Presentation at ETANSW Conference
November 2013 Part 2
Text Choices for the Australian
Curriculum
This is the second section of my notes from my presentation at the NSW English
Teachers' Association Conference: Innovation on 23rd November 2013.
I presented with Deb McPherson. Some of what we presented
was inspired by Ernie Tucker.
Deb's reviews are followed by - DM. There is one review from Ernie - ET. Mine are -HS.
Northwood
by Brian
Falkner. Walker Books, 2011. ISBN 9781921529801. 272 pp.
Maddy West and the Tongue Taker
by Brian
Falkner. Walker Books, 2012. ISBN 9781921529801. 256 pp.
Maddy West has an amazing ability: as
soon as she hears a language she can speak it and understand it (oh, what bliss
that must be), but it’s also a dangerous talent. Maddy is soon embroiled in translating
ancient scrolls, and trying to outwit a nasty witch who seeks to manipulate her
talent for evil purposes. Maddy West and
the Tongue Taker is full of humour, surprising and dangerous moments and is
thoroughly enjoyable.
Recommendation: Brian Falkner is known for his thriller
texts for older years and he also writes really well for younger readers. These
are accessible and entertaining books and they would be excellent additions to
any wide reading unit focused on fantasy and humour - and there are plenty of
close calls and action sequences as well. -
DM
Past
the Shallows
by Favel Parett.
Hachette, 2013 (2011). ISBN 978073363049. 320 pp.
‘Out past the
shallows, past the sandy-bottomed bays, comes the dark water - black and cold
and roaring.’ This mesmerising sentence begins Parett’s tale of three brothers
and a bitter father set in the south coast abalone fishing areas of Tasmania.
It is a deeply moving story of fraternal bonds and the instability of life.
The Australian review said Parrett’s ‘prose is as
powerful as a rip’ and I wish I had thought of that description: you are really
pulled along in this book by the narrative and the language and the force of
the sea. The vivid descriptions of Joe and Miles surfing reflect Parrett’s own
experiences. The novel is full of simple pleasures and gestures: the tea shared
by Harry and George, the cup of Milo Harry makes for Miles because he knows he
will be tired and cold after working on the boat, the shark egg Miles finds for
Harry and the warmth and love between the brothers. But their closeness is
contrasted with the often-malevolent figure of Steven Curren, their father, who
is twisted by a horrifying secret, as he drinks and hits his way to a terrible
conclusion.
Recommendation: Past the Shallows is deceptively simple, sometimes violent
and yet life-affirming. Parrett depicts with lyricism and precision realistic
characters and the choices they make as well as the events over which they have
little control. Year 10 or 11 students will find much to explore and discuss in
this wonderful novel. - DM
Pookie
Aleera Is Not My Boyfriend
by
Steven Herrick. UQP, 2012. ISBN 9780702249280. 214 pp.
This warmly funny verse novel is a celebration of
dusty little Australian towns and, especially, of
little country schools.
Herrick uses his familiar method of telling the story through a range of
voices, mostly those of the children of Class 6A. Plot is virtually
non-existent but characterisation is strong and appealing. Herrick's skill is
impressive in developing character so vividly through these short pieces where
the voices narrate mostly fairly ordinary everyday happenings. Mick, a natural
leader who becomes school captain, is quite often in trouble, especially when
he smashes to pieces Charlie's new cricket bat; bit by bit we discover - and
the adults in his life discover - that Charlie was slaughtering butterflies
with the bat. Mick's younger brother Jacob really is trouble; one of the early
incidents in the novel tells of eight-year-old Jacob's attempt to fly off the
roof of the groundsman's shed. Mr Korsky, the groundsman, is elderly, and a bit
battered when he breaks Jacob's fall. His is one of the voices we hear and,
like many of the people who work around a school, he knows a lot about the
kids. He is the one who realises how lonely Laura is: the rapport between the
old man and the lonely little girl is touching. Cameron is the opposite to
Laura: loud and confident, the class clown. Popular Selina is a great admirer
of Cameron's pranks. Pete is sad about his grandfather's recent sudden death.
Each character is built up beautifully as we listen to what they say and to
what others say about them. The funniest voice is that of Constable Dawe, who
visits Class 6A at intervals to deliver talks on safety. The constable's
monologue creates a very clear picture of what's going on in the classroom, as
the kids give the poor, humorless cop a bad time. The constable's poems are
great examples of the way dramatic monologues work.
Recommendation: This
is one of Herrick's verse novels for younger readers, aimed at a primary school
audience. You could use it as a class set text in Year 7, although I would
choose other titles by Herrick ahead of this one for an extended unit of work.
However, especially as it is such a quick read, it could be interesting to have
students in any year look at it to analyse how it is Herrick so successfully
creates character; it would be good for students to use it as a model for some
of their own experimental writing. - HS
The Rainbow Troops (Laskar Pelangi)
by Andrea
Hirata, translated by Angie Kilbane. Vintage Australia, 2013. ISBN 9781742758589. 304 pp.
Laskar Pelangi
directed by Riri
Riza, 2008.
The two teachers - Ibu N. A. Muslimah
Hafsari (Bu Mus), a sixteen-year-old first timer, and Pak Harfan, an
elderly gentleman - are hoping ten
students will turn up to class, because if they don’t the school will close. When
the last student finally arrives long after the start of the school day, the
reader applauds. The novel is about the poorest people and their dreams and
aspirations and the power of education to make a difference in their lives. The
contrast with the nearby wealthy private school is dramatic and, when the
ragtag students win the drama festival and the scholastic quiz, celebrations
are definitely in order. However the mathematical hero of the quiz, Lintang,
cannot continue at school, as the death of his father means he has to take
responsibility for the rest of his family. While the narrator, Ikal, earns a
scholarship to the Sorbonne in Paris, Lintang stays rooted in poverty. The
ending of the novel is harsher than that of the film and the novel certainly
raises the issue of corporate greed and government corruption.
