Stella and Marigold by Annie Burrows illustrated by Sophie Blackall

The warm, loving relationship between Stella and Marigold is at the heart of these books. 

Blurbs from Annie Burrows web page.

Book 1: Stella & Marigold 

Stella, who’s seven, likes cats and axolotls and second grade. But most of all, she likes Marigold. Marigold, who’s four, likes gibbons and red paint and the plumber. But most of all, she likes Stella. Stella and Marigold do all the regular things that kids do—like going to school and playing with their friends, like sometimes going to the zoo and sometimes getting sick—but even the most regular things have a secret side. For instance, there was a secret involving a blanket. And another one, about wolves, a terrible storm, and two brave children. That was a very exciting secret, and no one knows about it but Stella and Marigold. And you, if you read the book!

I especially loved the seventh and final story in book one - The Brave Children. Here is the Kirkus Star review.

Book 2: Stella & Marigold: Mermaids and Mix-Ups

Stella and Marigold live with their parents in the half-house. But in other houses in other cities, there are other people who were part of Stella and Marigold’s family. One of them is Cousin Judy, who sends them lots and lots of presents for no reason at all. One day, for no reason at all, she sent them a purple present. It was a book, and in the book, they were supposed to list their friends. That’s when Stella and Marigold discovered they didn’t have enough friends. They needed to make more. But how? With flowers? With magical recipes to make snow fall? With lots of nice Bandaids? How about a mermaid candleholder? The two sisters are full of ideas and plans. Maybe they turn out and maybe they don’t, but luckily, Stella and Marigold always have a best friend at home.

Here is the Kirkus review of Book Two.

Book 3: Stella & Marigold: Past and Presents

Nowadays, Stella and Marigold live in the half-house. But the half-house is very old, so they are not the only children who have ever lived there. One surprising day, they discover that there was another girl, maybe named Ziamara, who not only lived in the half-house, but drew on the wall. And who not only drew on the wall but left secret presents for Stella and Marigold. And who not only left secret presents but maybe went all the way up to the roof of the house! Inspired by this hero from the past, Stella and Marigold make great plans for the future.

Here is the Kirkus Star review of Book Three.

I listened to a podcast this week where Sophie Blackall talked about creating Stella and Marigold with Annie Burrows. I had seen the covers of the two books in this series from 2024 but I had not read them. The first book is just a delight - it would be a fantastic book to read aloud in your family or as a gift for a young reader aged 7+ AND if you are in a school library this is a must add series for your collection. The paperback editions are very affordable. Here is a video where Sophie Blackall talks about the series.  See inside book one here. 

Here are a few quotes from the podcast (you can read it from the transcript or listen):

Bianca: Stella or Marigold: who are you most like?

Sophie: I’m definitely Stella. I can’t even pretend for a second that I’m Marigold, but I love Marigold with my whole heart. She makes me laugh so much. She is such a person; she is so real to me. But I’m more like Stella, always wanting to do the right thing and be responsible.

Bianca: What do you love most about working with Annie (Burrows), or about her as a person, that people might not get from the books alone?

Sophie: Annie has a way of channeling childhood like no other writer I know. She is right there, and she finds all the incredibly specific things that, as soon as we’re reacquainted with them, come back in a rush of “Yes, that is what it feels like to be a child.” A child’s sense of time, a child’s sense of injustice, a child’s sense of who they are. ... 

With Annie, it’s really a lot about characters and finding how to convey all of Marigold’s feelings in a spread. Marigold patting a banana because she feels sorry for it. Marigold wondering what dust tastes like, because she’s so bored she can’t think of a single other thing to do except get on her hands and knees and pick dust out of the crevices in the floor. Marigold waiting a hundred years for her sister Stella to come back from school, because that’s how long it feels. ...

When Annie was thinking about names, she came up with Stella because Stella is celestial. She is cool, composed, and ethereal in a way, a wise soul like a star. Marigold is hot and close to the ground. She has big feelings. So in the books, I drew Stella in cool colors, and Marigold is always in reds, yellows, and oranges, and she bursts off the page.

