Momo celebrating time to read: May 2025

Saturday, May 31, 2025

Birdy by Sharon Kernot

Maddy along with her mum and brother Charlie (the Professor) have moved to a remote country town in South Australia. An utterly dreadful thing has happened to Maddy and her anxiety is so overwhelming she can no longer speak. Mum does not pressure Maddy and she has agreed to do regular counselling. Her brother, who is ten, is also supportive. He loves to collect things and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the world. One day he finds a couple of curious things, but he tells Maddy they are of no value - a small bluebird necklace, some bottle tops and the button from a pair of Levi jeans.

Maddy needs to challenge herself and so she goes to the local general store to gather the family shopping. She is not able to speak to the shop keeper and experiences panic attacks every time she goes there but she persists. One day a young girl is behind the counter. Her name is Levi. Levi is friendly and she does not pressure Maddy once her brother explains Maddy cannot talk. It takes a lot of courage and time but eventually they become friends and Maddy begins to trust Levi - maybe she can tell Levi what has happened.

Meanwhile there is an elderly reclusive lady in the town who has suffered great losses in her life. Her husband worked at Maralinga where they did nuclear bomb testing and he died from radiation sickness many years ago. Alice has also lost her precious daughter Birdie. Birdie disappeared forty-five years ago but Alice clings to the hope that one day she will come home. Alice hurts her foot and so Maddy is asked to deliver her groceries and gradually we watch as this unlikely pair form a friendship.

Birdy is a verse novel. It is a very engrossing story which will greatly appeal to readers aged 14+. This book deals with some big themes such as sexual assault; issues of consent; anxiety leading to selective mutism; and profound grief.

I did appreciate the Australian and literary references in this book. Charlie is described as a mini-Harry Butler (I'm sure only readers of a certain age will recognise this reference); when they go for a drive one day she reads about the story of Bob the Railway Dog (see image of the picture book at the end of this post); also Maddy loves the poetry of Emily Dickinson. There are also 1970s music references such as Carole King You've got a Friend. And there are very important references in this book to the historic events at Maralinga.

Birdy is highly recommended for teens, for both its honest, heart-wrenching content and lyrical free-verse style. Read Plus

Birdy is filled with positive examples of people supporting each other through their words and kind deeds, and touches on some of the different ways of dealing with anxiety. It also addresses the harm that social media can do, and the strength of character required to counter this. The serious issues that shape Maddy and Alice’s lives (implied sexual assault and anxiety, hoarding and depression) are dealt with sensitively and eventually resolved. Read Plus

Birdy is a title on our 2025 CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) short list for Older Readers. I don't usually read the books on this list because they are beyond the scope of this blog which is aimed at readers (and teachers and Teacher-Librarians) with books for ages 4-12. I picked up Birdy from the hospital library where I work as a volunteer partly because the cover is so arresting and partly because I was fairly certain the staff who catalogued this title had put in in the wrong part of our collection. They had added it to our middle grade chapter books but now that I have read Birdy I can say it is most definitely a Young Adult title.

Read more about Sharon Kernot here. I am not sure I would use this book with a class - it feels too much like a personal journey that should be experienced by a solitary reader walking alongside Maddy and her journey to understanding and recovery, but the publisher has prepared some teaching notes if these interest you. Joy Lawn interviewed Sharon Kernot on her blog Paperbark Words.

Awards for Birdy:

Shortlisted, CBCA Book of the Year, Older Readers, 2025
Shortlisted, NSW Literary Awards Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature, 2025
Shortlisted, Readings Young Adult Prize, 2024

Here are the CBCA judges comments:

In Birdy, a compelling verse novel, two heartfelt and heartbreaking mysteries slowly unfold and overlap – a powerful contemporary drama intersecting with a historical crime. The main character Maddy is a teenage girl who is experiencing selective mutism and anxiety after what she will only refer to as The Incident. Her family relocates to the country to help her recover and there she makes a surprising connection with the reclusive older woman Alice, whose daughter Birdy disappeared 45 years ago. The novel explores ideas about shame, loss and trauma, the healing power of friendship and kindness, and celebrates the ability of poetry to generate deep feelings in both the writer and reader. We witness the skillful execution of the expressive and poetic language of a verse novel, to create rhythm, pause and silence to reflect the interior mood of the character of Maddy. The language is rich, descriptive and evocative, while still being accessible for the teen audience. This book would appeal to readers who love reading realistic, contemporary, heartfelt stories, and who enjoy crime and mystery. The descriptive, evocative language and complex themes provide much scope for detailed study in a classroom environment.

Companion books:

When Maddy intrudes on Birdy's room which has been carefully preserved by her mother and left just as it was 45 years ago I thought of this older Australian book from 1991:

Friday, May 30, 2025

The Endless Sea by Chi Thai illustrated by Linh Dao

"The war was over, but life wasn't easier. Everyone was hungry. Everyone was afraid. My family were punished for being on the losing side of the war - our relatives went missing. Every day felt like it could be our last."