The novel
written by Andrea Hirata in 2005 was made into a film in 2008. Laskar
Pelangi, the film version of The
Rainbow Troops, is an engaging movie, filmed on the Indonesian island of
Belitong. It became the highest grossing film at the box office in Indonesian
history.
Recommendation: I would probably use the film in Years
7 or 8 while the novel is better suited to study in Year 9. However, many
schools may use them in different years. Both are a wonderful introduction to a
part of Asia that will have a lasting impact on life in Australia in the coming
decades. - DM
Rooftoppers
by Katherine Rundell. Faber and Faber, 2013. ISBN 9780571280599.
278 pp.
This quirky and original novel is an unexpected delight.
The setting is eccentrically old-worldy but the narrative is very contemporary,
almost post-modern.
The novel's opening gives a good taste of what is to
come:
On the morning of its first birthday, a baby was found floating in a
cello case in the middle of the English Channel.
It was the only living thing for miles. Just the baby, and some
dining-room chairs, and the tip of a ship disappearing into the ocean. There
had been music in the dining hall, and it was music so loud and so good that
nobody had noticed the water flooding in over the carpet. The violins went on
sawing for some time after the screaming had begun. Sometimes the shriek of a
passenger would duet with a high C.
The baby was found wrapped for warmth in the musical score of a
Beethoven symphony. It had drifted almost a mile from the ship, and was the
last to be rescued. The man who lifted it into the rescue boat was a fellow
passenger, and a scholar. It is a scholar's job to notice things. He noticed that
it was a girl, with hair the colour of lightning, and the smile of a shy
person.
I fell completely in love with Charles. His eccentric and
loving relationship with Sophie is a joy, but we are not surprised when the
National Childcare Agency announces that the twelve-year-old Sophie is to be
taken from Charles and placed in an orphanage. Sophie, who has always insisted
that her mother did not drown, finds a clue that her mother may have been
French and Charles and Sophie escape - at great danger to Charles for defying
the authorities - to Paris.
In her attic bedroom in the cheap little hotel in Paris,
Sophie forces open a skylight and finds a whole new world on the rooftops,
including the homeless children who prefer the rooftops to the streets. Rundell's
representation of the lives of the rooftoppers is wonderful. This is of course
fantasy but it is grittily, credibly realistic, and it has the ability to shock
us into seeing afresh the tragedy of child homelessness. We've read all about
it before - the lives of poor children in Victorian England, homeless teenagers
in contemporary western cities, slum children in Asia - and to some extent
we've become immune through familiarity. Rundell's success is using her fantasy
world of the rooftoppers of Paris to enable us to feel the hunger, the fear,
the pain and the cold.
It is the rooftoppers - the extraordinary Matteo and his
friends - who help Sophie to look for her mother. Charles remains totally
endearing; readers always remark on Sophie's courage but it seems to me that
Charles is the bravest character in the novel because, unlike the children, he
knows the consequences if things go wrong:
I suggest, Sophie, that you don't mention this to the educational
authorities. Throwing children across rooftops is frowned upon, I believe.
Rundell has a wonderful way with words: her descriptions
constantly surprise. The following sentence tells you all that you need to know
about Charles' room in the cheap Paris hotel:
There were two spindly chairs, on which a succession of bottoms had left
their mark, and two rugs, on which a good deal of expense had been spared.
Sophie's first reaction to Paris is captured like this:
It was ten minutes' walk; ten minutes through cobbled streets, and
window boxes full of red carnations, and children eating hot buns in the road;
ten minutes in which Sophie's heart looped the loop and danced a jitterbug and
generally behaved in a way entirely out of her control.
Some of the best lines come from Charles, who describes
the grey, disapproving men from the welfare agency as 'moustaches with idiots
attached' and Sophie as 'bright enough to start a forest fire'. The coffee at
police headquarters tastes 'like liquidated carpet'.
A lot of writing for young people is rather bland. We
avoid giving them books that might be difficult and editors make sure that the
reading level is appropriate. We need more novels like this that stretch
readers' emotions and imaginations and that teach them that language is a joy
to play with.
Readers will differ about the novel's resolution. I find
it totally satisfying. I don't need an epilogue telling me what happened next.
I have come to love these characters and I trust them to make good choices.
Recommendation: Girls
who are good readers will love this from about Year 4 upwards. It would be
entirely appropriate as a class set for Year 7, although you will need to work
hard at first to get the boys engaged. Make sure to include it on any reading
lists for gifted Year 7 readers. - HS
The Scorpio Races
by Maggie
Stiefvater. Scholastic Press, 2013 (2011). ISBN 9780545224918. 400 pp.
On the little
island of Thisby an annual race takes place. The beach race involves the
capture of horses from the sea - the capall
uisce: startlingly beautiful savage killers who fight to return to their
home but are pressed into racing. In this event death is ever present and even
skilful riders die. Sean Kendrick is the champion rider, a young man of few
words whose passion is the seahorse, Corr, a horse he does not own but rides
for a wealthy owner. Puck Connelly is a young woman orphaned by the savagery of
the horses but circumstances force her decision to participate in the race on
her ordinary horse, Dove. She is the first woman to do so and many attempt to
stop her. An uneasy awareness between Puck and Sean grows incrementally as the
race day approaches, and in small, often near silent, conversations, their
relationship becomes closer.