Reviewers compare Stella and Marigold with Beezus and Ramona but for me the tone beautifully matches the Miller Family series by Kevin Henkes - especially the books with Sal as the central character.

I also thought of the Violet Mackerel series:

Read more here

You library might also have another series about sisters (twins in this case) - Ling and Ting by Grace Lin (4 books). 

Millie and the Frame of wonder by Phil Cummings illustrated by Shane Devries

Without being didactic this book gently introduces the idea of mindfulness and of slowing down enough to see your world.

Millie finds an old picture frame on a household throw out pile. When she holds up the frame she makes a discovery - suddenly she can see the world in a whole different way. This is a sweet idea but it becomes way more poignant when she uses the frame to help her little sister who is in hospital.

Opening sentence:

"Millie Biggins lived at the end pf Puddle Bridge Lane."

This is such an inviting story opening - as a reader I knew I would really enjoy meeting a girl called Millie Biggins.

When you share this book with your young reading companion make sure you linger over the end papers - front and back. You could also use this book to talk about recycling and of course it would be very easy to make your own picture frames and then use them to explore your school or neighborhood. 

I think Millie and the Frame of Wonder is a book you should just share in your library or family but if you need discussion ideas Scholastic have written some teachers notes. 

This is story that could truly inspire parents and teachers to find or make a frame of wonder and let young (and old) find one’s own moment of joy and happiness to share and discuss. A truly delightful book worth sharing with our young readers. Kids' Book Review

I loved a previous book by Phil Cummings and Shane Devries:

Crumbs

Phil is an award-winning author who developed a love of children’s literature when working as a teacher. It was during this time that Phil decided to write a children’s book. He soon discovered that it wasn’t easy, and after seven years of rejection, Phil’s first book Goodness Gracious!, illustrated by Craig Smith, was published by Omnibus/Penguin in 1989. Since then, Phil has written over sixty books for children. His most recent titles include Echidna Jim Went For A Swim, Be Brave Pink Piglet, Anzac Biscuits, Ride, Ricardo, Ride!, Bridie’s Boots, and Boy.  

In 1990 Phil visited my school library in Lithgow and I have very strong memories of his presentation and of sharing Goodness Gracious with the readers in my school. 

Newspaper Hats

The Hidden Hat

A boy and a ball

Robin by Sarah Ann Juckes illustrated by Linde Faas

Eddie is the older brother. His sister, Scarlet, has been unwell ever since she was born - she has serious heart issues and has been in and out of hospital. Eddie does love his sister but he is now tired of being the 'good boy' and tired of coming second with his parents. His feelings have been building up and up and they make him feel so desperately guilty.

While Scarlet is in hospital this time Eddie goes to stay with his uncle John who lives near a wild forest. His uncle tells Eddie about some of the special trees:

"I always found the trees to be the most excellent listeners ... particularly for secrets that we don't feel we can tell a person yet."

Eddie goes to the forest and he expresses some of his pent-up feelings and rage inside one of the hollow tree trunks. Oddly he then meets first a tiny robin and then a strange girl. She talks about hunting monsters and also about being brave. At school Eddie meets another boy named Richard and he seems to offer similar advice about being bold and brave. 

Scarlet meanwhile has her operation and (spoiler alert) she is fine. This seems to mean there is no longer any need for the forest girl named Mari to exist. 

Publisher blurb: Eddie feels invisible - his sister Scarlet isn't well and nobody seems to remember that he's here. Out in the forest, as the ice hardens and winter gets deeper, the world is quiet. But there's a monster deep among the trees - a monster that's growing with every sad and angry thought Eddie says out loud. When a little red bird takes him to meet Mari, a strange and fierce girl with blurred edges just like him, she shows Eddie how to be loud, how to make new friends at school and enjoy the music he loves again.  As Scarlet's big operation approaches and Eddie gathers his courage to finally be heard, will he find his way back through the snow and put the monster to rest once and for all?