Now we move onto the people smugglers. The family sell all their precious things and pay a man who pays a man who speaks to another man and then finally it is time to leave - at night, in secret. After days of travel they reach a boat but it is old, wooden and extremely overloaded. The food runs out. The water runs out. It begins to rain and the boat begins to sink.

"As the water inched higher and higher, I imagined sinking with the boat and disappearing into the sea. It would be as if we were never here, or never existed."

A ship comes to their rescue but in a heart-wrenching moment the crew hesitate to rescue the refugees. And this is only the beginning of their journey to a new city, a refugee camp, a long plane flight and finally a bust to their new home.

In the background notes you will read how the experiences explained in this picture book actually happened to Chi Thai. You should also linger over the cover and end papers. This is an important and poignant picture book with a heartfelt personal story that should be added to your school library collection.

A poignant reflection on one refugee’s experience. Kirkus

The specific context is helpful, but even without, it’s an affecting story, a reminder that the refugee experience is unfortunately common enough to be believable even without all the details. The narrator’s voice is clipped but sympathetic, as she conveys the sequence of her journey with a matter-of-fact approach that still leaves room for emotion. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

This moving, visually compelling story about one refugee family’s experiences is a powerful testament to fostering compassion and understanding. Horn Book

Chi Thai is a British Vietnamese independent filmmaker. She is a BIFA nominated producer and a Screen International Star of Tomorrow. She directed and produced the short film adaptation of award-winning Walker title The Promise by Nicola Davies and Laura Carlin. The Endless Sea is her debut picture book.

Linh Dao is an award-winning illustrator and animator. Having been born in Vietnam she is now based in in Brno, Czech Republic.

I have begun collecting picture books that explore the refugee experience in preparation for an IBBY Australia talk later this year. Our Australian Standing orders have a selection of International titles and that is where I first saw a reference to this book. Then I was visiting Gleebooks and able to read The Endless Sea for myself - realising it was a perfect picture book to add to my collection. I am not a fan of endorsements but there are two very powerful ones on the back cover of this book:

"These are the stories we must tell on behalf of those who can't." Shaun Tan
"What a powerful book!" Michael Rosen

Companion books:

Out

Then and Now

Grandma's Treasured Shoes

Wishes

Escape

Thursday, May 29, 2025

CBCA Younger Readers 2000-2024

Here is my post about the 2025 Younger Readers Notables

There has been some discussion about the 2025 CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) Younger Readers shortlist. "Entries in this category should be books published for children in the age range from 7 to 12 years (lower to upper primary school level). Books in the category may be fiction, drama, graphic novels, illustrated text or poetry."

Three of six of the books selected for 2025 do not really appeal to me I did, however, like quite a few of the 2025 Notables (you can see them all at the top of this post). I thought I would take a look at past winners and shortlisted books from the 21st Century 2000 - 2024. With each list I have included one or two of my personal favourites.

As I reviewed these lists it was easy to see the books I remember enjoying, and to see the books that were popular with the children in my library, alongside books that did not really appeal to me and so probably languished on the shelves. There were quite a few of the 144 books that I had totally forgotten and books that I could not readily recall the plot or even perhaps had not even read!

It is easy to promote a book with our students that we personally love but this is just a reflection of the way awards are always going to be subjective. I do think that every year there will be shortlisted titles our students really enjoy. It is not realistic to expect young readers to love every single shortlisted title but hopefully book awards like this raise their awareness of other authors and other styles of writing. The issue of gatekeepers also occurs to me - this is beyond the scope of this post but it is worth considering. With adult book awards there are always discussions like this about books we like, books worthy of an award etc. We certainly do not expect every adult to read every award-winning book so nor should this be an expectation for the Younger Readers short list.

As you ponder the 2025 list you might think about the constraints of these CBCA Awards - only six books can reach the short list; the age range for Younger Readers is very broad; there is no separate category (yet) for Graphic novels; the rules around series books are defined but open to interpretation; as Teacher-Librarians and other adults we have no idea about the books that were submitted; the judges for these awards spend hours of their own time (unpaid) reading hundreds of books; judgements about books are always personal and naturally reflect life experiences and more importantly our prior reading experiences.

I was pleased to see so many verse novels on these past shortlists. They are always great to share in a school library. I hope you see some books here that you also remember sharing in your library or books that are new discoveries or author names that either don't surprise you or conversely author names to explore further. Hopefully lots are these are still available in your school library. For myself I plan to re-read the whole Silk Family series by Glenda Millard and then talk in more detail about each of them here. I started this blog in 2008 so that's why I do not have blog links for earlier titles.

You might also think about the range of topics covered in past shortlists from the very simple (The cat on the mat is flat) to almost Young Adult level (His name was Walter) and also books with controversial or complex themes. Here are a few but there are lots more: Hitler's Daughter and Within these Walls and Once (holocaust); My Dog (atrocities in war); The Naming of Tishkin Silk (still birth); A horse called Elvis (family violence); Helicopter Man (mental illness in a parent); Toppling (serious illness in a child).