No Purchase Necessary by Maria Marianayagam

I got to the section with the Mercury bars and stared at the chocolate bar in front of me, my heart pounding so loud I was sure Scary Al could hear it from behind the till. I glanced up at the cash register. Scary Al was ringing up a customer. I should do it now, I told myself, but my hands trembled in my pockets. What on earth was I doing? This was not me. ... “Some people must steal to survive,” I whispered to myself. I needed to do this to survive Bridge Creek. I’d find a way to pay for it someday.

Ajay and his family (father, mother and younger sister) have come to America from Sri Lanka. Amma and Appa have very high expectations for their children. Ajay does not want to disappoint them, so it seems easier to tell them a lie about the grade for his poetry assignment. His father expects Ajay to always score over 90 but for this assignment, set by Ms Livingston, where students had to respond to the Robert Frost poem ‘Nothing Gold Can Stay', Ajay scored 79. This lie, telling his parents he scored 90, is the first of many. You could think of the term 'slippery slope'.

Ajay is a new student at Bridge Creek Middle School. Jacob is also fairly new too, but Jacob is a bully and has already acquired a couple of thuggish friends. Early in the story there is a terrible scene where Jacob sees Ajay eating a Sri Lankan Sandwich: 

"Just as I was about to take a bite of my sandwich, Jacob walked up with his goons. He stopped in front of me, blocking out the daylight, and my insides went as cold as my outside. He looked at my sandwich and scrunched up his face. “What’s this stinky sandwich, Uhh-jay?” That also wasn’t my name. ... “Swi Lunk what?” Jacob howled. “What kind of meat is that?” Brad and Eric snickered again. ... “Yeah, it’s gross,” I said, and immediately felt guilty. It was my favorite. “You should throw it out,” he said as he munched his chocolate bar mindlessly. I’d never tried a Mercury bar, and here he was chewing it like a piece of stale gum. He was testing me, and I was ready. I needed to prove to Jacob Underson that I could be cool. Carefree. I shrugged. “Okay.” I walked over to the trash can and threw out my uneaten sandwich. Jacob smirked, then turned around and walked away."

From that day on it broke my heart to read that Ajay always bought a simple ham and cheese sandwich to school. He also cleared his locker every day and carried every book home just in case he needed one for a school assignment. Ajay puts so much pressure on himself. Thank goodness he does excel at maths and karate. 

It's that chocolate bar that leads to the next problem and the incident that 'snowballs' into so many terrible lies and dilemmas for Ajay. Jacob tells Ajay to steal a Mercury Bar from Scary Al's store. Ajay is terrified but also desperate for approval so he takes the chocolate and stashes it in the waist band of his trousers. Jacob is 'mock' horrified and he tosses the treat away. When Ajay picks it up he finds he has won the prize. But how can he claim this million dollar prize when he didn't buy the chocolate; and how can he tell his parents; and what about Scary Al, the store owner - surely, he will contact the police; and then there is the complication of his new friend Mindy - the way all of this happened this chocolate bar should have been her purchase. Oh and what do the words "no purchase necessary" actually mean?

There is so much tension in this story which is driven by the complex moral dilemma of what to do if you win one million dollars but actually it seems impossible to claim the prize.

Here are a couple of text quotes:

My throat tightened. That was the thing about Appa and Amma. They could be one hundred percent scary and one hundred percent loving at the same time. And maybe we were all like that. Not a list of things, but a messy pile—jumbled, overlapping, and contradicting.

I wanted to tell them about the chocolate bar, but my heart started palpitating when I thought about it. I couldn’t. The right thing to do was to let it go, I decided. I’d paid Al back. I wasn’t redeeming the prize. It was time to move on and start over. But for some reason, it still felt like I had miles to go before I got some sleep.

I had all these rituals because I wanted my life to be perfect. Perfect student. Perfect son. Perfect everything. And what about my life was perfect anymore? Nothing. I was a thief. And now I’d nearly killed someone.

He cleared his throat. “We put high expectations on you because we don’t want you to ever struggle the way we have. We do it because we want you to have better lives than we’ve had.” He turned to Aarthi. “But maybe, somewhere along the way, we became too hard on you.”

For more plot details read this detailed plot summary by Ms Yingling - I love her final comment:

This made me SO anxious the whole time I was reading it, which just shows how good the writing was, but it was not a good feeling! I thought of a dozen different ways that Ajay would have been able to claim the prize, and it was frustrating when he didn't take any of my advice! 

