An Old Fashioned Adventure for Children - "The Mysterious Benedict Society"

“Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?”

This newspaper headline appears in the first few pages of the The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, the first book in one of my 12 year old son’s favourite series in the last 18 months. The series is laden with adventure, challenges and humour, in the way I remember from the books in my past. The stories feature four “gifted” children, although other than 11 year old Reynie, I’m not sure that his new friends, Kate, Sticky and Constance match today’s definition of gifted, as each are highly skilled in unique ways. Without spoiling the plot, the four children are recruited by Mr Benedict to help him to stop the evil Mr. Curtain, whose plan is to use children to take over the world. By infiltrating Mr. Curtain’s training school, the children use their unique skills to uncover the mysteries surrounding the school – eventually finding that as a team they are more effective than working alone, as their skills enhance those of the others.

My son kept telling me that I had to read the first book, he was so excited by it – so I did. While obviously written for the able upper primary reader (the book is quite long for this age group), the many adventures, puzzles that the children have to work out, and daring exploits were enough to keep me reading. I can see why my son loved this book and the rest of the series. It is very different from a lot of the other books aimed at this age group. It is not fantasy/science fiction which I think has been overdone for boys. It is an adventure that children of this age can relate to, featuring children who act like children, with many of the, now, old fashioned values of classic series such asThe Secret Seven or Famous Five books by Enid Blyton. There is no graphic violence, drugs or children dressing and acting as little adults. The relationships between the children are those of friends, not the potential boyfriend/girlfriend themes that is so strong in the media and other books for the “preens” age groups. It is just good fun stuff.

Some children in the target audience may feel that it is too young for them as they have read Robert Muchamore’s Cherub series, for example, the latter books of which is aimed at a much older age group. This makes me sad. Somewhere along the way of playstations and X-boxes our children have lost the simplicity in their lives. If you have a more sensitive soul like I do, then The Mysterious Benedict Society books may be their thing.

(The books are hard to get in Melbourne - try the Readings chain of bookstores for which is above)

Books to Movies - What's in store for 2010

In 2010, there are a few books you might want to read before you see the movie later in the year.

For the adults, the book which is on my "to read" pile and which I will have to move up closer to the top, is Elizabeth Gilbert's, Eat, Pray, Love.  The film version is due to be released in October 2010.



In my Summer 2009/2010 edition of the Bookseller and Publisher magazine, some other books that may be adapted for the screen in 2010 are mentioned.  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak gets a mention, as does We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver (2005 Orange Prize winner).  The Book Thief is one of those books that you either loved or hated.  Personally I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure how well it will fit the big screen as much of my enjoyment was in the way it was written.  I found We Need to Talk about Kevin  very confronting when I read it a few years ago, as it challenges the premise that mothers are naturally maternal, and offers up the idea that violent children may just be born that way.  Online information implies that We Need to Talk about Kevin is more likely to be release early in 2011.  It will be interesting to see how they tackle some of the more confronting scenes from the book or whether they leave them out.

For the teenagers, the first of John Marsden's Tomorrow series,   Tomorrow, When the War Began,  has been adapted into a movie and is due out in September 2010.  My eldest son really enjoyed this series of books a couple of years ago, and so despite the books having been written in the early 1990's, they have stood the test of time.  Let's hope the movie lives up to it.  Something to recommend to your 12-14 year old to read.




For the kids:  The Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney is due to be released in time for the September school holidays and is based on a series of books aimed at upper primary/lower secondary level.  I read an interesting article on the Readings Books website regarding graphic books and children who have trouble reading, in this case a child with dyslexia.  The series was mentioned due to its use of underlining of some of the text as, apparently, this makes it easier for kids to read from left to right across the page.  I hadn't really thought deeply about how much the way the written word in a book is presented can affect the way our children engage with it.  It should be obvious I suppose, given how much my children like reading comic books such as Asterix and Garfield.

Japan and Samurai Warriors for Kids

Is your son like mine – interested in history and heroes that fight, quirky characters, and adventure? But how do you find books that are engaging for your children but don’t promote the sort of violence that we don’t want our children to embrace as the normal?

For younger children (probably over eight), you might like to try the books written by Australian author Sandy Fussell, set in ancient Japan and featuring Niya, a one legged, aspiring samurai warrior and his school mates, each of which has a disability of their own.

The children attend the only Samurai school that will accept their differences, run by the legendary samurai warrior Ki-Yaga, sensei of the Cockroach Ryu. In the first of the series, Samurai Warrior 1: The White Crane, the students of the Cockroach Ryu seek to prove themselves worthy of the title samurai warrior, by taking on the fierce Dragons Ryu at the Samurai Trainee Games.

My son tells me that the books are full of adventure, humour, and great descriptions of life in feudal Japan, and in the early weeks of grade six, he read the entire series over a few days. Now that he has started secondary school, I thought that he might find Sandy’s new book set in South America in the era of the Aztecs too young for him, but he consumed Jaguar Warrior in one day, even giving up TV so that he could read it. I think that this goes to show what a great story teller Sandy is. I found this review of her new book on a blog I subscribe to.