Recommendation: The Scorpio Races is exhilarating, it’s well written,
often lyrical and explores relationships, death, despair and friendship in a
powerful way. The horses are unforgettable. Year 9 girls should love it. - DM
The Selfish Giant
by Oscar Wilde,
illustrated by Ritva Voutila. Allen & Unwin, 2012. ISBN 9781742376509. 32
pp. Hardcover.
Most schools do
a unit of work some time on traditional stories and this is a great addition to
your
collection. This is a handsome reproduction of Oscar Wilde's fairy story
'The Selfish Giant', beautifully illustrated by Finnish-Australian Ritva
Voutila. Of course this, first published in 1888, is not a traditional fairy
story, but the way in which Wilde has appropriated the characteristics of the
fairy tale tradition is one of the joys for the reader to discover.
When the giant
comes home to find children playing in his beautiful garden, he has a wall
built around it to keep them out. His selfishness is punished by eternal
Winter; Spring returns only when he welcomes the children back to his garden.
The story is overtly about Christian redemption, with the figure of a Christ
child welcoming the dying giant into Paradise.
Recommendation: Some readers have always found this
story confronting for young children, but it is perfect for older readers.
Voutila's paintings of the timeless European village that is the site of the
giant's castle and garden are perfect. Use it, as suggested, in a unit of work
on traditional stories but consider it as well as a title to include in a wide
reading selection of picture books. - HS
Shahana
by Rosanne Hawke. Through My Eyes series. Allen &
Unwin, 2013. ISBN 9781743312469. 206 pp.
Shahana lives in the area
known as the Line of Control, the border that divides Kashmir in two. Her tiny
village is on the Neelum River that runs along the border on the Pakistani
side. It is an area of ongoing conflict involving not only Indian and Pakistani
soldiers but also militia who have their own agenda. Shahana has lost her
mother and older brother in a militia attack on the village. Her father has
been killed trying to cross the river to sell his goods on the other side. For
a year or so Shahana and her young brother Tanveer lived with their
grandfather, but he has died the previous winter. Shahana and Tanveer now
survive alone in their tiny isolated house on the side of the mountain, some
distance from the village. Shahana's grandfather had left her a valuable
legacy: the ability to embroider, a skill usually confined to men. She earns
enough to buy them food but is aware that the trader, Mr Nadir, is exploiting
her; worse, she knows that Mr Nadir's carpet factory depends on the slave
labour of young boys from penniless families and that Mr Nadir is plotting to
get Tanveer to work for him.
Shahana and Tanveer's lives change when they rescue a
fifteen-year-old boy, Zahid, from wild dogs. Zahid comes from the other side of
the Line of Control. He is looking for his father who, like so many men, has
disappeared, possibly victims of the militia.
While there are several very exciting incidents,
including a chilling scene when Mr Nadir tries to auction Shahana as bride to
the highest bidder, the strength of the novel is in the characterisation and in
the depiction of the lifestyle. Students may well be shocked by a world in
which a thirteen-year-old girl is left to raise her nine-year-old brother,
where children can be exploited by evil, greedy men like Mr Nadir, where homes
have no running water or electricity and where food almost never includes meat.
They may well be impressed by Shahana's perseverance, resourcefulness and
resilience.
Recommendation: This
is strong enough to be used as a class set novel. It will work best with girls
in Year 7-8. It is a great title to add to the resources available for
exploring the cross-curricular perspective, Asia. Add it to a wide reading
selection of titles about children in Asia - or, more broadly, children around
the world. - HS
Song of
the Slums
by Richard Harland. Allen & Unwin, 2013. ISBN 9781743310052.
370 pp.
Harland is a
master of the genre that has become known as 'steampunk'. Song of the Slums follows
the success of Worldshaker and Liberator, set in an alternative nineteenth century England. King
George IV is on the throne and the country is dominated by the plutocrats, who
have made enormous fortunes from their industrial enterprises that leave cities
like Brummingham choking in foul smog and millions of people living in slums.
After many years of war with Europe, peace has come to England - and that is
not good for the plutocrats, many of whom have factories designed to produce
military hardware.
While this is steampunk, it is also, as
Harland admits, 'gaslight romance'. Both genres are beautifully combined in
Chapter 1 of Part 1 when Astor, her stepfather and her mother arrive in an
airship at the aerodock of the monstrous Swale House to be greeted by the
hugely powerful Swale brothers. Astor has been led to believe that she is
coming to Swale House to be betrothed to the youngest Swale brother, Lorrain.
She is shocked and horrified to discover that her stepfather has virtually sold
her to the Swales as governess to their three revolting children.
While Astor has
some hope of winning the love of the very handsome Lorrain, everyone who is an
experienced romance reader knows that her true love will be - after many
obstacles - the mysterious servant, Verrol, who acts the part of the perfect
servant but soon demonstrates that he has hidden qualities. Verrol whisks Astor
away in a breathtaking escape as she is being escorted to the dungeons by the
vindictive children. They are given temporary refuge in the slums by Granny
Rouse and her gang but must earn their place by proving their worth as musicians.
Harland's
decision to shift the invention of rock and roll back a century is outrageous
and wonderful. Astor's musical background has consisted of the harp and
classical piano but her survival depends on her becoming a rock and roll
drummer. To her surprise, she becomes addicted to the new sound and, with the
other band members, works day and night to get it right. The descriptions of
the band's performances when they win over audiences that are initially
indifferent or hostile are compelling reading, more exciting in my opinion that
the many action-packed encounters where Astor, Verrol and their friends fight
thuggish militiamen, evil plutocrats or corrupt parliamentarians.
