#LoveOzYA - Readings Bookstore panel recap

Left to right: Marisa Pintado, Susan La Marca, Melissa Keil, Me and Isobel Moore

Hello Darling Readers, 

I know I said I'd try to get a summary of the 'Where's OzYA going right and where's it going wrong?' panel I sat on earlier this week for Readings Bookstore, buuuuuuuut I came down with a slight case of panel-amnesia (I blame my nerves on the night!)

Luckily though, the good people at Readings Bookstore took copious notes and wrote their own summary! Here it is: 'The way forward for #LoveOzYA' and there are some great links in there to the Centre for Youth Literature and Inside a Dog etc. 

AND, Readings have laid out their future #LoveOzYA plans which I am very excited about! We'll be seeing lots of Aussie YA events, a teen book club, articles in the Readings Monthly and lots, lots more. 

I had a smashing time on the panel - it was great fun talking with Melissa, Marisa, Susan and Isobel. And I am very grateful to Readings for including me in the first place!

Here are the #LoveOzYA reading recs that all the panelists gave; 

 

 

 

 

•••

And here's the poster that Trinity Doyle made from my 'readalikes' post. I printed out copies of the poster to bring along on panel night, as did Readings and lots of people took them home! If you didn't get one but would like one, click on the pic! 

And more to the 'Aussie Readalikes' post ... it's becoming a tag, and I am thrilled! Emily over at Loony Literate has put forth her own #LoveOzYA readalikes and they're fabulous! 

Check it out! 

'Frankie and Joely' by Nova Weetman

Received from the Publisher 

From the BLURB:

Frankie and Joely are best friends. They love each other like no one else can. But when a summer break in the country brings fresh distractions, simmering jealousies and festering secrets, can their friendship survive?

It’s the holidays and, together, Frankie and Joely board a train and escape the city and their mums for a week of freedom. But when Joely introduces Frankie to her country cousins, Thommo and Mack, it soon becomes clear that something other than the heat is getting under their skin. As the temperature rises and the annual New Years’ Eve party looms closer, local boy Rory stirs things up even more and secrets start to blister. Suddenly the girls’ summer getaway is not panning out how either of them imagined. Will they still be ‘Frankie and Joely’ by the end of their holiday?

‘Frankie and Joely’ is the new young adult novel from Australian author Nova Weetman.

We meet teenage friends Frankie and Joely as they embark on a journey to the outback – to visit Joely’s extended family – and, unbeknownst to the girls, test the limits of their friendship.

Frankie and Joely are thirteen and on the cusp of all that that means. Frankie is the beauty of the two, something Joely is only now becoming painfully aware of as her best friend draws more male attention. Joely’s mother is protective, in stark contrast to Frankie’s own who probably won’t miss her while she’s gone. These are just some of the tensions brewing beneath the surface of the girl’s friendship – to be slowly stripped away and exposed as they leave the city and head to the drought-ravaged country in the summertime, where these tensions rise with the heat.

I really loved this book that so transported me to my 13-year-old self – well, loved and struggled with my remembrances of how confusing that time was (thank you very much, Nova Weetman!). Frankie and Joely are at times prickly and precocious young women, and then they swing back to the tender middle-road of their long-standing friendship. I loved them, and I was frustrated by them – mostly because I saw so much of my younger self in their nastier qualities.

I related to Joely’s jealousy over her friend’s burgeoning beauty, which is highlighted by the reactions of her male cousins – Thommo and Mack – to Frankie.

As Frankie glances again to where Joely’s looking, she notices Rory staring back at them, a slight smile on his face, and she can’t decide whether the smile is aimed at Joely, or her, or someone else entirely. It’s creepy and thrilling at the same time.

I also related to Frankie’s awkward feelings at being permitted to view the inner-workings of her friend’s family from close-range, both as a guest and outsider.

‘Frankie. And Joely. What’s with all the boys’ names?’

'They aren’t,’ she says, sounding more defensive than she means to, but irritated at the order he said their names. 