Robin is a strange story. Even now, days later, I am not sure quite what this story was trying to say. And I had one unresolved plot point when Uncle John seems to know this girl?

"I met a girl yesterday, ... she was wearing strange clothes and carrying a knife and bow and arrow. And she was sort of see-through, like a ghost. But she didn't feel like a ghost. She said she was a story, so I don't know."

At its heart this is a story about healing and identity and finding your voice. I did like the term used by one review - glass siblings. Sensitive readers aged 10+ who enjoy emotional stories and magical realism could enjoy this book. The cover certainly enticed me.  Each of these reviews has more plot details:

The main character starts to become bolder as he explores his wintery landscape and finally finds his voice to make sure that he is heard and not forgotten. The story is very powerful and explores themes of illness within a family and the effect it has. It shares an important message through great imagery which is then coupled with the beautiful illustrations ... Books for Topics

Over time, Eddie learns to do things for himself and finds his voice. He learns that he doesn’t always need to be a good, quiet boy – it’s ok to be angry and release the monster inside, to be true to himself – to be fierce, fearless and loved. Robin is a story of empowerment, friendship and hope. Set in the snowy forest, it’s the perfect winter read ... Scope for Imagination

It is both heartbreaking and heartwarming to watch Eddie realize that the monster in the woods isn’t a villain to be defeated by a sword, but a manifestation of his own suppressed grief. By trying to stay quiet and brave, he has actually been feeding the beast.

I saw Robin in one of our Sydney bookstores - The Constant Readers. Very strangely the hardcover edition was only AUS$18. This book is fairly new - published in 2025. I quickly read a few reviews while I was in the shop and they all praised this book.

Sarah Ann Juckes writes books for young people. Her YA debut Outside (Penguin) was nominated for the Carnegie Medal Award 2020, shortlisted for Mslexia’s Children’s Novel Award, and longlisted for the Bath Novel Award. Her second YA novel, The World Between Us was published in March 2021, and The Hunt for the Nightingale was her first Middle Grade Novel. She works with writers from all over the world via Jericho Writers and is on the board for Creative Future – a charity supporting under-represented writers. You can often find her hibernating in her writing shed in East Sussex, with her cat.

I mentioned this book here

You can see more books illustrated by Linde Faas here. Linde lives in Norway. I previously mentioned her IBBY Silent book in this post from 2019. 

This Way Little Badger by Phil McMylor illustrated by Cliff Wright

"As the sun goes down and night draw in, Little Badger goes out into the wood for the very first time."

He is not alone. His big sister Belle is with him but somehow they get separated and now Little Badger is lost. He keeps hearing voices calling - 'Hurry home, Little Badger!'. But he has no idea which way to go. He meets an owl, a rabbit, a magpie, and a mouse. Then he finds himself trapped in a deep hole. Luckily he remembers something important his sister told him:

"A badger's claws are made for digging."

I know we don't have badgers here in Australia but I do enjoy books about forest animals and the illustrations in this heartwarming book are fabulous. 

About Cliff Wright:

In 1989 he published his first work in the UK and USA, a children's book called When the World Sleeps, written and illustrated by himself and which was runner-up in the Mother Goose Award for best debut.  Between 1990 to 2008 he produced a further nine titles, including the drawing manual, The Magic of Drawing and the Little Bear series of children’s books. As an illustrator, he has worked on volumes by authors such as Kenneth Grahame for Ladybird's edition of The Wind in the Willows and Gerald Durrell. In the two-year period 1998-1999 he designed the covers of the original British editions of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, published by Bloomsbury.

This book was published in 1997 but I found an almost mint condition copy at a recent charity book sale. This would be a terrific book to share with a very young child along side one of my all time favourite books about fear of the dark:

The Moon's Revenge by Joan Aiken illustrated by Alan Lee

Seppy is the seventh son of a seventh son. His father is a coach-maker and he expects Seppy will follow this trade but Seppy's first love is music - playing his small, hand made violin. One night Seppy decides to visit an old ruined house in his small seaport town. He has the idea to ask the voices people say can be heard from inside:

"How can I learn to be the best fiddler in the country?"