Recommendation: This is a terrific, fast-moving read,
crammed with action and imagination. It
will be enjoyed by readers from Years 7-10, of both sexes. Make up a
wide-reading selection of alternative histories or of steampunk and gaslight
romance, or simply make sure that it is in selection of fantasy novels. - HS
Stagefright
by Carole Wilkinson. black dog books, 2013. ISBN 9781922077585.
289 pp.
This is an amusing, feel-good school story. Velvet is
appalled that, because her father has lost his job
as a merchant banker, she
has to leave her posh private girls' school for the local comprehensive,
multicultural state school. First impressions are as negative as she expects.
One of the worst discoveries is that the entire school, including the
tracksuit-wearing principal, is sports mad. Mr Kislinski is determined to find
Velvet's special sporting skill, but she's a match for him, failing
spectacularly at everything he gets her to try. She's delighted when he finally
admits defeat and allows her to join the only non-sports option for Thursday
afternoons: the cultural studies class. But cultural studies is not quite what
she had expected. The class is a very funny caricature of everything that's
wrong with a bad secondary school: a teacher who doesn't want to be there and
an assorted group of misfits, stuck down the back of the school in an old
portable that is basically a storeroom.
The farce continues when Mr Kislinski decides that the
class must produce an end-of-year performance for parents and the decision is
made to work on their own version of Shakespeare's Richard III. As they struggle with the incomprehensible text, their
mutual dislike, the cynicism of their teacher and the total lack of resources,
Velvet discovers that her classmates are real people, not caricatures, and the
process - while continuing to be very funny - is ultimately a positive
experience for them all. Their eventual performance to a packed hall is a
triumph. Velvet even falls in love with the most unlikely of romantic heroes,
the talented musician, Taleb.
This is an updated version of a novel that Wilkinson was
commissioned to write in 1996 for Rave,
a series of teenage novels for schools.
Recommendation:
I'm always grateful for some
humour for adolescent readers. While there are some serious messages here about
not judging people by stereotypes, this is basically just a lot of fun. Add it
to wide reading selections for girls in Years 7-9. - HS
The
Telling
by Leah Giarratano. Book 1 of Disharmony. Penguin Books, 2012. ISBN 9780143565680. 245 pp.
an empath and a genius - who are destined to save the
world. The children, of course, do not know their origin or their fate. One of
them is locked up in a juvenile detention centre out the back of Windsor in
Sydney; the other has been brought up by the gypsies in Romania and is showing
great talent as a fortune teller. The third - the genius - makes a brief
appearance only towards the end of the book but seems destined to have a
starring role in the second volume of the planned trilogy.
While in my opinion the plot is a bit clunky, the
realistic parts of the narrative are well written. It's a relief to escape the
usual American high school setting. The sections of the story detailing Luke's
experiences of brutality in the detention centre are gripping: we share his
hatred for the bullies and, especially, for the sadistic warden, Mr Holt.
Similarly, the sections about Samantha's life in the Roma camp with her
extended adopted family are absorbing and unusual. There is an array of
well-drawn characters. The transitions, however, from realism to the paranormal
world are sometimes awkward.
Recommendation: This
is not a great book by any means, but the writer has talent. It will appeal to
students looking for something new in the paranormal genre. Include it in a
fantasy wide reading selection for Years 7-9. - HS
The Testament of Jessie Lamb
by Jane Rogers. Canongate
Books, 2012 (2011). ISBN 9780857864185. 320 pp.
The Testament of Jessie Lamb is a polarising novel. Jessie Lamb is
sixteen and tied to a radiator.
That’s how the novel starts. The context is
that humanity appears doomed. Maternal
Death Syndrome (MDS) has affected women all around the world – if women get
pregnant they die.
No cure for MDS has yet been found.
Society is crumbling and the young are particularly affected. One short-term
solution seems possible: ‘sleeping beauties’. If adolescents, around sixteen or
seventeen, agree to be implanted and then put into a drug-induced coma, their
foetuses have a chance to survive. The virus destroys the females’ brains, not
their bodies or the foetus. Single-issue groups spring up. Some are for the scheme
and some, such as FLAME (Feminist Link against Men), emphatically opposed. But
volunteers do present themselves.
After much
thought, Jessie decides to be a Sleeping Beauty. She thinks that the news will
be a comfort to her parents. Her father after all works at the clinic where the
procedure takes place. However, both parents are appalled and do everything to
persuade their daughter not to volunteer. Her father in a desperate effort to
save his daughter resorts to abduction. He hopes, by isolating Jessie, he can persuade
her to change her mind.
Jane Rogers has
created a protagonist with a strong, individual narrative voice. The novel is
Jessie’s testament and the chapters alternate between the opening imprisonment
and her memories as she describes the onslaught of MDS and the reactions across
the generations. At the end of Chapter 29 she escapes from her father and
retreats to the clinic to pursue her goal.
Some will see
Jessie as a self-centred adolescent, others will support her right to decide
her own future. Many older readers may empathise with her parents; others will
see Jessie as heroic and her testament for her daughter as inspiring:
I want you to know my story
- our story, your beginning. So you understand everything I’ve thought and
felt, and so no one can tell you I was a silly brainwashed girl, or a puppet of
Iain’s. I don’t want anyone trying to claim you for a movement or an idea.
