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Jamie Johnson has a football gift. He played above his age as a child and was on the world stage as a young man. His success reflected hard work and some luck. After being injured in a car accident, he worked very hard to make a full recovery and continue his football career, but testifying against another international player for match-fixing came back to haunt him. A vicious payback tackle on the field causes a career-ending in the jury.
Jamie must decide if he should withdraw from the team, let everyone down, or play on in the final and risk permanent injury. What does Jamie decide?
I enjoy the details about his campaign and hard work. Jamie had some hard questions to answer, and his thoughts added richness to the story.
Recommended for readers ten years and older.
Published by Scholastic 2012
Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin
Natalie Selleck has fallen out of best-friend status with her friend from kindergarten and is struggling to fit in with the group she has joined. Not only is school hard work, but her family must move. Their new home is an apartment over a factory in an industrial area. Not a sweeping mason like her friend Jessica Miller or a townhouse like the Rivkin twins. Natalie is not at all happy about the move. Apart from the home, which she doesn’t like, it has meant that her Aunt Sarah and her grandmother cannot live with them.
Bubi, her grandmother, must go into a retirement complex, and Aunt Sarah has vanished, with Mum and Dad not saying why she is no longer part of Natalie’s life.
Everyone in Natalie’s year at school is excited about their upcoming Bat Mitzvah, except Avi, who does not wish to wear a dress like all the other girls. How does Natalie sort out her friendships at school, what happens with her Bat Mitzvah and is her family reunited?
I enjoyed the story of the day-to-day life of this Jewish girl attending a Jewish school and how her family and her friends live their lives.
Recommended for readers aged eight years and older.
Published by Walker Books 2023.
Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin.
The Amadeus family stopped holding All Hallow’s Eve parties which had been open to all and very popular with the local townspeople. The Incident at the last party, the vanishing of six-year-old Beatrice Willoughby, ended the parties.
The Amadeus house was deep in a forest and very hard to find. The locals were not surprised as they were used to magic and strange things happening. So people were intrigued and surprised when party invitations arrived at six people’s homes. This year’s party was invitation-only.
Dewey was amazed that his father said they should go and even more surprised when they welcomed in without an invitation. This was the beginning of things not being what they seemed.
I enjoyed this classic style mystery, with all possible guilty persons gathered in one house and one person, Dewey, in this case, working out who kidnapped Beatrice Willoughby.
Recommended for readers aged ten years or more.
Published by Holiday House New York 2023
Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin
Mrs Frisby is a widowed mouse who is busy looking after her three young pups when disaster strikes. She realises that the thaw, therefore, Spring is coming quickly, and one of her young mice is sick, too sick to move. The family usually moves before the Spring as their winter home is ploughed over yearly by the farmer who owns the paddock.
In her travels to gather food, she hears that, in fact, she only has three days, an impossible task, to move her young family. Mrs Frisby is desperate and seeks the advice of an owl, who suggests that as she’s the widow of Mr Frisby, the rats may be able to help her. This is highly unusual advice as mice and rates do not usually have contact with each other.
Much to her surprise, the rats offer help and tell the story of how Mr Frisby and the rats came to work together. Can the rats move the family in time?
I enjoyed the rich characters and the saga-like complexity of the story. There is a hint of animal rights and animals kept for research.
Recommendation for readers eight to ten years and older.
Published by Puffin Books. This edition was reissued in 2014. ISBN 9780141354927
Illustrated by Justin Todd
Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin
Princess can’t believe her luck. She’s the runt of the litter but finds herself loved by young Elsie. The Second World War turns Elsie and her family’s lives upside down and they must evacuate from their northern Australian cattle station. Princess can’t go with them, but a stockman says he’d look after her. Another tragic accident and Prices has another name, Flynn, and is being cared for by Doc, the local flying doctor pilot. Flynn has a knack for making people feel safe and carves a role for herself as Doc’s assistant on flights, comforting the sick being evacuated. Even though Flick loves Doc, she mises Princess but worries she’s forgetting her and will never find her. What happened to Princess? Does she find Elsie?
I enjoyed the mix of fact and fiction in this story. The lifeline story of a lucky puppy, told by the dog, is exciting, too.
Recommended for readers ten years and older.
Published by Random House Australia 2018
Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin
A school camp set in the English countryside gets the Year Eights excited. As the bus drives through the forest, Pete sees a keep-out sign. That catches his interest. Maybe this camp will be more interesting than usual. The camp instructors tell Pete the disused building with the keep-out sign is an old research centre and strictly off-limits.
Pete convinces his friends that it is the place to explore, given it is off-limits. The forest turns out to be darker, bigger and scarier than the three friends envisaged. They are chased out of the forest by a monster, but not before one of the group finds a folder of research data. What do the friends find? What or who was the monster?
I enjoyed the fast-paced story. The large font, pale cream paper and lots of white space make it suitable for reluctant readers and those struggling with the usual novel format. Some of the vocabulary reflects the English setting and publishing house.
Recommended for readers aged 8 to 12 years.
Published by Barrington Stoke 2021
Illustrated by Chris King
Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin
Set in Sydney Cove in the 1790's, this story tells how Lizzie Harvey, a young girl and a convict, survives in the terrible early years of colonisation. Sarah, an older convict, is her mentor and surrogate mother, teaching her all she knows. Lizzie knows her letters, but Sarah advises keeping that to herself. If anyone should find out she can read and write, Lizzie may be moved away.
Lizzie trades two onions she steals from her master to buy a journal. She plans to write to her younger brother, who she left behind in England, so he should know her life. Lizzie describes the people around her, the difficulties living in such desperate times, and her new life when she is moved to care for Emily. What happens to Emily, and what does that mean for Lizzie? Will her brother ever know what became of his sister?
I enjoyed the detailed descriptions of life in the 1790s in Sydney and what it meant to everyone there.
Recommended for readers eight years and older.
Published by Scholastic Australia. This edition 2015.
Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin.
Coop Cooperson is the only human at the Dungeoneer Academy. That draws attention from the class bullies, making him feel very alone, especially since he comes from a huge family and has 14 brothers and sisters.
To be awarded the Junior Dungeoneer Badge, he has to get out of a secret location. The green team, Coop and three friends find themselves in all sorts of danger and must learn to work together to survive. How do they overcome all the monsters, traps and caves they find themselves in?
I enjoyed the excitement of the tests.
Recommended for readers aged eight years or older
Published by Hardie Grant 2022.
Read and reviewed by Judy Wollin.