viewpoint on books for young adults

vol 19 no 1 autumn 2011

01.04.2011 Michael Grant’s GONE series continues…

PLAGUE - VIEWPOINT cover.indd 1 8/2/11 3:51:11 PM Viewpoint on books for young adults in this issue... Feature Reviews Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama Mike Shuttleworth 2 Luke and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie Stella Lees 3 Poetry and Childhood edited by Morag Styles, Louise Joy & David Whitley Sarah Mayor Cox 4 The Maze Runner by James Dashner Bill Wootton 5 iBoy by Kevin Brooks Bill Wootton 6 All Along the Watchtower by Michael Hyde Margaret Kett 7 Haunted by Barbara Haworth-Attard & Virals by Kathy Reichs Liz Derouet 8 For the Win by Cory Doctorow Bec Kavanagh 9 Fear: 13 stories of horror and suspense by RL Stine & Zombies vs Unicorns edited by Justine Larbalestier & Holly Black Susan La Marca 0 Writers on Writing Christina’s Matilda: A waltz of discovery Edel Wignell  Other times, Other places: Fictionalising History Goldie Alexander 2 Feature Articles ‘Unless Someone Like You Cares a Whole Awful Lot’: Environmental Picture Books Virginia Lowe 4 Humour, Life, Love, Sadness and Joy: Four novels by Jenny Valentine Pamela Horsey 6 Angela Savage: The Half-Child Clare Kennedy 7 Pinerolo: The Children’s Book Cottage, NSW Jeff Prentice 8 Islands of Discontent Beth Montgomery 9 Vale Ruth Park, 1917-2010 Stella Lees 20 Eva Ibbotson, 1925-2010 Ruth Starke 21

Feature Articles Interacting Between Scenes: Nicki Greenberg’s Hamlet Bernard Caleo 22 Misunderstandings & Miscommunications Rae Mariz 23 The Unidentified by Rae Mariz Malcolm Tattersall 24 Feature Reviews Reckless written and illustrated by Cornelia Funke Pam Macintyre 25 Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly Ruth Starke 26 Factotum by DM Cornish Fran Knight 27 Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson Jenny Zimmerman 28 Careful What You Wish For by Maureen McCarthy Michelle Prawer 29 My Name is Mina by David Almond Pamela Horsey 30 No Safe Place by Deborah Ellis Anna Ryan-Punch 31 Drawn From the Heart by Ron Brooks Stella Lees 32 Noah’s Law by Randa Abdel-Fattah Sam Franzway 33 Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi Stella Lees 34 The Rosie Black Chronicles: Genesis by Lara Morgan & Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin Bec Kavanagh 35 Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult Robyn Kemp 36 Takeshita Demons by Cristy Burne Suzanne Rofe 37 You Against Me by Jenny Downham Kerry Neary 37 Wolfborn by Sue Bursztynski Clare Kennedy 38 The Dead by Charlie Higson Elizabeth Braithwaite 39 Before We Say Goodby by Gabriella Ambrosio Judy Blyton 40

Young Readers’ Viewpoint 41 Book and Audio Notes 43 volume 19 number 1 Autumn 2011 Editorial Committee: Pam Macintyre, Editor, Stella Lees, Bernadette Welch, Susan La Marca, Pam Horsey, Pauline Meaney, Associate Editors.