You’re free, and whatever you want to do with your life, the thought of it
makes me glad. Above all I want you to know that I’m glad. I’m glad this is
happening. (page 296)
Recommendation: My response to the novel was ambivalent,
which is really a compliment to the author, as I desperately wanted to talk
about the book to other people who had read it. The novel will undoubtedly
provoke discussion and debate in the classroom. It would combine well in a
genre study with the futuristic film, Children
of Men, inspired by P.D. James’ novel of the same name. In Children of Men a startling pregnancy
occurs in a world were children are no longer conceived. There is also Margaret
Atwood’s novel The Handmaiden’s Tale,
in which women are forced to bear children for their fundamentalist oppressors.
- DM
To Brave the Seas: A Boy at War
by David McRobbie. Allen & Unwin, 2013. ISBN 9781743313077.
230 pp.
McRobbie points out in an Afterword that, on a percentage
basis, more merchant sailors died in World War II than in any other branch of
the services. Adam's ship is torpedoed and only a few of the crew make it to
the lifeboats. Some of the more remarkable incidents in the story are based on
real wartime events, such as the discovery by shipwrecked sailors of an
abandoned oil tanker in mid-Atlantic, which they board and, with some
difficulty, sail home. The triumphant scene towards the end of the book where
Adam's captain decides to ram a U-boat in neutral Portugal is fictitious but
satisfying.
This is a celebration of the courage and decency of
ordinary men, whose behaviour is contrasted with that of the bosses. When
Adam's ship is torpedoed, for example, his pay is immediately stopped; his
employers take no interest in his fate from the moment when he is unable any
longer to work the ship. Similarly, when Adam and his mates bring home the
valuable oil tanker and its cargo, the owners, initially, intend to charge them
for the clothing and food they have taken from the ship's shop. When a clever
lawyer wins compensation for the men for salvaging the ship, they pass the
money on to the families of the tanker's dead crew, demonstrating a compassion
and selflessness that is very different from the rapaciousness of the
shipowners.
Recommendation: This
very readable historical novel gives young readers an insight into a world very
different from their own. It will be enjoyed especially by boys in Years 7-8.
Make sure to include it in wide reading selections for that group. - HS
Tufff ...
by Bille Brown. Phoenix Education, 2012 (1990). ISBN
9781921586545. 47 pp.
Written more than 25 years ago, this was the first play
written by actor and playwright, Bille Brown.
It toured schools in Queensland
at the time and was followed by a season at the Royal Court Theatre in London,
leading to Brown's first commission to write a play for the Royal Shakespeare
Company. This edition has been slightly updated but few changes were necessary:
issues to do with friendship and bullying have changed little in 25 years.
The play has only three characters - boys aged between 11
and 13 - but Brown was insistent that it could be played by adult actors just
as well as boys. The truth of the relationships and the skill with which the
relationships develop will transcend the actual physical appearance of the
three people on stage.
The play opens with a superb monologue by Rosebury,
sitting in his wheelchair on a beach facing the ocean, listening to the
whispers from a cowrie shell, and thinking about the way his brain compensates
for the weakness of his body: 'My mind can run and I do all my walking with my
mouth.' Rosebury is at first anxious when he realises two 'tufffs', Springle
and Blackburn, have come down to the beach. Springle and Blackburn are typical
bogans, boasting of their bullying, their smoking and drinking, and general
misbehaviour, while threatening Rosebury. But Rosebury uses his brain - his wit
and his ready tongue - in a contest that leads to bonding and friendship.
This is a very funny play, with lots of clowning and physical
action, but it is the dialogue that is so delightful.
Recommendation: It is
very, very difficult to find original plays for the classroom. Most of the ones
that are worth reading are adaptations of novels, so this is great to have.
Best of all, it is simple enough to use with Years 7 or 8, where there is the
greatest dearth of good material. Keeping in mind, however, Brown's advice that
it could be played by adult actors, it could be used at any level. While you
will probably want to begin with a reading in class, make sure that you give
students opportunities to experiment with some of the very funny sequences that
depend on actions rather than words, such as when Springle and Blackburn throw
stones at the tramp offstage or Blackburn acts out his father coming home from
the pub. As only three characters are involved, this can be done in small
groups, so that everyone is involved. - HS
The
Vanishing Moment
by Margaret Wild. Allen & Unwin, 2013. ISBN
9781743315903. 183 pp.
Set in
contemporary Australia, The Vanishing
Moment focuses on the lives of two young women
whose fates are transformed
by a single significant moment. We follow the stories of these women in
separate chapters. For about a third of the novel, it is not clear how their
lives are connected. There is a third perspective - a man called Bob who is
remembering unhappy childhood experiences. His connection to the two young
women, Arrow and Marika, is even less clear. Gradually pieces of the puzzle
come together: Wild has constructed an intriguing plot that keeps the reader
turning the pages until the heart-wrenching resolution.
Bob's story is about the past, leading to
homelessness and gaol. Arrow's story is about the present, although her present
is influenced strongly by a terrible trauma in her past. Marika's story is
completely in the present. Her happy and successful life has been shattered by
one single shocking moment.
Arrow and Marika
are engaging characters with whom readers identify. Arrow, who has recently finished
school, is just a little younger than Marika, who has been immersed in a
tertiary-level art course for a couple of years. Both are bright, personable
and attractive, but they become paralysed by sudden misfortune: in both their
lives an unexpected and unforeseeable moment has changed everything. Both girls
have loving and supportive families but the trauma each experiences causes
great strain on family relationships. The coincidence of their meeting leads to
a friendship that promises to bring healing to them both, until the shock of
the climax of the novel.
The novel
explores the way in which a moment in time can change lives. Margaret Wild also
raises the possibility that there may be multiple universes and that it may be
possible to choose, at a significant moment, to live an alternate life. The
difficulty, as the novel reveals, is that there is no way of knowing whether
that alternate life would be better.
