Crooked Leg Road

This mystery-adventure comes from the author of The Tunnels of Tacoma, which won the 2013 Davitt Award. Four friends - Kitty, David, Andrea and Martin, get caught up in a series of misunderstandings and mysterious events. They take on the role of detectives to solve a complex mystery, just as the election of a new premier draws closer.

Andrea believes she is being followed by the foreign men loitering around David’s house. When David disappears, his grandfather claims he’s gone interstate to visit relatives the group has never heard about. Determined to discover what has happened to their friend, Andrea, Kitty and Martin find themselves unprepared for what they encounter.

There is a new boy at school whom Kitty befriends. Skender is secretive and evasive. What is he hiding, and can he be connected to David’s disappearance?

Meanwhile other mysteries unfold. Debates in class have ignited rumours that their school will be closed down and the seaside land developed if the new premier has his way. Who is the real main candidate in this election, and how far will he go to get chosen?

The group set out to solve the mystery. But there are secrets, threats, dangers, and unexpected outcomes to face before all their questions are answered.

This novel is terrific reading for the 10+ age group. It’s full of surprises, twists and turns; where things aren’t what they first seem and neither are the people.

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Title: Crooked Leg Road

Author: Jennifer Walsh

Publisher:  Allen& Unwin

Publication Date: April 2014

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9781743316931

Type: Children's Fiction Mystery/Adventure

My Brother Simple

by Marie-Aude Murail

Bloomsbury. Children, Young Adult. Paperback RRP $15.99

By Sandy Fussell

Isabelle was amazed when she saw the two brothers walk in. They were alike but the younger one looked older. He had brooding eyes fed by some internal fire, while the other one had eyes so clear they looked like windows open to the sky. You almost expected to see swallows flitting across them.

This is the story of two brother, Kleber and Simple (whose real name is Barbaby). Simple has severe learning difficulties and their father, in the early stages of a new relationship, wants to put him in an institution. Kleber loves his brother and can’t bear to think of that. So even though he is still in the last year of highschool, he takes Simple and the money his mother left them when she died, and moves out.

But finding somewhere to rent with a brother like Simple is not easy. People are nervous, distrustful, cruel and even frightened. When he finally finds a flat-share, nothing turns out as planned. In the beginning Simple was the problem but as time goes by, he is the solution to each flatmate’s problem.

Simple is quick to admit he is an i-di-ot but character is measured in different ways. His brain might be small but his heart is huge. He changes the lives of everyone he touches. In the end, it is through Simple that Kleber, who was willing to sacrifice so much, is rewarded with exactly what he always wanted.

This is a gentle story, poignant and filled with beautiful images. A coming of age tale with the most unlikely of heroes.

Wonder

by R. J. Palacio

Random House. Children, Young Adult. Paperback RRP $21.95

Reviewed by Barbara Brown

August Pullman, Auggie, is a ten year old boy who has been home-schooled all his short life. August hasn’t been able to attend school because he was born with severe disfigurements to his face and has had more operations than most of us will have in several lifetimes.

Auggie’s parents have decided that it’s now time to mix with other children and attend a local school. Of course Auggie doesn’t want to go. He knows what people think of his face. Most don’t say anything but Auggie has learnt to read expressions quickly and realises that even when people try to hide their surprise and shock at seeing him for the first time, he sees that glimmer of their reaction to him – they are scared, shaken, upset.

What surprises Auggie is there are some children in this world who see others for who they really are… not what they look like. Auggie has at least one friend by the end of the first day of school. By the end of the year he has many.

Auggie’s first year in a mainstream life is both funny and upsetting but throughout it all, Auggie faces his adversities and his rejectors with a blasé attitude and a bit of humour. That is, until his best mate says something that hurts Auggie to the core. Can anyone be meaner than the school tough guy?

A wonderful story that all reading aged children and above will enjoy. There are the school bullies, the “it” crowds, the nerds, the jocks and then there is August Pullman. A boy in a million who outshines all. Brilliant.

In the Sea there are Crocodiles

by Fabio Geda

Random House. Children’s Fiction, YA. Paperback RRP $24.95

In the Sea there are Crocodiles is based on the story of Enaiatollah Akbari, a young Afghan asylum seeker, told in first person by the Italian novelist, Fabio Geda. Enaiatollah keeps interrupting the narrative to add comments in his own voice. This unusual telling allows the missing information to be ‘guessed’ when Enaiatollah cannot remember, while at the same time giving a child’s perspective.

Enaiatollah’s is a sad story. He leaves his home and family to travel from Afghanistan to Pakistan with his mother when he is around ten years of age. In Pakistan they stay in a “motel” for three nights. Then his mother makes him promise, before he falls asleep, to never use drugs, to never use a weapon and to never steal. When he wakes up she is gone.

Over the next five years, Enaiatollah lives as an illegal immigrant in countries and conditions we could never imagine. He quickly learns how to survive and amazingly ends up in Turin, Italy, to be granted political asylum. His journey to Italy is one of danger, heartache and courage. He walked for 28 days over the freezing mountains from Iran to Turkey and when he and four other boys travel in a blow up dingy across the Mediterranean Sea, one doesn’t survive. He also has incredible fortunate experiences - from the kindness of strangers to climbing onto the right container at the right time.

Truly inspiring.

http://www.fabiogeda.it/