Subscriptions Officer: Rosemary Nairn

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Views expressed in Viewpoint by contributors are not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. Letters to the editor are welcomed. Viewpoint Illustrations:Inside illustrations by Tim Metherall Printed by DORAN PRINTING PTY LTD  Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly Bloomsbury, 2011 9781408810453 $15.99pb roducing a worthy successor to the Carnegie Paris who became the companion to the dauphin, Medal-winner A Gathering Light (2003) was Louis-Charles. Powerless to help him once his parents Pnever going to be easy, but with her second are guillotined and he is incarcerated and abused in novel for young adults, Jennifer Donnelly cements prison, Alex sends messages of support to the little her reputation as one of the best writers in the genre. boy by an original but highly dangerous method. The Revolution is a big, gutsy, emotional ride that sweeps the diary ends enigmatically, perhaps with Alex’s death. As reader through place and time, from present day New for Louis-Charles – did he perish in prison, as history York and Paris to eighteenth century Versailles and the records, or was he rescued? The DNA tests on the revolutionary streets of the French capital. heart may settle the matter. In the privileged surrounds of Brooklyn Heights, The narrative alternates between the two stories where the high school seniors at St Anselm’s are familiar of these young women who are linked by the diary types for anyone who has watched TV’s Gossip Girl, all and by the pain and guilt they suffer because of the that is keeping Andi Alpers from jumping off the roof fate of two beloved little boys. Music figures heavily, as (and later, into the Seine) is music. Deeply depressed Andi takes to street busking and pursues her thesis on over the death of her younger brother, constantly the links between past and contemporary composers. sedated, supported only by her boyfriend Vijay, and Not entirely original: anyone who has read Alex Ross’s trying to cope with a mother on the verge of a mental monumental The Rest is Noise (2007) will be familiar breakdown, Andi eases the ache in her heart by literally with what he calls ‘the long-running conversation’ playing her guitar until her fingers bleed. Failing all between classical and popular music. But while Andi is her classes except music, she can’t bring herself to well versed in what the harmonic designs of Radiohead submit any college applications and she hasn’t got owe to the Baroque, it comes as a shock when she around to writing, or even planning, her senior thesis witnesses the reverse: via her iPod and a slippery sort on an eighteenth-century French composer. The of time-slip, she is able to introduce her eighteenth- headmistress offers some encouragement: century composer Malherbeau to the joys of Led ‘“I like the title … ‘Who’s Your Daddy? Tracing Zeppelin’s electric guitar. ‘This is a wondrous thing’, the Musical DNA of Amadé Malherbeau to Johnny he exclaims, rushing back to his own composition. Greenwood’.” I was worried that, once Andi found the diary, “Thanks. Vijay came up with it. He said my old the plot of Revolution would inevitably take the well- title – ‘Amadé Malherbeau’s Musical Legacy’ – was trodden time-slip route, but Donnelly resists it as long nowhere near pretentious enough.”’ as possible. Only in the last part of the book, when As a narrator, Andi is sharp, edgy and sarcastic, but Andi and Virgil are attending a party in the catacombs always engaging and often very funny. In a long novel (the site of Alex’s last diary entry) and she stupidly – over 460 pages – it is Donnelly’s major achievement combines her medications and alcohol, does the plot to maintain the reader’s empathy and emotional bond begin to wobble a little as it plays around with time. with a damaged, self-absorbed girl who is sometimes But this is a plot so cleverly and tightly constructed it her own worst enemy. A chance to investigate that can well withstand a tremor or two, although as layers musical DNA comes about when her estranged father, build, coincidences multiply and threads are woven, a Nobel-winning scientist, insists she accompany him some might conclude it is a little too clever. The to Paris where he will be genetically testing a heart novel’s three-part structure (Hell, Purgatory, Paradise) thought to belong to Louis-Charles, the young son of takes its inspiration from Dante’s Divine Comedy, and the doomed Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. Andi of course Andi has her own Virgil to guide her. There is a reluctant traveller, bitter and rebellious because are many, many other parallels. of her father’s emphasis on scholastic success and Nothing changes, a character tells Alexandrine because, before they leave, he commits her troubled after all the bloodshed: “The world goes on, as stupid mother to a psychiatric hospital. and brutal tomorrow as it was today”. Both she and Once in Paris, Andi’s attitude doesn’t improve. Andi discover that is not the whole truth and not the Her relationship with her father continues to be end of the story; a revolution can also be internal. strained and her mood varies according to how many Teenagers who read this novel will weep and cheer for antidepressants she takes. Eventually, she gets her Andi and learn a lot about music and history in the father to agree that if, in four days’ time, she completes process. As for me, I could barely put it down; I was an outline of her thesis, she can fly home. But then two gripped until the final word. things happen to make life a bit more interesting: she meets the charismatic Virgil Boukadida, a taxi driver and self-styled hip-hop master, who lives in the banlieue, or immigrant outer suburbs of Paris, and sings for his supper at an artists’ cafe; and in an ancient guitar case Ruth Starke teaches creative writing at Flinders Autumn 2011 Autumn she finds the secret diary of Alexandrine Paradis, an University. Her latest book is Captain Stella (Puffin,

26 ambitious young street performer in revolutionary 2010) index to authors and titles