‘Round here they are.’ 

‘Yeah, I know. You’re from the city.’ He says the last word like it’s a taste that’s gone bad in his mouth. 

Maybe it’s the darkness or maybe it’s being cross that Frankie was more interested in reading than in talking to her, but Joely doesn’t feel scared anymore. She could never usually argue with a boy she didn’t know, but tonight she wants to.

The book is narrated in third person, floating between Frankie, Joely, Thommo and Mack. I was thankful for the omniscient narration, as it becomes apparent that all of these teenagers would be somewhat unreliable as they map this complicated summer holiday of hormones and heartbreak. I also really enjoyed the too-rare third person in this YA novel because it allows readers to really see the girls develop over the summer, to watch them grow and mark the changes – particularly in sexuality and confidence;

‘Aren’t you hot?’ says Mack to Frankie. 

She smiles at him, knowing he’d never understand why she was wearing a coat on a night like this. ‘Maybe I’ve got nothing underneath.’ She grins, amused as the thought plays across Mack’s face then disappears in an embarrassed growl.

I didn’t always love being in the boys’ heads, but that’s probably because I connected to strongly with the young women that I didn’t want to leave them. But Weetman uses Thommo and Mack to mark some equally brilliant revelations about the changing dynamics of friendship once puberty hits;

He realises this is what Mack does; he plays people, twisting situations to his advantage, even if it means laying others out to dry.

‘Frankie and Joely’ is a really beautiful novel. No character is perfect or perfectly likable here, and I appreciated that immensely – Weetman shows the myriad sides to teenagers on the cusp of young adulthood, highlighting the ways we tear others down to build us up, and the ways such nastiness often stems from our own insecurities and lacking. I feel like ‘Frankie and Joely’ is documenting the last days of young girl’s closeness – as such, it is a rare celebration of the complications of friendship (female especially) that will poke older readers’ nostalgia, and speak to young people’s current struggles quite powerfully.

5/5

Choose Aussie YA - #LoveOzYA readalikes part THREE

Hello Darling Readers!

Yes! It’s that time again when I present you with Aussie YA readalikes to American YA books! And, hey – this idea has got some serious traction recently thanks to Trinity Doyle (yes, the Trinity Doyle of ‘Pieces of Sky’ fame!) she created this fabulous #LoveOzYA poster for people to do with as they will! How great is that?! If you’d like a copy of the poster – click this linky link.

More to that – I’ve had some fellow bloggers and vloggers asking if they can do their own #LoveOzYA readalikes post and turn this whole shebang into a tag … to which I say: GO FOR IT! Yes, please do – help spread the #LoveOzYA love, please!

Now, on with the show …

Because this is a most glorious month for the release of Harper Lee’s sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird, I thought the theme I’d run with this time is “classics!” Yes, Aussie readalikes to some American books that have helped shape the readership … some of the Australian titles I’ve chosen are likewise our own classics, and some are just best fit. So let’s jump in!

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee→ 

Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey

I know, it’s pretty much impossible to match the Great(est) American Novel, but we can at least try, can’t we? Craig Silvey’s brilliant 2009 novel matches on so many levels – and in fact when it was released the tagline for it was “the Australian To Kill a Mockingbird”. It’s set in Australia in the 1960s, in a regional mining town.

Our narrator is 13-year-old Charlie Bucktin who is called to his window one night by Jasper Jones – local troublemaker and mixed-race boy with a serious rebellious streak. Jasper has found something terrible and he needs to share it with someone – so he chooses Charlie. What follows is a town rocked by tragedy that starts closing in on itself to reveal a disturbing underbelly.

I like this as a readalike for lots of reasons – explorations of racism in rural towns, local outcasts living on the periphery and that it’s ultimately a coming-of-age tale. And I like that people debate whether or not Jasper Jones is even YA, the same way people suggest that if it were published today, To Kill a Mockingbird would be marketed to teens. For the record: Allen&Unwin publish it as “General Fiction”, but we all know metadata means nothing and plenty of teen readers have made their way to this book because it’s just so darn good!