Here in Australian you will need to wait to read this book. I read an ebook version. The print copy (256 pages) is only in hardcover so far and it is very expensive but hopefully a paperback edition is planned. This book will be devoured by readers aged 10+ and it fits that expression "windows and mirrors". For some this book will be a window into the life of a migrant family and the cultural expectations of parents and while others are sure to relate (mirrors) to the pressures placed on Ajay and his sister and the unfairness of the way Amma and Appa are treated in their new country. 

Maria Marianayagam lives in Alberta, Canada: "My stories call upon a childhood and adulthood of multiple identities. I am a Canadian who was born in India. I am a Catholic but also Tamil Sri Lankan. I love writing but have a degree in chemical engineering. We all contain multitudes–and I draw on our intersections to inspire, empower, and engage young readers."

The novel’s plot twists will especially entrance and surprise younger audiences and those able to suspend disbelief and go with the flow of this completely age-appropriate and appealing story. Utter fun. Kirkus Star review

No Purchase Necessary is a warmhearted coming-of-age story about figuring out who you want to be and standing up for what’s right. Marianayagam has crafted an enjoyable, humorous, and thoughtful story that sheds light on immigrant struggles and the pressure kids face to be like their peers. Reading Middle Grade

Bookseller blurb: Ajay Anthonipillai has a million-dollar problem. Ajay has lived his life dutifully following the rules set by his Tamil parents.

• Rule #3: Straight As only
• Rule #5: There is no such thing as a no-homework day.
• Rule #10: Never watch scary movies.

However, moving to a new school gives Ajay a new rule to follow: Get on seventh-grade all-star Jacob Underson's good side. When Jacob asks him to steal a Mercury bar from Scary Al's convenience store, Ajay feels this is his chance to finally "get cool" and stop eating alone. But Jacob rejects the stolen chocolate bar, leaving Ajay to unwrap it and discover that it contains Mercury's Twenty-fifth Anniversary Grand Prize...one million dollars. Faced with an extreme dilemma, Ajay will have to bear the weight of his actions and battle his morality in deciding whether to claim the prize that may change the life of his family forever.

There are some interesting book and poetry references in this story. Ajay loves The Hardy Boys book series. Mindy loves Nancy Drew. Ms Livingston sets assignments on famous poems by Robert Frost: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening; and The Road Not Taken.

Companion books:

Scar Town

The Eleventh Trade

These two are for younger readers:

Bored Book One: Milo finds $105

Mr Chickee's Funny Money

Paperboy by Vince Vawter

This was beautifully written and palpably sad. Ms Yingling Reads

Carefully crafted language, authenticity of setting and quirky characters that ring fully true all combine to make this a worthwhile read. Kirkus

Have you ever read a book where you kept anticipating dreadful events, you gasped, turned the page and then that event didn't happen but instead a few pages later the author slammed you up against a wall with something even worse? I started Paperboy late in the afternoon and read a few chapters, then read a few more at midnight and then woke up at 3am and read this book right through to the end. All the while I was holding my breath because I was so worried about 'Little Man'.

It seems amazing when I think about it but in over 32 years as a Teacher-Librarian I never had a student who stuttered but I did work with one teacher (in hindsight I think about his bravery to be a teacher and face a group of ten year olds every day) and knew a young boy when I was a teenager. As humans there are some hard things in life that we have to navigate. Sensory impairment such as hearing loss, vision loss, epilepsy, and other disabilities that can make life so complex. I found it heartbreaking to read how much 'Little Man' struggled with his stuttering. In fact the reason we don't know his actual name until the final pages of this book is because his own name is almost impossible to pronounce - it contains the most tricky sounds. 'Little Man' is a highly intelligent young boy and this book and we get to know his story because we can hear his thoughts and read his typewritten words.

His best friend has gone away for a month over summer. 'Little Man' takes over the newspaper delivery job from Art or Rat as he is known. Over the following weeks 'Little Man' meets a variety of characters. My favourite was Mr Spiro who, in contrast with his newspaper delivery boy, uses long complex sentences and shares deep philosophical ideas that come from his extensive reading and huge personal library. He shows a beautiful level of kindness and intelligent interactions with the young boy. On the other hand, the town 'junk man' is a violent individual who you will desperately want 'Little Man' to avoid. When he risks his life twice and has to confront this disgusting man I wanted to shout at 'Little Boy' to run away because I knew he was in enormous danger. You can tell I became very involved in this story.