2000 AD 37 Dragonfly Pool 21 Kane, Kim 14 Revolution 26 Abdel-Fattah, Randa 33 Drawn From the Heart 32 King, Stephen Michael 18 Rich, Simon 49 Alexander, Goldie 13 Dreams from My Father 2, 3 Lamplighter: Book Two 27 Riordan, Rick 49 Alex Rider 9 Drums Go Bang!, The 20 Lanagan, Margo 10 Roennfeldt, Robert 15 All Along the Watchtower 7 Dubosarsky, Ursula 32 Larbalestier, Justine 10 Romeo and Juliet 37 Almond, David 30 Ebony Hill 19 Larsson, Stig 6 Rosen, Michael 4 Ambrosio, Gabriella 40 Elliot Allagash 49 Last Hero, The 49 Rosie Black Chronicles, The 35 Anderson, Laurie Halse 28 Elliott, Kate 39 Last Tree in the City 15 Roy, James 18 Annie’s Rainbow 32 Ellis, Deborah 31 Legacy, The 47 Rushdie, Salman 3 Ant Colony, The 16 Emperor of Nihon Ja, The 41 Lies 42 Saint-Exupery, Antoine de 6 Australasian Students’ Song Book, Enemy, The 39 Little Brother 9 Savage, Angela 17 The 11 Evernight 35 Long, Loren 2 Scarrow, Alex 49 Bacigalupi, Paolo 34 Eyre, Frank 32 Lorax, The 14 Schreiber, Ellen 50 Baker, Jeannie 14, 15 Factotum 27 Lord, Gabrielle 46 Sea-wreck Stranger, The 19 Barbapapa’s Ark 14 Falkner, Brian 41 Lore, Pittacus 46 Secret of the Lonely Isles, The 51 Base, Graeme 15 Fallen 35 Lowe, Virginia 4 Sendak, Maurice 32 Beale, Fleur 19 Famous Five 51 Low Red Moon 35 Sepetys, Ruta 50 Beautiful Creatures 41 Fear 10 Luka and the Fire of Life 3 Seuss, Dr 14 Beautiful Darkness 41 Fence Around the Cuckoo, A 20 Mackenzie, Anna 19 Sharp Turn 44 Beautiful Lie, A 48 Fierce September 20 Magic Flutes 21 Sheehan, Peter 44 Bedazzled 6 Filth Licker, The 37 Magoffin, Richard 11 Ship’s Cat, The 20 Before We Say Goodbye 40 Finding Violet Park 16 Mahoney, Karen 47 Ship Breaker 34 Behemoth 51, 52 Fishing in the Styx 20 Malley, Gemma 47 Shiver 35 Belonging 15 Flanagan, John 41 Mariz, Rae 24 Simner, Jamie Lee 50 Between Shades of Gray 50 Foreman, Michael 14 Marr, Melissa 47 Siren 49 Birdman 14 Forge 28 Masciullo, Lucia 14 Skellig 30 Black, Holly 10, 47 For the Win 9 Masson, Sophie 47 Skovron, Alex 29 Blood of the Lamb 19 Foundling 27 Master, Irfan 48 Song for Summer, A 21 Bloody Valentine 44 French, Jackie 15, 44 Mavis Road Medley 12 Starke, Ruth 26 Blue Bloods 44 Gaiman, Neil 44 Maze Runner, The 5 Star of Kazan, The 21 Bluey of Swaggies, A 11 Gallipoli Medals 12 McCarthy, Maureen 29 Stine, RL 10 Blyton, Enid 51 Garcia, Kami 41 Misguided Angel 44 Stohl, Margaret 41 Body and Soul 12 Gathering Light, A 26 Modern tale of Faerie 47 Stories, Pictures and Reality 4 Boggle of Bunyips, A 11 Genesis 35 Mogworld 2, 38, 40 Story of Rosy Dock, The 14 Bones of Faerie 50 Ghosts of Kerfol,The 48 Monster Blood Tattoo 27 Styles, Morag 4 Booms, Busts & Bushfires 44 Gigantic Balloon, The 20 Monster Mission 21 Swords and Crowns and Rings 20 Boy and the Toy, The 14 Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The 6 Muchamore, Robert 9 Takeshita Demons 37 Bray, Libba 10 Gleeson, Libby 18 Muddleheaded Wombat, The 20 Taylor, Annette 14 Breadwinner Trilogy 31 Gone 42 Mullins, Patricia 14, 18 The Secret of Platform 13 21 Broken Soup 16 Good bye Lenin 48 My Australian Story 47 Time Riders: Day of the Predator Brooks, Kevin 6 Goosebumps 10 My Australian Story: Surviving 49 Brooks, Ron 32 Gossip Girl 26 Sydney Cove 12 Timothy and Gramps 32 Browne, Anthony 32 Grant, Michael 42 My Name