Shaun Tan is a genius at putting together the ordinary and the real, with the wondrous and the fantastic. He's done this in this collection of short stories brilliantly.

This title could have been a picture book but there is too much text and in this instance the text is supported by the illustrations rather than the other way round. The stories vary in content from the hardships of modern life to what happens to all the poetry that people write then discard, and each story has illustrations that raise the story to a different level. Truly amazing.

The good thing about short stories is that they can be read at morning break or on the bus or in short times when you have free time. They are ideal for the reluctant reader and these by Shaun Tan will have you thinking long after the story is read. This book has no level it - is for everyone.

Published by Allen & Unwin.

 

by John Burstein Published by Crabtree Publishing Company, 2008.

I have had great trouble locating books explaining how advertising works for primary children, so I was pleased when I came across this. The book's focus is on a food advertisement, but the information can be used to help students analyse different types of advertising. The web addresses at the back of the book for further information on advertising were all live at the time of writing, and I thought they were informative and useful.

The story follows the discoveries a young high school student, Martina, makes about advertising when she spends the summer working at an advertising company on a campaign to sell a new food product. Back at school, she discusses her ideas and concerns with her teacher, Mrs Simon, and learns how read an advertisement. The book follows Martina as she goes on to learn how to live a healthier lifestyle. The illustrations are colourful and cartoon in style, and Slim Goodbody pops up on most pages with hints and tips for healthy living.

This is one of eight books in the Slim Goodbody's lighten up series. According to the introduction, these are books to help "young people across the planet become healthy and active". The topics they cover include fast food, food labeling, good nutrition and keeping fit.

Reviewed by Heather

 

The Enemy by Davide Cali with illustrations by Serge Bloch
The Buffalo Soldier by Sherry Garland with illustrations by Ronald Himler

These two books have nothing in common apart from their theme, but both are thought-provoking, and could be starters for a classroom discussion on the whole nature of war.

The Enemy, a sophisticated picture book by Davide Cali translated from French, is definitely asking ‘Why?’ Bloch’s illustrations depict two soldiers in foxholes, neither of whom has actually seen the other. All each knows is that the person in the other foxhole is his enemy, and that:

I can’t be the first one to stop the fighting, because he would kill me then. He has to be the first to cease.
If so, I wouldn’t kill him…
If he looked up at the stars he’d understand.
When you look at the stars you understand a lot of things.

Both are thinking the same thoughts; both are mulling over the propaganda that tells them the enemy is a monster, not to be approached or trusted in any way, not to be regarded as human. And both at the same time begin to think that this can’t be right. The book ends, tantalisingly, with their simultaneous decision to make friendly contact. We do not see the result.

The buffalo soldiers, celebrated in a famous Bob Marley song, certainly knew what they were fighting for. They wanted financial security, education, a stake in the country they had been brought to as slaves, and, above all, the respect and recognition that would take a long time to come their way. Sherry Garland’s book The Buffalo Soldier begins just after the American Civil War, when freed slaves were recruited by the U.S. army to protect the new tide of white settlers against the Native American tribes they were displacing on the Western Frontier.(They were given their nickname, a comment on both their bravery and their black curly hair, by the Cheyenne Indians they were fighting).

Their story is told from the point of view of an elderly ex-buffalo soldier, reminiscing over the letter he has just received from his grandson fighting in the Second World War. In between times the black soldiers have served in both the Spanish-American War and the First World War, but have remained in segregated regiments—it was not until the Korean War (1950-54) that segregation in the U.S. Army was done away with, and the ‘buffalo soldier’ regiments officially dissolved. Almost a century of courage and loyalty in battle, set against many appalling instances of racial prejudice from the people they were fighting for, had finally been rewarded.

With teacher guidance both these books could be used from about year 5 upwards, but would probably have most value at intermediate through high school level.

Reviewed by Cecily

The Buffalo Soldier is published by Pelican Publishing Company
The Enemy is published by Wilkins Farago

 

The second book in a trilogy that began with Thieves and it suffers a bit from second book syndrome because it needs to set-up the third book. Ella West has to ease things down as the five travellers recover from the action that ended the first book and build-up for the finale.

Nicky, Jake, Shelley, Paul and Tina can all “travel”, in other words if they have a point of reference they can go there instantly. They have been exploited by a group called the Project to do some good deeds but also to steal secrets from Companies etc. In Thieves they escaped from the clutches of the Project and in this book they are loose in Los Angeles enjoying freedom and each other. Sooner or later they are going to have to face the Project as they have papers and discs from the last job they did before they escaped. This provides the drama and action in the book and sets up the third book in the trilogy.

You don’t have to have read Thieves to enjoy this book but it helps big time. Do yourself a favour and read both. The third book is going to be great. Suitable for Intermediate and High school students.

Reviewed by Bob

Published by Longacre Press

Download a teacher resource kit