The Ghost of Howlers Beach by Jackie French

Butter lives in a Very Small Castle built by his grandfather who made his fortune from jam. Also living in the Very Small Castle are his dad, three aunts and some servants. The aunts seem to have very odd names but really they are left over nick names from the childhood. Aunt Elephant (Ellen), Aunt Cake (Kate) and Aunt Peculiar (Petunia). I really enjoyed meeting these strong and forthright women. Butter is a nickname too because he is known for always saying 'but'. We never do find out his real name. The year is 1932 - The Depression. Living near Butter are people on welfare who have set up a make shift camp. It is called a susso camp because the people are living on government handouts or 'the susso'.

One day Butter sees three young children playing cricket on the beach. He asks to join in their game but then they somehow disappear. Could they be ghosts? It turns out they are not ghosts but they are living hidden lives. Butter needs to find out why and he needs to help these kids who are frightened, alone and very hungry.

Jackie French has penned a really good Australian yarn.  I have had this book on my too read pile for a month or more but I kept putting it to one side because, sorry Jackie, but I really don't like the cover illustration. Of course the old adage applies "don't judge a book by its cover" - The Ghost of Howlers Beach is an easy read and a warm-hearted story that gives the young reader good insight into life in 1930s Australia. You may love the cover or it may not appeal to you but either way I recommend this book for readers aged 9+.

Warning don't read this book when you are hungry. There is so much delicious food in this story.  Luckily there are some recipes at the back of the book.  Here are some of the treats:

"Chicken soup, bubbling rich with vegetables
buttered toast with a dish of plum jam
egg and lettuce sandwiches
a big plate of lamingtons"

"Chicken and salad sandwiches.
And some Neenish tarts, an apple, an orange, a banana, some dates
and iced cocoa and lemon barley water."

"Sunday lunch was always a big saddle of lamb that Cookie put onto roast slowly by itself in its nest of potatoes and carrots and pumpkin ... (with) beans or peas or buttered cabbage."

Neenish Tarts

There must be plans for more books about Butter and his family of aunts because the cover of this book says: "The Butter O'Bryan Mysteries" and the publisher web site includes #1 in the title. Put this book on your 'to read' list but you will need to wait a couple of months. The Ghost of Howlers Beach will be published in March 2020. Huge thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my Advanced copy.

You can read more about the 1930s in Australia in Sweet Adversity; and the Our Australian Girl series featuring Ruby.

Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant illustrated by Sucie Stevenson

Easy Fiction Treasure

I love to hunt out very easy books for newly emergent readers which also contain very satisfying stories. I adore the writing of Cynthia Rylant and the series about Henry and his huge dog Mudge are just perfect. Here is the final page from the first book:

There are, I was amazed to discover, 28 books in this series.  You can even buy these books as a complete set.  If you purchase them this way they only cost $5 per book - what a bargain. Here you can listen to an audio sample from the first book.

Click the link below this illustration from Children's Book Almanac to read more about Cynthia.

Image source: Children's Books Almanac April 1st post.

Henry and Mudge and the Great Grandpas won the Theodore Geisel Award in 2006. This is an award that is well worth following because it celebrates excellent beginner books. The 2018 winner, for example, was Charlie and Mouse by Laurel Snyder.

All the books in this series have been culled from my former library. This makes me very sad. These books are a joy to read and should be part of every library collection for young children. Kirkus agree! You can read their reviews of seven titles from the series.

Warm, loving, and gently philosophical, these stories about an only child and his closest companion deserve a place in every library collection. Kirkus

I was certain there would be a toy Mudge - and yes I found him.

There is also an extra series about Mudge as a puppy.

2020 The Year of the Rat

In many children's books rats are the bad guys but there are some books where they are allowed to shine. If you are looking for a book to read a serial to a class this year featuring hero rats here are a few you might consider:

I would begin with

Walter by Barbara Wersba

Then  look for this book from New Zealand

The Road to Ratenburg by Joy Cowley 
illustrated by Gavin Bishop

If you enjoy books with an underlying political message this one is perfect. I highly recommend this for Grade 5 and 6. This book was published in 2008 but I am pleased to see it is still available.

A Rat's Tale by Tor Seidler

Of course you will want to read this classic (you might look for the sequels too)

Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C O'Brien

This one is really about a boy and a fairy tale but it is SO good I had to include it here.

I was a rat by Philip Pullman

For a younger class try to find this one from the Sprinters series.

Hector the Rat by Tony Wilkinson

I'm sure you will also want to read The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
There are plenty of versions to choose from:

My friend at Kinderbookswitheverything has a splendid Pinterest of Rat books - Picture books and novels - that is well worth investigating.

