Month: April 2011

New dog, new tricks – re-launched and better than ever.

Linda J

insideadog-largeAfter 5 years in existence, one of the fantastic sites followed by ‘CrewsReviews’ has reinvented itself – the Victorian State Library re-launched its much loved youth literature website Inside a Dog on March 8.

As reported by Tye Cattanach – on the Book Gryffin: 

Inside A Dog now offers some incredible tools for teachers and students alike. For those teachers wanting an online ‘bookshelf’ for their kids, or better still, wanting to start an online book club for students, you need look no further than this. Designed to be as user friendly as possible, the applications for the use of this site are varied and many.

There are entire pages dedicated to book clubs, book trailers, engaging literacy ideas, literature circles, book reviews, writers in residence, (a unique feature giving your students an opportunity to ask writers questions in the comments), to name but a few. 

 As a student or independent reader you can also:

– find great reads (new releases)

– contribute reviews (let authors know what you think)

– read about how authors are inspired (why they write, how they write and what inspires them)

– follow a writer in residence (monthly insights into the writing process of a featured published author)

– discuss the latest young adult literature (with other kids your age, not just adults…)

– enter all sorts of competitions

– vote for the Inkys (book awards counting student votes!)

– and more…

This is one of the most inspiring sites for news on new Australian literature for young adults, maintained by the State Library of Victoria, with the interests of youth at heart.

Their motto still rings true: Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read. —Groucho Marx

CBCA Shortlist announced

Linda J

cbcaI’ve been caught out with the Children’s Book Council of Australia Shortlist for 2011 being released in the holidays!

The details can be viewed at: http://cbca.org.au/Shortlist_2011.htm

In the Older reader category, it seems to be an interesting mix of mainly recognised authors and a new author, Fiona Woods – whose book has, in fact, been commended by one of the other nominees, Cath Crowley!

A stand out in the Picture Book category would have to be ‘Mirror’ by Jeannie Baker – but then who knows the attractions of the other worthy nominees?

I came across an interesting insight into the power of the CBCA awards tonight, when reading a post from James Roy, who has formerly been a CBCA nominee:

…when you’re just getting established (as I was when Captain Mack was shortlisted for the CBCA in 2000) it does put you on the map.

Congratulations to those nominated. (Have a look at the notables for 2011, who just missed out!) Get ready for the debates. Read as many as you can, and in your mind, cast your personal vote for the best of 2011. And, keep those names in mind as authors, from both the shortlist and the notables, grow and develop in the future!

Which books get your vote?

‘Reading’ in the car

Linda J

I’m currently reading as I drive – by using an audio book version of ‘Inheritance of Loss’ by Kira Desai.

It’s an interesting exercise with these being my observations so far:

1.I need to have a fair way to drive (at least a half-hour journey or more…)

2. It’s great to have a book where the accents are acted out

3. It’s sometimes hard to catch a name (and guess how it’s spelt)

4. A talented narrator / reader makes all the difference (this one is a Penguin audiobook)

5. You can’t easily flick back to check your understanding

6. It’s probably best when you are alone! (Unless you regularly share interests with your passenger…)

inheritance-loss-bkpauk000086That said, I have enjoyed the experience – there would even be times that I would be tempted to stay in the car to continue with the story. And I am sure people have wondered what I might be laughing at as I drove by!

However, I have also found a copy of the book at a second hand bookshop (Brown’s Books in Springwood) so that I can check the place and character names I have been hearing. I can now ‘hear’ the voices of the characters as they ‘speak’ from the written page! I can still feel the book.  

And I don’t have to wait till I am in the car!

What have been your ‘reading’ experiences with audiobooks?

Revisiting the past? The Golden Day.

Linda J

goldendayUrsula Dubosarsky’s new book, ‘the Golden Day’, has both echoes of Picnic at Hanging Rock and memories of the sixties in its tale. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed it.

A small class of young girls spend the day with their teacher, Miss Renmark, on a brief excursion to a local park – there to “go out into the beautiful Gardens and think about death”. The tale begins on a normal sort of day, in a girls school – the day that Ronald Ryan was hanged in Melbourne in 1967.

What happens on that day was to haunt the girls, 11 in total, from that day forward. And to remain a mystery, it seemed.

Indeed the tale itself is haunting, told by Dubosarsky from the point of view of young impressionable girls, so that the reader is never really sure of the whole truth behind a mysterious disappearance on that fateful day.

Who is Morgan, the draft dodger poet they meet in the park? And why is Miss Renshaw so entranced by him? Should they trust him as they venture into the hidden caves along the foreshores of Sydney under his guidance? What could they have done differently to avoid the tragic outcome of the day? Would they ever know what really happened?

‘The Golden Day’ is a well-crafted mystery – reflective of true events that happpened around the time it was set – as author Ursula Dubosarksy indicates in a final note, referring to disappearances of Juanita Nielsen, school girl Samantha Knight and another Mossvale school girl murdered in 1962. And as Sonya Hartnett comments on the inner book flap, this tale is one that ‘when its’ gone, you can’t stop thinking about it’.

‘The Golden Day’ has a dreamlike quality, but you still wonder what is the dream and what is meant to be the truth – and vice versa. Read it and see for yourself…

N.B. Now shortlisted for CBCA Older Readers Book of the Year Award 2012.