We're All Going to Die

'All living things are structured for death. It is an intrinsic part of us.’

If the title suggests that this is a morbid book, I can assure you it’s not. We’re All Going To Die is a well-researched, cleverly written book about the inevitable in every living being’s life. This book will enrich your life, for it teaches you to embrace each day and live it as if it was your last; mindfully and with gratitude.

~ The passages shared by Kaminsky about her own life and feelings are candid and brave. She’s not an observer. She is part of it all. ~

Dr Leah Kaminsky has taken four years to write this book. She has gone to great lengths to collect data and information through countless research methods, interviews, and personal experiences about dying from famous and not-so-famous people.  She uses it all to inform and entertain, and teach people to except the word death as part of life.

Kaminsky is one of the many people that live in fear of death. She confesses death has been her greatest anxiety. Writing this book helped her accept the truth and become a more compassionate healer. She delves into the many fears associated with death - including suicide, ageing, Aged Care, and assisted dying-in an insightful and enlightened way.

I found this book inspirational. The passages shared by Kaminsky about her own life and feelings are candid and brave. She’s not an observer. She is part of it all.

Each story and experience has been perfectly positioned so that the whole book is interspersed with surprises that produce gasps of pleasure just when you think you’ve read the best part. The stories amuse, make you reflect, and count your blessings. Lots of extended reading is noted in detail for those interested in more.

So many things about death are hidden from us in dark places.  Kaminsky moves them into the light. I applaud her courage and craftsmanship in creating such an entertaining and informative book about such a difficult subject.

‘Thinking about death and dying is an important part of finding a better way to live.’ Therefore, while the book reminds us how fragile and temporary life is, it simultaneously encourages us to live boldly, and accept the changes that life brings.

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Title: We’re all Going to Die

Author: Dr. Leah Kaminsky

Publisher:  Harper Collins

Publication Date: June 2016   $27.99 RRP

 Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9781460749999

Type:  Non Fiction

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly

This powerful and riveting cross-over novel is not for the faint-hearted. It begins: ‘I am a blood-soaked girl. Before me, a body. Pulped. My boots are drenched with his blood.’ The girl, seventeen year old Minnow Bly, raised in the Kevinian cult from the age of five, goes on to say, ‘I wonder if this is how the Prophet felt the moment he ordered my hands ripped from me.’

Is the Minnow handless? The answer is yes, and it was her father who used a hatchet to dispatch them. Within minutes after this scene, Minnow is arrested by the police (‘blurry white shapes, like ghosts, stuffed inside tight uniforms’); subsequently she appears in court and is sentenced to juvie.

It is never clear who the victim of her crime is, or what eventually happened to him, or even why Minnow attacked him. Suffice to say, most of the story is set – despite frequent flash-backs -- inside a correctional centre. There the brain-washed, illiterate girl tries to scratch at The Truth. She does this by questioning all around her who have different beliefs, and by learning to read. She befriends Angel, a convicted murderer who is wise beyond her years, and gradually forms a relationship with Dr Martin, an FBI detective who tries to make a deal with her to solve the mystery of the death of The Community and its leader, a man who once tried to ‘marry’ Minnow and her younger sister, Constance.

At almost 400 pages, this is a long read but the writing is always poetic and compelling. Constantly one is wondering what will become of Minnow; will she survive the endless internment away from the woods where she has lived for so long, will she confess to Martin, will she go to live with her lover Jude when she is released.

Stephanie Oakes’ debut novel is a powerful, dark, horrifying and atmospheric novel that totally engages the reader and lingers long in the memory. It is highly recommended for those who can cope with the dark side of life.

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Title: The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly

Author: Stephanie Oakes

Publisher:  Harper Collins

Publication Date: 1 July 2015

Cost: $19.99 RRP

Format: Paperback

Type: Young Adult fiction

The Ratcatcher's Daughter

In Brisbane, early 1900, a new disease has broken out. Thirteen year old Issy, a strong-minded and courageous girl, goes to work as a maid for an undertaker. It is a time of rat-infested houses, factories and warehouses. Smart people keep and train terriers to catch rats for a living. Issy’s dad is one of them. 

Disease breaks out, and the first death from the Black Death occurs, spread from the fleas on rats. All contacts are isolated and quarantined. Everyone is filled with fear and suspicion. People in the town report their neighbours at the slightest hint of sickness. Even so, people refuse to be inoculated.