How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff→ 

A Small Free Kiss in the Dark by Glenda Millard

Yes, I’m cheating a wee bit. Well, not really - Meg Rosoff is an American author based in London. ‘How I Live Now’ is a huge book. It won the Printz Award in 2005, and was adapted into a great film in 2013, starring Saoirse Ronan. It’s a cracker of a YA book, and one of the few non-American YA books to hit it so big! So I’m including it here because I think it’s big enough, and because I want any excuse to recommend Australian author, Glenda Millard.

Both Rosoff and Millard were writing ‘Dystopic-realism’, I guess you could call it? When unknown invaders cause war to break out in England and Australia, respectively. In ‘How I Live Now’ the book takes place in the English countryside, and we see the impact of terrorist invaders on a group of far-flung kids. In ‘A Small Free Kiss in the Dark’ we see what happens when war breaks out in Melbourne, through the eyes of a young homeless boy.

They’re both incredible and spine-tinglingly good reads, and quite disturbing for being so realistic in current political climates.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky→ 

Letters From the Inside by John Marsden

I love both these books – I read both in my most formative years and they absolutely imprinted on me forever more. In choosing a readalike, I wanted another epistolary-told story that also had a big “aha!” twisting moment. These are also both fantastic character-driven stories, tightly told (‘Perks’ is just 213-pages, while ‘Letters’ is 160-pages).

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson → 

Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar

These are both such powerful books, about young women who have been raped, and how they claw their way out of the dark places they’ve retreated to, and begin to heal by telling what happened to them …

I recently had a debate with a family member around books for young people that have rape storylines – she insisted that they wouldn’t get past parents for classroom/library reading. And I said how insane that was – how are we expected to address problems around consent/respectful relationships/slut shaming/victim blaming/violence against women ... if these stories can’t even be talked about in schools, where a lot of the groundwork for good can be done?

So I’m presenting these readalikes – they’re two of my favourite books because they got me thinking, and empathising and hurting for these characters and if I could I would put them into every classroom in Australia. I loved Laurie Halse Anderson at Reading Matters this year, saying that she writes “resilience literature”. That’s what these books are, and they’re wonderful.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle → 

Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park

I think ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ is a great book, but *whispers* I think ‘Playing Beatie Bow’ is better.

I read Ruth Park’s timeslip novel when I was in Year Six and I’ve re-read it countless times since. In fact, I’m a bit obsessed with it. Granted, it doesn’t have quite the same time travel trickery philosophising going on as L'Engle’s book, but protagonist Abigail does have to consider the consequences she could have on the future when she finds herself transported back to Sydney in 1873.

I think part of the reason I love this book so very much has to do with the fact that it is Australian – blending science fiction and historical fiction brilliantly. I still, to this day, get delicious goosebumps when I visit The Rocks in Sydney because of its significance in ‘Playing Beatie Bow’. Never underestimate the power of reading the YA books of your own country and being able to go there – to that exact place in the story! It’s a marvellous, marvellous thing.

'Soon' by Morris Gleitzman

Received from the Publisher

From the BLURB:

I hoped the Nazis would be defeated.

And they were.

I hoped the war would be over.

And it was.

I hoped we would be safe.

But we aren't.

Soon continues the incredibly moving story of Felix, a Jewish boy still struggling to survive in the wake of the liberation of Poland after the end of World War Two.

‘Soon’ is the surprise (at least it was to me!) fifth book in Australian author Morris Gleitzman’s incredible ‘Once’ series of books for younger readers … though, as Gleitzman says in a letter to readers at the end, he prefers to think of these as a ‘family of books’ rather than a series, because they can be read out of order or stand-alone.

When we left young Felix in fourth book ‘After’ (way back in 2012) World War Two was drawing to a close. Our young Jewish protagonist had lost much to this war and the Nazi’s – his mother and father, dear friend and faithful companion Zelda and too many acquaintances along the way. When we meet up with Felix and his protector, Gabriek, again in ‘Soon’ the war is indeed over … but danger still looms for Poland.

