What have we been reading at school?

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Year Five and Six students read this book this week in preparation for their mini library assignment this term.

Take a moment to read what this reviewer has said about this book.

 

 

One Minute’s Silence
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By Admin on January 16, 2015 · ANZAC Books, Highly Recommended, Information Books, Picture Books

one minute’s silence

CAMILLERI, Michael (illus.) David Metzenthen (text) One Minute’s Silence Allen & Unwin, 2014 unpaged $29.99 ISBN 9781743316245 SCIS 1668846

This must surely be one of the most important, significant, poignant and thought provoking picture books, or novels, about Gallipoli and the ANZACS to have been published. The title is a metaphor that stills the heart, while challenging the intellect and demanding an emotional response. The stark black and white drawings are probably the most arresting among the spate of war books – especially those devoted to examining the truth behind the propaganda; the reality of warfare generally; and the ANZAC legend in particular.

Both text and illustration are wonderfully balanced to demand the reader to both think and feel; and to deeply ponder the implications arising from this outstanding book. It portrays both in word and picture what Gallipoli was like and what it meant to the two opposing forces – perhaps, more importantly, what it should mean to us today.

The title carries a weight of meaning in that it implies both personal reflection and also, perhaps a pause in hostilities. The two male figures on the cover, shown in silent reflection, are those of an Anzac and a Turk each balancing the other. The point of this thought-provoking book is to show the common humanity of the opposing forces; and the fact that cultural differences can be swept aside, even in the face of national conflict. In a sense, the opening double spread showing ten young men and women in relaxed positions, reflecting on their daily lives in their poses and occupations, demonstrate how much we have in common, one with the other. Male or female of all nationalities and personalities, we are, each of us, a unique specimen of humanity. The text asks the reader to put aside racial, political and ideological differences and imagine what it must have been for Australian soldiers and Turkish fighters to experience a grinding in the guts as ‘twelve thousand wild colonial boys ‘dash ‘across the shivering Turkish sand in the pale light of a dairy farmer’s dawn lashed with flying lead.’ Then it asks the reader to imagine in silence ‘lines of young Turkish soldiers from distant villages, hearts hammering, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in trenches . . . firing on the strangers wading through the shallows, intent on streaming into the homeland of the Turkish people’.

On every page the reader is confronted verbally and through the intensity of the illustrations with what it is like to be at war with people who have so much in common. We are spared nothing of the brutality, the horror and the anguish on both sides of the trenches; but we are also reminded of everyday life, and ‘in one minute’s silence’ what it was like in the trenches; what the combatants on each side feel as they are conflicted by forces beyond their control. This significant book not only places war in a broad, humane perspective but dramatizes what conflict means to sentient beings and ‘quietened hearts’.

reviewed by Maurice Saxby

Retrieved from http://readingtime.com.au/one-minutes-silence/#prettyPhoto

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A heartfelt story of the bond of love and devotion between a man and his dog in war.

Matthew, a young Australian soldier, smuggles his beloved dog, Digger, onto the troop ship when he leaves to fight in World War One. At the front, Matthew works as a stretcher-bearer and Digger helps him rescue the wounded. Together, they face the triumphs and tragedies of the Western Front.

Based on the true story of Driver, a puppy that was smuggled onto an Australian troop ship during World War One, this heartfelt story shows that the bond of love and devotion between a man and his dog cannot be broken, even by the tragedy of war.

 

BOOK REVIEW: Digger: The Dog Who Went To War by Mark Wilson
Hachette Australia
March 2015
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
8 ½ /10

Heartbreakingly sad, the story of young Australian soldier Matthew who smuggles his beloved dog Digger onto a troop ship during World War One is lovingly rendered in glorious oil colours by Mark Wilson.

As Matthew toils on the battlefields of the Western Front as a stretcher bearer, risking his own life whilst helping others, protecting Digger as best he can against the inhuman onslaught, his story is told in reflections, letters home to sister Anna, and Wilson’s evocative illustrations.

Timely, on this centenary of the ANZACs, Digger: The Dog Who Went To War is as tale of courage and mateship, of duty and the horrors of war – one that all children should read, so that we should never forget what happened, and how much we have to thank those who sacrificed the most, and the strength and unflinching support we are so lucky to enjoy from our furry friends.

Retrieved from: http://magazine.100percentrock.com/reviews/book-reviews/201505/115020

 

 

 

Our stage 2 classrooms have looked at Varmints and the devastating effect the Varmints (called the others) have on life where the native creatures of the plains live at one with nature.

We have started to investigate the underlying themes of the story and how this story may echo real life when one culture completely takes over anothers way of life.

 

 

 

Skellig – David Almond

Skellig

By David Almond

Skellig is a mysterious book based around a boy called Michael, who discovers a strange creature called Skellig living in the dilapidated shed behind his house. Michael later meets Mina, the girl next door, who helps discover the mystery of Skellig.

I personally thought that the book was great, even though it was a bit repetitive at times and that it doesn’t explain a lot, so you have to work it out for yourself. I loved the mystery of Skellig, and would recommend it to any mystery loving fans or junior fiction lovers.

All in all I think that Skellig is a great book with mystery, action, adventure and a hint of romance.

Book reviewers, Rory Graham and Noah Ellis