 After Issy and her family are quarantined, they return to find their home stripped bare of furniture and household belongs and everything burnt in the yard. Everyone stays away from them believing them to be contaminated, although cleared by the authorities. Friendless and alone, the family fights for survival.

Issy’s father’s dogs have been cared for by a friend and he launches back into the ratcatching business, making a good income now with the increased demand. When he becomes ill and the business is in danger of collapse, the ingenious Issy steps into the role, regardless of her distaste for both the dogs and the procedure.

Issy discovers that she’s good at business. She saves the extra money people give her for doing a good job, to build the life she wants for herself.

This interesting novel shows the social culture of the day; the double-standards and differing rules that applied for the rich, and the way they were protected, in contrast to those for the poor and powerless. There is a strong sense of time throughout the story and a clear picture of living and working conditions. A well-researched book, that that makes riveting reading, and brings to life an era of death and condemnation, but also one of courage and resilience.

Reviewed by Aurora Bale

Title: The Ratcatcher’s Daughter

Author:  Pamela Rushby

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publication Date:  April 2014 $ 16.99 RRP

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780732297138

Type: Junior Historical Fiction 

The Anchoress

England. 1255. Seventeen-year-old Sarah chooses to become an anchoress, rejecting both her comfortable life as the daughter of a cloth merchant and the advances of Sir Geoffrey’s son, who wants to marry her. She’s escaping the grief of a beloved sister lost in childbirth and a father now looking at her as a pawn to rescue a failed business venture, but she is firm in her conviction. She knows where she wants to go.

An anchorage is a small cell attached to a church. Its occupant, the anchoress, is a virginal woman who forgoes all the pleasures and contacts of the world to live in seclusion and focus on the teachings of the church. Sarah welcomes this life and paces its breadth. Seven by nine paces. She has the Bible and her Rule, the book of guidelines an anchoress lives by as she spends her life in spiritual contemplation. It’s all Sarah wants.

Two maids look after her basic needs and the priest comes regularly to hear her confession. The villagers visit to ask for her prayers. All this happens through a small whole in the wall, a squint, covered by a curtain. There is no physical human contact and no warmth from the sun. The door to the outside world is nailed shut.

It’s the smallest and sparest of settings but the story it contains is rich, expansive and thought provoking. It had me riveted to the pages, until it was told. In this room, not only is Sarah’s faith tested but her sanity too. Before Sarah, the anchor held two others. Pious Agnes whose bones are buried in the cell and Isabella, whose story is told in whispers. The lingering presence of these two women comforts and challenges Sarah.

A wooden door isn’t enough to keep the world away. The practical issues and problems of the villagers become her own. The new priest is prepared to risk all to protect her. A child infiltrates her isolation. And there’s a cat too. How much story can one small room hold?

This book is above all a wonderful historical telling, rich with details of the times. It is also an exploration of many issues, as relevant now as they were then. Sarah’s life is constrained not only by religion but also by the men who surround her. They influence her decisions before and after her enclosure in the anchorage. Faith continually tests her. Being a woman defines her in the eyes of the church and it’s men, as lustful and deceiving. Only her virginity makes her sinless. But Sarah is not a victim. She is a woman finding her way in the unique world she has chosen, learning her strengths and her weaknesses.

I love the cover and the inner story that inspired it. Sarah remembers a time when she watched a tumbler perform. She called boy Swallow and he made her wonder what it was like to fly through the air. Once she is enclosed, she often revisits this memory. I love the title. It rolls off the tongue. Anchoress.  A wonderful exotic medieval word.

And I loved the ending. I didn’t see it coming.

Reviewed by Sandy Fussell

First appeared on www.sandyfussell.com/blog as part of the 2015 Aussie Authors Reading Challenge

Title: The Anchoress

Author: Robyn Cadwallader

Publisher:  Fourth Estate, Harper Collins

Publication Date: $32.99 RRP

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780732299217

Type: Historical Fiction

Being Jack

This fourth and last book winds up the exceptional Jack series. It has been fourteen years since the release of I am Jack, inspired by the fact that Susanne’s son was bullied as a boy. Translated all over the world, the Jack series has encouraged many to fight against this scourge that has ruined or taken lives of all ages, mostly those of school children. An anti-bullying advocate, Gervay has used these stories as tools for awareness and movement towards change in attitudes towards bullying.