If you were born in 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008 or 2020 then you were born in the Year of the Rat.  What do we know about your personality?

Good qualities:  Honest, freedom, hard working, charming.

On the other hand: Can be selfish, ruthless, controlling, scheming.

Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed

There were several moments in this book when I simply gasped. The cruelty, the betrayal, the way Amal's dreams are completely crushed.

"My mother's voice told me to let this go. Something was off with this man. Let him have the fruit and walk away. But all I could see was the red pomegranate and how he grasped it in his palm as though it was already his.

I thought of my father, who had no time for my dreams. My little sisters and their endless demands. Suddenly I felt was tired. Tired of feeling powerless. Tired of denying my own needs because someone else needed something more. Including this man. This stranger."

These quotes are a good way to explore Amal Unbound. Amal goes to the market and buys the last pomegranate.  Her family are very poor. Amal has three sisters and a new baby is due to arrive soon. Everyone is hoping for a boy but Amal could never have anticipated the enormous disappointment for her mother and father when the new baby arrives - a girl. Amal loves school and she excels at her lessons. She has the dream of becoming a teacher herself one day. In the small village where Amal lives everyone is afraid of the Khan family, nearly everyone is in debit to them and they are especially frightened of Jawad Sahib. He is the man who nearly ran Amal over in his large car. He is the man holding her pomegranate. He is the man with the power to completely overturn Amal's life and dreams.

A few days after the incident with the pomegranate, Jawad Sahib arrives and to take Amal. She will be taken to his house to work as a slave. Amal's father has no money and he is in debt to this powerful and cruel man and his father Khan Sahib.

In the house Amal finds a friend and a serious enemy. Luckily she is ordered to work for Khan Sahib's wife Nasreen Baji but this means Nabila, another servant, has been displaced. Her cruel tricks, which have terrible consequences for Amal, will linger with me for a long time.

The wonderful ending will make you cheer not just because justice is served but because this outcome is the direct result of the education that Amal has had. Because she can read she can make sense of the injustices of the Khan family and she can also identify their crime.

Here are a set of teachers notes from the publisher - they are excellent. You can also read the first 20+ pages of Amal Unbound. Listen to an audio sample here. Here are a set of discussion points. I highly recommend this book for mature readers aged 11+.

Inspired by Malala Yousafzai and countless unknown girls like her, Saeed’s timely and stirring middle-grade debut is a celebration of resistance and justice. Kirkus Star review

A strong choice for all middle grade shelves, especially where readers are seeking stories about young girls in non-Western countries overcoming adversity. Shelley Diaz School Library Journal

Amal Unbound is a powerful page-turner about one girl's courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Kids’ Book Review

Reading this type of book, as well as historical fiction, is a great way for young readers to understand that the entire world is not exactly the way their little corner of it is! Ms Yingling

I would follow Amal Unboud with Ibqal and any books you can find (and there are plenty to choose from) about Malala Yousafzai.

If you are visiting a library you could also look for Sold by Patricia McCormick and Hidden Girl by Shyima Hall.

Moonlocket by Peter Bunzl

Jack Door has broken out of prison. He is a dangerous criminal convicted of stealing the Blood Moon Diamond from Queen Victoria. Lily's friend Robert has no idea but his life is entwined with Jack. Once again we find Robert and Lily are chasing and being chased across London accompanied by Malkin - mechanical fox.

Moonlocket is the second book in the Cogheart Adventure series which began with Cogheart. There is just the right amount of recapping so Moonlocket can stand alone but most curious readers will surely want to discover more about Lily especially after reading the first sentences:

"In her short life Lily Hartman had come back from the dead not once, but twice. Neither time had been particularly pleasant."

I really enjoyed the first installment so I was keen to own book two and three. I now discover Peter Bunzl has just published the fourth installment - Shadowsea. This is a terrific series for Middle Grade readers with just the right amount of tension, heroes who make you cheer, baddies who make you hiss and wonderful loyal friends. At times the story feels like an old fashioned melodrama where the dastardly villain keeps appearing intent on capturing Robert and retrieving the precious diamond which has been missing for fifteen years.

Peter Bunzl has activities for each book on his web site. You can read a sample of the text here which begins with the prologue where Jack is escaping the prison.


