviewers and booksellers list this book for 9-12 but I am going to say mature readers 11+. Even though it was published in 2017 this book is still available or you might find it in a library. 

Here are other books by Polly Ho-Yen:

How I saved the world in a week

Two Sides

The boy who grew a tree

The Paperchaser by Penny Hall

"Hinton could see rows of identical houses, lining neat, well-tended streets. There were children setting off to school, emptied garbage bins being taken off the footpaths, people calling early morning greetings to each other ... 'And there's a price tag. ... This estate is surrounded by an electric fence with surveillance cameras, guards, dogs - the works. so all these little nuclear families can live in the cloud-cuckoo world of their parents, even their grandparents ... And don't kid yourself it's democratically run either!"

Hinton is living in a city, it could be any city really but Australian readers will recognise Sydney, the harbour, the bridge and references to the North Shore. The time is not defined but it is the future and it feels quite dystopian. People live in fear of violent gangs, no one uses the railway system anymore, the suburbs have become gated communities and everyone has to carry some form of identification because there seem to be armed police on every corner. 

Hinton is in his final weeks of school. He just needs to sit his exams. He has a plan to attend university but even this process is now rigorously controlled by the state. The authorities will determine which course he enters based on societal need not student wishes. The years at the university itself will involve being locked away to study with no contact with the outside world. Hinton wants to study law. His idea is that to make change you have to deeply know how the system works. 

"You might think you've been in a controlled environment at school. But at university! A weekly visit from one outsider - with official approval only. The only other contact with people outside through the phone - when it's working - and letters - then there isn't a work-to-regulations ban on ... And for what? A piece of paper covered in curly writing?' Hinton drew himself up and looked down his nose at her. 'I'll have you know ... that paperchasing is an old and highly respected profession ... for me, it's a case of intellectual exercise leading ultimately to intellectual freedom."

Hinton has a part time job at a supermarket but the gangs have been watching him and now they are threatening to hurt him badly if he doesn't leave the store room door open late at night so they can steal the food and other supplies. Luckily just as all of this is happening Hinton is rescued by some young strangers and he enters a whole other world underground in the city. He finds groups of young people who call themselves Miners. They have bases all over the city and beyond and elaborate communication systems. Hinton has so many questions but no one seems willing to answer him.

This book is filled with tension and twists. I am sure it would still be enjoyed today 35 years after it was published - it just needs a fresh cover and a new publisher who is willing to take a risk. The original cover is actually terrific by Arthur Boothroyd (1910-2011) but it does give the book a slightly old fashioned look. Arthur Boothroyd did the covers for other Australian children's books such as Broome dog by Mary Small and So much to Tell you by John Marsden. 

The Paperchaser was written in 1987 and it was shortlisted by the Children's Book Council of Australia in 1988. It is long out of print but I found a vintage copy at a recent charity book sale. I remembered I loved this book and in fact I kept the copy in my former Primary school library although by now I am fairly sure it has been disposed which is a shame. 

This book does stand the test of time and it has a terrific pace. Someone commented about the pace when I mentioned I had a plan to read this book in January. I read the whole book in nearly one sitting (146 pages). I was interested to see the publisher was Walter McVitty Books. That company have disappeared now but they did publish terrific titles. I was always a little bit fascinated about Penny Hall because later in her career she went on to become the Teacher-Librarian in a fairly exclusive girls school here in Sydney, Australia. I think I met her once.

This book reminded me of these:

Taronga

The Last Human

Maurice Saxby said: "It is an extended image of alienation; the mental state when one feels a nobody; the black cloud, the wedge of ice that site close to the heart when one journeys alone. It is also a metaphysical examination of reality and unreality; a speculation ... of what lies beyond the realm of human understanding. It is a tight, tense and gripping story with a poignant and poetic ending."

Catch me if I Fall

The Dog Runner

Grimwood by Nadia Shireen

Ted and his big sister Nancy live in the city. They are a pair of young foxes who have adapted to urban life. They know how to scavenge in the garbage bins scattered around the neighbourhood especially bins outside restaurants which are often filled with tasty treats.  In particular they enjoy the delicious offerings found in the bins behind Speedy Chicken. Other city animals find food here too but an understanding has developed between them.

"There are three bins.The foxes eat out of the blue one, the cats have the green one and the rats, pigeons, mice and everyone else have the red one."

