The Special
Written by David Stavanger
Poetry
Published July 23rd 2014
96 Pages
Thank you to UQP
Both fun and playful, Stavanger’s poems display wit and beguiling originality. They shift from the oddball to the vulnerable and from the zany to the deeply meditative.
Stavanger’s collection embodies a spirit of the post post modern in both intellect and spark, while playing off cool disjunctions against electrifying erudition. There is a strong trace of the performative and dramatic in these poems, Stavanger’s flair for performance poetry gives this award winning collection a distinct and likeable flavour.
Children's, Poetry, Diversity
Published July 1st 2014
112 Pages
With thanks to Walker Books Australia
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★★★★★
I have not got used to my new mum, even though I love her, I absolutely love her but I miss my happy, painting, dancing, gardening, smiling mum.
Amber Rose and her family are dealing with tragedy and change. But sometimes hope suddenly blooms...
From the award winning author of Pearl Verses the World and Toppling comes a story about resilience and the importance of family.
Amber Rose can still remember what life was like before her mum's accident, when days were spend tending to her flowers, painting, singing and Amber was simply know as her Yellow Rose. With baby brother Jack, her car collided with a truck and although Jack was saved by his infant car seat, Amber's mum has been left with a brain injury and can no longer walk, talk or even sing. So when her classroom is hosting a Mother's Day High Tea, Amber worries that her friends and peers won't understand why her mum isn't like all the others.
After the accident, Amber's family sold their home and moved into a house where now Aunty Fi helps to take care of Amber and Jack. So when Amber asks Aunty Fi to come to the Mother's Day High Tea, she assumed it would be to assist Amber's mum. Amber is scared that the other kids will either be frightened or tease her mother, and Amber as well. But Amber loves her mum, and who said all mum's need to be the same?
Roses Are Blue was not only a beautiful children's story about acceptance, but it promotes diversity and the message of family and unconditional love. The storyline follows Amber, who is still learning to cope with her mother's accident. She's a bright young girl who loves her mother dearly, but after an incident at a supermarket, now worries how other children will react to her wheelchair bound mum. It isn't long before Amber starts to see glimpses of her mother before the accident, the sparkle in her eyes returning and attempting to sing along with the song she sang to Amber as a child, who Amber now sings to baby Jack. It's incredibly touching and through adversity, Amber finds hope that her mother will return to her again one day.
The illustrations sprinkled throughout are simply beautiful, they accompany the poetic style verse with a whimsical magic, and will give children a point of reference when discussion Amber's mum's condition, her friends and even baby Jack. When the Mother's Day High Tea finally arrives, the illustrations show the diversity between the mum's attending, of a different ethnicity, different careers or even an eclectic personal sense of style.
I simply adored it.
I'm back again this week to show you my own weekly round up of news, the best of book blogs, what I'm digging and showing off what arrived on my doorstep this week.
News
● The Aussie YA Bloggers group is starting our Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins group read this Monday. Members, if you'd like to join in, please pop onto the discussion thread.
● Four still wants you to take him home, so enter to win a copy and Veronica Roth signed bookplate.
● I'm also giving away a copy of Disruption. An incredible Aussie dystopian.
● I'm also giving away a copy of Disruption. An incredible Aussie dystopian.
● Subscribe to our Australian YA Bloggers newsletter in time for our August edition.
● Harper Collins Australia have a new blog site, Between The Covers.
● Harper Collins Australia have a new blog site, Between The Covers.
Written by Jessica Shirvington
Science Fiction, Dystopian, Romance
Published April 1st 2014
400 Pages
Purchased
Published by Harper Collins Australia
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★★★★★
What if a microchip could identify your perfect match?What if it could be used against you and the ones you love?Eight years ago, Mercer Corporation's M Bands became mandatory. An evolution of the smartphone, the bracelets promised an easier life. Instead, they have come to control it. Two years ago, Maggie Stevens watched helplessly as one of the people she loves most was taken from her, shattering her world as she knew it. Now, Maggie is ready. And Quentin Merce, heir to the M Corp empire. has become key to Maggie’s plan. But as the pieces of her dangerous design fall into place, could Quentin’s involvement destroy everything she's fought for?In a world full of broken promises, the ones Maggie must keep could be the most heartbreaking.
It's been two years for eighteen year old Maggie Stevens since her father was taken from her and imprisoned, and she'll do anything to find him. Nine years ago, it was decided that citizens would be required to wear an M Band, a simple device fitted to your wrist that ensures the government has access to your health rating, who a potential partner may be and if you register as a Negative, lesser citizens who are seen to be on the verge of being nothing more than a disturbance. So how did a kind and gentle man such as Maggie's father, a model citizen, register a series of Negatives?