Margaret Wild is
a highly regarded Australian writer known mostly for her picture books and her
verse novels. Although this novel is written in prose, Wild's experience in
those media influences her writing in The
Vanishing Moment. The writing is extraordinarily economical, each word
having earned its place on the page. Wild's images are a joy, original and
often surprising. The description of place is so vivid that each scene could be
drawn with great accuracy. The style is so accessible and effortless that it is
only on a second reading that the reader realises just how perfect the word
choice is and just how well the text sounds read aloud.
Recommendation: This is strongly recommended as a class
set novel for Year 8-10. You can use it at any level. More sophisticated
readers will appreciate the skill of the narrative and the quality of the writing,
but all readers will be intrigued by the mystery that surrounds the characters
and the connections between them. - HS
The Voyage of the Unquiet Ice
by Andrew McGahan. Allen & Unwin, 2012. ISBN
9781742378220. 400 pp. Hardcover.
The Voyage of the
Unquiet Ice is the second novel in McGahan’s Ship Kings series and follows The
Coming of the Whirlpool (ISBN 9781743312056), reviewed in English in Australia Vol 42 Number 1
2012. Dow Amber’s island was on the losing side in the Great War but he proved
his worth in Book 1 as a sailor. While still viewed as an outsider and enemy,
he is given a berth on a vessel of the victors – the Ship Kings’ Chloe.
In Book 2 after a
revolt Chloe is recalled to report to
the Sea Lord who lives on The Twelfth
Kingdom, a ship so vast it seems more like an island. Dow finds intrigue
and treachery swirl around the court. Chloe
is sent north into the frozen ice to seek news of the Sea Lord's son Nadal, who
disappeared five years previously on a quest to find a passage through that ice
to the southern ocean; Dow goes too. Dow
has already acquired a mysterious link to an enormous Ice-Albatross that
alights briefly on the ship. His enemy, Lieutenant Diego, persists in his
efforts to humiliate Dow while a growing rapport with Ignella, the ship’s
scapegoat, complicates Dom’s life further. It is Dow and Ignella who discover
the secret of the warm currents of the north and the true nature of Nadal’s
expedition, but their return to The
Twelfth Kingdom is shattered by betrayal and war.
McGahan is a fine world builder and the Ship Kings'
universe is believable and engrossing, while his icy north owes something to
the journeys south of Shackleton and Mawson and to Coleridge’s The Rime
of the Ancient Mariner:
And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold:
And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.
…............................
The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around:
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound!
Recommendation: Year
8 students will find much to enjoy in this quite complex novel and it would be
fascinating to compare the details of this fantasy journey with that of the
Mariner in Coleridge’s great narrative poem. I’m looking forward to Book 3, The War of the Four Isles. - DM
Although
it's Book 2 in a series, I agree with Deb that you could use this as a Year 8
class novel because it is so powerfully written and could be read as a
stand-alone title. Make sure that you include both The Coming of the Whirlpool and The
Voyage of the Unquiet Ice in any fantasy wide reading unit for Years 7-9. - HS
War
Horse
by Michael Morpurgo. Egmont, 2007 (1982). ISBN
9781405226660. 182 pp.
This is
a very moving war story, told through the experiences of farm boy Albert and
his beloved horse Joey, which is commandeered by the British army at the
beginning of World War I. Morpurgo has based the story on meticulous research:
many thousands of farm horses crossed the Channel to be used in the war effort
and most of them were injured and killed by the deadly new weapons of war.
Morpurgo is very successful in evoking the terrifying atmosphere of the
battlefield.
The most interesting feature of this novel is Morpurgo's
decision to use first-person narration - in the voice of Joey, the horse. It
shouldn't work; it should seem clunky, or cute, or sentimental. But it's
exactly right, and very powerful.
Interestingly, the ending of the stage performance is a
little different from that of the original novel and, I think, an improvement.
That's a question that you could explore with students.
Recommendation:
Consider this as a class set novel for Year 7. - HS
The Watch that Ends the Night: Voices
from the Titanic
by Allan Wolf. Candlewick
Press, 2013 (2011). ISBN 9780763663315. 480 pp.
Who would write
a story in which everyone knows the ending? Who would expect success with such
a venture? We all know the Titanic
goes down, so what was Wolf thinking when he planned a verse novel on the final
days of this doomed ship?
Well, The Watch that Ends the Night is a
triumph, a wonderful array of voices from different decks and various
backgrounds that convey the majesty of the ship and the horror of the sinking
and the humanity of the people who built the Titanic, sailed in it and survived
or died when it sank. There are even voices for the iceberg and for the ship
rats! As you read through the blank verses you find favourites whose story you
follow with particular care. For me it was Fredrick Fleet in the lookout,
Thomas Andrews the ship builder on Titanic’s maiden voyage, Jamila
Nicola-Yarred the refugee, Harold Spark the wireless operator, E.J. Smith the
captain and John Snow the undertaker, who put to sea off Nova Scotia to
retrieve and document the bodies of the drowned passengers and crew.
Wolf has
meticulously researched the background to the sinking of the Titanic. Particularly pleasing are the
notes at the end of the book that include biographies of all the people
mentioned, so that you can find out what happened to the survivors later in
their lives and read the details of those lost at sea. Other material includes
Morse Code messages, a miscellany of Titanic details and a comprehensive
bibliography.
Recommendation: In NSW, English Extension 1 and 2
students could benefit from exploring this collection of narrative voices that
builds to a memorable climax. - DM
Wool
by Hugh Howey. Arrow Books, 2013. ISBN 9780099580485.
