Right Book, Right Time, page 5
When, at just fourteen, Samuel Witchall announces he wants to become a sailor, his father tries to dissuade him. But Sam is determined to have adventure. Eventually his parents agree, but only on the condition that he joins a merchant ship, which is supposed to be safer. Sam joins the Lady Franklyn, learns the ropes and enjoys himself. But this is 1800 and Britain is at war with France and Spain, and out on the high seas he is ‘pressed’ (forced) to join a Royal Navy frigate. Sam gets the most dangerous job of a powder monkey.
This lively account of the perilous life at sea includes storms, battles and vicious punishments. When asked what inspired him to write this book after writing mostly non-fiction, Dowswell said, ‘I was researching a piece on naval warfare and was struck by how young many of the sailors in Nelson’s time were. Then I saw Master and Commander [the popular movie starring Russell Crowe], which really drove the point home. Boys whose voices had not yet broken were being sent to kill and be killed. I also thought it would be interesting to write the story from the point of view of a boy at the bottom of the ship’s hierarchy rather than someone at the top.’
PRISON SHIP, the sequel, finds Sam wrongly accused of a crime and transported to Australia. Susan Cooper’s time-slip tale VICTORY is another engaging look at the life of a powder monkey during the time of the Napoleonic Wars.
Set in Stone LINDA NEWBERY
YA/A UK 2006
Samuel Godwin: Dearest Mother: . . . This is a most unusual house, not at all what I imagined . . . It stands in a very isolated spot . . . clearly Mr Farrow is a man who enjoys seclusion, although of course he could not have imagined that he would live here as a widower . . .
Crammed with secrets and shocking twists, this is a great saga to get lost in, sitting by a fire on a cold winter’s day. Set in Stone is told in the style of 19th-century stories by Charlotte Bronte, Wilkie Collins and others. Linda Newbery loves exploring what may have happened inside and outside the walls of beautiful old buildings.
Impoverished young artist Samuel Godwin is invited by the widower Mr Farrow to his imposing home, Fourwinds, to become art tutor to his daughters, Marianne and Julianna, under the supervision of their admirable governess, Charlotte Agnew. Samuel is intrigued from the moment he arrives, in the dark, and is greeted by the wild, beautiful, hysterical Marianne. She is seeking the West Wind. He is confronted with his first mystery. Little does Sam realise that by asking questions and snooping he will uncover terrible deeds and much pain. Why did Gideon Waring and the previous governess leave under a cloud? Why is Julianna so sad and withdrawn, and Marianne so often distraught and sleepwalking? Why is Mr Farrow trying to push Julianna and Sam together? Who is the mysterious little boy in the nearby village? And above all, is Mr Farrow the charming, loving father he seems? What really happened to his wife? And is even the ever-patient Charlotte who she seems to be? Unravelling the truth becomes even more fun and challenging as the narrative is shared between Samuel Godwin and Charlotte Agnew.
The book was a controversial winner of the 2007 Costa (formerly Whitbread) Prize. Read THE SHELL HOUSE for another foray into the possible dramatic impact of architecture and landscape on lives.
Troy ADÈLE GERAS
YA UK 2000
[Xanthe] prepared the pallets, and the water, and the bowls of oil used for cleaning the worst wounds, and when all was ready, she left the Blood Room . . . Xanthe hated war. Every day, the huge wooden gate they called the Skaian Gate . . . opened wide, and the chariots poured through, filled with armed soldiers.
The siege of Troy lasted ten years. In Troy, Geras retells the Illiad through the experiences of two orphaned sisters, Xanthe and Marpessa. Previously, most writers have focused on the battles and deeds of the men, but Geras explores the lives of the girls and women.
As well as working in the Blood Room, Xanthe is nursemaid to Hector’s son, so she is close to the action and the main players. Everyone is suffering and people’s lives are made worse by the meddling of the gods, who are often bored and fighting among themselves. Eros, the god of love, makes Xanthe fall in love with one of the soldiers she nurses. Aphrodite, the goddess of desire, decides it would be fun to make the sisters fall in love with the same man. Geras’s long, detailed story brings to life this ancient epic and, because there is a lot of action and the emotions and predicaments are universal, it makes for an enthralling story.