Adding to the power of this story at the end we discover this book is based on the life of the author. Read this detailed interview. Here are some quotes from the interview:

" ... everything in the book which had to do with stuttering, was factual. I had trouble saying my name, and on more than one occasion, I would pass out because I held my breath too long trying to say my name. If you remember the scene where the boy is in the restaurant with some of his parents’ friends, and he gets embarrassed, and it all just starts coming onto him and he loses his spaghetti all over the table and everybody? That actually happened to me."

"In the past few years, I've been reading an awful lot about the covert stutterer. I should have been the poster boy for covert stuttering. I tried to hide my stutter in every way I could. I would lie about it, I would skip class, I would do anything. I would pretend I was sick; I would do anything not to have to speak in class, or in some social situation. What that did is it held me back from starting on my journey of finding my voice."

"Saying my name was my albatross. At the start of school each year, I would start going into sweats, about the middle of August. School would start the first of September, I'd start worrying about it in August because I knew the teachers would say, "Okay, everybody stand-up, tell us your name. Tell us your brother and sister’s names. What your pet is, and what you did this summer." I'd have rather been whipped 40 lashes than do that."

In terms of an Australian young adult reader this book does contain aspects of US History from the 1960s especially racial discrimination and also a few references to baseball and famous baseball players but these references did not mean anything to me, but my ignorance did not affect the way this story totally engrossed me. Listen to an audio sample of chapter one - Mam is not his mother - she is the hired help - a brave African American lady who I would love to thank for the way she loves and protects 'Little Man'. 

Blurb: Little Man throws the meanest fastball in town. But talking is a whole different ball game. He can barely say a word without stuttering—not even his own name. So when he takes over his best friend’s paper route for the month of July, he’s not exactly looking forward to interacting with the customers. But it’s the neighborhood junkman, a bully and thief, who stirs up real trouble in Little Man’s life.

Awards for Paperboy:

• A Newbery Honor Award Winner
• An ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book
• An IRA Children’s and Young Adults’ Choice
• An IRA Teachers’ Choice
• A Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year
• A National Parenting Publications Award Honor Book
• A BookPage Best Children’s Book
• An ABC New Voices Pick
• A Junior Library Guild Selection
• An ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Recording
• An ALA-YALSA Amazing Audiobook
• A Mississippi Magnolia State Award List Selection

On another level this book is also about racial discrimination. Think of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr and also the movie The Help. There are two further books in this series (both are Young Adult or adult titles) and the final one deals with the five days in April 1968 that changed the world - the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Read more here. 

I am working my way through some Newbery winners and honor books from the last 25 years. I was so lucky to spy Paperboy at a recent charity book sale and it only cost AUS$2.

Companion books:

Walking to the bus-rider Blues

Stella by Starlight

The Parker Inheritance

How High the Moon

I also found a list of Middle Grade books that feature stuttering: Say It Out Loud by Allison Varnes; The Shape of Thunder by Jasmine Warga; and Wild oak by C.C. Harrington.

The Deadly Diamond by Mark Greenwood

"To this day the deadly diamond retains a spooky reputation as a stone with an ominous sparkle and the power to bring tragedy to anyone who touches it. But does its ownership bring death, dishonour, disgrace or financial ruin? Can the curse of the most famous jewel in the world be reconciled with reality when many of its owners have lived long and generally prosperous lives?"

Our story of this famous diamond - variously named the Blue Diamond, the French Blue, and the Hope Diamond - begins in India at a diamond mine in 1642. We are not told in detail, but it is very clear that conditions at this mine must have been utterly terrible. Mark Greenwood does mention snakes and overseers and the use of children in the mine. No one is exactly sure, but this diamond was part of a temple idol before it was stolen and then passed through the hands of thieves, con men, nobility, an extremely rich socialite, a famous jeweler and finally presented to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History which is where you can see it today and from that link you can see many of the aspects and short videos of this story that are mentioned by The Deadly Diamond including the regular postal envelope that was used to send it to the museum - an amazing story. Take a look at these images. 