You know it’s a “tockingly” good steampunk mystery when the dastardly escaped criminals who stole from Queen Victoria are somehow connected to the hero’s mysterious, long-lost mother. Kirkus

Drawing on wondrous details and strongly motivated characters, Moonlocket is a caper with heart. Foreword reviews

Red Day by Sandy Fussell

Charlie lives in Cowra. Her High School link up with a school in Japan and they regularly host exchange students. Cowra has historic links with Japan because over 1000 prisoners of war were held there during World War II. In 1944 the prisoners staged a breakout. Over 200 prisoners died.  Today you can visit the Japanese war cemetery and the Japanese Garden.  Charlie is very familiar with these historic sites.  Charlie is not happy that her mother has agreed to host Kenichi, a Japanese exchange student. Charlie is a sensitive girl - she sees the world and people in colours. This is a condition called synaesthesia.

She has no intention of becoming friends with Ken but she begins to have day time flash backs which link to the breakout. Her family are also connected. The museum has a photo of a young man who sheltered at her grandparents farm. At first it seems Ken has no connection to this photo but he is oddly very curious about everything to do with Cowra and gradually the surprising links between this photo and his family are revealed.

If an author wants to tell a story from history they need to find a way to turn facts into a narrative. The whole story can be set during the actual historic event as was the case with a book I talked about recently - Pirate Boy of Sydney Town by Jackie French. Another technique is to take a character back in time often via a portal. A third device is via dreams or visions of the past and that is the device employed by Sandy Fussell in her story about the Cowra breakout. The setting is modern day Australia, but as these High School kids delve into the mystery of the man in the photo we are also given little insights into the actual night of the breakout.

This book will be published in March 2020. Thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my Advanced Reader copy. Read more at Walker Books.

I've been thinking about the audience for this book. When I talked with a fellow children's literature enthusiast she asked "Why would kids want to read about the Cowra breakout?" I have pondered this important question over the last few days. I think the answer is yes. Sandy Fussell says she had a personal fascination with this event in Australian history and this led to spending quite a lot of time exploring historic sites Cowra. Young readers might not be able to do this but I think reading Red Day might mean some readers will then want to discover more about the events of 5th August, 1944. It was the largest prison break during World War II. 

I remember when I read A Blinding Light by Julie Lawson. I had absolutely no idea about the terrible destruction in Halifax Harbor during World War I.  Red Day made me curious about Cowra and this part of Australian history. I think readers aged 10+ who enjoy mysteries, books about friendship and readers who are curious about history will enjoy this book. I found myself racing through the 237 pages keen to solve the mystery alongside Charlie and Ken.

Here is an interview with Sandy from 2011 where she talks about writing Historical fiction.

Image Source ABC News, 4th August, 2019

You can read more at the Cowra visitor site.  Adult readers who are curious about this topic might look for this book by Australian author Thomas Keneally. You can find a list of other titles in this article in The Conversation.

The Dogs of Winter by Bobbie Pyron

"After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the social and economic fabric of Russia was left in tatters. Gone were the government controlled systems such as health care, rent control and pensions that had provided a safety net of families, children, the elderly and those living on the edge of economic stability." Authors Notes page 304

Ivan has a happy life with his mother and grandmother but after his beloved Babushka Ina dies everything changes. His mother gets involved with a violent man and little Mishka, as his mother calls him, is banished, starved and bashed. Mishka's mother disappears and the bad man takes him to the city and abandons him.

Life on the streets is utterly dreadful. The violence, the hunger, the filth. The writing in this book is so vivid I felt every pang of hunger, every bruise and every angry word. I also felt great relief when Mishka experiences a little kindness and when he is given clothes and shoes. Finally Mishka finds a small pack of dogs. He notices the dogs share the food they find in the trash. He earns their trust and by working together Mishka and his band of dogs survive for 2 years through bitter winter cold, rain and constant danger. His relationship with this pack of dogs is truly special.

The Dogs of Winter is based on a true story. At times this is a harrowing story and so I would suggest it is for ages 11+. In this video Bobbie Pyron talks about her book.

You can read more about the background to this story in this article from The Adelaide Advertiser. Eva Hornung has also written about Ivan in her book Dog Boy.

This morning I thought I would just dip into this book which I borrowed from a school library. I lifted my head and realised I had devoured 85 pages. Late today I finished the whole book!

You can read a generous extract at Booktopia. The Dogs of Winter was published in 2012 by Scholastic. It is still in print. The second cover above is from the UK edition published by Andersen Press.

Read some reviews for more plot details:

The Bookbag
Kirkus Star Review
Ms Yingling Reads - I am so happy Karen loved this book too! She says: "I felt cold and could practically feel my scalp itch when Mishka had a lice infested hat! Without ever lapsing in to oversentimentality, Pyron describes the privations of life on the streets and the love that the dogs and Mishka feel for each other."

Further reading for children interested in this topic - this book is out of print but it might be in a school library.