In Being Jack, the same themes from the previous books continue. Bullying is the main thread tied beautifully together in tight, clever prose with loss - of a parent leaving, and loss and grief of losing a much loved older grandparent. Ageing and its liberties, family, ethnic issues and blended families weave into and through jokes and fun, and the agony of change and growing up.

Jack is now thirteen. We view his private thoughts and experiences. Due to Gervay’s ability to approach and express emotions with rare sensitivity, we share all things with Jack.

Gervay loves difficult subjects and drawing on real life has enriched her writing, and therefore every reader’s life, regardless of age. As we say goodbye to Jack, we must thank him and his creator for the life lessons we’ve learnt from his character.

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Title: Being Jack

Author: Susanne Gervay

Illustrator: Cathy Wilcox

Publisher: Harper Collins

Publication Date: September 2014 $14.99RRP

 Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780732296148

Type:  Junior novel

Unearthly

by Cynthia Hand

Harper Collins. Young Adult, Fantasy. Paperback RRP $24.99

Reviewer - Barbara Brown

When Clara turned fourteen her mother told her that she was special. The angel blood that runs through her makes her smarter, stronger and faster than humans. She is on this earth to fulfil a purpose and that she will have to follow her destiny.

Clara is now sixteen and has a dream that comes to her any time, day or night, sleeping or awake - a dream of a forest fire and a boy. This boy and the fire are Clara’s purpose. But what does she have to do? Does she have to save the boy from the fire?

Clara’s purpose leads her and her family to Wyoming. Here she meets the boy of her visions, Christian. He is the most popular boy in school and is dating the most popular girl. Others see Clara as infatuated with Christian, as are all the girls in the school.

The purpose, Clara soon realises, is only a small part of being an angel, or part-angel and she finds there are good and bad angels and that she has a bigger fight on her hand.

Then she meets Tucker. A boy who tugs at her heart. When the time comes and the forest fire starts Clara realises that both Christian and Tucker are in danger. Who does she choose? And will her decision change the purpose she is destined for?

Unearthly is the first book in a trilogy. It is a captivating story that dragged me along and had me reading it within 24 hours. Now to find out what happens in Hallowed due out in early 2012.

www.cynthiahandbooks.com

Australian Children’s Classics Series

Mulga Bill’s Bicycle

by AB Paterson. Illustrated by Kilmeny and Deborah Niland

Harper Collins. Australian, Picture, Poetry, History. Paperback RRP $14.99

Now I will confess to never before reading Banjo Paterson’s Mulga Bill’s Bicycle and to finding the poem funny and entertaining. Kilmeny and Deborah Niland’s illustrations made it all the more hilarious. They have captured the antics of Mulga Bill perfectly and the expressions on the faces of the animals and Mulga Bill’swill keep the children turning the pages and giggling throughout.

A wonderful poem that has been turned into a book that children will want to read again and again.

http://www.kilmenyniland.com/
http://www.deborah-niland.com.au/

Click Go The Shears

Illustrated by Robert Ingpen

Harper Collins. Australian, Picture, History. Paperback RRP $14.99

Click Go The Shears is an outback classic and a lot of adults today would know a verse or two, however some children may not know it at all. An important piece of rural Australian history is in this wonderful traditional song of the Australian shearer.

Robert Ingpen has created beautiful illustrations that bring to life the Australian outback in the early 1900’s and compliment the words that lie beneath the story.

A graphic way to introduce children back to the Australian historical culture of the not so distant past.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ingpen

Advance Australia Fair

by Peter Dodds McCormick - Illustrated by various Australian artists

Harper Collins. Australian, Picture, History. Paperback RRP $14.99

Originally penned for £100, in 1984 Advance Australia Fair became Australia’s national anthem, 77 years later selected based on a nationwide opinion poll.

This beautiful book is a look at Australia through the words of Dodds McCormick and paintings by Australian artists of the past century from such as Tom Roberts, Margaret Preston, Albert Namatijra and Arthur Boyd.

Silvermay

by James Moloney

Harper Collins. Young Adult, Australian. Paperback RRP $24.99

Silvermay tells the story of Silvermay Hawker and her journey to the mines of Nantoch with Tamlyn, Nerigold and baby Lucien. They are fleeing from those who would harm Lucien, hoping the recently discovered murals of Nantoch will provide an answer to help them escape. But the prophecy of the murals holds an even greater threat.