This is a slim book but such a page turner and readers are also supplied with a timeline, glossary and extra reading list so curious minds can explore this topic further. If I was sharing this book with a group of students (Grade 5 or 6) I think I would begin by showing the tiny diamond in a ring I wear every day using this as a way to talk about diamonds and their value and origins. You could share this ABC television series "Stuff the British stole" with a High school group. There is an episode about a diamond from South Africa and also one about the Koh I Noor diamond. Both are rated PG. I highly recommend The Deadly Diamond as a perfect addition to your school library or pop this title on your Christmas present list - it would be an especially great gift for a boy aged 10+. This book has big print and white pages and a few actual photographs/portraits of the famous people who were involved or who owned this diamond. 

Further reading:

• Diamond facts for kids
• Science Kids
• Science for kids club
• Only Natural Diamonds

Many of my reviewing colleagues receive advance copies of new Australian titles but up until this week I only received books from one Australian publisher. Now I can add two more to that list including the publisher of this book - Fremantle Press. I recently talked about their new verse novel Trapped by Julia Lawrinson.

Mark Greenwood has done an enormous amount of research for this book The Deadly Diamond. I simply gobbled up the whole book in one sitting - readers aged 10+ are going to love this book and I am sure the rest of the series are fabulous too. I have another one - The Wooden Horse - ready to read next. Here is the full series called History Hunter:

On the publisher page you can read an extract from The Deadly Diamond and find very detailed and useful teachers notes. There is one word missing from the glossary which your students may need to check - loupe.

I was so interested to read all the ways this stone was cut and changed and reduced in size. I also had no idea about the colours of diamonds - white, yellow, red, dark grey, orange, red, apple green, pink and most desirable of all, the blue.

"The diamonds that came from the fabled mines of Golconda were highly valued. Local rulers jealously guarded the source and kept the largest diamonds for themselves. The radiance of these diamonds was legendary. Many believed they contained a supernatural force. Prized for colour, clarity, size and beauty some were as pure as a drop of dew."

Try to find these two books as companion reads:

The Blood Stone

The Mona Lisa Vanishes

This is not about diamonds, but it has the same narrative nonfiction style 

and the same assortment of 'shady' characters.  Highly recommended. 

This form of narrative non fiction is not new but I have not seen any other books in this form for many years. In my previous school library I had other books like this on a range of topics but they are all now long out of print. One series were called True stories published by Allen and Unwin: Stoked! Real Life, Real Surf; Bog Bodies: Mummies and Curious Corpses; Wrecked: Mysteries and Disasters at Sea; Kimberley Warrior: The Story Of Jandamarra; and Soccer: Great Moments, Great Players in World Football. And we also had the It's True series.

Your students who enjoy books that use this form of narrative to tell a true story might find the "I Survived" series in a school or local library. I also had a series called Mega Bites published by Dorling Kindersley in my previous school. 

The Mona Lisa Vanishes by Nicolas Day illustrated by Brett Helquist

Who stole the Mona Lisa?  This book is a fantastic mystery/detective story. By the end you might discover the answer to this age old question. 

Publisher blurb: On a hot August day in Paris, just over a century ago, a desperate guard burst into the office of the director of the Louvre and shouted, La Joconde, c’est partie! The Mona Lisa, she’s gone! No one knew who was behind the heist. Was it an international gang of thieves? Was it an art-hungry American millionaire? Was it the young Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, who was about to remake the very art of painting? Travel back to an extraordinary period of revolutionary change: turn-of-the-century Paris. Walk its backstreets. Meet the infamous thieves—and detectives—of the era. And then slip back further in time and follow Leonardo da Vinci, painter of the Mona Lisa, through his dazzling, wondrously weird life. Discover the secret at the heart of the Mona Lisa—the most famous painting in the world should never have existed at all. Here is a middle-grade nonfiction, with black-and-white illustrations by Brett Helquist throughout, written at the pace of a thriller, shot through with stories of crime and celebrity, genius and beauty.

Here is a detailed summary of the plot.

Here are some text quotes to give you a flavour of the writing in this book - it is funny at times, and shocking and interesting and even matter of fact. 

None of them saw the man leave the closet. But if any had, they might not have noticed. He was wearing a white smock, the uniform of the Louvre maintenance workers. It was a suit of invisibility. He was too normal to be noticed.