Maggie is deeply entrenched into the seedy underworld of illegal bands, and accessing the tunnels that run under the cities. While the M Corporation educates the community on the rehabilitation of the Negative citizens, supposedly being treated in sprawling self sufficient farms, Maggie knows the truth. The unwanted population are taken prisoner and held in underground societies known as Pods, where hundreds, if not thousands, live in poverty and never to see the light of day again. Maggie suspects her father is one of the prisoners, but she'll need the heir to the M Corporation empire, fellow student Quentin Mercer's help.
With hacker and M Corporation employee Gus in her debt, Maggie sees to it that Quentin knows first hand what it feels like to be a Negative, ensuring that the wealthy and handsome eighteen year old's status will get her what she needs to find her father before Cleaning Day, when she may lose him forever. In exchange for her silence and aiding to mask Quentin's rating, Maggie wants access to his father's files, meanwhile keeping up the ruse that the two are now somewhat of a couple. But Maggie begins to realise that there is far more to Quentin than the Mercer family name, and his horror of the control and oppression hidden from his society.
Kelly's Thoughts
Disruption was brilliant. Following the story of Maggie, who'll stop at nothing to free her father from injustice by bribing and blackmailing those around her, a mission she's been working towards since her father was taken two years prior. Quentin plays a pivotal role in gaining access to the Mercer run pods, where Maggie believes her father is being kept. The only way she can recruit Quentin, is to offer to manipulate the eighteen year old into believing he too is a Negative, which would all but destroy his life, his family and find himself being detained. Throughout the storyline, we see Maggie begin to struggle with her deception as she begins to see that there is more to the heir of the M Corporation.
Maggie is incredibly sassy, tough and street smart. I loved her interactions with Gus, a technical expert which she is also blackmailing. He loathes her and longs for her demise, but as non compliant as he claims to be, he's somewhat of a trusted friend. If only Maggie could see how important Gus is. Quentin is an incredibly likable character, down to earth, passionate and although he doesn't realise hes being manipulated, he's incredibly trusting considering he feels he has nothing left to fight for. As the two teens explore the world that Quentin's father has created, the horrors and unjust treatment of those who Quentin believe were once in his position, brings the two closer together, learning to lean on one another. That ending? When it seems all is lost, a glimmer of hope left me wanting, no needing, more.
Not only is Disruption superbly written, but the storyline is explosive, the characters engaging, underhanded but still incredibly charming. This is my first Jessica Shirvington read, and it was phenomenal. I love my dystopian young adult and Disruption is one of the best I've read.
Push (The Game: Book Two)
Written by Eve Silver
Science Fiction, Aliens
Published June 10th 2014
352 Pages
Thank you to Katherine Tegen Books and Edelweiss
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It’s either break the rules or die.
Miki Jones lives her life by her own strict set of rules, to keep control, to keep the gray fog of grief at bay. Then she’s pulled into the Game, where she, and her team, will die unless she follows a new set of rules: those set by the mysterious Committee.
But rules don’t mean answers, and without answers, it’s hard to trust. People are dying. The rules are unraveling. And Miki knows she’s being watched, uncertain if it’s the Drau or someone, something, else. Forced to make impossible choices and battling to save those she loves, Miki begins to see the Committee in a glaring new light.
And then the Game crosses a new boundary, pushes harder into Miki’s and her friends’ lives, and there’s nothing in the rules that can save them now.
Storm (Elemental: Book One)
Written by Brigid Kemmerer
Supernatural, Urban Fantasy
Edition published April 17th 2014
320 Pages
Thank you to Netgalley and Much In Little books
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Becca Chandler is suddenly getting all the guys, all the ones she doesn't want. When she saves Chris Merrick from a beating in the school parking lot, everything is about to change. Chris is different from the guys at school... Really different. He can control water just like his brothers can control fire, wind, and earth. The brothers are powerful and dangerous. And now that Becca knows the truth, so is she.
When the mysterious new kid, Hunter, turns up, Becca thinks she can trust him. But when he goes head to head with Chris, Becca's left wondering who's hiding the most dangerous truth of all.
I'm taking the plunge and creating my own feature each Saturday, The Diva Weekender. I'll be showcasing the books I've bought, received or swapped during the week, pimping blogs, sharing posts and book news from Australia and abroad.
Four: A Divergent Story Collection
Written by Veronica Roth
Novellas, Dystopian
Published July 8th 2014
160 Pages
Thank you to Harper Collins Australia
Add to Goodreads
Two years before Beatrice Prior made her choice, the sixteen year old son of Abnegation’s faction leader did the same. His transfer to Dauntless is a chance to begin again. Here, he will not be called the name his parents gave him. He will not let fear turn him into a cowering child.
Newly christened as Four, he discovers during initiation that he will succeed in Dauntless. Initiation is only the beginning, though; Four must claim his place in the Dauntless hierarchy. His decisions will affect future initiates as well as uncover secrets that could threaten his own future, and the future of the entire faction system.
Two years later, Four is poised to take action, but the course is still unclear. The first new initiate who jumps into the net might change all that. With her, the way to righting their world might become clear. With her, it might become possible to be Tobias once again.
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