The Bloginator's Reviews

As I go through reading the books on the '50 Great Reads List', I will be posting my 1 sentence reviews of each book in this entry!

1. Mr Badger and the Big Surprise by Leigh Hobbs – I enjoyed this book (even if it’s targeted towards kids)!
2. The Hard Light of Day by Rod Moss. Another great book – Moss discusses life in the Northern Territory, as well as his day-to-day interactions with the local Indigenous population.
3. Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks - Unfortunately, I closed the book after reading the first few pages. I just couldn’t get into the whole narrative. However, I would recommend Brook’s Nine Parts of Desire, which discusses diversity within the Islamic world in relation to the status of women and women’s rights.

46 and counting

Another title from the 50 Great Reads list, Billie B Brown: The Secret Message. This is a new series of easy to read chapter books by Sally Rippin. Nice easy to read print and a good introduction to young readers of the concept of the 'chapter' rather than say a picture book format. In this series Billie has had a range of adventures and this one sees her at the seaside with her Mum and Dad, 'Billie's mum reads a book under a beach umbrella. Her dad reads the newspaper. Sometimes they even fall asleep. Can you imagine? They are absolutely no fun at all!'. Billie sets off to build the biggest sandcastle and she sees two other girls have already built a great sandcastle and she feels little jealous and when Mum suggests she join the girls, she also feels a little shy. Eventually joins the other girls and the story develops from there, you'll have to read it to find out about the secret message.
This a delightful series to be shared with a new reader, or to encourage them to start reading on their own.
I think need to move away from the titles in the junior section of 50 Great Reads, and my next review may see me wandering into adult territory.

47 and still counting

I had hoped this would 46 and still counting, but I have to admit to giving up on one of the novels and dipping back into the children's list. I had started 'Left Hand of God' by Paul Hoffman, but I couldn't finish it. I think I have lost touch with the fantasy genre and the dissection scene left me a bit unsettled. This also highlights one of my bad sides, I am the type of reader who will give up on a book if I think I am wasting my time. I have a stack of books I want to read and the pile grows bigger each week, so if I don't like it, I abandon it and move on. How does everyone else approach this, do you feel you have to finish a book come what may?
My review this week is 'The Flying Orchestra' by Clare McFadden and it starts like this
"Some days are so windy that even angels lose their balance from the top of City Hall. It's always a day like this when the Flying Orchestra blows into town."
The Flying Orchestra then plays music at important times in someones life, like 'a symphony at the airport for a traveller coming home' or 'when a baby is born'. To me the flying orchestra were those unexpected moments of music you may hear during your day. Snatches on the radio as you pass through a room, while waiting in a shop (Spotlight plays some great music on a Saturday) or music that has occurred at a special moment in your life, think about what you picked for your wedding or did you name a child after a favourite song? The illustrations are simple and work well with the text. This is a book to be savoured and shared, and hopefully it will remind you of those special moments of music in your life.
'And wherever they are, the Flying Orchestra play their best and most beautiful music for no reason in particular, but just because someone is listening.'

My name is Elinor Fenwick and I am a Teacher Librarian from Great Southern Grammar School in Albany, Western Australia. We are a Kindergarten to Year 12(K-12) school with an enrolment of 720 in 2011. This number is going up! We overlook the Kalgan River and are known as "The School of the Sea." We have been operating for 11 years and have grown very quickly. You can see more on our website. Just Google Great Southern Grammar.
I teach year eight and nine IT (Information Technology) classes, library skills to the Early Childhood classes (K-Year 2), inquiry based learning to classes that book into the library, and supervise Year 12 students on study periods. I have a year 10 Homeroom and I am Chair of the school ICT committee.
I am currently trying to complete a Masters in Information Technology (Teacher Librarianship). In my current unit on management I needed to complete a two week practicum, so here I am at the Falcon e-Library and Community Centre with all their wonderful staff, thanks to their team leader Teena Miller.
As I work in a school library this experience is completely different to my normal working environment. I love the feel of this library, the bright open spaces, and the staff have all been so friendly and helpful from the moment I walked in the door.
This is the beginning of my second week, and it is school holidays! I am so impressed with the ammount on offer through the library. The additional meeting rooms mean so much more can be offered. Carmel Sayer runs an excellent after school art program called "A Brush with Art" and the art work on display is amazing.
The "Rhymetime" and "Storytime" sessions offered give parents of young children a great opportunity to immerse their children in language and literature sessions which are so vital to the early reading skills of young children in today's society.
The past week has definitely opened my eyes to the opportunites that the public library provides. I can see how great it would be if school libraries and public libraries collaborated more and finding ways in which I can do this at home in Albany will be one of my goals when I return home.
I am very excited about 2012 being the National Year of Reading! Mandurah libraries are well on their way to making a feast of activites for this celebration and I am so pleased to have been asked to contribute to some of the planning. More on that at the end of the week.

