Well, I know I haven’t mentioned this one the blog yet (being so far behind as I am!) but this is our time to learn all about Australia and all things Australian. It has been almost a full month now of amazing facts and interesting dialogue between ourselves and the friends online who live in Australia currently. While searching for books at the library (and I may add someone else is doing the same topic and chasing me for resources! ACK!) I came across some fiction books under the same keywords. So what is a girl to do but request one and give it a go! So… here goes!

First off, Patchwork Family in the Outback by Soraya Lane is one of a series called Bellaroo Creek (which is also the location they are set at in… you guessed it… the Outback). They are also NOT the inspirationals I usually read, rather a Harlequin Romance, though still soft and without great detail in regards to intimacy… a sort of, kiss kiss fade to black but we darn well know what those two got up to… sort of story.

Basically Bellaroo Creek is in need of a teacher, otherwise its school will close and families will have to move (or as we have learned, take radio school… though this option is not discussed in the book). This is a huge fear for single father Harrison Black who regards life as one bitten always shy… no twice about it… when his wife jumps ship to move to a more urban center. Enter Poppy Carter, wooed by the one dollar a month rent and the chance to make a difference after her own disastrous romantic history.

I enjoyed this book on a rather light hearted, easy read sort of basis. There is no religious component and the speed of the story is relatively quick. I don’t know how true to life it would be, this Bellaroo Creek in the Outback and would love it if someone could fill me in either way.

What I found interesting is the isolation and how the characters reacted to it. I wonder how I would feel out where you really have to depend on those things at hand and people near by with the understanding that outside that bubble is quite the drive to get to more.

The characters are endearing, the issues spring up from the past and the current weather/land/seasonal change. So there is no true bad guy dipping a finger in the pot. I liked that. The intimacy description was well within my comfort range though at times I wanted to swat the man upside the head. So, if you are interested in a light read based in Australia… give it a go… and please let me know if you do!

Well, after Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children book and graphic novel AND Hollow City I figured I would go ahead and put in a request at the library for Ransom Riggs’ photo book – Talking Picture – Images and Messages Rescued From the Past. Definitely worth a look and a borrow from the library.

This over 300 page book is full of varied photographs and commentary from Ransom Riggs. All the photos are black and white or sepia prints though some of the notations made on them are in colour ink. All original to the pictures. The most touching and heart rending portion of this book is under the title Janet Lee. This series of pictures and the notations on the back tell a story worth seeing. (I won’t explain more, you will have to look for yourself)

While I doubt I will purchase a copy of this book for myself, I could definitely see re requesting it from our public library. Ransom Riggs has a real talent for choosing photos that not only tell a story but draw you in, make you wonder and make and impression on  you.

I suddenly have an urge to dig out the photos I rescued from the family albums when my parents dispersed them between us all and put them away properly. In fact, this is my summer goal (since I need to purchase books for them and hope like mad they are still stored in some sort of order!). One more bucket to unearth, sort and prepare and fingers crossed they are still in relative order!

What this book does is make you think about those photos you see at the rummage sales, the old images someone simply scans and puts up on the internet. So many stories, so many events we now have to imagine and guess at. But there is some worth in not knowing, in creating our own narrative. In loving them for whole new reasons unique to ourselves and our view of them as past images. Be sure to check this book out if you enjoy a glimpse of the past from a rather unique viewpoint!

WARNING could be construed as having SPOILERS in regards to the first book and this current novel.

The turnaround on my library requests has been amazingly quick. In the wake of the first of the series and the first of the Tales From Lovecraft Middle School series I got my hands on Hollow City. The second book in the series by Ransom Riggs… Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children. 

With even more photographs from the past, this is another page turner. Definitely darker than the first and equally mature in my mind. I would not worry much about a teenage reading it, though you do need to understand somewhat what life was like in the middle of the second world war in England to truly grasp the horror, fear and suspicion Jacob and the children face during September of 1940. For that is where they are now… in the past and out of loop. 

The Peculiars are in danger, their loops destroyed and ransacked and their Ymbryne protectors kidnapped or worse. Left to face the reality and the danger are 10 children and Miss Peregrine, who has been forced into her bird form and is now stuck. Into the thick of it they go… to bombed out London and all the dangers, peculiar and normal that are there. 

I won’t say more about the story but would suggest these are READ IN ORDER. And possibly with a light on and some warm tea. Really these are absolute page turners. I love that at the end of the novel you can read an interview where the author explains some of his methods, his process and other gems. You would swear the images were taken for the book instead of found, it is all so seamlessly done. Young Adult rated or not, I would highly recommend this series once again for anyone who can stomach a lot of adventure and a return to turbulent times… with a twist. I cannot wait until my request goes through for the third installment – Library of Souls.