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Tag: Activism

Published on Leave a comment on The Right Way To Rock by Nat Amoore

The Right Way to Rock by Nat Amoore is an uplifting story filled with heart and humour, seasoned with songs and garnished with gherkins. 

Mac Fleetwood Cooper’s mum is obsessed with rock music. She thinks rock is the only music worth listening to and is doing all she can to help eleven-year-old Mac become a rock star. Mac wants to make his mum proud, so there's no way he can tell her that he loves Broadway musicals and his dream is to write his own one day.

Mac is invited to join the Secret Society of Broadway Music Appreciation (SSOBMA,) and meets Flynn, a talented pianist who has Tourette’s syndrome. Through the boys' friendship we learn what it’s like to have a condition that causes people to have tics (sounds, movement, words and phrases) that they have no control over. Mac shows us how we can be supportive and accept people for who they are. 

When Mac learns The Arts program at Watterson Primary is going to be cut, he is devastated because music with Ms Fox is his favourite class. Mac knows he has to do something to save the program and his teachers’ jobs. It’s an Arts Fiasco! Mac and Flynn devise a daring plan. Watterson: The Musical! is born and becomes a wonderful celebration of friendship, community and The Arts. Go Gherkin Guys!

Nat’s love of musicals shines in The Right Way To Rock. The story is written in acts and scenes rather than chapters and each scene begins with a song re-written from a musical – so much creativity! Nat has also brought back characters from her books Secrets of Schoolyard Millionaire and The Power of Positive Pranking. I really enjoyed the return of Kathy and Mr Piddles who have some surprises of their own.

You can read The Right Way to Rock on its own, but I highly recommend you read Secrets of Schoolyard Millionaire and The Power of Positive Pranking first if you haven’t read them yet. 

Enjoy Nat's unboxing video of  The Right Way To Rock 

This morning I had a moment of serendipity (“Google it!” Tess Heckleston would say). As I was finishing reading The Right Way To Rock, my phone pinged with a photo memory from five years ago on this day. It was the photo below I took of the stage at Matilda The Musical…. read The Right Way to Rock to find out why I smiled at the amazing coincidence!

Happy reading!

 

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Published on 2 Comments on Footprints on the Moon by Lorraine Marwood

It's 1969 and change is in the air...

Man is about to step foot on the moon as Sharnie Burley takes her first steps into high school with its new rules, new subjects and the challenge of making new friends. 

Sharnie's view of the world is widening. As the Vietnam War rages overseas, people at home in Australia are protesting in the streets against the war and sending young men to fight without having a choice (conscription). Opinions are dividing society and friends are becoming enemies at school. There is conflict in Sharnie's family too when her big sister Cas gets involved in anti-war protests and upsets their father who believes fighting for your country is an honour. Sharnie wants to share her worries with Gran, but her beloved Gran is fighting a battle of her own. Along with Gail, her unlikely new friend, Sharnie finds her voice through art and begins to make her own mark on the world. 

Footprints on the Moon by Lorraine Marwood is a verse novel with many layers skilfully and sensitively woven together using beautiful imagery linked to the moon landing.

Thank you for the copy of this book to review University of Queensland Press. 

Happy reading!

Teacher notes 

Published on Leave a comment on The Secret Library of Hummingbird House by Julianne Negri

 

I thoroughly enjoyed The Secret Library of Hummingbird House from the first page to the last! This mystery, time-slip adventure is set in inner Melbourne with a secret library, lost words and a mullolly tree - what more could you want?

Hattie Maxwell is ten years old and a Sailor Moon fan who loves reading and discovering new words. Hattie’s life has been turned upside down by the Big Split. Hattie and her annoying little sister Ivy, now have to live ‘week about’ with their parents. Hattie feels ‘a bit like the lamp that everyone forgot to pack’ because she doesn’t feel quite right at either home. She just wants things to go back to the way they were with her family together.

Hattie’s favourite escape in her Brunswick neighborhood is Hummingbird House.

It’s a puddle of magic, out of time with the rest of the city. Even though it hums with a strangeness I don’t understand, I always feel as though the house is happy for me to be here – like a hand waiting to be held.

The old mansion holds happy family memories for Hattie where they played in the large mulberry tree that her dad transformed with lollies into a mullolly tree each year for her birthday. Hattie is horrified when she learns that Lord Landlord plans to demolish Hummingbird House and replace it with a 10-storey apartment block.

When Hattie goes on a midnight visit to Hummingbird House during a triple moon event, she finds herself slipping back in time to 1970 where she discovers a very different Hummingbird House and Hypatia, a mysterious girl with a love for words. Hypatia reveals her secret Nonesuch Library and together the ‘not friends’ work to find a way to save Hummingbird House and solve the mystery of Hypatia’s Lebanese family.

A clever twist at the end ties the threads of the story together and all is revealed, including the identity of the mysterious Brunswick yarn bomber.

Hattie is a realistic and resilient voice in this story as she grapples with living in a separated family, navigates time travel and learns to speak up and fight for what she believes in while trying to save Hummingbird House. As a teacher librarian, not only would I love a NoneSuch Library, I also have a soft spot for Ms Guide whose background turns out to be quite a surprise.

Julieanne Negri works at the magnificent State Library of Victoria which was a major inspiration for The Nonesuch Library.

I was fascinated by the lost words in the story. There is a Glossary at the back of the book for you to explore and it will also help with my message below.

As a big bibliophile, I highly recommend this flippercanorious book!

Read the first two chapters HERE

Happy reading!

Published on Leave a comment on The Power of Positive Pranking by Nat Amoore

 

Green Peas is our name
and pranking's our game!

Casey Wu and her best friends are the secret Green Peas group. Like some of you, they feel that no one listens when you're a kid, even when you have something really important to say. Casey, Cookie and Zeke care about how we treat our planet and combine their skills to be heard. When they discover greedy Mayor Lupphol's plans for their town of Watterson and especially Brennan Park, they are going to show the mayor that no activist is too small and no prank is too big.

My favourite Green Peas' prank was for Mayor Lupphol's visit to Watterson Primary school. It was pure genius!

Nat Amoore is an author full of energy and creativity who writes books with humour and lots of heart. She empowers kids through her characters in Secrets of a Schoolyard Millionaire and The Power of Positive Pranking and makes reading fun.

Nat had a great idea to promote The Power of Positive Pranking using Auslan. Read Nat's 'Did You Know' at the end of her book to find out why Auslan is important to her. Do you know any Auslan? 

An exciting moment for authors is when they receive copies of their book from the publisher. It must be an amazing feeling to finally hold a copy of your book in your hands and see your hard work and dream come true. Sometimes authors do an 'unboxing' to reveal their new book. Nat took unboxing to a whole new level with a stop motion Lego video! (Watch it a few times to see all the little stories happening in the bigger story.) Have you made any stop motion movies? They take a lot of patience!

Have a taste of The Power of Positive Pranking by watching some of our Aussie children's authors read the first chapter and a half.

Follow the Green Peas Manifesto in the chapter headings and you too can find your voice and be on your way to making a positive difference for something you care about...

Happy reading!

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