Sandy also has a great website for her Samurai kids books with lots facts about feudal Japan and interactive activities.

For older children, another series also featuring Japan and Samurai warriors is by Chris Bradford – Young Samurai, The Way of the Warrior. From the Young Samurai website:

August, 1611. Jack Fletcher is shipwrecked off the coast of Japan – his beloved father and the crew lie slaughtered by ninja pirates. Rescued by the legendary sword master Masamoto Takeshi, Jack's only hope is to become a samurai warrior. And so his training begins …

But life at the samurai school is a constant fight for survival. Even with his friend Akiko by his side, Jack is singled out by bullies and treated as an outcast. With courage in his heart and his sword held high, can Jack prove himself and face his deadliest rival yet?

"Judy Moody was in a Mood. Not a good mood. A bad mood"

Written by Megan McDonald and enhanced by the funny cartoon illustrations by Peter H. Reynolds the Judy Moody series of books is delightful. My daughter read the first one, Judy Moody was in a mood. Not a good mood. A bad mood, at the end of the school holidays and loved it so much she’s now reading the rest. These books will appeal to readers moving from the smaller chapter books such as the Aussie Bites series, but also those who are confident readers. Like all 8 year olds, Judy is a mix of moods – one minute sweet and loving, the next stubborn and feisty. This is what makes the stories so appealing to their target audience – the 8-9 year old girls can see themselves in Judy, and this means they can relate to everything that happens in the stories.

As my guest reviewer, here’s my daughter’s review of her current favourite series of books:

These books are about a girl call Judy who is eight years old and her brother, “Stink” and you can’t forget about Judy’s friends Frank, Rocky and Jessica. Each book in the series is about something important to Judy. In Judy Moody Saves the World, Judy took all the pencils away because they were made of wood from cutting down rainforest trees where animals live. In Judy Moody Gets Famous, Judy tries lots of things to become famous like making the biggest human caterpillar with her friends.

I like the books because they are about everyday things, and Judy and her friends work together to work things out.

Zara aged 8 1/2

Children and young adult books feature in the books charts

For the week of the 13th February, the highest selling book title in Australia according to Nielsen BookScan 2010 data (posted on the Bookseller & Publisher website) was "Hourglass" by Claudia Gray, the third in a vampire based series written for young adult readers ("YA") and aimed at the same demographic as the Twilight Series of books by Stephanie Meyer.  I was amazed that this book outsold both of the first two books from the Stieg Larsson Millenium series - an adult fiction series.  It goes to show how popular these books are with our young people and I have to confess that I have read both of these vampire series and can now see what the attraction is.

The first two books in the series by Claudia Gray are "Evernight" and "Stargazer".  The Twilight and Evernight books revolved around the themes of first relationships, and the confusion of growing up, but are interspersed with lots of action and adventure.  The books are a safe way for our young people to find empathy for the feelings and changes happening to themselves and let's confess, who wouldn't want to be the centre of attention of some hunky guy when you're 14.  The vampire bent adds that fantasy aspect that is so popular.  Don't worry, the main characters are nice vampires - they don't attack humans, and the need for the vampire to consume blood (usually animal) is dealt with very discretely.  You get all the good parts of vampires - amazing strength, not needing to sleep, well read and intelligent from living so long, as well as handsome guys falling for "ordinary" girls, without any of the gory bits.

At the top of the highest moving section of the charts are two other children's/YA books - the latest in The 39 Clues series of books, "Viper's Nest" by Peter Lerangis and Robert Muchamore's "Secret Army", the third book in the Henderson Boys series.

An Introduction - My family

This is my first ever blog post - I feel very excited. I wondered what I should open up with, but that seemed obvious - my family, of course, as they are what makes me think I have the credentials to write about book selections. I have three children, two boys aged 14 and 12, and a girl aged 8. When I read out reviews relating to books and movies for children and young adults, the older two often complain that adult reviewers freqently get it wrong as they are not children. Sometimes I think that they have a point there.

My two boys are so different in their tastes in books - one has moved on from the fantasy based novels in the children's and young adult section and is now reading adult action books like those written by Matthew Reilly (a challenge for any parent as you now have to ask yourself whether the content is suitable for a 14 year old). The other is a much more gentle soul and thus is not into books such as the "Cherub" series by Robert Muchamore that his contemporaries read, choosing to read quirky books such as "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian" By Sherman Alexie. My daughter, is new to reading chapter books and she is trying a range of different authors to find her niche.

My husband is not a fiction reader (like many men) but has a liking for military history, and books on philosophy. I read all sorts - crime, literary, popular fiction, biographies, travelogues, and such. I love the new style of cookbooks with their invocative descriptions of far away places and beautiful pictures of wonderful, exotic food.

What are my hopes for this blog? At present, it is primarily for me to put my thoughts on the books my family and I are reading. In the future - who knows?