BUT on the day we join the story so does Princess Buttons. She has lived a life of luxury but now her owner is dead and she has joined the street cats. Princess Buttons is a force of nature. She does not share - she does not share with anyone. She gathers a gang and declares they will take over all of the bins.

Ted is a young fox. He looks to his big sister for care and advise because, for reasons that are never explained, their parents have disappeared. Nancy tells Ted to stay away from Princess Buttons but one day Nancy goes off to meet some of her friends. Ted feels lonely and hungry. He checks carefully before jumping onto a bin at the Speedy Chicken. He sees a great big juicy hot dog dripping with ketchup and mustard inside a yummy soft bun. He sinks his teeth into the deliciousness only to discover he has bitten off Princess Button's tail.

Now the chase is on. Ted and Nancy are forced to run. To leave the city. To find a new place to live. They race off into the forest - to Grimwood. The good news is this place is far from Grim although there are dangers and of course Princess Button wants her revenge!

There are lots of funny little 'human' touches in this story. Nancy cannot get any reception on her mobile phone. Nancy has a coffee addiction but luckily Titus, mayor of Grimwood, has a supply in his campervan. I should mention Titus is a stag. Other characters include a wise owl, a millionaire duck, an utterly crazy eagle, a young rabbit called Willow (good friend to Ted) and other assorted forest animals including hundreds of squirrels who like to play a wild game called treebonk. I should also mention Eric Dynamite. He is an opinionated, brash and very funny woodlouse who jumps into the story at regular intervals with his own astute comments and wise cracking  commentary. 

Here is a page from the book to give you an idea of the print size, format, and cartoon style illustrations. 

This is one of those clever, funny books that is sure to appeal to young readers (aged 8+). I highly recommend you add it to your shopping list. One reviewer used the words subversive humour to describe this book and I totally agree. This book is brand new. It was published just five days ago! Huge thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance copy. The tone reminded me of The Clumsies make a Mess, Timmy Failure, Olive of Groves, Appleblossom the Possum, the Pip Street series and Diva and Flea. For slightly older readers I also recommend Mr and Mrs Bunny: Detectives extraordinaire. 

Nadia Shireen is the author of Good Little Wolf. In this video Nadai talks about Grimwood.

A Cardboard Palace by Allayne L Webster

 

Jorge has been trafficked as a very young child. He is now forced to work for a gang of thieves working the streets and popular tourist sites of Paris. His daily life is horrendous. He has to pickpockets and take money from tourists and then deliver his 'takings' to his minder named Bill. If he has not gathered enough money he is punished. He also rarely receives any money for food so he is constantly desperately hungry. Jorge and the other kids live in a makeshift camp on the edge of the city and his home is indeed made from cardboard. There were times when I was reading this book when I just had to stop and take a break. The terrible things that happen to Jorge and his young friends are, at times, very confronting.

Yes this does feel like a modern day Oliver Twist and perhaps it is no coincidence that Bill has the same name as Bill Sykes from the famous Dickens novel. 

Publisher Blurb: Jorge lives in a shanty town on the outskirts of Paris. Bill, a controller, has an army of child thieves at his command—and Jorge is one of them. But soon Jorge faces an even bigger threat. His home is to be bulldozed. Where will Jorge sleep? What will happen to his friends, Ada and Gino? Could a burgeoning friendship with Australian chef, Sticky-Ricky, help Jorge to stop Bill and save the army of child-thieves? And will he do it before he loses Ada forever? Jorge can’t keep fighting to live—now he must live to fight. A harrowing, humbling story about one boy’s desperation to escape a life of crippling poverty.

A Cardboard Palace is a Young Adult novel which in my view is suitable for ages 13+. In NSW this book is on the 7-9 Premiers Reading Challenge list BUT very oddly (and I think dangerously) this book was included on the CBCA 2018 Notable list for Younger Readers. Similarly, having said: the book also covers poverty, human trafficking, slavery, child marriage and death - Books and Publishing list this book for readers aged 10+.  This deeply worries me. Take a look at this review in Reading Time. Here is a set of teaching notes. Here is a detailed review with more plot details.

I picked up a Cardboard Palace from the Westmead Children's Hospital Book Bunker because I have just read another book from Midnightsun and I wanted to read a little more about this South Australian publisher. 

A Cardboard Palace reads like a modern Dickens story set in Paris, giving a voice to trafficked Romany children who are forced to labour illegally for a pittance. Lamont Books

Companion reads:

Trash

The Bridge Home

The Ricker Racker Club by Patrick Guest illustrated by Nathaniel Eckstrom

Rules of the Ricker Racker Club

1. Be a boy
2. Girls can join but only on Tuesdays
3. Do something incredibly brave or kind at least once a week

Brothers Max and Ollie invent their club, the rules, the secret handshake, password and mascot - a turtle named Albert. 