The reply is strange:

"Throw your shoe at the moon. ... Each night for seven nights, throw your shoe at the moon."

Seppy's family are poor but he does have six elder brothers and his mother has kept all their shoes. They are inside the grandfather clock. 

I love the shoes that Seppy takes down to the beach each night: "a pair of tiny, soft, kid-skin shoes that he had worn when he was one-year old"; a "small rabbit-skin boot"; "a red crocodile-skin slipper that a lord's wife had given his mother"; "a doe-skin boot that a travelling musician had gien his mother in exchange for a plate of stew"; "a shiny calf-skin shoe with a pewter buckle"; "a sheep-skin slipper"; and on the seventh night he threw up one of his hog-skin clogs.

Each time he leaves the remaining shoe on the sea wall. And when he looks up on the final night he sees that the moon is now dirtied all over. Seppy has angered the moon. 

"Yes! I have to give you a wish, you impertinent boy! But you have marked my face for ever, with your dirt shoes, and for that I shall punish you. You must go barefoot for seven years. And until the day when you put those shoes back in the clock, your sister will not speak. And you and all your family will be in great danger, but I shan't tell you what it's going to be. You can just wait and see."

But Seppy does have a sister - or does he?

Things to think about - what does it mean to be the seventh son of a seventh son, and what about the word revenge, and the power of that curse, how the shoes might be linked to this, how Seppy (he is a hero of the story after all) might save the day or save his family and help his beloved sister to speak. And in the end will he gain his heart's desire and become a famous musician?

Here are some illustrations from this book:

I stumbled on an Instagrammer who is posting her favourite picture books from the past. She shared The Mirrorstone by Michael Palin illustrated by Alan Lee a couple of weeks ago. This book was one of two from a series - the other being The Moon's Revenge. I checked my blog and was slightly shocked to discover I had never shared this book here. I have read this book to hundreds of Grade 2 and 3 children in my school library. It is a winner as a read aloud and a terrific way to talk about fantasy stories. I also discovered I did not own this book and so I ordered a copy from Better World Books in the US and one week later my copy arrived. The Moon's Revenge was published in 1987 and so is long out of print. 

The Mirrorstone

Running in Circles by Shivaun Plozza

Dell (Adelaide) lives with her dad and three sisters. Mum left the family when Dell was only seven to follow her dream of finding evidence and perhaps even meeting aliens. Initially mum did contact the family but for many years they have not heard from her. Dell resents the way her birthday cards, if they were even sent, arrived well after the event and she is confused and furious as to why mum left them in the first place. None of this is fair to her dad or her sisters. Then mum arrives back in town. It is Dell who first sees her and her instinct is to protect the family from any further hurt and disappointment. The two youngest children, Prim and Una, don't have any memory of their mother - they were so young when she left. Summer, Dell's older sister does remember, and Dell is sure she won't want to revisit the hurt and disappointment that will to come when her mother breezes out of town again.

Slowly Dell watches with deep concern and even anger as each member of her family seems to fall under mum's spell. Mum is sure this new crop circle in Tully means friendly aliens want to help our planet with our climate crisis. Dell is a budding meteorologist so she knows this is all nonsense but then dad says the whole family needs to go to the crop circle at midnight on 7th June because that is when the aliens will arrive. 

Here are a few text quotes:

"I turn away and walk the circle myself. It's messy. It's not sugar cane this time, just long grass that's all squished and tangled like bed hair. ... I crouch, searching for signs the grass was flattened with a plank. Nothing. ... Just rain and grass and mud and footprints." pg 117

"Why is she here? In our house? The one she left? My heart constricts. What if she stays. If she apologises and becomes our mum again and loves dad and never leaves. Is that okay?" pg 161

"You should all read Quentin's book. He argues that every time they visit, it's been to heal our mistakes through the key lines. Humans cause so much damage. We're really the worst disease this planet has every known. She we think they'll finally speak with us directly, to teach us their ways and share their technology." pg 165

Fun fact - before you read this book (or after) you will discover that in 1966 a crop circle did appear near Tully. Read more here. And here is a detailed ABC News page with more information. 