Set in a fantasy world with strong olde England overtones, the characters are both familiar and unique. Silvermay and Nerigold are common fold, humans who live in the villages. Tamlyn is Wyrden, a physically powerful creature who can wield magic. The Wyrden have no emotion, their only enjoyment comes from what they can take from others. They are heartless and cruel but their inability to get along prevents them from working together. Individually they serve wealthy humnas, including the King.

Silvermay must also take a more personal journey. Can she trust Tamlyn? No Wyrden has ever been able, or wanted to, reject his nature before. Are his smiles and tears real or is she blinded by her increasing feelings for him.

Action, adventure and a little romance – upper primary, young adult and older readers will enjoy this first book in the Silvermay trilogy.

http://www.jamesmoloney.com.au/

Dreaming of Chanel

by Charlotte Smith. Illustrated by Grant Cowan

Harper Collins. Australian, Adult Biographical, Adult Other. Hardback RRP $35.00

Australian Charlotte Smith inherited thousands of dresses from her American godmother. What she did with these priceless treasures was to create Dreaming of Dior, published in 2009. I fell in love with that book and was so pleased to find that Smith has created a second book, this time focusing on my favourite designer Coco Chanel.

Just like in Dreaming of Dior, the cover of the book is an attention grabber. Dreaming of Chanel is red hard covered with an illustration of a model in Chanel’s famous black suit with a puppy. But the best part is the suit, the hat, the handbag, the shoes and even the dog’s jacket are in velvet so you feel like you have just a little of that Chanel style in front of you.

Over 140 of Chanel’s designs are in this neat book and with each design there is a brief story of the outfit and when and where it was worn. Each one has been beautifully recreated by Grant Cowan and the feel of the era of the design shows through.

As I said with my earlier review for Dreaming of Dior, I am so envious of Charlotte Smith and her dresses. But I have a wonderful coffee table book that will transport many of my friends back to times when fashion was an experience.

The Reading Stack reviewed Dreaming of Dior in November 2009.

Empire of Silver

by Conn Iggulden

Harper Collins. Australia, Historical Fiction, Paperback, rrp $32.99

Reviewed by Sandy Fussell

 

Empire of Silver is the fourth book in the historical Conqueror series which tells the story of the Great Khan, Genghis, and his descendants.

The Mongol Empire has been at peace for two years and Ogedai, Genghis’ youngest son, has forsaken the tribes’ nomadic ways to build a great white city on the plains. Internal and external threats arise to shatter the peace. Ogedai’s elder brother Chagatai believes he should be the Great Khan and does not agree with the changes his brother has made. While the brilliant and loyal General Tsubodai cuts thr

ough Russia, crushing the Templar Knights and devastating the Hungarian kingdom, the Song dynasty, ancient Chinese enemy of the Mongols, grows stronger.

Ogedai survives every challenge except the frailty of a weak heart. Suddenly everything is in jeopardy – his son, city, his general and his expansion plans. As Iggulden comments in his Historical Note appendix:

“There are not many moments in history when the death of a single man changed the entire world. Ogedai’s death was such a moment. If he had lived, there would have been no Elizabethan age, no British Empire, no Renaissance, perhaps no Industrial revolution. In such circumstances, this book could very well have been written in Mongolian or Chinese.”

History lovers will relish Iggulden’s comments on how he dealt with the empty corners of historical record by carefully blending fact and its logical fictional derivative.

This is an epic series, a sweeping saga of triumph and tragedy. I waited impatiently for Empire of Silver and now am waiting equally impatiently for the fifth instalment.

http://www.conniggulden.com/

MEDIA RELEASE

Maria Quinn’s The Gene Thieves wins the inaugural Norma K. Hemming Award

HarperCollinsPublishers are delighted to congratulate the late Maria Quinn on winning the inaugural Norma K. Hemming Award for excellence in the exploration of themes of race, gender, class and sexuality in speculative fiction.

The Norma K Hemming is awarded by the Australian Science Fiction Foundation (ASFF) and was launched this September at Aussiecon 4, the 68th World Science Fiction Convention. The Award will not necessarily be given annually, with the judging panel having reserved the right to only make a winning selection if there is a work that meets an appropriate standard of excellence.

Maria Quinn was born in 1942 and sadly died of leukemia on 2 June, 2010. After working in the US and Canada, she moved to a London agency as Creative Director. Returning to Australia, she became a magazine editor and feature writer. Her television credits include producing the national program King’s Kitchen. She won the 2007 Todhunter Literary Award for short story and was the recipient of a prestigious Varuna fellowship. The Gene Thieves was her first novel.