576 pp.
Wool is set in a silo, a vast structure that sinks down into the
earth and in which the last of humanity reside. The community is focused and
committed to keeping the rules that allow life to continue. A stratified
society exits over a hundred storeys, including the ‘mids’ and the ‘deeps.’ Porters travel up and down the
thousands of steps, taking produce and trade throughout the silo. If
individuals break the rules they will be sent to the barren and devastated land
outside that is viewed from the silo through mounted cameras. The punishment is
called a ‘cleaning’. They will be sent to ‘clean’ the lens of the cameras with
wool pads before they succumb to the biological ravages of the air outside. It’s
a mystery why the people so sentenced do clean the lens, but as the novel
progresses the web of deceit and lies in the silo begins to be exposed and the
IT branch leader is suspect. When Sheriff Holston elects to follow his wife
outside to certain death, the search for a new Sheriff begins. Mayor Jahns and
Deputy Sheriff Marnes descend many levels to interview Jules, a candidate from
Mechanicals.
Howey creates
such a remarkable setting that it’s impressive to realise his characters are
equally striking. The shy relationship between the ageing Mayor and her Deputy
Sheriff is explored gently and Jules’ tenacity, intelligence and vitality are
fully revealed when she takes on the Sheriff’s position and tries to discover
the mystery at the heart of the silo. Jules has the respect and affection of
the Mechanicals' section and it is with their help that she faces her own cleaning
and the revelations that follow. Porters, farmers, workers of all descriptions
populate the pages and come with a real sense of humanity and disparity.
Recommendation: I was so impatient to read more about
the silo I downloaded the prequels First
Shift and Second Shift from
Amazon but I recommend you read Wool
first. Volumes 2 and 3 of the Wool
trilogy - Shift and Dust - were published in 2013. Students
in Years 10 and 11 will relish an exploration of this alternative future with
so much to discover and discuss about sustainability, morality, power and
control and the way people struggle to live good lives, even in the claustrophobic
setting of the silo. - DM
Some
iPad apps for the English classroom
Some apps are amazing and can be used in the classroom
on individual electronic devices or through a single device linked to a smart
board or projector. Deb reviewed Our
Choice, one of the very best apps, in English
in Australia Volume 46, Number 2, 2011. Here are some more wonderful gems.
We've provided the prices we paid.
Anne Frank: The
Diary of a Young Girl
produced by Penguin Viking, 2011. $10.49.
The Diary of a
Young Girl for iPad shows how a print version of a text can be
enriched and enhanced by an interactive framework. The app opens on a desk and
the diary awaits you. A conventional reading of the text has the added
attraction of some words being underlined. Clicking on the underlined words provides
you with pictures, maps and historic documents, and additional information is
available to supplement the text. In addition there is a video introduction and
the opportunity to ‘read’ the diary through different story trails such as Anne as a Writer, Fear, Resistance and Life in Hiding. There are also over 40
audio extracts read by Helena Bonham Carter and an illustrated dual time line that
allows you to see the events of World War II alongside the events in Anne’s
life. The app allows for shared readings in the classroom and for individual
explorations when a class set of tablets is available. - DM
The Artifacts
by Stace + Hare Slap Happy Larry. $2.99.
The Artifacts is about story telling and the imagination. Asaf loves
to collect interesting things, but his family does not appreciate his passions,
especially for caterpillars! When he is thirteen, Asaf returns home to find his
parents have removed all his collections and moved to a bare house that he is
expected to keep tidy. It is only in his imagination that Asaf can escape and
in his room his mind takes him to distant destinations. He collects shadows and
strings them across his bed, words fall from his bathroom tap and at school he
reads avidly in the library. One day Asaf leaves home; he takes little with him
but an inquiring and clever mind. This short story is beautifully produced with
a high level of interactivity as the reader must touch the screen repeatedly to
reveal all that is on the page. Sound effects and music enhance this tale of
individual thought and the power of the imagination. The app could be used with
students from Years 4-10 to explore the idea of the imagination. - DM
The Disappearing
produced by The Red Room Company. Free.
The Red Room
Company at http://redroomcompany.org are in the business of creating,
publishing and promoting poetry in unusual ways. One of their ways is The Disappearing app, which creates a
poetic map of Australia in which hundreds of poems have associations with
particular settings. You can read the poems yourself and see the place associated
with that particular poem; sometimes there are videos of poets reading their
work and interviews with poets. Students can upload their own poems as well. In
this way the Red Door Company say ‘they can preserve ideas, emotions and
experiences about their own environment that vanish over time.’ The Disappearing could be a useful app
to support the exploration of Australian poetry with Years 9 and 10 students. - DM
The Fantastic
Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore
by author/illustrator William Joyce and co-director
Brandon Oldenburg. $5.49.
The Fantastic
Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore is both a short animated film, a
picture book and an interactive app. Morris loves books and the reader/viewer
joins him as he is swept away on a journey of discovery about books and
reading. The app invites us into a fantastical world where books come alive and
Morris becomes a curator who tries to deliver a special book to each and every
reader.
My favourite part of this app is when I get to paint
the sky blue but there are other wonderful moments when you can play the piano
or watch books select their readers. The app is a fascinating mixture of the
old-fashioned and the new; it seems to evoke the silent era of films as well as
use computer animation and interactivity to place it in the twenty-first
century as a text. - DM
Instant Poetry
produced by Razeware
LLC. $1.99.
With this app you and your students can reproduce the
fun you had using magnetised words on the fridge to make up poems. In addition
you can use your own photos as background and select a theme to generate the
words that will be available to you to make up your poem. Once you have created
your verse you can save it and send it as a picture to your photo collection
and print it or display it. - DM
Poems by Heart
produced by Inkle.