ITHAKA (2005), the follow-up book, re-imagines the Odyssey. Here our sympathies are with Penelope, who has been waiting and pining for her husband, Odysseus, for ten long years. Again the focus is on the women left behind, including a young servant girl, Klymene, caught in the huge, grim events of the time. Klymene has to deal with the fraught, chaotic situation at home when hordes of suitors, full of evil intentions, want to claim Penelope’s hand and her lands. Everyone becomes embroiled in a tense waiting game. And, once again, the gods and their games add to the volatile brew, as does Klymene’s secret passion for Odysseus’s son, Telemachus. But all bets are off when a naked, half-drowned man washes up on the beach.
This is another great saga with a contemporary feel.
more trojan tales
trojan tales
ACHILLES Elizabeth Cook A/YA UK 2001
The Atlantic Monthly described this short, somewhat eccentric take on the deeds of Achilles as, ‘[A] poetic masterpiece, a psychologically acute portrait . . . Achilles is also unfailingly modern: swift, cinematic, sexually explicit, and ravishingly beautiful.’
BLACK SHIPS BEFORE TROY Rosemary Sutcliffe Y/YA UK 1993
A classic retelling of the Illiad, told with all the skill of a master storyteller and with wonderful illustrations by Alan Lee. It offers younger readers an introduction to the heroes of ancient Greece while providing the complete story of the siege of Troy. One of the last books by one of the greatest and most prolific writers of historical novels for children.
DATELINE: TROY Paul Fleischman Y/YA USA REVISED EDITION 2006
Fleischman’s book cleverly juxtaposes resonant newspaper clippings of events – from World War I to the ‘War on Terror’ – with his evocative retelling of the story of the Trojan Wars. The clippings are beautifully laid out as collages. Described in the Kirkus Review as ‘perhaps the ultimate model for making history relevant . . . A superb and often inspiring work.’
THE MOON RIDERS Theresa Tomlinson Y/YA UK 2003
An unusual book that reveals the part played by the Amazon women (the Moon Riders) in the battle of Troy. Who were these legendary Amazon women? A fascinating combination of research, myth and storytelling. The Financial Times said, ‘Theresa Tomlinson is among the strongest of a younger generation of historical novelists.’
Followed by THE VOYAGE OF THE SNAKE LADY.
ODYSSEUS Ken Catran YA NZ 2005
Catran seems to be able to turn his hand to any genre. This story is made immediate through a great deal of dramatic action and its lively first-person narrative, as Odysseus tells his own story to a poet (Homer?). Odysseus relives his ten-year journey after the battle in Troy, during which he was desperately trying to find his way home to his beloved Penelope, and Telemachus, the son he did not know. Read also Catran’s equally exciting THE GOLDEN PRINCE, about Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, as he leads his troops at the Siege of Troy.
THE WAR AT TROY 2004 and THE RETURN FROM TROY 2005
Lindsay Clarke A/YA UK
Myth and history intersect in a gripping retelling of the epic tale of the siege and its aftermath. The lives and passions of Paris and Helen, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, Odysseus and Hector seem startlingly contemporary in these lively books.
The Wings of Kitty St Clair JAMES ALDRIDGE
YA/A AUSTRALIA 2006
They were looking up to see Fay’s small white figure suddenly plunge into the empty air, and when that happened Kitty sucked in her breath. She hated to see that first moment of the jump, particularly when Fay’s fall seemed too free and too long before the parachute opened.
To fully appreciate this story you need to enjoy the slow, quiet build-up of details about places, events, situations, characters and subtle interactions. This is how Aldridge cleverly builds drama and tension.
