What Books Would I Buy for Teens this Christmas?

If I had to buy a teenager a book this Christmas, I would have to select one of the Girlosophy books by Anthea Paul. Give the gift of self-esteem. I would purchase J. C Burke's 'The Story of Tom Brennan', any of James Moloney or Michael Gerard Bauers recent books such as 'Don't Call Me Ishmael' or 'Lost Property' are great novels. Maureen McCarthy and Brigid Lowrys' latest releases were also great this year.

I have reviewed briefly all the books I have mentioned above and if you click on the young adult reading tag, you can browse through to find something that might interest your loved one. If you have a specific child in mind, email me with some info about them and I might be able to suggest something more specific. I would need age, interests, reading habits to make a really good choice. I am heading off on an adventure Saturday so better be quick!

I usually buy my kids a book at Christmas. I have been doing it for so long, they would miss it if I didn't. In fact I buy every kid I buy gifts for, books. One year I thought I'd do something different and get beach towels, I felt I was being a bit selfish, because I love books so much and actually enjoy selecting them for the kids. Several complained that they were relying on my present for their summer reading, so I went back to my original strategy.

A book often doesn't seem much to a kid when they first open it. So don't expect too much instant gratitude. It's often weeks or months later that you get the phone call or email to say what a great present it was and how much they loved it. I've never had that kind of feedback with other toys.

Girlosophy: The Breakup Survival Kit by Anthea Paul

'The Breakup Survival Kit' gives a well balanced action plan for girls who have split up, whatever the circumstances. It contains some good, common-sense advice for young women and lays a positive path for moving forward into a new future.

As with the other Girlosophy books by Anthea Paul, it has healthy suggestions and gentle messages about keeping your self-esteem in tact and building on it in a situation that can be demanding. It has beautiful images and although a smaller format than the other Girlosophy books remains true to the uplifting philosophy and beauty of the series.

I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it for both young women and men to help to gain perspective during one of those trying times in life. Breaking-up is a big life challenge and most people experience it at least once in their life, this little book contains many wisdom's that can ease that passage.

Girlosophy: A Soul Survival Kit, by Anthea Paul

Get 'Girlosophy: A Soul Survival Kit' for your girls, you'll be glad you did.
When you open this book, vibrant images, colours and words almost bounce off the pages. In the style of billboards or large stunning posters, the sound messages of this book are delivered in a very asthetically pleasing way. It's like flicking through a glossy magazine, yet instead of false images, the truth is revealed.
The messages in this book are nourishing and good. If you have a daughter, this would be an amazing gift. I thoroughly enjoyed it myself and thought several times as I was reading it from cover to cover, I wish someone had told me that info at an earlier age. For me it was everything I want my daughter to know about being the best she can be.
I have taken this book (as well as some others), to school this week and the teens I work with have all flicked through them and shared with each other the bits they found particularly interesting. Many of them asked me where they could buy them and how much. So it's not just my older eyes that saw the beauty in it. The boys too were quite interested and much of the information is human rather than female.

The Kite Rider by Geraldine McCaughrean

This young boys journey through many changes of fortune in China is an imaginative and delightful adventure. Gou Haoyou witnesses much as fate drags him from the small life he's always known and he joins the circus.

I enjoyed this book. The characters were interesting and the landscapes and view into Chinese culture is always fascinating to me. This was set in 13th Century China. I also love kites, which as the title suggests feature in this great story.

It was the winner of the Carnegie Medal.

The Killers Tears by Anne-Laure Bondoux

This little book exposes the power of love in a most gentle and efficient way. Set in Chile, which is one of the countries that holds the most fascination for me, it begins at an extreme end of Chile in an isolated household perched in a harsh landscape. The story unfolds to shock and amaze with it's innocence and simplicity.

The young boy, Paolo is introduced to the world alongside the murderer and they lift each other from their different kinds of isolation. Paolo is introduced to many delights and his pure enjoyment of things as simple as the luxury of a bank, reintroduced the abundance of our lives to me. He feels these pleasures fully. The murderer Angel is similarly reacquainted with beauty and innocence and this is a great insight into how your perception can change the world.
It was originally written in French. The story stayed with me and impacted on my interactions with others. A powerful story about redemption, I would recommend it. I loved it.

Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn

'Brilliance of the Moon' is the final book in the Otari series. It completes the saga. It wasn't my favourite of the series because it had that ending sadness and the events occurring in it were often quite dark and horrible.

Another book has been written by Lian Hearn called 'Heaven's Net is Wide', it goes back to the beginning, therefore ending the collection at the start. I look forward to reading that, but not for a while.

