Our Australian Girl – Marly and the Goat by Alice Pung

Reviewed by Jessica (age 8)

     This is the latest instalment in the Marly series of the Our Australian Girls books. It is 1983 and Marly is excited because her grandparents arrive from Vietnam and her Mum is having a baby. Marly’s Grandpa is really nice, but a bit eccentric. He buys a goat and chickens despite many objections being made by the family (including Grandma). When a neighbour complains about the new pets, Marly is forced to go to a Council Meeting because she is the only person in her family who speaks English. 

     I really enjoyed this book because it was very interesting and it had a real sense of adventure. My favourite character was Marly because she didn’t care what anyone thought of her and she was very brave.  I really like the Marly books. This was the best yet!

PUBLISHER'S WEBSITE :  https://www.penguin.com.au/products/9780143308515/our-australian-girl-marly-and-goat-book-3

AUTHOR'S WEBSITE : www.alicepung.com

ILLUSTRATOR'S WEBSITE : http://luciamasciullo.com

About the Author                                                                                          

     Alice Pung is a writer, editor, teacher and lawyer based in Melbourne. Born a month after her Chinese parents fled from Cambodia to Australia as asylum seekers from Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge Regime, Alice has used her shared family's experiences to write stories that captivate all readers.       
   
     She has won numerous awards including the 2007 Newcomer of the Year Award in the Australia Book Industry Awards for her first book Unpolished Gem. Her next book Her Father's Daughter won the Western Australia Premier's Book Award for Non Fiction, and it was also shortlisted for the Premier's Literary Awards in Victoria and New South Wales, and nominated also in the Queensland Literary Awards. Laurinda, Alice's first novel, was published in 2014 and was one of Readings' Top 100 bestselling books for the year. She is writing four books around the character Marly for Penguin's Our Australian Girl series.

     Alice's writing has appeared in many notable publications including the Monthly, the Age, Meanjin, Best Australian Stories and Best Australian Essays. Alice edited Growing Up Asian in Australia, a collection of personal accounts, essays, short stories and poetry which is currently a set text for the VCE English context on Identity and Belonging.

     Alice lives with her husband at Janet Clarke Hall at the University of Melbourne, where she is currently the Artist in Residence. 

About the Illustrator

     Lucia Masciullo grew up in Livorno, Tuscany, among smells of saltiness and rosemary. She always loved painting and after graduating in Biology she decided to pursue her dream career as an artist. In 2006 she moved to Brisbane and since then has been happily working as a fine art painter and freelance illustrator. She has recently illustrated Sonya Hartnett's The Boy and Toy.

The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones

Reviewed By Anna - aged 11

The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones

Author : Will Mabbitt

Illustrator : Ross Collins

Have you ever been kidnapped by pirates in the middle of the night and forced to walk the Greasy Pole of Certain Death? 

Or challenged a giant grizzly bear to a milk-drinking contest? 

Or gone on a dangerous quest in search of mysterious treasure? 

What's that? You haven't? 

Then the unlikely adventures of Mabel Jones are almost certainly too exciting, thrilling and terrifying for you.  Put this book down at once!* 

*Not really – I just have to say that in case any grown-ups are reading.  Luckily this writing is too small for their old eyes to see properly.  What you should really do is start reading this book immediately because it will make you laugh so hard that chips will come down your nose. 

     The blurb grabbed my attention straight away. After reading the first chapter, which was so funny and interesting, I just had to keep on reading this fantastic book!

     It’s about a girl named Mabel Jones who gets kidnapped by a silent loris named Omynus Hussh because she commits “the deed” (you got to read it to find out about “the deed” – it’s gross and funny at the same time). Mabel Jones ends up on a pirate ship called The Feroshus Maggot with an out of the ordinary bunch of animal pirates. The captain of the ship is an evil wolf named Idryss Ebenezer Split. The only way Mabel Jones can return home is if she helps the captain and crew collect all the X’s that are pieces of a key. So the daring and smart Mabel Jones becomes a pirate and goes on a mysterious journey filled with action, excitement and treasures!

     I loved all the characters (and their names!). My favourite character was Omynus Hussh because he is mysterious, mischievious and suspiciously silent, and I kept on wondering what he would do next. I also really liked the narrator because of the funny comments and interrupting moments. It felt like the narrator was talking to me and including me in the adventure.

     The pictures were great and helped me imagine what was happening to Mabel Jones. The pictures also brought the characters to life. The Captain’s sharp teeth with “strings of wet drool” look so real. The expressions on all the characters’ faces are also amazing. The different fonts and font sizes used in the book also added fun, suspense and feeling to the story.

     The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones is such a funny and exciting book. I would recommend this book for boys and girls who like adventures, surprises and a good laugh!