Readers in Australia who do not live in Queensland may need a map to locate Tully and perhaps do some further reading about their record rainfall. And they really do have a big gumboot in the town. Also, the research topic that Dell and her friend Teddy have chosen about The Alligators Nest is a real place (even though there are no alligators in Australia).

Located in the Tully Gorge National Park 6 km north of Tully via Murray Street, this is a rainforest park which was originally popularised by a group of local scouts who gave it the name (there are no alligators in Australia). It is a day use picnic area fringed by rainforest which has lilies, palms, fern-leafed tamarinds and water ferns. Part of the appeal of the area is that the rainforest is home to eastern water dragons, nursery frogs and chameleon geckos.

The chapter titles in this book work as a countdown to the final showdown when the aliens are due to arrive on the 7th June. 

I had a small but good collection of books about aliens, UFOs, and occurrences like crop circles in my former school library. I was always fascinated by the books about The Nazca Lines for example. If you are visiting a library take a look at Dewey [001.9; 001.94 or 001.95].

Publisher blurb: When crop circles appear in Tully, North Queensland, twelve-year-old Dell knows it’s a hoax. She’s a future climate scientist who believes in facts, not science fiction. But Dell’s estranged mum is an extraterrestrial fanatic. She blusters back into town armed with alien conspiracy theories and a dazzling smile. If Dell can prove the crop circle is fake, surely her mum will hightail it out of Tully again, preferably before she causes Dell’s dad and three sisters further heartbreak. But as her mother’s claims grow more out of this world and alien fever takes over the country, Dell worries she’s fighting a losing battle. How can she convince anyone of the truth when they’re all so desperate to believe a lie?

One of the aspects of this story that I wrongly anticipated was the way Quentin Higgs, the pseudo-scientist working with Dell's mum, was sure to be exposed as a fraud and I expected to discover his main motivation was to sell his book but that didn't seem to eventuate. This could be a good discussion point with your class. 

Here are some things I discovered about crop circles (source - note this contains a lot of advertising):

From the 1960s to the 1980s, perhaps no term was more commonly associated with UFOs and extraterrestrial visitation than “crop circles.” As the name suggests, crop circles are massive, circular areas of flattened crops — usually wheat or corn — or other plants, which depict seemingly intentional shapes and other images when seen from above. (in the case of Running in Circles it is a sugar cane farm).

Crop circles amazed many people due to the large size of the indentations and the images they depicted. It’s little wonder why they led to speculation about alien craft landing on Earth. After all, some indentations appeared to mark where “saucers” had once rested. And others seemed to be messages from extraterrestrial beings ...

Two Englishmen proved that it didn’t take an advanced civilization or technology beyond humanity’s comprehension to create crop circles. In fact, all it required was a bit of liquid courage, heavy planks of wood, and some rope. Despite this, some ufologists insist that at least some crop circles were made by “nonhuman” beings.

In 1966, an Australian banana farmer named George Pedley allegedly witnessed something bizarre on his property near Tully. Pedley claimed to have seen a "flying saucer" lifting off — leaving behind a large, circular area of flattened plants in the exact same spot where the UFO had landed. Dubbed a "saucer nest," Pedley's crop circle was not an isolated incident. All around the Tully region, locals began reporting more saucer nest sightings

Readers aged 10+ will enjoy the intriguing story and family relationships found in Running in Circles with the advice do not skip to the end. You are sure to be on Dell's side hoping the truth will be revealed. It is rare to read a book for this age group where the mother is so awful - she left the family when the children were very young because she is obsessed with her belief in aliens. She even seems to bribe the kids with cafe treats and a 'pretend' interest in their lives and she keeps making promises that she has no intention of fulfilling - her betrayal of Summer is dreadful. On the upside Dels' grandmother, who is called Mo-Mo, is a wonderful support to Dell when everything seems to be crashing down around her. 