50 Great Reads - 48 and counting down

Baby Wombat's Week by Jackie French, illustrated by Bruce Whatley

This book follows on from Diary of a Wombat also from the talented duo listed above. Mothball has had a baby and like any new baby he is proving to be a bit of a handful. In a similar format to Diary of a Wombat, we follow baby through his week as he discovers the garden and then a human baby and they both go of to have adventures together. The text is very simple and the joy of these books lies in the illustrations by Bruce Whatley. I have long been a fan of his work which includes Looking for Crabs, The Ugliest Dog in the World and Clinton Gregory's Secret. I always feel the adults can get as much enjoyment if not more from these books, especially spending time looking at the illustrations and the looks on Mother's face as she copes with her offspring.
Mothball is back this year for Christmas, with Christmas Wombat and if you have wondered who eats the carrots you leave out for Santa's reindeer, maybe check for a wombat hole in the garden!
There are now 47 titles left in the 50 great reads list and I am hoping someone else is out there working on their reviews, otherwise I am for a lot of reading between now and December.

Get Reading 2011

This year's Get Reading Campaign is underway and there is a great range of titles to read, so here is the challenge. From now until the end of December 2011, lets see how many of the titles listed in the reading guide, we can 'collectively' read. When you have read one of the books, post your review here on the blog and I will do updates as we tick of the titles on the list. I am offering an incentive - a small surprise of a 'smiggly' nature to anyone who posts a review on the blog.
To kick start the reviews, and I have to admit I did read these prior to the Get Reading Campaign starting here are my reviews of 'When God was a Rabbit' by Sarah Winman and 'Mr Badger and the Big Surprise' by Leigh Hobbs

When God was a Rabbit is the first novel by author Sarah Winman and this is delightful read about a sister and her brother, their parents and friends. I really enjoyed this book and it has some interesting twists and turns. There are some wonderful characters who wander into the family's life and the rabbit's is really named God. The novel is set in modern times, including the the bombing of the twin towers, which I wasn't sure really worked but this was not enough to put me off the book. My favourite opening to a chapter in the book was 'I'll have two gin and tonics and a water for the fish', how could not read a book with a line like that!

Mr Badger and the Big Surprise introduces a new series by Leigh Hobbs, creator of the 'Old Tom' books and 'Mr Chicken goes to Paris'. Mr Badger is the special events manager of Boubles Grand Hotel in London. Mr Badger is actually a badger, not something you expect to see as special events manager in a grand London hotel but he does his job with a dedication to duty which makes you want to go and stay at Boubles Grand Hotel. These books are light easy read chapter book, excellent as a bedtime story. I have read all four books in the series and look forward to further adventures with Mr Badger at Boubles.

So, two down and only 48 to go - Get Reading!

Benediction - Edward Abbey

Please find Benediction by Edward Abbey, he reads it in a deep bass profundo Orson Welles voice. It makes me laugh - hope it appeals to you. Reading his book 'The Monkeywrench Gang' at the moment:

"Benedicto: May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets' towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you­beyond the next turning of the canyon walls."