The Reading Stack reviewed The Gene Thieves in March 2009 with a comment from Maria Quinn. It is a great loss to the reading public!

The Poison Diaries

by Maryrose Wood
Based on a concept by the Duchess of Northumberland

Harper Collins Publishers. History, Mystery, Crime, Fantasy, Romance. Paperback rrp $19.99


Reviewed by Barbara Brown

Jessamine Luxton’s father, Thomas, is an apothecary in 18th century England. He is renowned throughout the area, so famous that the local Duke of Alnwick Castle has given him Hulne Abbey to live rent free so long as he tends the locals with their ailments. But Thomas Luxton couldn’t save his own wife and when the time comes he will not be able to save Jessamine.

Thomas agrees to employ Weed, an orphan boy who was working in a mental institution until his ‘special tea’ interfered with business by appearing to cure patients. Weed seems to know a lot more about the healing powers of plants than Thomas does. Could Weed assist Thomas with his desire to know all about the good and evil of plants? But Weed is a strange lad who doesn’t speak and likes to stay underground and in the dark.

With Jessamine’s help and patience, Weed changes and opens his heart and mind. Soon a love develops between the two and that is when the plants from the poisonous garden Thomas Luxton has locked away, begin to wield their magic.

Jessamine is betrothed to Weed but on her engagement night she becomes ill and Thomas and Weed have no idea how to save her. Weed is drawn to the poisonous garden and sets on a quest to save his beloved.

Weed has a special knowledge of plants and seems to be able to talk to them – or do they talk to him? What would it be like to be able to talk to the plants and flowers? The Poison Diaries is a tale of mystery, intrigue and magic with a plot that takes Weed, Jessamine and Thomas on a journey into their own hidden agendas. A wonderful story that will make you look at nature differently.

http://www.maryrosewood.com/

The Duchess of Northumberland lives in the real Alnwick Castle (also used as the set for Hogwarts Castle from the Harry Potter movies) and tends her own garden including the Poison Garden. You can view both the castle and the garden at these web sites http://www.alnwickcastle.com/ and http://www.alnwickgarden.com/.

School for Heroes

Lessons for a Werewolf Warrior

by Jackie French and illustrated by Andrea F Potter

Harper Collins Publishers Australia. Australian, Fantasy, Junior. Paperback rrp $20.00


Guest Reviewer - Tenaya aged 11

This book, falling into the fantasy genre, is about a young werewolf, Boojum Bark, who is living life happily with his mother running the “Best Ice Cream Shop in the Universe”. On Christmas Eve he sniffs out trouble and finds his mother stuck to the ground with strawberry jam, and he is stuck as well, while an evil creature, Greedle, steals his mum and the best ice cream in the world. He gets himself and the town mayor, who came to help, out of the trouble but his mum is gone.

A Hero is called to the trouble and tells Boo that he has the destiny to become a Hero. Boo is shocked but takes up the challenge to go to the School for Heroes, mainly to try to find his mum. After a very embarrassing first day, he pursues and makes friends with Mug and the mysterious Yesterday, all the while trying his hardest to please Princess Sunbeam Caresse von Pewke. Using their unique talents, the five (four, mainly - the princess seems to always forget something back in her own universe) can overcome even the hardest of challenges.

I liked the humour of this book, and the cleverness of some of the sentences.

There was nothing I disliked, because the whole book was great!

I would rate this book 8 out of 10, because at the start it didn’t really intrigue me much.

I think it would be suitable for 9-12 year olds.

http://www.jackiefrench.com/

Editors Note: Two of our young readers chose to review this book. Check out Josie's review at http://thereadingstack.blogspot.com/2010/07/school-for-heroes.html

School for Heroes

Lessons for a Werewolf Warrior

by Jackie French, illustrated by Andrea F Potter

Harper Collins Australia. Australian, Fantasy, Junior. Paperback rrp $20.00

Guest Reviewer - Josie aged 12

School for Heroes: Lessons for a Werewolf Warrior is a 378 page book filled with black and white drawings by Andrea F Potter, that help you to understand the storyline better, if you are having trouble to understand the story. However, Jackie French described the characters so well that the picture she painted inside my head helped better than the pictures drawn by Andrea F Potter.