They are such thick books and with the Japanese culture and names, seem to require more concentration from me than the usual books I flit through. I am glad to have completed it. I hope I can fly through a few more on my shelf as my reading stack is piling up. I had to return a pile to the library today as I heard kids talking about books they were waiting for and felt guilty they were just sitting next to my bed.

Ishmael and the Return of the Dugongs by Michael Gerard Bauer

The latest offering from Michael Gerard Bauer is perhaps even more hilarious than "Don't Call Me Ishmael". I'm not sure though. Both novels contain laugh out loud parts.

In 'Ishmael and the Return of the Dugongs' the quest is to capture the heart of Kelly and Ishmael definitely finds himself in some scrapes in this adventure. 'The Dugongs' is the name of his fathers old uni rock band that attempts a 20th reunion. Enjoy the familiar characters in new and amusing scenario's. I especially loved the rivalry between maths nerd Prindabel and Zorzotto (self titled "Razzman") in the debating final. It was priceless.

I hope Michael Gerard Bauer has started on his next novel, because so far I have loved 3 out 3 novels I have read.

'Rose by any other name' by Maureen McCarthy

Maureen McCarthy read aloud the beginning of this novel to us at the Melbourne Writers Festival and I was hooked. I have devoured this book in a day. I could no longer resist it sitting in that pile next to my bed.

Remembering Young Adulthood
'Rose by any other name' is a novel I would recommend to all older teenagers about how life can get in the way of your plans and sidetrack you. I loved it as I remembered my first year out of school and how I went in every direction other than the clear and planned path. Sometimes the emotional upsets in our life drive us to seek escape from all the good and nurturing things in our life. They build a cranky outer shell that disguises who we really are from both the world and ourselves.

Unconditional Families
I loved this novel as a mother and a daughter. That tension between the mother and daughter that is so prevalent in my own mother/daughter and daughter/mother interactions. It was so realistic and funny and sad. Maureen McCarthy captures beautifully the pleasures and trails of belonging to a close family.

Rants
Sprinkled throughout the novel are rants about the things Rose hates, that she has published in a music magazine. My favourite:

"Don'tch just hate it... when you find out the all your dirty secrets are public knowledge? You go around thinking your life is private, that no one knows your business. Well, I'm here to tell you, you millions of multi-talented, meat-eating, hoodwinked, rock-loving Saucers, that not only do the banks, ASIO, the tax department and the credit companies have all your details on file, more than likely your family knows a lot more about your every move than you do. Yep,that's right! Face it! Your mother reads your diary. Your siblings trawl through your emails. Your friends, hungry for contact with warm-blooded creatures after a day in front of the screen, spread your private confidences like preachers at a religious rally. Don't blame them. Privacy is dead. Get used to it!......"

(pg 266)

And what a relief it is to have all our darkest guilty secrets and pains exposed and accepted. You try to save those close to you from the pain you experience, yet it is the pain of separation from them that is the real sin.

I really adored this novel. It contains so much emotionally; from the freedom and bliss of surfing, the joys of shared music taste, the intimacy of best girlfriends and sisters, the pain of betrayal, the vulnerability of being in love, the deep pain and anger of our most important people falling to human status, the discovery of loving the wrong person to the myriad of interactions that occur in relationships. It is a full and juicy novel.

Master of the Books by James Moloney

I was looking forward to reading this sequel to 'The Book of Lies'. It was just as gripping and further unravelled the lies and truths of the first novel.

The characters journey further and fight against evil once more. I hesitate to give too much away. I enjoyed this novel and the many twists and turns of the plot. The Book of Lies has been destroyed and Marcel finds the true source of his gift.

As before, I look forward to the promise of the third book. At the Writers Festival for Schools the year 7 & 8 students attended James Moloney's talk, and knowledgeably inform me that there will be another in this series. He keeps me wanting more.

'Tales of the Otori' by Lian Hearn

I forgot to name my good friend Carmel, when I was mentioning friends I was grateful for. She was lumped in with my work mates. She has leant me book 4 of the 'Tales of the Otori' series, 'The Harsh Cry of the Heron'. Carmel was my daughter's homeroom teacher when she started at secondary school and a real role model for her. When I started at the school I work at we soon became good friends. She'd come highly recommended.
Tales of the Otori
I have thoroughly enjoyed the entire series I've loaned from Carmel so far.
'Across the Nightingale Floor', 'Grass for His Pillow' and 'Brilliance of the Moon' were all wonderful and I look forward to reading this latest one. There is a new book 'Heavens Net is Wide' that goes back to the start. I will savour these ending and beginning books as I did Harry Potter.
Lian Hearn
Lian Hearn lives in Australia, yet these books are based in Japan. She weaves the landscape and mythology well and I learnt a lot from these books that helped me to understand Feudal Japan.
My Book Pile Right Now....
I have a delicious pile of books I'm currently reading in addition to 'The Harsh Cry of the Heron'. I have James Moloney's 'Master of the Books' and it every bit as engrossing as 'The Book of Lies'. I have Maureen McCarthy's 'Rose By Any Other Name' and I'm looking forward to that also. I have 7 other books in addition. Two of these I have began, yet put aside for these more compelling books. I may or may not get back to them!