I’m crazy about this series. I recommend it to everyone I know – young, old, teachers and reluctant readers – Morris Gleitzman’s ‘Once’ series is among this prolific author’s best work, which is really saying something when many of his books have been turned into stage plays and won countless prestigious awards. I know that all the primary school teachers in my family and friendship group (and there are a lot of them!) are particularly grateful to this series, for allowing them to tackle these incredibly difficult subjects in the classroom in a way that kids can both understand, be deeply affected by and still utterly consumed by the story.

Through Gleitzman’s books, these teachers have broached the subject of war, Holocaust, death, persecution and prejudice with very young children for whom this is the first they’re finding out how awful the world can be, and has been in humanity’s dark past. In all my dealings with youth literature, I find that I live by one rule above all others, which Morris Gleitzman said at Melbourne Writers Festival 2012 – “If it’s in the world, it’s for them.”

Because it’s important that kids know these stories, no matter how awful and tragic. I visited Japan last year, and when I went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum I found this amazing bookshop that sold picture books, graphic novels and chapter books for all ages, across many languages, aimed at children on the topics of World War Two and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in particular. Because children, even very young children, have to know these stories so that future generation don’t repeat mistakes of the past.

And that’s really what ‘Soon’ is about. The Soviet Red Army pushed out Nazi German forces from occupied Poland, and readers find Felix and Gabriek at the beginning of Soviet communist dominance at the end of the World War Two, over what had become the Polish People's Republic. Gleitzman is glimpsing the periods of social unrest in the country that was trying to heal the scars of war – and Felix starts to comprehend how nothing takes so long to heal as the horrors of war.

Readers have witnessed the traumas that shaped Felix into the strong, kind man of ‘Now’, and in ‘Soon’ we’re still witnessing that transformation unfold. For Felix in this book, it’s really a push-pull of doing the right thing and still struggling to survive.

‘You want to change the world,’ says Gabriek. ‘That’s natural at your age. But only dreamers try to change things when the world’s in this state. Sensible people know it’s as much as we can do to look after ourselves.’ 

I don’t argue. 

I know how lucky we are, surviving this long. How lucky I am to have Gabriek’s protection. 

‘How do you spot a sensible person?’ says Gabriek. 

I sigh. Gabriek says this at least once a day. 

‘They’re alive,’ says Gabriek. 

‘Sensible people stay alive because they don’t get involved in other people’s business and they don’t take risks.’

And there is a lot of violence in this book - don't be fooled that just because the war is over, this is going to be any less a harrowing story. One event in particular happens concerning a woman, so teachers/parents out there may want to read this book so they can have conversations with children afterwards about what happened. I don't think that means children shouldn't read this book - and I'm not advising that "gatekeepers" keep it away from kids, not at all - it absolutely has place in the story because it is speaking to a very true history of war (past and present, sadly). 

This book is Felix coming to the realisation of how wars get started in the first place, when good people who know better stand by and do nothing in the face of other’s suffering. And that’s such a big truth that Morris Gleitzman is presenting to young readers in the tender, beautiful ‘Soon’ that fits so perfectly into this family of books.

5/5 

What literary festivals, conferences and events can do to support Indigenous books - guest post by Ambelin Kwaymullina

This is part of a series of posts that answers questions I’m often asked about what can be done to support Indigenous books (by which I mean, books written or co-written by Indigenous people).

1.     Invite Indigenous authors. Ideally, invite more than one (and invite other authors from other diverse backgrounds too). One of the reasons there is a lack of awareness of the sheer range and complexity of the Indigenous experience is that there is rarely more than one Indigenous writer or illustrator present at any given festival or conference. So does your festival represent the reality of a diverse Australia with a rich and ancient Indigenous history and culture?

