Tag Archives: Illness

Jul13

Scorpion Falls – Martin Chatterton

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Ford St Publishing

August 2022

ISBN: 978781922696090

RRP: $18.99

Honestly, my first thought as I really got underway with this new offering from Martin Chatterton was: the Stranger Things fans are going to LOVE this!  Lo and behold when I visited Martin’s website before beginning to write this review, he makes the same comment. Always good to know you’ve got the right take on a book – haha!

It’s Australian Gothic horror/dark comedy at its best and if you have those readers who seek out the somewhat bizarre or unusual plot lines, make sure you get this on your orders list now.

14-year-old Theo Sumner lives in a Queensland mining town, Scorpion Falls, where he is a bit of a loner – and often a victim of school bullying. His best friend Ari and her parents run the Iguana Motel, where Theo works after school. His mother is wheelchair-bound with MS and things are exactly a picnic for Theo either at home or elsewhere.

When a creepy stranger moves into the motel and even creepier things start happening around Theo, he begins to see a very different side to dull and boring Scorpi (start thinking Upside Down style!). Cue the samecreepy stranger finding a pair of ‘gooey’ eyeballs on his bed, and Theo’s mum admitting she put them there – and away this twisting and turning plot goes! A mysterious white van, the apparent abduction but then re-appearance of Theo’s nemesis, a student (who has apparently never existed) being dragged into a store room and vanishing without a trace – all this and more is doing Theo’s head in.

Teenagers disappearing, fake cops, robotic spiders, winding subterranean tunnels, a kid literally laughing his head off – it’s all unravelling in a completely disturbing and spooky way in Theo’s world.

Chatterton explores themes of trust, friendship, exclusion, racism, identity and mortality.  The sting in the scorpion’s tail will completely blow readers away and I’m looking forward to my first kiddos to read it to see their reactions!

Pre-order now!

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Highly recommended to your secondary readers who love the quirky or weird pseudo-supernatural particularly.

Jan22

Sticky McStickStick: the Friend who Helped me Walk Again – Michael Rosen

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Walker Books

February 2022

ISBN: 9781529502404
Imprint: Walker

Australian RRP: $27.99
New Zealand RRP: $29.99

When I first read about Michael Rosen’s near-death Covid episode, I found it incredibly moving as this man is one of my most admired creators of children’s literature. Then I read, and shared, his article thanking Sticky McStickStick, and knew for certain that this was a not-to-be-missed book. And here it is, at last, and so very much worth waiting a while.

This, as with so many of Michael’s books, will touch the heart of many but, perhaps more importantly, will help children and their families come to grips with the struggle is the recovery from extreme and debilitating illnesses. One of the oft-repeated phrases two years into the pandemic is ‘long Covid’ and many accounts are emerging as people describe their ongoing difficulties along the road to a true recovery. Realistically, though our scientists have achieved great things with regards to vaccines and testing and so on, the lasting effects of the virus, in all its permutations, will continue to be a focus for research for years to come.

Michael couches his illness and subsequent rehabilitation in terms that will be readily understood by young readers, and offers an opportunity for important, indeed vital, discussion around the ‘afterwards’ of being infected or seriously ill. In typical Rosen fashion he manages to even make light of what must have been Herculean efforts in making those painful steps towards resuming a normal kind of life. The natural pairing with Tony Ross is, as always, inspired, as the illustrations so beautifully support the text with a full gamut of emotions.

I foresee this being a hugely significant book in primary classrooms and library as 2022 continues to unfold in a continuation of the difficulties of the past two years, and I would strongly suggest you put this on your order list and share it will all your primary students – and really, even secondary students as a conversation starter. Our kiddos need to know that hope is not extinguished, and that though recovery may be fraught, it is possible, more often than not.

Highly recommended for students from around Year 1 upwards.

Dec8

Just Breathe – Andrew Daddo

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breathe.jpg

Penguin Australia

9780143573623

July 30, 2018

RRP: $17.99

It must be hard to be so multi-talented *wry face*.  Andrew Daddo has certainly proven his ability as not only a media figure but a very able and engaging writer.

I’ve not been enthralled in recent times by a lot of the YA coming my way – it’s been too much ‘same oh’ for my taste but this is fresh and sparky and real in a way that will grab readers from the very start.

Emily needs to leave her country town for a while. She has a mysterious growth near her brain which requires specialist attention in Melbourne. She and her mum put on a positive and brave face as they leave home, Dad and Siss to go stay with Aunty Astrid. Emily is not only nervous about her condition but also the prospect of a new school, no friends and the unknown in general.

Hendrix is a very recognisable character. He is a boy whose father drives his own failed athletic ambitions and his hidden guilt through his son, pushing him harder and harder to achieve an Olympic dream with his running.

These two could not be very much different and yet in many ways are similar. Both face difficult challenges, both feel isolated from the normal teenage social existence and both are essentially lonely.

When they meet in the park – Hendrix running and Emily walking her new puppy – it is not a situation that seems likely to fire a romance. Yet both find themselves continually thinking about the other. Their romance develops in spite of their respective difficulties. Daddo has beautifully created the respective parents alongside the young people’s story. Emily’s mum, loving and supportive, understanding and compassionate, firm but realistic and Hendrix’ father, immovable, almost unbelievably strict and controlling, and it would seem without a shred of real paternal care and concern.

As the narrative develops and reaches its denouement the characters become fully rounded and grow to the point where the reader is totally embroiled in their lives.

I highly recommend this for both boys and girls from around 13 years upwards. There is some sexual activity and some ‘bad’ language which some find disturbing so err on the side of caution if this would not fit your collection’s ethos. However that being said it is absolutely believable and realistic and many teens would relate to its themes.