The book falls into two halves. Since World War I, Kitty, almost fourteen, Jock, her war-damaged pilot father, and Fay, her aerobatic mother, have been leading a nomadic life, doing aerial stunts at fairs and shows in country towns. They return to their hometown St Helen for the annual fair, but change is in the air. Jock’s Besterman plane is showing signs of wear, as are Fay’s Gypsy Moth and parachute – and audiences are dwindling. As well, Kitty, who has grown up in a cockpit and done most of her lessons there, should be attending a regular school.
The family stays with Billy, who used to fly with Jock. Billy’s very French wife, Claudette, runs a boarding house, and their daughter Louise is Kitty’s best (only) friend. There is to be one final show, but we sense we are heading for a tragedy.
For a long time after her mother’s death, the shocked and devastated Kitty loses her voice. How Kitty is helped to recover makes up the powerful second half of this sad, engaging story, which also beautifully evokes Australian country life in the 1930s as well as the joy, daring and danger of flying in those tiny planes.
The Wings of Kitty St Clair is the seventh book in the St Helen series, which James Aldridge began forty years ago. The books share a particular tone and outlook, and cast a sharp eye over the tensions and constraints of small town life. All feature feisty young people struggling to find their way, often in difficult circumstances. The stories are actually set in and around Swan Hill in north-western Victoria where Aldridge grew up, though he has lived most of his life in Europe. Here he worked as a journalist and wrote many other books.
The St Helen series
MY BROTHER TOM 1996
RIDE A WILD PONY 1975
THE UNTOUCHABLE JULIE 1975
THE TRUE STORY OF LILLI STUBECK 1984
THE TRUE STORY OF SPIT MACPHEE 1986
THE TRUE STORY OF LOLA MACKELLAR 1992
extreme & edgy
Not all children are loved and cherished. Many children and teenagers find themselves in extreme family, social and political situations. Life can be so extreme some may be driven to murder or suicide or crazy behaviour, or even imprisoned. Others struggle with violence, bullying, battles with drugs, body image, crime, fear, poverty, friends, school or illness. Writing about extreme situations can produce challenging, edgy fiction because the writer’s imagination, control of language, empathy and craft can lift the book above the merely bleak and grim and beyond any single ‘issue’. Here are a few of the best.
All Rivers Flow to the Sea ALISON McGHEE
YA USA 2005
Your sister Ivy and you had an accident. The world should have stopped, but it didn’t. The world kept on going . . . How can the world just keep on going?
Finding an answer to this question that Rose, seventeen, can accept is the subject of this sad, absorbing book. Following a car accident involving both sisters, Ivy is now on life support. The doctors recommend the life support be turned off, but the girls’ mother can’t bring herself to agree. This makes letting go even harder for Rose, and her grief, survival-guilt and confusion drive her to some risky, desperate sexual adventures in the hope of forgetting what happened, even for a moment. While she finds no quick or easy answers, Rose is able to draw on the quiet wisdom of an older neighbour, William T. Her growing relationship with childhood friend Tom Miller also brings her solace and allows her to stop reliving what happened.
Set in a small community in the Adirondacks this is a haunting and poetically written novel. A book to read and ponder that gently explores what makes life worth living and how we can keep on going in trying circumstances.
Chanda’s Secrets ALLAN STRATTON
YA CANADA 2004
The real reason the dead are piling up is because of something else. A disease too scary to name out loud. If people say you have it, you can lose your job. Your family can kick you out. You can die on the street alone . . . Thank god nobody whispered ‘AIDS’ when Esther’s parents got sick. Her papa had a cough and her mama had a bruise. It started as simply as that.
Chanda’s papa died in a mine cave-in. Her mother does the best she can. Relationships start and shift. In this African country, people are poor and existence is dangerous and difficult, and everywhere people are dying of ‘the disease’. Now Mama may have it. Is Chanda infected? Her family’s life is out of control and her best friend is in trouble. There are not enough places in hospitals or cemeteries, and not enough drugs. Worst of all, no one will talk about the cause of the epidemic. Chanda, sixteen, is bright and had hoped to gain a scholarship. She realises that all the fear, misguided shame, denial and secrecy make dealing with the crisis around her even harder. Should she speak out?