2.      Is your festival/conference/event a culturally safe space? There are a number of ingredients that go into creating a space where everyone’s identity is acknowledged and respected  – but here are some things to think about:

a.     Have a Welcome to Country and/or acknowledgement of Country – and for the difference between the two, see the Reconciliation Australia factsheet.

b.     Designate a contact person who can provide support if any of your authors experience instances of discrimination at your festival.

c.      Communicate the value your event places on cultural safety to all participants and attendees – and communicate why it matters. The provision of a place where all voices can be heard is not some version of political correctness; it is a matter of basic fairness in which all peoples have an interest, and especially those with an interest in books. Because if you can’t hear the voices, you can’t hear the stories.

d.     Think about your location. One of the legacies of colonial history is that Indigenous experience of colonialism tend to be far less well known that those of non-Indigenous people. This means organisers can sometimes hold events in places that mean they are unlikely to get many Indigenous participants or attendees, because the geographic location is a place of unresolved trauma.

3.     Acknowledge Indigenous peoples as the most expert sources of our own cultures and experiences, just as others from diverse backgrounds are the most expert sources of their own cultures and experiences. Reverse the operation of privilege by giving space to the insider voices and the insider stories – and enrich your program with the stories of those for whom the cultures, histories and ongoing struggles with discrimination are lived realities.  

4.     Establish a dialogue with presenters before the program is finalised. It can be easy for a program organiser to unconsciously make assumptions about what Indigenous stories are, how they should be talked about and what Indigenous people wish to speak to (and the same is true of assumptions about authors from other diverse backgrounds). Are there issues that a presenter would particularly like to address? Is the title and topic of the session or panel culturally appropriate?

5.     Moderators matter. It is no easy task to be the moderator of a panel – and it is a more difficult task when dealing with sensitive issues or cultural histories. Moderators already work hard, but anyone moderating a panel dealing with sensitive issues has to be willing to work even harder to prepare for their session.

'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee (and why I'll be reading 'Go Set a Watchman')

 Shoot all the Bluejays you want, if you can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a Mockingbird.

Atticus Finch gives this advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of this classic novel - a black man charged with attacking a white girl. 

 Through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Lee explores the issues of race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s with compassion and humour. She also creates one of the great heroes of literature in their father, whose lone struggle for justice pricks the conscience of a town steeped in prejudice and hypocrisy. 

•••

It’s a very special month in publishing as Harper Lee's second book is released on July 14; a sequel written before her Great American Novel (perhaps the greatest American novel), To Kill A Mockingbird. Go Set A Watchman will soon be released worldwide, and I am celebrating by looking back at one of my all-time favourite books – the book that changed it all for me, in many ways.

I first read To Kill A Mockingbird when I was about 9 or 10. And I read it because I wanted to read all my mum’s favourite books, and this was her favourite book of all time (to the point, I was told, that I was nearly named Scout – and I’ve never quite forgiven my mum for not following through with the naming).

It was the first time I read a book and recognised that there was an author behind it – that there were big thoughts and ideas in these words, and that someone wanted to gift them to me. This was amazing. Especially because I was reading it at the same age as Scout Finch was in the book, so I felt like I could definitely be as courageous and thoughtful as Scout.

I remember quite vividly being more caught up in the story of Boo Radley – and Scout, Jem and Dill trying to make him “come out” – more so than in the trial of Tom Robinson. Which, of course, is Harper Lee’s intention. It’s why this novel is the perfect example of “paradise lost” – a young girl’s world that’s only as big as her old town and the extent of true danger is the spooky house on the corner and mean old lady Dubose. But suddenly the world starts expanding beyond Maycomb, as the three children become more and more aware of what Atticus Finch is doing with this latest court case, the trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman.

That storyline – the true purpose of the book – came as a shock to me, just as much as it does to Scout. Even as this story is an older Scout looking back on her life, there’s a sense of disbelief in her telling this part of her childhood tale. Like she still can’t quite believe the way things turned out, how this injustice could play out.