Enid Blyton Characters Reappear

It's interesting to me that I was just thinking about all the old Enid Blyton books I loved to read when I was a kid and in the mornings papers was this story: Famous Five Set to Find Fame. Made me feel almost magical.
I read the 'Secret Seven' series, the 'Famous Five' of course, but loved the 'Faraway Tree' trilogy and 'Wishing Chair' set more I think. My favourite of all the many though would have to be 'The Naughtiest Girl' books. I am sure I only read 2 or 3 of them, yet it appears there are 8 on this site.
If you want to learn more about Enid Blyton, The Enid Blyton Society website is absolutely a must read. It's quite amazing to see the list of writing, there are 100s of books. When I look through the list I see many other familiar books that I read as a child.

Tomorrow all will be Beautiful by Brigid Lowry

This book is a pleasure not to be missed. It is a collection of short stories, letter exchanges, dialogues and poems delicately illustrated. She writes about the joys and tragedies and leaves you feeling hopeful and alive. 'Tomorrow all will be Beautiful' notices the details in life that are juicy. It's a funny, cool book that touched me and made me feel validated as a sometimes crazy, passionate, melancholy and often mistaken person. I have put my name on the list at school to read 'Guitar Highway Rose'.

Brigid Lowry is my latest favourite. Listening to her 'Juicy Writing' talk on Monday, just confirmed it. I would still love to get a copy of that writing she read to us about the mother and son, so I can weep without the eyes of my year 9s on me.

Melbourne Writers Festival Today

We saw three authors speak today and each had something valuable to say. The first up was Maureen McCarthy, then Greg Pyers and finally Brigid Lowry. I thoroughly enjoyed the balmy spring day in the city with some of my favourite 'book worm' students.

Maureen McCarthy
Maureen McCarthy has written a number of books and I have read Queen Kat, Carmel & St Jude Get A Life and enjoyed the TV series. After hearing her speak today, I can't wait to read her latest Rose by Any Other Name. It sounds great. I loved it when she said she doesn't write for teenagers and I got the impression she doesn't think of people in terms of age. I enjoyed her talk very much and she described her writing process in an exciting way. The students enjoyed her talk too. She was a confident speaker who was easy to listen to.

Greg Pyers
Greg Pyers had the most challenging session. We were in a dark room, just before lunch and it was very warm. It was difficult to stay focused as he read to us from his latest fiction novel, Jack Brown. He described his journey to writing and gave the students good advice. He has written a great deal, mainly non-fiction. I found his slides and discussion about Jersey quite interesting.

Brigid Lowry
Juicy Writing with Brigid Lowry delivered everything it promised with such a luscious title. She spoke with passion and read some great writing to us. I got quite watery in the eyes by a piece she wrote about a mother reflecting on her son's impending independence. I am sorry I didn't have the time and presence of mind to ask where I could get it. I am not even sure who wrote it, but I suspect she did. I have spent the weekend reading her latest book Tomorrow all will be Beautiful and have found what I have read so far poignant and touching. It is truly juicy.I will get my hands on Guitar Highway Rose as soon as possible too. The students thoroughly enjoyed her talk and she was honest and helpful in the information she passed on.

'To the Boy in Berlin' by Elizabeth Honey and Heike Brandt

'To the Boy in Berlin' was shortlisted for the CBCA Awards Younger Readers category. Elizabeth Honey teams up with Heike Brandt to create a compassionate and tolerant duo of mystery solvers. The characters based in Australia and Germany email one another to satisfy the curiosity of Henni who has found some old things and began asking questions about the past. The kids share their current lives and the uncovering of the past. In usual Elizabeth Honey style the characters are powerful, proactive young people who use their resources and their communities to get their mission accomplished. It is also a very funny read.
Elizabeth Honey's Books
The character Henni, was earlier seen in the Stella Street books, which are among my favourite kids books. 'Remote Man' has been taught at our school to year 7 students and although I have read it to classes for over 7 years, I still get fresh insights from it. I enjoy the way Elizabeth Honey's characters use technology in empowering and positive ways. I love that they overcome distance to learn from kids in other countries. I always laugh and smile along the way.
Melbourne Writers Festival
Heike Brandt and Elizabeth Honey are at the 'Melbourne Writers Festival Schools Program' tomorrow, as well as at other events, but they are speaking at the grade 5/6 level. I won't get to listen, but I would love to hear about their processes. Heike Brandt is a German author/translator, among other things, so their work would have been a great collaboration just like the characters in Honey's books. They write about their exchanges at the end of the book.