The story is about a young werewolf named Boo, who smells something in the ice cream factory- ‘The best ice cream in the universes’ – which is owned by Boo’s Mother. When Boo walks in he sees the Greedle, inside the shop, with the best ice cream in the universes, AND Boo’s Mother! Boo manages to save the ice cream, but the Greedle escapes with Boo’s mother.

Determined to rescue his mother, Boo is then sent to the School for Heroes where he learns to fight bogeys, and finds new friends including a mysterious girl named Yesterday. When reading this book you wil find out:

1. Why Yesterday takes home the school rubbish.
2. Whether or not Boo rescues his mother.
3. And many more, that you will have to read about to find out!

This book always kept me on my toes, wandering what was going to happen next. It was very exciting, yet humorous at the same time. Jackie French did an absolutely marvellous job of creating fun characters you could really imagine, I found the story line a little bit silly, and not very believable, however I had a good laugh!

I recommend this book for girls and boys aged 8-12, so I as a mature 12 year old reader found this book a little bit easy and it wouldn’t be good for children over 12. Overall I rate this book 7/10 because it was a great book, but I would’ve enjoyed it more if I was younger.

http://www.jackiefrench.com/

Zoobots

by Bruce Whatley

Harper Collins. Australian, Picture. Hardcover rrp $24.99

The first thing readers of any age will notice about Zoobots is the images. Big, bold and beautiful. These lifelike piles of junk look like they could easily clatter and roll off the page. The full page action scenes have a distinct animation feel. Movement is only one small imaginative step away.

But there is much more to Zoobots than the rich visuals. It is a story of friendship and acceptance. Zebo already has two best friends – big Hyde and little TC. But she feels the need for one more, a middle-sized friend. “You can never have too many best friends” she tells the others.

Despite their efforts, Hyde, Zebo and TC cannot make a new friend from the bits and pieces lying around Junk Jungle. But ultimately new friends are not built, they are found ready-made. When Ruby appears, she is just right.

Award winning illustrator Bruce Whatley and his son have collaborated to produce a real winner – where storytelling and pictures combine with humour and affection.

Nearly Departed

Welcome to Weirdsville...

by Rook Hastings

Harper Collins. Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery. Paperback rrp $14.99

Five teenagers living in Woodsville with nothing in common except they all attend the same high school and have some classes together. Then one mysteriously draws the other four together when she needs their help. Everything in Woodsville was strange before but now it becomes very weird. Welcome to Weirdsville.

Jay is the nerdy geek who thinks there is a parallel universe. Bethan is the goth chick who doesn’t belong in Woodsville. Hashim is the popular football star but he doesn’t want to tell anyone what he sees. Kelly is the beautiful girl, scared for her life. And then there is Emily. No-one seems to notice her until she appears quietly and meekly in the background.

Emily’s mother is missing and the five band together to try and find answers. But in Woodsville there are strange things happening and nobody will admit to anything. What these teenagers don’t see is much scarier than what they expected.

Nearly Departed is a ghost story that has some wonderful twists that I missed right up to the end. And yes September 2010 will see the release of the sequel. I can’t wait!

Politically Incorrect Parenting

by Nigel Latta

Harper Collins Australia. Adult Non-Fiction. Paperback rpp $27.99

Have you got a child under twelve? Are you pulling out your hair on how to stop these children from driving you around the twist? Are you sick of all those self-help gurus who TELL you what to do? You need to read Politically Incorrect Parenting.

I have one child left in the young mind moulding age and thought I would just skim through this book. I have two older kids and they are fine. Yeah I still have to yell at them to do things, going blue in the face while they just grin and walk away. I don’t need to be told how to raise my kids. I’m doing ok.

Who am I kidding? After reading the Preface I then went to the Introduction, next I found I was hooked into reading all the way through.

Nigel Latta is a Clinical Psychologist but he is also a father and readily admits to his mistakes. There are things in this book, simple things, that I have now tried and my family life is already starting to change. The older two may take a little more “power of persuasion” but I think they will come around.

If you want to know how to get your kids to eat the right foods, stop the yelling and screaming or even just tidy up their room, Politically Incorrect Parenting is the book to read.

