A Sampling Of My Favourite Children's Books

Today We Have No Plans

Jane Godwin & Anna Walker

Opening Line:
On Mondays as the sun comes up
My clock gives me a fright
We eat our breakfast in a rush
'Where's my shoes? Who's got my brush?
I left it here last night.'
I pack my lunch, my homework book
'Mum, you need to sign it, look!'

'Today We Have No Plans' details the typically busy week of a small family, with school, swimming lessons, grocery shopping and sports, except for Sunday. The last day of the week is left unplanned, full of perhaps baking, building, lazing, pancakes for breakfast, and tv.

Sunday is "When Mum and Dad at breakfast time
They smile, sit back and say,
'This is a time that's just for us
We have no plans today.' "

Journey 

Aaron Becker

(No Opening Lines.)

A little girl sits bored outside her house, perhaps pondering what to do, when she finds a red marker on her floor. Using it to draw a door, she escapes the house into a forest, a city, a sky full of airships. Her marker helps her in all her troubles, being able to conjure boats, balloons, and magical flying carpets. She finds a caged purple bird that she helps lead to freedom, and it takes her to a boy with a purple marker (a hint to the recently released and beautiful sequel).

Look, A BOOK! 

Libby Gleeson and Freya Blackwood

Opening Line: Look, a book!

A boy and girl are walking along when they find a book. The landscape shifts around them, becoming quite surreal as they go on a sort of adventure through dusty plains and blue water. A narrator reminds them how to take care of a book, so that they "can read it, again and again and again."

The Red Tree

Shaun Tan

Opening Line: sometimes the day begins with nothing to look forward to

A little girl wakes up in a world that seems to be a manifestation of her lonely and lost feelings. Swarms of black leaves encompass her bed, a giant fish looms in the streets above, and she finds herself often alone, or in a tiny boat in a giant, angry sea. "Sometimes you just don't know what you are supposed to do, or who you are meant to be." At the end of a long and surreal day, she returns home and finds a little red tree, perhaps a sign of something to good to come.

(Find the red leaf on every page!)

The Curious Garden

Peter Brown

Opening Lines: There was a city without gardens or trees or greenery of any kind. Most people spent their time indoors. As you can imagine, it was a very dreary place.

A boy named Liam goes for a walk in the rain, and finds himself at the old railway. On the abandoned tracks he finds dying wildflowers and plants, and with the realisation that they need a gardener, he sets to work, and "the plants patiently waited while Liam found better ways of gardening." Eventually, the garden starts to spread, taking over the railway and even moving into the city: "A few plants popped up where they didn't belong. ... But the most surprising things that popped up were the new gardeners."

Everyone starts to take an interest, from little children carrying watering cans to adults mowing and pruning their new rooftop gardens. People are playing and picnicking outside again. The final image is the view of the city we started with, but now beautifully green and lush.

The Heart And The Bottle

Oliver Jeffers

Opening Line: Once there was a girl, much like any other, whose head was filled with all the curiousities of the world.

The little girl is shown enjoying all the wonders of the world with her father / grandfather, until he isn't there anymore. Not quite knowing how to handle this, she puts her heart in a bottle, in order to keep it safe. It seemed to work, but "in truth, nothing was the same. She forgot about the stars... and stopped taking notice of the sea." She grows up without noticing much of anything, until she meets a girl much like her childhood self. Wanting to wonder again, she tries, but fails, to take her heart out of the bottle herself, but succeeds with the help of the curiousity (and small hands) of the little girl.

"The heart was put back from where it came from. And the chair wasn't so empty any more." The final images are the (now grown-up) girl in the armchair, reading, her mind filled with wondrous things, and a forgotten, empty bottle.

So Many Days

Alison McGhee and Taeeun Yoo

Opening Lines: So many doors in all your days, so much to wonder about. Who will you be and where will you go? And how will you know?

The narrator constantly re-asks the opening line, all the while reminding the protagonist (and reader) of their good qualities, such as strength and bravery. The images are of a little girl and her dog, playing and having an adventure through the woods and across the sea.

When the opening question is repeated towards the end of the book, it breaks the routine and has the simple answer: "Sometimes you won't." The girl and dog tumble downwards through the sky, but land safely. The final words reassure: "You are loved more than you know."

The Sound Of Colours: A Journey Of The Imagination

Jimmy Liao

Opening Lines:
A year ago
I began to notice
that my sight was slipping away.
I sat at home alone
and felt the darkness settle around me.
But today I walked outside
into the thin gray rain
and made my way to the subway.
I have a journey to go on.
There are some things
I need to find.