Gregory Peck once did a promo for Universal Pictures, announcing that the book would be adapted into the 1962 film. And I love what he said about this book, which cuts to the duality of the story; on the one hand it’s based around the local myth of Boo Radley, and then it slowly leaks into very real horrors of American society …

 The world never seems as fresh and wonderful, as comforting and terrifying as good and evil as it does when seen through the eyes of a child. For a writer to capture that feeling is remarkable. Perhaps that is why one book in the last few years has been so warmly embraced by tens of millions of people.

Speaking of Gregory Peck and the film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird. This may have been my mum’s favourite book, but that is one of my dad’s favourite films (he really doesn’t read) – so I was very lucky to have him insist that I watch the film after reading the book. It really is one of the best films of all time, and Gregory Peck is perfection.

“Miss Jean Louise, stand up, your father’s passin'” never fails to slay me.

I re-read To Kill a Mockingbird at least once a year, and I’m always struck by just how masterful a storyteller Harper Lee is. I’m forever holding this book up like a prism and catching new light with it. Ditto the film – to the point that I even recently stumbled across this piece of cinematic trivia via IMDB and the moment I read it, I started crying;

Atticus Finch is modeled on Harper Lee's own father, Amasa Lee, an attorney whose 1923 defense of a black client inspired the novel's trial. Gregory Peck met with Amasa Lee - then 82 years old - and formed a strong bond with him. Unfortunately Lee died during filming, so his daughter Harper gave Peck his watch and chain. Peck was wearing that same watch and chain at the Academy Awards the following year when he won the Oscar for Best Actor.

I love To Kill a Mockingbird. So very rarely does a book make you feel like you wouldn’t be the person you are today if you hadn’t read it.

And I am so looking forward to reading Go Set A Watchman, while at the same time I am terrified of it. I’ve grappled with whether or not I should read it at all – given the controversy surrounding. But how could I deny myself the chance to catch up with these old friends I owe so much of myself to? And that is truly how I feel, as so many others must too – that Scout, Jem, Dill and Atticus are my dear friends I catch up with in this Neverland place where they never grow old. I can’t refuse the opportunity to read how they grew up.

•••

I’m also going to read this book because I cannot deny that the world is in need of Harper Lee’s wisdom. There is an eerie feeling of fatefulness that surrounds this book, and the fact that To Kill a Mockingbird was released in the thick of America’s civil rights movement, and right now modern-day American feels like early-1930’s Alabama once again (heck, a lot of the world feels that way these days. Australia included).

(Bree Newsome takes down the flag. Reuters Media Express/Adam Anderson Photos)

Between Black Lives Matter, and the terrorist attack on a Charleston Church back in June – and the fact that it was that shooting which sparked debate around why the Confederate Flag is still unfurled in the American South … and like I said; Australia isn’t doing much better.

Our politicians throw around the term “boat people” when talking about asylum seekers and refugees, as though it’s against the law to seek asylum – though it is now against the law to speak out against child abuse within detention centres, thanks to that Border Force Act which both major parties supported. The United Nations is telling us that we are treating people inhumanely, as cruelly as the countries from which they are fleeing, and instead of doing something – anything – to change that, our Prime Minister instead calls for the resignation of the woman who is telling the Australian people that our Government is threatening our democracy and human rights conventions. Let me just make this clear: The United Nations finds Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers violates the Convention Against Torture. Against torture! And then there’s the everyday racism that still permeates our nation. That Dawn Fraser can say; “go back to where you came from!” and not even see the inherent racism in her remark. That the Australian public don’t seem to pay much mind to the startling numbers of Aboriginal deaths in custody. It's the fact that in the year 2015, Australia still does not have marriage equality because our Prime Minister won’t even allow a vote - that is draconian. And to top it all off - this week Cabinet Minister Mark Coffey wore a goddamn Confederate Flag shirt.

I don’t know about you, but I find myself in desperate need and want of a new Harper Lee book. If only for some of her wisdom, because there seems to be a serious lack in society at the moment;

“The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience.”