Keep an eye out for The Politically Incorrect Parenting Show which will air on Channel Nine later this year.

http://www.goldfishwisdom.co.nz/

Let Me Whisper You My Story

by Moya Simons

Harper Collins. Junior, Young Adult, Australian. Paperback rrp $14.99

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Sub-titled ‘Sometimes words can be dangerous’, this finely realised novel for children aged 9 to 14 years, is about a Jewish child whose muteness lasts through and beyond the Holocaust. Rachel lives in Leipzig, Germany, where her middle-class family is forced from its home by the Nazis. At the last moment, however, Rachel is left behind, hidden by her desperate parents and told not to talk. The traumatised child remains mute as she is taken in by an Aryan family which shelters her for the duration of the war. Her muteness continues when sent to England post-war where she lives for three years in an orphanage.

Let Me Whisper You My Story is a moving tale where the reader is drawn into the home-life of a loving family whose lives, like millions of others, are torn apart by war. The tension in the household of Gertrude, Heinrich and Friedrich, the family which reluctantly takes in Rachel is palpable, and the thawing of feelings of Friedrich towards the girl over time is well developed given that the boy is brain-washed by the Nazis.

Rachel holds on to the memories of her beloved family through all of the trials and tribulations she suffers. Even when her life becomes easier in England, she continues to believe that her family will come for her, and the reader feels for her pain when she comes to believe they, like so many others, have perished in the concentration camps.

For today’s children who generally do not know deprivation, especially to the extent suffered by Jews during wartime, this well written, sensitive novel will do much to expose them to a time when the world was in total chaos and so many perished at the hands of a nation embroiled in hatred. The timeline of events in Europe before, during and after the war is a relevant and welcome addition to the book, as are the author Simon’s words at the end of the book.

Simons was fortunate enough to live in Australia during the war as a Jewish child. Her inspiration in writing this book came from wanting to write about ‘ordinary’ people who had the courage in risking their own lives to hide Jewish children in particular.

The Reading Stack has reviewed Simons’ Walk Right In Detective Agency Series and Hello God.

http://www.moyasimons.com/

Alice I have been

by Melanie Benjamin

Harper Collins. History. Paperback, rrp $32.99


With the new Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland movie recently released, this is a timely book for the adults.

Alice I have been is the fictional story of Alice Liddell, the muse of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Alice was the Dean of Oxford’s middle daughter and seven years old when Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, begins telling her the story of Alice’s Adventures Underground. Alice pleaded with him to write it down. For the young Alice Liddell, Mr Dodgson, the stuttering mathematics professor, was her escape from learning. He took Alice and her two sisters on many wonderful excursions around Oxford, keeping them amused with his imaginary tales.

But what happened when Alice grew up? What is the story of the real Alice and her relationship with the much older Mr Dodgson?

All evidence of what happened to the friendship between Lewis Carroll and the Liddell family has been destroyed however Melanie Benjamin has drawn her own conclusions from research to create a wonderful, sometimes painful, story of Alice Liddell.

The real Alice does grow up. She marries and has three boys but tragedy follows her entire life. As she reflects on her life she realises Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a story about her and that she will never grow up.

I loved this book although I wondered occasionally where the line between fact and fiction might have been blurred. Nevertheless, this book will make you look at the original Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with new and very wide open eyes!

Before Your Teenagers Drive You Crazy Read This

Battlefield Wisdom for Stressed out Parents

By Nigel Latta

Harper Collins Publishers. Adult Non-Fiction. Paperback rrp $26.95

Guest Reviewer - Jo Burnell

The title says it all. This book lives up to its name. I love my teenage kids, but there are days when I feel I’ve lost all control. Nigel Latta not only rescued me, but provided plenty of belly laughs along the way.

He’s a Psychologist working with difficult teenagers in New Zealand because he loves it. You can tell by the way he writes. He actually has fun getting round seemingly insurmountable odds.

Not only that, he shares his secrets through easy-to-read frameworks, basic principles and simple plans, but there’s nothing dry between these pages. The Weapons of Mass Disruption that teenagers use to confound their unsuspecting parents were so familiar, I wondered if Nigel had been spying through our kitchen window.

With chapter headings like: The teenage brain: not the whole walnut and Mad Uncle Jack, I knew I was in for an entertaining time. Real kids and families were described to explain concepts, then I was invited to the use the principals and frameworks to solve the described problems. Before reading this book, I would have shrugged and had no clue where to start, but towards the end everything was starting to make sense.

When I now turn to my own kids, life seems so simple. Don’t get me wrong. There are still days when I wonder who stole my kids and replaced them with Mad Uncle Jack and his Crazy Side-Kick. However, I now have a trusty reference guide that hasn’t failed me yet.

http://www.goldfishwisdom.co.nz/