Poppy, their sister, would like to join this club. She is a smart smart smart girl! She is just like the suffragettes of history with their slogan "Deeds not Words". Poppy watches more and more boys join the club. Each day she quietly follows rule number three. She gives her two brothers

• two scoops of her jelly and ice cream
• cleans their bedroom
• promises to eat their vegetables for a month
• and she gives them her tooth fairy money

In the fifth week Albert, the turtle mascot, wanders into danger. The five boys try to save him but it is clever Poppy who knows just what to do. Poppy does something incredibly brave. At last the boys can see Poppy should join their club - they even make her their Queen.

I don't know how I missed this Australian children's picture book in 2016. Sadly this book is now out of print but I am sure it will be found in many Australian primary school libraries. I wonder why it was not included in the CBCA Notables of 2017 and from there the short list? Yes it is that good.

I love that this tale has an olden-day feel to it--of outdoor adventure and acts of bravery and excitement … Kids Book Review

So much to like in this book; the rhythm of the text, the bountiful illustrations, the well defined characters and the strong messages of acceptance and empathy. Reading Time

Lamont have written a set of teachers notes. If you have a Story Box library subscription you can view the whole book. You can see other books illustrated by Nathaniel Eckstrom here.

Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner

"Finally he had an idea. He found a pin in the lapel of his jacket, stuck it through the three bills, then through the envelope, and then through the suit lining. He had pinned his money down, so to speak. Well then, he thought, nothing can happen to it now."

Emil and his mother live in Newtown. Emil's father has died and his mother is struggling. She works as a hairdresser from her own home but money is always tight. Emil feels a great responsibility towards his mother. As the story opens Emil heading off to catch a train to visit and stay with his grandmother in Berlin. Mrs Tischbein has saved some money, quite a large amount, and Emil is entrusted to keep it save and deliver it.  At first the train carriage is crowded but for the final hours Emil finds himself alone with a man wearing a bowler hat. Emil is so worried about the money which he has 'hidden' in his inside coat pocket so he decides as an added security measure to pin the money to his pocket. Emil tries so hard to stay awake but eventually he falls asleep and his haunted by a terrible nightmare. In the play Emil is offered a drink while in the book the man offers Emil a chocolate. I did wonder did this contain a sleeping potion.  When Emil wakes up the money is gone. He sees the man in the bowler hat and so he jumps off the train and sets off after him.

It is clear Emil cannot confront this robber alone. Luckily a group of kids offer to help him and what a team they are.

"Bad luck is bad luck, any way you cut it. But having a few pals to help you out always makes things better."

They organise food, money and communications. I was thrilled that in the play they used an old rotary telephone and were not tempted to employ a mobile phone.

It is so awful when the money is stolen but the scene I enjoyed the most (in the book and the play) was when the gang capture the thief and Emil is able to identify his money because the notes have those pin holes.

You can read more about the plot and some of the controversy around the English translations:

• Tell me Another
• The Children's War
• A discount ticket to everywhere

Emil and the Detectives is one of those classic books that people of my generation probably remember reading. I certainly thought I had read this book as a child (the blue cover above seems very familiar) but perhaps I hadn't because I read it yesterday and most of the plot was new to me. This book was published in 1929 and translated into English in 1931.

I needed to read this book because today I saw the theatre production by Slingsby Theatre (from South Australia) written by Nicki Bloom. I am so glad the plot was fresh in my mind because it added another dimension to the play. How amazing to write a seventy minute play with just two actors and manage to give us the illusion of the gang of children, the city of Berlin, tram and train travel and the edge of the seat thrill of the chase as Emil and his new friends work together to capture the thief.  The lighting in this show is especially effective and brilliantly done. Watch this interview with the artistic director - Andy Packer.  Here is a fabulous set of teacher's notes to use with this production which will be performed in Melbourne in 2020. This is one of the best examples of theatre for children I have ever seen but I do think children in the audience need to be familiar with the book and I would suggest it is suitable for ages 10+.

Image source - Sydney Opera House December 2019

There have been five movie adaptions of this story, most in German, and several different theatre productions. This is the poster from the 1965 Disney movie.

Watch this video where several famous authors discuss this book and the National Theatre production in London.