Thank you to Gleebooks kids for sharing their advance reader copy of Running in Circle and to UQP for the actual copy. Running in Circles will be released next week - 28th April 2026. You can read an extract here. 

Shivaun Plozza has a 2026 Older Readers Notable title: The Worst Perfect Moment. Read the Kirkus Star review. I am going to keep my eye out for another of her books from 2020 - The Boy, The Wolf and the Stars. 

Here are some other books I have talked about by Shivaun Plozza:

Meet me at the Moon Tree

Summer of the Shipwrecks

Further reading and other books to explore:

Non Fiction fans should look for this terrific series

The Making of Martha Mayfield by Jo Dabrowski

"I make sets. At least that's what I call them. My sets aren't life-sized, of course. I make them in boxes. ... I've made loads of sets. One of nearly every room in our house. ... I've also made a set for every shop on Charlotte Street ... (and) I've made every classroom I've ever had up to Year Five. ... Oh yes, I made paper people too. ... I use my sets to practice first days of school, excursions and sports days. I've practiced tricky conversations and playdates too. When something is coming up that makes me nervous I do a 'dress rehearsal' with my sets."

Grade five is a time of change for Martha. Mum loses her job. Iris, her sister gets yet another boyfriend, it is the time at school with elections for School Captain, and all of Grade five have to prepare things to sell at a Market Day. Martha is so shy she cannot talk at school, at all. At home she wants to tell her mum about school but she holds back because mum seems so distracted and sad. 

Could Martha run for School Captain? She makes a list from the application form and then she puts the words into two origami boxes - green and red. She has these covered - cares, listens, organised. She needs to find a way to achieve these - contributes, voices ideas, good at teamwork, and confident public speaker. 

About halfway through The Making of Martha Mayfield I stopped to think about the title. Martha does indeed do some making but then a couple of hours after I finished this book, which is a 2026 CBCA Younger Readers Notable title, I realised of course this book is about the 'making' of Martha herself. Martha moves from a very shy and quiet girl who rarely if ever speaks to a girl who finds her voice and a way to express all those terrific ideas she has had bubbling away in her brain and even a way to try out for School Captain.

This book was published in August last year but I overlooked it in many bookshops. The cover didn't really appeal to me but you can see I should not have let this guide me as I have given this book four stars.

The Making of Martha Mayfield is a long book with close to 300 pages of fairly small print so keen readers aged 10+ will need some reading stamina but I did read the final half of this book in one sitting because I become quite invested in Martha hoping she would be able to overcome her shyness and succeed with both the Grade 5 Market Day Project and the bigger challenge of the School Captain elections. In fact as a shy kid with a shy mother some parts of this story really did touch my heart. 

Jo Dabrowski creates four distinct characters:

Martha - "I know why Mum says being quiet is a good thing, and why she goes on about me noticing stuff. She does it to make me feel better about myself. So I feel quiet and interesting, not quiet and boring, which is what the kids in my class think I am. If they think of me at all, that is. I might be good at noticing but I'm even better at going unnoticed."

Iris her sister has no emotional intelligence. The new boyfriend is awful but Iris is so set on having a boy friend she will do anything to please him including taking on a whole new 'goth' style and of course ignoring or dismissing her little sister. There is an awful scene in this book in the chapter entitled 'Sticky Notes' that broke my heart - it is so cruel.

Mum is shy and still grieving the loss of her husband. She finds social situations especially difficult. I imagine she was herself, badly bullied at school. "I picture Mum staying behind, sitting at her machine, too shy to join in." Mum is also a bit overwhelmed by Stella, her husband's mother, who is never short on advice. 