is Mina 30 Tison, Talus 14 Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek, The 32 Grasping Goblin, The 42 My Sister Sif 20 Tolbert, Steve 51 Burne, Cristy 37 Graveyard Book, The 44 Niland, Deborah 20 Tomorrow Book, The 15 Burningham, John 14 Great Expectations 48 Niland, Kilmeny 20 Tucker, Alan 4 Bursztynski, Sue 38 Great Ghost Rescue, The 21 Nix, Garth 10 Twilight 35 Caleo, Bernard 22 Greenberg, Nikki 22 Noah’s Law 33 Uncle Matt’s Mountain 20 Callie’s Castle 20 Grim and Grimmer 42 Norman, Lilith 15 Unidentified, The 23 Callie’s Family 20 Habibi 40 No Safe Place 31 Uno’s Garden 15 Careful What You Wish For 29 Hager, Mandy 19 Novak, Jiri Tibor 14 Valentine, Jenny 16 Carnavas, Peter 15 Half-Child, The 17 Noyes, Deborah 48 Vampire Kisses 50 Cat on the Island, The 14 Hall, Lincoln 18 Nye, Naomi Shihab 40 Van Allsburg, Chris 14 Chains 28 Hamilton, Margaret 18 O’Leary, JI Terrorist Hunter 51 Van Os, Joanne 51 Cheng, Christopher 14 Hamilton, Max 18 Obama, Barack 2, 3 Vegetable Ark, The 14 Cherub 9 Hamlet 22 Odd and the Frost Giants 44 Virals 8 Christina’s Matilda 11 Haroun and the Sea of Stories 3 Of Thee I Sing 2, 3 V is for Vanishing 14 Come Danger, Come Darkness 20 Harp in the South, The 20 Ogre of Oglefort, The 21 Vivas, Julie 18 Condon, Bill 13 Hartnett, Sonya 14 Oi! Get off our Train! 14 Wagner, Jenny 32 Confessions of a Liar, Thief and Harvey, Alyxandra 46 Old Pig 32 Waltzing Matilda: Song of Australia Failed Sex God 13 Haunted 8 Oliver, Tony 18 11 Conspiracy 365 October 46 Haworth-Attard, Barbara 8 Oliver Twist 48 Warden, Gillian 14 Cook, Peter 6 Hergé 22 Once in a Full Moon 50 Westerfeld, Scott 10, 51 Coraline 44 Higson, Charlie 39 One Child 14 When I was a soldier 40 Cornish, DM 27 Hole in the Hill, The 20 One Dog and His Boy 21 When the Wind Changed 20 Crew, Gary 14 Horowitz, Anthony 9 Out for Blood 46 Where the Wild Things Are 32 Crossing, The 19 Hunger 42 Paddock, The 15 Which Witch? 21 Dashner, James 5 Hunger Games, The 35 Park, Ruth 20 Whitley, David 4 Dead, The 39 Hunt, Peter 4 Paterson, Banjo 11 Wicked Lovely 47 Dead of Winter, The 48 Huxley, Dee 18 Peet, Bill 14 Wignell, Edel 11 Declaration 47 Hyde, Michael 7 Phar Lap Mystery, The 47 Wild, Margaret 32 DeGennero, Sue 14, 15 I am Number Four 46 Philip, Neil 4 Willy the Wimp 32 Delacourt, Marianne 44 Ibbotson, Eva 21 Picoult, Jodi 36 Wilson, Mark 14 De La Cruz, Melissa 44 iBoy 6 Plague 42 Winch, John 18 Deltora Quest 42 Ink Exchange 47 Plain Truth 36 Window 14 15 Devlin, Ivy 35 Into the Wilderness 19 Playing Beatie Bow 20 Wolfborn 38 Dickens, Charles 48 Iron Witch, The 47 Poetry and Childhood 4 Woolman, Steven 14 Dinosaurs and All that Rubbish 14 Irvine, Ian 42 Poor Man’s Orange 20 Wump World 14 Divine Comedy 26 I Saw Nothing 14 Priestly, Chris 48 You Against Me 37 Doctorow, Corey 9 John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Project, The 41 Young, Noela 18 Does My Head Look Big in This? Cat 32 Raeburn, Tricia 49 Youngest Cameleer, The 12 33 Journey to the River Sea 21 Ranger’s Apprentice, The 41 Zenatti, Valerie 40 Donnelly, Jennifer 26 Joy, Louise 4 Rawlins, Donna 18 Zombies vs Unicorns 10 Double Life of Cassiel Roadknight, Judge Dredd 37 Reichs, Kathy 8 The 16 Juno of Taris 19 Resistance, The 47 Downham, Jenny 37 Just a Dream 14 Rest is Noise, The 26