The Mona Lisa was gone for over twenty-four hours before anyone realized it was gone. If not for the persistence of Louis Béroud, it might have been days. It might have been a week. The theft of the Mona Lisa—the art heist of the century—was discovered because Louis Béroud got bored. The Louvre was lucky.

Everyone in Paris could tell you it was obvious what had happened. It was just that everyone told you something different was obvious. It was blackmail, obviously. It was sabotage, obviously. It was the work of a madman, obviously. It was the work of an extremely wealthy man, obviously.

I especially love the way the narrative flipped between scenes and characters and also back to the time of Leonardo himself. 

Back in Florence, he hears from a silk merchant who wants a portrait of his wife. And in 1503, Leonardo, after turning down far more prestigious commissions, after expressing little interest in painting at all, says yes to Francesco del Giocondo. No one knows why. If Leonardo met Lisa before he took the commission—we don’t know whether he did—maybe he saw something in her. Something that took him beyond financial calculations. Or maybe not. Why this woman? It ranks among the greatest mysteries in the history of art.

I read The Mona Lisa Vanishes last year (on my Kindle) while traveling. Over the coming days and weeks I am catching up on all the books I still need to share. I highly recommend The Mona Lisa Vanishes for readers aged 11+ and then you should plan a trip to an art gallery or even better time in Paris to see the actual painting and all the other treasures in the Louvre. The narrative style combined with all the actual facts of the case plus lots of background information about Leonardo make this book an engrossing one to read.  

Awards: The Mona Lisa Vanishes won the Robert F. Sibert Award and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for nonfiction. And A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year • A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year • A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year • A Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Best Book of the Year • Booklist “Top of the list—Youth Nonfiction” 2023 • NPR "Books We Love" 2023 • New York Public Library Best Book of 2023 • Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2023 • The Week Junior “The Fifty Books Kids Love Most”.

A multistranded yarn skillfully laid out in broad, light brush strokes ... Kirkus Star review

Colby Sharp talks about this book - I agree with so many of his thoughts - so many things you will learn about this painting and its rise to fame and the myriad of characters involved in the theft. 

I am quoting the entire School Library Journal review:

Most readers will not know that the Mona Lisa painting was once stolen from its home at the Louvre. This nonfiction middle grade book contextualizes this historic moment with world events. The publicity that surrounded the theft only added to the painting’s fame. Readers will learn of the heist, discover new connections to other artists, and find out fascinating details and facts of the long-ago crime. Moving back and forth between the caper and the life of Leonardo da Vinci, the text takes readers around the world figuratively and literally. Day writes in a pleasant conversational style, addressing readers directly. The story moves along at a reasonable pace and includes many historical figures; the abundance of cultural references makes the story challenging, but interesting.

Take a look at my previous post about Leonardo's Horse. You might like to explore these books too:

Donut Feed the Squirrels by Mika Song

Norma wakes up and begins to cook a batch of pancakes. She wants to share them with her friend Belly but because she leaves her cooking to find him the pancakes are burned. As the two friends discuss what to do next they smell something delicious.

"like honey ... it smells like crispy sugar, oil, and a hint of linden flowers."

This smell is coming from a donut van which has parked nearby.  Norma and Belly do not have any money but they do have lots of chestnuts. They pop these on the van counter but the human donut seller is horrified and he grabs a water spray bottle and sprays his small animal customers. Norma and Belly are desperate to eat one of those donuts so they devise a very clever plan.

The library I visit each week use date due slips for their books. This is a great way to see the frequency of borrowing for individual titles. Donut feed the Squirrels arrived in the library in May 2021. This is not a large school (around 300+ students) and yet I see this book has been borrowed twenty times.

Awards for Donut Feed the Squirrels:

• 2021 Eisner Honor for Early Reader 
• Chicago Public Library Best of the Best 2020
• Michigan Great Lakes’ Great Books Award 2021-22
• 2021 The Center for Children’s Books Gryphon Award Honor and
• 2020 The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon in Fiction
• The Nerdy Book Club Pick
• Indie Next List
• Junior Library Guild Pick
• Texas Little Maverick Reading List 2020-21
• Cybils Award
• ALA Best Graphic Novels for Children Reading List
• ISLN Red Dot Short List 2022-2023

I highly recommend Donut feed the Squirrels. A perfect book for a newly independent reader and a great way to introduce chapters - there are five chapters in this book. 