The Poems by Heart
app helps you to learn a poem and test your memory of it against five different
difficulty levels. While the app is free, the poems (mainly classics) have to
be purchased separately and the cost of the five sets – Love, Adventures,
Gothic Tales, Early Innovators and Romantic - does add up (somewhat strangely
different sections of ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ appear in all the
categories). You can hear and learn a range of poems from ‘The Charge of the
Light Brigade’ to ‘The Raven’ or ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ and you can read brief
biographies of each poet. This app might be useful to motivate students in
Years 7-10 to learn a poem by heart. - DM
The Sonnets
produced by Touch
Press. $14.99.
The Sonnets
delivers one hundred and fifty-four sonnets by William Shakespeare in an
interactive digital edition. The sonnets can be read and listened to as well as
viewed, as a cast of well-known actors present beautifully nuanced readings
direct to the camera. Actors include Patrick Stewart, David Tennant, Fiona Shaw
and Stephen Fry. As you watch their performances, you can also see the
synchronised text highlighted as they speak the lines. There are also notes
with commentary and insight on the sonnets. If you come across an unfamiliar
word you just touch it and an explanation appears. Wow! And all for $14.99! - DM
War
Horse
produced by Touch Press. $9.95
This is a rich resource to support the study of Michael
Morpurgo's novel War Horse, but it
would be valuable as well for any work on World War I. It includes an ebook
version of the novel, which also has audio, the text read by author Morpurgo
while the lines he is reading are highlighted. There is an engaging
eighty-minute performance version of the novel, presented by Morpurgo
accompanied by two musicians. There is a detailed World War I timeline; readers
can browse the entire timeline or they can follow one of a long list of
'themes', such as horses, the war at sea, civilians, particular theatres of war
and particular battles. There is also a section in which various experts talk
about the role that horses played in World War I and their fate. - HS
Text
Classics
I admire enormously Text Publishing's decision to bring
back into print a wide range of important Australian titles, fiction and
non-fiction. There are easier ways to make money in publishing but, in tribute
to their wonderful founder, Diana Gribble, Text decided to make a significant
contribution to our cultural heritage. If you haven't explored the Text
Classics list yet, please do so. They are inexpensive and they include some
iconic texts that should never have been allowed to go out of print, plus some
less-known gems that are a joy to discover.
Now Text has added to the
range with a selection of children's classics. Consider giving these to your
gifted and talented kids as an introduction to the concept of a 'classic' text.
Ask them to consider why they think these books have been given the status of
'classic'. Ask them to consider how they differ and how they are similar to best-selling
books published for young people today.
Here are the children's classics that Text Publishing has
published so far in 2013:
Hills
End by Ivan
Southall. ISBN 9781922147004. 312 pp.
This is the gripping survival story of children in a
little country town cut off from the outside world by a massive storm. There
are only two adults left behind: one is killed by the storm and the other -
their teacher - gravely injured. Survival depends entirely on the children's
own resourcefulness. This was first published in 1962 and was widely used as a
class set novel in schools.
I Own the Racecourse! by
Patricia Wrightson. ISBN 9781922147028. 177 pp.
First published in 1968, this story still resonates. Andy
is not like the other boys; he really does believe that the old tramp has sold
him Beecham Park racecourse for three dollars. It's probably twenty years since
I last read this novel. I taught it many times and I remember it well. But I
re-read as if I'd never read it before, revelling in the characters and the
setting. Wentworth Park racecourse is no longer there, but many of the little
houses and the narrow streets are. In many ways it's quite contemporary, except
that none of us let our kids roam the streets freely any more.
This was
published in 1948. It was made into a film in 1962 and won best children's film
in 1962 at the Venice Film Festival. The characters are four English war
evacuees sent to Australia to stay with an elderly aunt. The most interesting
character is the Australian boy Tas, who has had no schooling but who is a
skilled bushman. Tas's very nasty parents work for Aunt Jandie and are quick to
exploit the situation when the seriously ill woman has to go to hospital,
leaving the children in her care. The children run away, to survive in a cave
high up in the mountains.
The
Watcher in the Garden by Joan
Phipson. 9781922147011. 240 pp.
The garden is almost the protagonist in this novel, first
published in 1982. It is one of those magnificent gardens around the Blue
Mountains township of Leura, and for Kitty it is a refuge from family life and
her sense of her own inadequacies. There is, however, a menacing presence:
Kitty is being watched. This is full of suspense and a celebration of the
beauty of the natural world.
This was for many years one of the most popular novels
in English Department bookrooms. It was published in 1965 and tells the story
of children in life-threatening danger on a terrible day when bushfire sweeps
uncontrollably through Victoria. Southall's strength was in exploring his
characters' inner worlds. For three of the children - three teenage boys who
had set off the day before on a hiking trip, there is the terrible knowledge
that their camp fire started the blaze.
The House That
Was Eureka by Nadia Wheatley. ISBN 9781922147189.
288 pp.
This was first
published in 1985. Nadia's protagonists live in Newtown in the early 1980s, at
a time of high unemployment, especially youth unemployment. Newtown at that
time was still a rundown, working-class suburb. Evie's house has a fascinating
history as the centre of the anti-eviction campaign of 1931, in the darkest
days of the Depression. While the other titles published so far are strictly
speaking children's classics, this is a classic for adolescent readers. It is
as compelling a read today as it was almost thirty years ago. - HS
The Telling
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