Our protagonist is a blind young girl who sets off on a journey to find something lost. She takes the train, all the while imagining that it will stop somewhere strange, like the ocean, or the sky, and commenting on the things she remembers, or has heard. The illustrations of her surroundings sometimes seem to reflect a disconnect between where she is, and where she thinks she is, and it is up to the reader to decide if this is her imagination, or a surreal journey that the protagonist is not entirely privy to.

Amazonia: Five Years At The Epicenter Of The Dot.Com Juggernaut

'Amazonia' details the first five years of James Marcus, Employee #55, at the corporate giant Amazon. He joined them at a unique time, shortly after they'd left their garage days behind, back when they were exclusively an online bookstore.

Part documentary, and part memoir, the subjective insight provided by Marcus lends an interesting and personal tone to the pages. As it does lean more towards biography, it is probably a poor choice for readers seeking purely historical facts or a more business orientated perspective.

It explores both the author's personal and working lives, from family to squabbling with the higher-ups, the quirks of the warehouses, and the rise and fall of Amazon stocks (and the effect this had on Amazon personnel).

I heartily recommend this, not only for the obvious potential passion for Amazon itself, but for the semi-autobiographical aspects. As both a writer and avid reader, James Marcus's viewpoint will be enough to satisfy fellow bookworms (and, since it is the season, it would make a great stocking filler, too!)

Dan Rhode's "This Is Life"

“This Is Life” is the story of Aurélie, a young art student living in Paris, and all the bizarre characters that entwine with her over the course of one week. Her strange adventure begins with an art assignment. To choose a subject, she casts a pebble high into the air, with the intention of following and filming whomever it strikes, for the period of one week. This plan quickly goes astray as she hits not a grown adult, but a baby.

The apparent mother strangely places little baby Herbert into Aurélie’s care for the use of her assignment, with the intention of meeting her back in the square in one week’s time. This leads to the strangest and most memorable week of her life.

Aurélie and Herbert’s supporting cast add so much charm to the book, especially in the way their own stories start to weave into their own. At first we have the absent-minded Professor Papavoine, who gives the go-ahead to Aurélie concerning her assignment, despite its potential to injure. Second is Sylvie Dupont, the best friend of many years who is unlucky-in-love but completely doted upon.  There is also Léandre Martin, Monsieur and Madame Akiyama, the Akiyama’s  adult daughter and son, their translator named Lucien, the strange artist Le Machine, and the art critic, Jean-Didier Delacroix.

The small worldliness of the story’s characters, who are all interconnected one way or another, lead to an almost fateful but completely improbable series of coincidences. This unrealistic nature of “This Is Life” makes the story all the more enjoyable, lending a sense of whimsy and sitcom-like humour that will produce genuine out-loud laughs on occasion.

From old friends to pretend families and artists to love interests, it is the characters, their relationships, and the outlandish circumstances they end up in and produce that make this such a charming and riveting read. If you don’t mind stories that are quirky and a little loose with reality, then pick up a copy of “This Is Life” as soon as possible. Its final chapters and ending will leave a smile on your face for days to come.

Amy Espeseth's "Sufficient Grace"

Sufficient Grace follows a young girl, Ruth, and her family who live in a small religious community that focuses on taking care of its own. Her family attends church on Sundays, and outside of that, they follow the seasons, alternating between the hunt and the harvest.

Ruth’s family bonds, for better or for worse, are one of the main themes of the story. Her adopted cousin Naomi, a Native American girl, is her best friend, and both are on the cusp of puberty. They live like sisters: for all their differences and sometimes petty words, they know they always have each other. A shared secret starts to simultaneously divide them and bring them closer as they together experience the world for the dark place it really is.

It’s really very hard to talk too much about the story without giving away the secret and all its repercussions. Ruth and Naomi are starting to feel the responsibilities of adulthood in their own ways, with each girl having to make their own significant decisions, and stand by them.

The entire book is poetic in its language, as Ruth talks exhaustively and earnestly about her daily life. She discusses the landscapes, (natural and manmade), the changing of the seasons, and the people of her community.  Featured frequently but honestly is hunting, described as brutal, bloody, and smelly, but also as essential to their survival.

While religion is a clear backbone to Sufficient Grace, defining and motivating many of the characters, this is a novel for all kinds. Every reader, regardless of their particular beliefs, will find something likable and possibly relatable in Ruth, as well as certain other members of her family.

Sufficient Grace is hauntingly beautiful one moment, almost naïve in its narrative, but atrociously human the next. Though hard to put down, the ending is one that invites speculation, and as a result, will keep you wandering through the wintery forests of Wisconsin long after you’ve turned the last page. 