Publication date : 27 May 2015

For more information go to https://www.penguin.com.au/products/9780141355146/unlikely-adventures-mabel-jones

Two stories from the OUR AUSTRALIAN GIRL series

Reviewed by Jess (aged 8 years) and Bella (aged 11 years)

Meet Marly – 1983 

By Alice Pung

     This is the first of four stories about Marly, a girl living in Australia in 1983.  Marly and her family came to Australia as refugees and now her cousins are coming from a refugee camp to live with them too. Marly is a very engaging main character because she is an interesting and lively girl. She made us laugh and enjoy this book very much.

     This book informed us about the lives and experiences of new Australians during the 1980s. It is interesting to see how Marly navigates between two worlds – her home life with her Vietnamese family, and her school life in the wider Australian community. It made us realise that girls today aren’t so different to little girls in the 1980s and that although our cultures might be different, all people are actually quite alike. It also made us realise that we should take pleasure in life and not worry about what other people think. This is a great book and we think all girls our age should read it.

Marly’s Business – 1983 

By Alice Pung

     This story is fantastic! It was interesting and captivating and it gave you a look into a typical girl’s life from the 1980s. It was heartwarming but at the same time adventurous and bewildering. We were hooked from the beginning and did not want to stop until we finished it!

     This is the second of four stories which is part of the Our Australian Girl series. It’s about Marly, a girl from a Vietnamese refugee family living in Australia in 1983. Marly wants, more than anything, to buy Donkey Kong cards and collect them like the other kids at school, but her Mum and Dad don’t see the value in them.  She sets about raising the money for them herself and makes some great new friends along the way and has exciting adventures on the bus. We think most kids can relate to wanting to collect things that your Mum and Dad don’t see as valuable, and also to their first experiences catching the bus on their own. We haven’t done it yet, but we hope our first bus trip is less nerve-wracking than Marly’s!

                                                                    We would definitely recommend this book to our friends!

The Kidz Review Krew really appreciate Penguin Group (Australia) sending us copies of these two amazing books which are part of the Our Australian Girl series.

For more information on the books go to http://www.penguin.com.au/products/9780143308492/our-australian-girl-meet-marly-book-1 and http://www.ouraustraliangirl.com.au

For more information on the author go to alicepung.com

  About The Author

     Alice Pung is a writer, editor, teacher and lawyer based in Melbourne. Born a month after her Chinese parents fled from Cambodia to Australia as asylum seekers from Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge Regime, Alice has used her shared family's experiences to write stories that captivate all readers.

     She has won numerous awards including the 2007 Newcomer of the Year Award in the Australia Book Industry Awards for her first book Unpolished Gem. Her next book Her Father's Daughter won the Western Australia Premier's Book Award for Non Fiction, and it was also shortlisted for the Premier's Literary Awards in Victoria and New South Wales, and nominated also in the Queensland Literary Awards. Laurinda, Alice's first novel, was published in 2014 and was one of Readings' Top 100 bestselling books for the year. She is writing four books around the character Marly for Penguin's Our Australian Girl series.

     Alice's writing has appeared in many notable publications including the Monthly, the Age, Meanjin, Best Australian Stories and Best Australian Essays. Alice edited Growing Up Asian in Australia, a collection of personal accounts, essays, short stories and poetry which is currently a set text for the VCE English context on Identity and Belonging.

Alice lives with her husband at Janet Clarke Hall at the University of Melbourne, where she is currently the Artist in Residence. 

Harold and Grace by Sean E Avery

Reviewed By Carmela Ramos

     This creative and intriguing picture book, will definitely be a teacher’s delight. Harold and Grace is perfect for Kindy to grade 3 children. Written in simple and suitable language with enough unfamiliar words to expand children’s vocabulary, Harold and Grace will fascinate as it educates. Not only does it explore wetland ecosystems and the life cycles of butterflies and frogs, the reader will also be gifted with a beautiful story of an unlikely friendship between a plump, cute, furry caterpillar named Grace, and an adventurous, loveable, buck-toothed tadpole named Harold.

     Sean E Avery’s process of using a combination of traditional art and digital art is exciting and fresh. The sketchy ink drawings together with the runny green and purple tones are unique and effective. The colours successfully enhance the feel of a wet, slimy, leafy environment. The characters' expressions are fun and filled with emotion. My six-year-old son pointed out that “on the front cover Grace feels furry and Harold feels slippery.” I was also amazed when my son observed how Harold and Grace’s colours changed from the beginning of the book to the end. He stated, “They swapped colours!”.

     The story of Harold and Grace opens up discussions on friendship, bullying, feelings, the environment, and the wonders of metamorphosis. With so much to explore, Harold and Grace makes an ideal addition to children’s libraries and lower-primary classrooms.  

For more information and access to some great Teaching Notes go to the publisher's website  www.fremantlepress.com.au  

About The Author

     Sean E Avery is an internationally acclaimed sculptor, author and illustrator best known for his animal sculptures made from CDs and electronic waste, some of which are featured in the SciTech (Perth) and Ripley's Believe It or Not (USA) exhibitions. He has presented at various Writers festivals and represented Australia at the International Waste To Art exhibition in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2014.


AUTHOR'S WEBSITE : http://seaneavery.com/home.html