The paperback edition of Donut feed the Squirrels has a different cover (Pushkin Children's Books).

Take a look at the webpage for Mika Song. Here are some other books from this series:

I previously talked about Agatha May and the Angler Fish by Nora Morrison and Jessie Ann Foley illustrated by Mika Song.

Huxley and Flapjack: Race to the Rescue by Alan MacDonald illustrated by Francesca Gambatesa

Huxley is a koala. Flapjack is a penguin. They live together in a rambling house in the woods. Huxley lives high in the treetops (I hope this is a gum tree) but Flapjack is afraid of heights, so his bedroom is on the ground. 

Image source: Francesca Gambatesa

Huxley is a bit of a dare devil while Flapjack tends to be more cautious. It is clear there will be several disasters when the friends head into the city to explore a brand new, six-storey department store. Adding the mayhem, a robber is a at work. The store manager is sure Huxley is the thief but our friends have seen the real thief and so they set up a trap to catch him and hopefully recover all the stolen items. 

Oddly this is book contains information that might surprise Australian children. Huxley and Flapjack: Race to the Rescue comes from the UK and it contains a serious factual error - Koalas are not bears! But if you can look past this issue, this book and the next one in the series would be a good addition to your easy chapter collection. There are colour illustrations; and easy to read text; and a fast moving story with touches of humour. Here is an interview with the author. Here is the webpage for Alan MacDonald.

A fast-moving fun story, ideal for new solo readers with zany, dynamic full colour illustrations by Francesca Gambatesa on every spread. I suspect this duo will gain lots of young followers who will eagerly anticipate their further adventures. Red Reading Hub

This charming young chapter book is full of energy, and the fabulous colour illustrations on every page perfectly reflect the vim and vigour of the adventure. Huxley is perhaps a little too quick to act before thinking, and this can provide a talking point. Meanwhile, the very sweet and sensible Flapjack is always there to counter-balance the impetuous koala. This would appeal to young readers who enjoy animal stories that aren’t too cutesy. Book Trust

From its zingy yellow cover to its wonderful colour illustrations, this gorgeous early chapter book is bursting with energy and adventure, sure to capture the imagination- and hearts- of its readers. Huxley and Flapjack prove that opposites attract and that true friends can be quite different to you in both tastes and backgrounds. Through the Bookshelf

The second book from this series will arrive mid year.

Cop and Robber by Tristan Bancks

Nash Hall has a complex life. His father claims they are related to the famous bushranger Ben Hall. His father was once a boxer but recently he has turned to crime and has almost been sent to jail. Nash is so worried about his father's behaviour and now he discovers his father owes a huge amount of money to some dangerous looking criminals. In just three days Lyle Hall has to come up with $256,568. If all of this sounds dreadful and impossible there is one more thing you need to know. Look at the title of this book. I have talked about the robber - that's dad and he has just held up a service station - but what about the cop? Well, that's mum. 

There are some violent scenes in this book so I suggest it will appeal to readers (especially boys) aged 11+. 

Publisher blurb: If your mum was a cop and your dad was a criminal who needed your help to commit a crime, would you do it to save him? At what cost? Nash Hall's dad is a criminal who just can't seem to go straight. He wants Nash to help him commit a robbery. A big one. The trouble is, Nash's mum is a cop. And the robbery is at Nash's school. But Dad owes a lot of money to some very dangerous people and if Nash doesn't help him do the job, it could cost both their lives.

Tristan uses humour as well as conflict to add light and shade to his story.  He uses Nash’s dilemma to explore complex themes of loyalty, love, honesty, and especially forgiveness. This makes it such a satisfying and memorable read, but beware, once you start it you will drop everything until you’ve finished it. Storylinks

Here is a very detailed set of teaching notes from the publisher - Penguin Random House. Here is Tristan Banks web site. 

Take a look at other thrilling stories by Tristan Bancks:

Two wolves

Detention

Twitch by MG Leonard

 

"He'd woken up feeling like he had a jigsaw puzzle in his head that wouldn't let him do anything else until he had fitted all the pieces together. Who was Billy? ... Why had Billy told him he was a birdwatcher, when he didn't know the difference between a swift and a sparrow? Why was everyone lying to him? It seemed to be a puzzle hinging on birds. He wondered, was it anything to do with the jailbird who was hiding in Briddvale?"