Stella, the grandmother - the girls have to call her Stella not grandma. She's obsessed with Michelle Obama and with looking young and stylish. Stella's character is so well described to the point where I actually did not like her at all. This is so different from most books where the grandmother character is usually compassionate and wise. Stella is so egotistical that she turns every conversation back into a boast about herself. Here is a quote from Stella:

"Stella talks about Dad all the time, without anyone asking. She doesn't tell stories so much as facts. They start out being about Dad but end up being about her. Like, she'll say he was a wonderful son ('He absolutely adored me.'); he could turn the most ordinary event into a funny story ('He got his sense of humour from me, you know.'); people were drawn to him ('He got that from me too,') ... "

I did love creativity of Martha. As you read in the quote at the beginning of this post, she makes models of her home, classroom, and even the shops in her street. These projects are given detailed descriptions in the story - you can almost see her work. And her idea for the market day is brilliant.

Publisher blurb: Martha Mayfield has always been the quiet kid. Martha is, after all, her mother's daughter. The shy child of an even shyer mum. And she likes it this way. That is, until Martha's mum loses her job. And Martha's teacher overlooks her at school. And soon, Martha realises something has to give. Can she really go through life being so quiet that nobody takes her seriously? Should she really keep all her good ideas to herself forever? Putting yourself out there is every quiet kid's worst nightmare, but Martha is determined to make the most of it. And perhaps to make something of herself along the way ...

Click these review comments for more plot details:

The pace is perfect, leading to a dramatic climax that is surprising and very satisfying to read. Kids' Book Review

Whether you’re an anxious fifth grader or not, The Making of Martha Mayfield is an endearing and highly relatable read, with multifaceted characters that you’ll fall in love with. Story Links

Here are the CBCA Judges comments from the Notables booklet:

Jo Dabrowski is the author of two other Notables - Dear Broccoli a 2026 CBCA Notable (Picture Book) and The Thing about Christmas (Early Childhood).

Dear Broccoli

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

Oscar's Half Birthday by Bob Graham

"Today is Oscar's birthday. Well, not really his birthday - he is six months old. The truth is no one can wait for his whole birthday."

I have been reading and re-reading all of my Bob Graham books for a secret project. I have talked about or at least mentioned Oscar's Half Birthday here on this blog many times but I didn't have a post exclusively about this wonderful story. 

You might like to begin by stretching the cover out to see front and back. Oscar is sitting with his cake  and half a candle on the cover while his sister Millie heads over to him with her trademark dinosaur glove and fairy wings. By the way we later discover it is a chocolate cake - yum. 

The title page also stretches over two spreads and as it often the way with city scenes by Bob Graham there are so many tiny details to explore such as the lady sunbaking on her roof; the shops such as Guitar city which has a huge guitar on the roof, the donut on the donut shop and the burger on the top of Burgerland; you will also see several washing lines on the top of high city buildings and flocks of pigeons (Bob Graham puts pigeons in so many of his scenes).

Now zoom in on the same page and you will see a small hill with a park on the top - this is where we are heading for the birthday - up to Bellevue Hill - but first we need to meet the family so turn the page. Dad is wrapping the tuna sandwiches for their picnic and mum is sitting with Oscar and his big sister Millie on their comfy couch. 

The walk across the city involves crossing a pedestrian bridge. You can also see one of these in Queenie the Bantam and Spirit of Hope. They set out their picnic and everyone admires young Oscar and also Millie's fairy wings but even better when the family start to sing Happy Birthday everyone around the park joins in. 

After the singing we have a full page illustration of Oscar and these beautiful lines:

"Oscar sits titled at an angle, his fingers curled into Millie's tuna sandwich. HIs shoulders are hunched, his head nods and the sun shines through his ears, lighting them up like little lanterns."

Back at home the kids have a bath - notice the candles in the soap dish. Millie gifts her dinosaur glove briefly to Oscar and we learn that the next birthday will be Millie herself with four candles on her cake.

This is a book to own, cherish and read on the occasion of every birthday in your family while your kids are young. 

Graham magnificently captures the essence of a six-month-old: “Oscar frowns in the dim light—six different expressions on his face in the time it takes a leaf to fall.” Millie is an adorable older sister, clearly infatuated with Oscar. Kirkus

Talking about another Bob Graham book (The Concrete Garden) Kirkus said his work is:

Deft, understated loveliness.

