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.
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.