Melbourne Writers Festival

On Monday I'm travelling with some year 9 and 10 students to the "Melbourne Writers Festival - Schools Program". I look forward to this for a number of reasons. I always enjoy taking the students on excursions, because they are always engaged and at their best. We can only take a small number of students, so only those who are really passionate about reading and writing have gone to the effort, or been selected by their English teachers. I expect this will make for great conversation on the 2 hour + bus trip. I will also enjoy listening to the authors speak about their books. I'm not sure yet, which sessions I will be attending, but I will be sure to tell you after I've been.
For those who live a little closer, "Melbourne Writers Festival" is for adults also and there are plenty of sessions to cater for all. Check out the program on the webpage.

CBCA Winners 2007

2007 Winners
I am delighted that 'Red Spikes' has won the Older Readers category. Although I totally enjoyed each book that was shortlisted and we are considering using 'Don't Call Me Ishmael' for our year 9s, my favourite's were 'Red Spikes' and 'The Red Shoe'. Margo Lanagan is an amazing writer and I have another of her earlier books to enjoy when I have completed two others I have began.
Catherine Bateson has taken out the Younger Readers book of the year with 'Being Bee'. I am yet to read the rest of this category, but I can say I really enjoyed this one.
I am even less familiar with the other categories the CBCA Award Winners for 2007, I enjoyed Shaun Tan's 'The Arrival', which won the Picture book category as well as the Honour books for the 2007 Eve Pownall Award for Information Books.

Sally Murphy at Scribblings has a great post on the CBCA Junior Judges Project. She has also created a list of 12 books to read before you turn 12. I want to create my own and will attempt it on the weekend perhaps.

'the best thing' by Margo Lanagan

First Impressions
'the best thing' by Margo Lanagan was a very interesting read. About half way through I nearly abandoned it, finding it mundane and sad and too real to be readable. I'm glad I hung in there.
Mothering
I loved the way Margo Lanagan describes the passage of pregnancy and childbirth and the early days of mothering. Her protagonist is a young woman, yet I found it a description that closely resembled the feelings I had when I was a slightly older young mother.
Margo Lanagan's Writing
I discussed Margo Lanagan's writing today with a colleague and we both agreed it wasn't always easy to read, not that it was difficult to understand, it was emotionally confronting. I always find her writing rewarding though precisely because it is confronting.
Short Story vs Novel
When I started the novel, I wondered if I didn't prefer Lanagan's writing in short story form as I had loved the three anthologies of short stories I had read 'Red Spikes', 'Black Juice' and 'White Time'. At the conclusion of this novel, I find that I love her writing in both forms. She cuts to the heart of what's really important and describes it beautifully. It is truly a vibrant and triumphant tale that is gutsy in it's subject choice as well as the depth it delves into.

Being Bee by Catherine Bateson

Catherine Bateson
I have enjoyed many of Catherine Bateson's novels. My favourite was 'Painted Love Letters'. She sensitively handles times of change and relationships for young people and creates such interesting and alive characters.

'Being Bee'
This latest novel tackles the stepmother and tells a tale of a father and daughter team including a new woman in the house. It has been shortlisted for the CBCA Awards 2007 for Younger Readers. It replaces the stereotypical wicked stepmother with a new type of stepmother who is flawed and annoying yet gradually appreciated. It was an enjoyable light read.

Red Haze:Australians & New Zealanders in Vietnam

Leon Davidson has written a a non-fiction book that has been shortlisted for the Eve Pownall Award for Information Books. Reading Red Hazehas taught me a lot about the Vietnam war and Australia's involvement in it. I was a toddler when this war occurred and it's a good insight into the experience of the people who participated in this war.

Different perspectives of the war are shown and there is information the variety of people involved. He discusses each countries involvement, Australia and New Zealand is emphasised, yet the American and Vietnamese soldiers also make comments on their experience of the war. He tells the history of Vietnam leading up to this conflict and I felt I have more insight into the story from reading this.

For teachers the Curriculum Corporation has some notes to use this text for values education that is worth checking out.

Another CBCA Award Shortlist with red in the title. The other book I have read in this category is Queenie. I don't know how they judge a non-fiction book for older readers against a picture book. They were both excellent works.

Macbeth and Son by Jackie French

Jackie French has combined fascinating historical knowledge with classical literature to weave a delightful and gripping novel. Macbeth and Son is a story combining a contemporary Aussie kid's life and a historic tale over 1000 years old. It questions the nature of the truth and demonstrates kinds of courage.
It is one of the shortlisted books for younger readers in the CBCA Awards 2007. I would highly recommend it.