I am sure you are familiar with Bob Graham but if not here is a good summary of some of his titles from The School Library Journal. 

Patina by Jason Reynolds

"I probably should introduce myself. My name is Patina Jones. And I ain't no junk. I also ain't no hair flipper. And most of the girls at Chester Academy are hair flippers who be looking at me like my mum some kind of junk maker. But ain't none of them got the guts to come out of their mouths with no craziness. They just turn and flip their dingy ponytails toward me like I care. Tuh. I guess it's no secret that it's never easy being the new girl."

Publisher blurb: Patina, or Patty, runs like a flash. She runs for many reasons—to escape the taunts from the kids at the fancy-schmancy new school she’s been sent to ever since she and her little sister had to stop living with their mom. She runs from the reason WHY she’s not able to live with her “real” mom anymore: her mom has The Sugar, and Patty is terrified that the disease that took her mom’s legs will one day take her away forever. And so Patty’s also running for her mom, who can’t. But can you ever really run away from any of this? As the stress builds, it’s building up a pretty bad attitude as well. Coach won’t tolerate bad attitude. No day, no way. And now he wants Patty to run relay…where you have to depend on other people? How’s she going to do THAT?

Here are some text quotes:

"And just so you don't get the wrong idea, it' not like my mum just wanted her legs cut off. She got the sugar. Well, it's really a disease called diabetes, but she calls it the sugar, so I call it the sugar, plus I like that better than diabetes because diabetes got the word 'die' in it, and I hate that word."

"Here at Chester, as long as your face is selfie-ready 100 percent of the time, you got a chance. A chance at what? Well, I don't really know. All I know it, I ain't got one."

"My uncle's voice, when he's speaking like a regular human being, is deep, but not in a scary way. He has one of those voices that you wish you could touch, wrap yourself up like a blanket. A voice like a dad. And I guess ... like an uncle. A favourite uncle."

'It's like the less numbers in your bank account, the more numbers in your address."

It is the characters from these stories that will linger with you. I love Patty's relationship with her little sister Maddy. I love the quiet restrained wisdom of Coach. Patty is so lucky to live with her aunt and uncle. And Patty herself has a wonderful level of maturity especially when it comes to dealing with her school relationships and the girls in her project group. Studying Freda Kahlo seemed like the perfect topic for Patty and I have no idea how he does it, but Jason Reynolds completely convinced me that he truly understands girls, African American girls and girls on the cusp of the teenage years. At times I felt as though I was also running with the track team and completing in the relay races passing those slippery batons. 

Writing in Patty’s voice, Reynolds creates a fully dimensional, conflicted character whose hard-earned pragmatism helps her bring her relay team together, negotiate the social dynamics of the all-girls, mostly white private school she attends, and make the best of her unusual family lot. When this last is threatened, readers will ache right alongside her. Kirkus Star review

Patina is the second book in the Track series. I previously talked about Ghost. 

If you only add one series to your school library this term make it these. The new title is Coach. I love the covers - how terrific these will look on your shelves:

Ghost. Lu. Patina. Sunny. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds with personalities that are explosive when they clash. But they are also four kids chosen for an elite middle school track team—

a team that could qualify them for the Junior Olympics if they can get their acts together. 

They all have a lot to lose, but they also have a lot to prove, not only to each other, 

but to themselves. Simon and Schuster

Jason Reynolds's writing doesn’t hit a single bad note here. The dialogue is crisp, the characters are believable, and it's a beautiful, flawless reading experience that will hook reluctant readers (especially those into sports). Book Trust

This novel tackles everything from parental illness and disability, the loss of a parent, and adjusting to a new socioeconomic condition. I would highly recommend this novel to sports-loving and non-sports-loving kids and adults alike. Reading Middle Grade

The publisher page has a story extract and discussion questions. 

There were parts of this book which reminded me of this one:

So. B. It