The statistics of those, many of them children, infected by the AIDS virus in African countries are horrific. Yet a work of fiction can often be much more direct, personal and powerful than mere statistics. So it is with Chanda’s Secrets. Chanda’s grim, brave, sad story is unfailingly gripping and moving, but also frightening in its portrayal of ignorance, neglect and an apparent lack of political will.
Come Clean TERRI PADDOCK
YA/A USA 2004
‘Fear of, and anxiety for, teenagers reached a political peak last week with both Tony Blair and David Blunkett condemning violence and truancy and a £12.5 million lottery fund driving an expansion of summer camps. With new court orders known as ASBOs (Anti-Social Behaviour Orders) parents, who feel increasingly unequal to the struggle of keeping children of all ages safe and off the streets . . . may feel the solution is to use US-style institutions to sort out problems with discipline, drunkenness and drug abuse.’ (Amanda Craig in a review of Come Clean in the Sunday Times, August 2004)
Based on her sister’s experiences in one of the real-life chain of US closed ‘facilties’, called Straight Inc (here, Come Clean), Paddock has written a very angry and frightening book.
Justine, fifteen, wrote in her diary about liking a boy who had been drinking at a party. This was her ‘crime’. She is then tricked into attending the facility where her sister is already locked up. Punishment, isolation, starvation, betrayal of others, brainwashing and humiliation – mostly by peers – in regular AA-type Seven Step programs, are routine. Innocence or guilt seem irrelevant. Staff members are presented as exploitative, sadistic or self-serving; and parents as ineffectual, complicit or uncaring. We keep turning the pages, hardly able to believe these situations and events could exist.
The big questions are: how did the Straight Inc facilities become so successful, and, if this way of dealing with supposedly ‘difficult’ teenagers is becoming popular in the US and UK, could it happen here?
The Fearful KEITH GRAY
YA UK 2005
He hated these mornings when he was forced into helping his father with the collecting . . . He’d do anything to stop it from happening. Anything. He’d change his name; he’d leave home if he had to. He just had to do it soon, because in only a few days he’d be sixteen and then, for what it was worth, the rest of his life would be over.
At the next weekly gathering of ‘The Fearful’, Tim Milmullen will celebrate his sixteenth birthday with a ‘Carving’, when he will be designated the thirteenth ‘Mourner’. Like most in his small lakeside town, Tim is struggling to believe in the legend of the ‘The Mourn’. It is told that in 1699, when Tim’s ancestor William Milmullen took his six pupils to the lake, a monster rose from the depths and only William returned. Since then the family has guarded against the return of the creature by daily collecting small farm animals and rowing them out into the lake for its supposed voracious inhabitant. Milmullen’s descendants continue to carry out this responsibility in the face of increasing derision and disbelief. They hold that it is only because of their efforts that others can enjoy recreational activities on the lake.
Tim is mercilessly bullied by the local youth for his family’s beliefs and the almost cult-like behaviour of their followers, ‘The Fearful’. How can Tim determine what is relevant and what is self-interest in others? Can progress be stopped? Can you, or should you, believe in something you have never seen? Where is the line between science and faith? Big questions, posed within an easy-to-read, fast-paced story for our times.
more about bullies
boys (and the
odd girl) who bully
BAD BAD THING Julia Lawrinson YA AUSTRALIA 2005
Boys might threaten physically, but girls can do as much harm with words and just plain nastiness – like Bonnie, who steals school lunches and makes the lives of girls, large and small or any size, hell.
BRUISES Archimede Fusillo YA AUSTRALIA 2004
Forced to attend a school camp, Falco, averse to conflict and distracted by his brother’s terminal illness, is a reluctant bunkhouse leader. Ape bullies others to gain the approval he craves from his older, delinquent brother. The disparate group also includes the new, needy kid Brad, the weak Cannucia and ‘fat boy’ Singh. They create an edgy mix. Can they survive the camp?