Who are the baddies? Who can you trust? Is there anyone who is telling the truth?

A notorious bank robber has come to Aves Wood. The robber is purported to be looking for five million pounds which have been hidden in this huge natural area. Twitch (real name Corvus Featherstone) loves to roam around in Aves Wood. The dreadful bullying he experiences at school and his loneliness since the death of his grandfather mean he feels most at home in the little hide he has made in the wood. From his hide he can watch the birds he loves. At home, his love of birds continues with four pigeons; three chickens and a family of swifts. The holidays have begun and Twitch has plans to train his two younger pigeons to fly home but now the woods are swarming with police and Twitch also has to be extra careful to avoid the bullies from school and keep his own special hideout a secret. 

Jack and his gang attack Twitch on the last day of school forcing a worm into his mouth. Luckily a stranger intervenes. Briddvale is a small place. Twitch has never seen this man before but Billy explains he has come to area to look at the birds. Twitch is delighted to find a fellow bird enthusiast but should he share so much information with a stranger. Then there is Jack who somehow tries to convince Twitch that he is not a bully, that he is also interested in birds and that he just wants to be a friend. Again should Twitch trust his former enemy and has he told Jack too much? And who are the two young girls he keeps seeing roaming around Aves Wood? 

This is just one of those really, really good books that is very readable, with a great story and characters you're interested in and care about. It's written perfectly, with a good pace to the plot, and a lovely warmth to it throughout.  The Book Bag

I read this book in almost one sitting. YES it is that good. I adored previous books by MG Leonard - Beetle Boy and Beetle Queen. 

In Twitch the action just races along and I loved the way MG Leonard gives tiny hints, some of which are very misleading, about who to trust and exactly what is going on. The character of Twitch reminded me of Carl Hiaasen books such as Hoot; Scat; and Flush. 

If you are looking for another book with a central character who loves birds you should also look for The Someday Birds.

Talking to Alaska by Anna Woltz translated by Laura Watkinson

 

Parker has a very special dog. Her name is Alaska. 

"I've been missing her for four months now, so during the daytime it feels almost normal for her not to be there. I'm used to the dog-shaped hole at home. I know I don't need to be careful with the door any more, and all the blankets covered in white hairs went into the washing machine ages ago. But at night I dream about her."

When I read this I was sure Alaska had died. Luckily this is not the case but I really don't want to say too much more about what has happened except to say Alaska now has a new owner called Sven. Just why Sven has Alaska; how Sven needs Alaska; what has happened to Parker's father; and how Parker can get close to her beloved dog once again are questions I cannot answer - you need to read this book. Actually I am going to shout that YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK.

Told in alternating chapters between the two characters, this is a heartfelt story about understanding others. It’s a relatively short read, but Anna Woltz packs a lot in, including themes of bullying, trauma, and coping with life-altering situations, while the characters make unexpected discoveries about friendship – and a special discovery about Alaska too. Book Trust

The review from Book Trust also includes an interview with Anna Woltz about her book.

Every few weeks I visit Beachside Bookshop in Sydney and I pick up some advance reader copies of books for Primary school aged children.  I never really know what I am going to get. It's a bit like the scene in Forest Gump when he says “My mom always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.”  I would change this to "A book can be like a box of chocolates. You never know what's inside until you open it up."

Talking to Alaska was one of the first books I picked up to read from my last set. I loved the cover - I'm sure you do too. Then I discovered this was a translated book and I adore discovering those. As a bonus I read Talking to Alaska won the most prestigious literary prize for Dutch children's books - the Zilveren Griffel which goes part of the way to explaining how it came to be translated into English.  Then I opened up the book and met Parker and I fell in love. I also discovered Anna Woltz uses alternating voices in her story which is a style of writing I really enjoy.

The hardcover edition of this book is now available and the paperback will be released early in May. The Publisher has the delightful name -  Rock the Boat.

Here are the Dutch, Hungarian and German covers:

If you look at my labels for this post you will see this book is about epilepsy, violence, fear, and of course dogs. We talk about genres for books. I think there needs to be a new genre - the heartfelt dog story. Here are some beautiful dog stories that I suggest are companion reads to go with Talking to Alaska:

One Dog and his Boy

A Handful of Stars

Too small to Fail

When friendship followed me home

Almost home

Because of Winn Dixie

Love that dog