Blog Update

Welcome to the Bookwyrmle blog, now hosted through blogspot (previously Typepad, then Wordpress). Due to all images being tied to a previous domain name, many of the images are not appearing. This is only a small task since all book-related photographs are in their own folder on my external HD, but I'm currently finishing up assessments for Uni and TAFE, which take first priority on my to do list (or second, since I'm battling sickness at the moment, which, at the very least, leaves plenty of time to read between doctor visits).

Thanks for stopping by, and please subscribe by email if you're interested in more book reviews, or the occasional library tour.


Also, please suggest any changes if they are needed! If the layout is funny or awkward, if I've stuffed up grammatically somewhere, or if a Facebook page would be more appropriate than email subscriptions, let me know. Thank you.

Brooke Davis's "Lost & Found"

“Lost & Found” is the story of Millie, a strange seven-year-old girl who harbours a fascination of death. She keeps a book of dead things, which is a running record of all the people and creatures that she has seen die, or that she has personally lost. Her father, a victim of cancer a short time before the novel begins, is a major one in the list.

At the start of her story, she is asked to wait in the lingerie department of a shopping center by her mother, who does not return. Millie sleeps there for a few nights before heading home, finding a piece of paper on the counter. It is an itinerary, and states that her mother will be taking a flight from Melbourne in the next few days.

Millie enlists the help of an elderly widow and widower to get her to Melbourne. The former is Karl the Touch Typist, who has escaped from a retirement village, and the latter is Agatha Pantha, her hermit-like neighbour from across the street.

The unlikely trio set out on their odd journey, which balances the tragic realism of Millie’s abandonment perfectly with surreal, sometimes comical situations. We are rooting for them the whole way through, and want nothing more than for Millie’s mother to realise her harsh mistake.

Everywhere she goes, Millie writes and displays, “In here, Mum”, ever hopeful that her mother is searching just as hard to find her, too. This, along with her obsession with death, make her so endearing. Despite not fully grasping the circumstances, it is hard to call Millie naïve. She is almost wise in her vision of death as she tells everyone that they are all going to die, but that this is okay. It will be okay.

“Lost & Found” is a very fun and enjoyable book, but it does, at times, leave you feeling a bit hollow and funny inside. The ending perhaps isn’t the one that you wanted, but it is still surprisingly satisfying nonetheless. It is definitely worth reading, even buying. I have the feeling I’ll want to relive this whimsical, bittersweet adventure again soon.

Kay Langdale's "Her Giant Octopus Moment"

‘Her Giant Octopus Moment’ is the story of a mother and daughter on the run, practically living week to week until they are discovered again, and are forced to take flight once more.

The mother is Joanie, and she is the reason they can’t stay in one place too long. She works whatever jobs are available in order to provide for her daughter, but doesn’t always make the right decisions. Joanie has the tendency to put her foo tin her mouth, especially with employers, and a strong inclination towards one night stands.

Scout is the daughter; a bright young girl of eleven who likes order and school, and is fed up with moving from place to place, especially since she doesn’t know the reasons why. She keeps her dissatisfaction with their life bottled up for the most part, trying to make the best of things as her Joanie does. Scout is loyal to her mother to a fault, often protecting her at times when she really shouldn’t.

Their secret for being constantly on the go is revealed at the start of the novel (and is mentioned in the blurb in alternate editions) is enough to make you question Joanie’s intentions and integrity. Having signed on to be the surrogate mother on behalf of Ned and Elisabetta Beecham, she changed her mind several months into the pregnancy. In order to keep “her” child, Joanie faked a miscarriage, went overseas, pretended to lose her passport, and applied for a new one as “Joanie”, previously having been just Joan. Things become harder for the pair on the run as the couple try to track her down, in order to discover what is really best for Scout.

“Her Giant Octopus Moment” is told from multiple perspectives. While it generally relies upon the main protagonists (Scout, Joanie, Ned, and Elisabetta), it also relies upon support characters, some who only make only a single appearance. For example, we get to experience the case from the additional viewpoints of a hospital worker, judge, and social worker.

Knowing the truth about Scout’s conception adds tension to the story, as you’ll be heavily invested in the family that was supposed to be. Ned and Elisabetta Beecham are both teachers, which is easy to pair up with their clever, long-lost daughter.

From the moment Joanie recalls an anecdote about a giant octopus, hinting about the significance of the title, it is hard not to be imbued with such a definite sense of hope. You can only hope that the octopus moment will be Joanie’s, and that the right thing will be done by Scout.

I was incredibly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, which I borrowed as a whim to read on the way home. You’ll feel for all the characters, even the ones you don’t necessarily want to. Her writing style, and the tendency to jump between characters, is somewhat reminiscent of Marina Lewycka’s. Needless to say, it is extremely enjoyable and a hard book to put down.