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Five very different young women sent to the woods to learn about Icelandic horses; beautiful, fluffy, stocky horses with an uncanny ability to survive harsh climates and dangerous terrain. But this summer camping trip reveals their true power – the horses and their young riders travel centuries into the past to save the village of their ancestors.
Teen aged girls who love “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King”, “Chronicles of Narnia” and “Stardust” will LOVE “Ariel’s Journey” as the book combines the love of horses, adventure, fantasy, romance and the trials of teenage life in one power-packed read.
This novel about 15 year old Ashley Asher who escapes from six years of sexual abuse by her stepfather has to be fastest book I’ve finished reading ever since I became a mother!
Seriously, the unravelling of the story kept my eyes glued to the book for nearly four hours.
When I read about how a 9 year old girl plans on a daily basis how to avoid the stepfather her mother is infatuated with, I just had to find out how long:
a) the poor child (grade 4 US, standards 3-4 Malaysia) could survive such physical, mental and sexual abuse
b) the mother finally finds out and does something about it
c) before someone finds out about the stepfather and beats the crap out of him or throws him to jail
In the first few pages, I am HORROR-STRUCK at how disgusting a paedophile can be when I read of how the stepfather “Charlie” punches a hole through the bathroom door and installs a transparent glass shower screen to peep at her when she showers.
Set in the late 1930s during the Great Depression, “Ballet Shoes” is about three little girls Pauline, Petrova and Posy who are adopted (by name) by an elderly, absent-minded geologist called Matthew Brown. Each of the three girls have interesting pasts, which come to the fore as they grow and discover themselves.
Because Great-Uncle-Matthew or GUM has no time for babies, the girls are raised by his great-niece, Sylvia and her nanny, Nana.
Pauline is a beautiful child while Petrova is more of a tomboy. Posy, the daughter of a young ballerina who “has no time for babies” has a natural dancer’s streak.
Until today, homosexuality is a sensitive topic in Asia thus when this Singaporean novel was among the book pile of my “Asian Literatures in English” class in the uni in 1995, I wasn’t surprised nobody picked it up. I did and boy, am I thankful to my lecturer for including it!
“Peculiar Chris”, written in the early 1990s was touted as THE first gay novel out of in Singpore. HIV/AIDS was relatively unknown in Malaysia then so can you imagine the reception towards a gay-themed book in conservative Singapore?
The novel tells the story of a well-to-do 19 year old Christopher Han, who returns to Singapore from a vacation in Australia and a painful break-up from his girlfriend. He joins the National Service and there, he gradually discovers his homosexual tendencies.
My coursemates shied away from the book when my elderly, straight, male lecturer gave a brief synopsis - they feared reading about gay love, not knowing what “scary” or graphic sections they may encounter.
Written by the same author of “Madame Doubtfire” (Mrs. Doubtfire movie starring Robin Williams), the book begins with a noisy class of pre-teen boys in the UK on their usual day of traumatising their form teacher, Mr Cartright.
This day, the teacher is reviewing their project options for the Science Fair.
Naturally, the boys all want past projects like “the Soap Factory”, “the Maggot Farm” or “the Exploding Custard Tins”…
If you have a son and are trying to gain a better understanding of what the average young man thinks or worries about, you HAVE to read this book.
If you work with young people, whether as a teacher, a coach, a tutor or simply trying to understand young people, you HAVE to read this book.
If you care about young people with disabilities, whether they are physical, learning, mental or sexual, you HAVE to read this collection of short stories.
If you are a young adult, you shoud read “Down to a Sunless Sea“, if only to see that SOMEONE ELSE out there feels exactly as you feel…even though that person may be a physically handicapped boy or not.
Although the book cover is as depressing as its title, I simply could not put it down after I started reading it. Why? Another author, Rolf Gompertz, sums up the essence of Mr. Freese’s collection of stories:
“Mathias Freese is an inspired, talented writer, a sharp-eyed, honest observer; and a caring, compassionate human being. These qualities inform his dark, offbeat stories about life, making these tales a poignant, precious pleasure to read.”
“Da Chen was born in China in 1962. The grandson of a landlord, he found that he and his family were outcasts in Communist China. Da was an excellent student until a teacher told him that because of his family’s ‘crimes’, he could never be more than a poor farmer…
China’s Cultural Revolution took place from 1966 to 1976 and I recall watching it in action through Leslie Cheung’s “Farewell to my Concubine” where books were burned and art and music were considered crimes. I also recall a glimpse of this terrible tragedy in the erotic film “The Red Violin“.
“If you start to read this book, sooner or later you will arrive at a fence.
Fences like this exist all over the world.
We hope you never have to encounter such a fence.”
It’s been a long time since I’ve been *excited* over a book, until this one. First, the striped cover with the simple title attracted me. The blurb piqued my curiosity and I started to read…
And I couldn’t put it down! Not even on the night before we flew back to China. Hubby was quite P.O.ed with me about it but I really couldn’t help it…
I eventually hijacked the book (and have returned it to its rightful owner)
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas begins with 9 year old Bruno finding out that he has to move to a new house because his father, a Commandant in the German army, has “a very special job”.
Naturally, Bruno isn’t happy about the news, especially as his homemaker Mum is unnaturally stressed and touchy about it. His elder sister, whom he calls “A Hopeless Case” is nonchalant about it and the boy seeks out other folks in the house, namely the Jewish servant, Maria.
Their new house is the opposite of where Bruno used to live - a drab house, a lonesome neighbourhood with no other children in sight. He misses his friends a lot and the only fascinating distraction is that the house overlooks a FENCE.
In his interactions with his stern father, his increasingly nervous mother and his petrified servants, Bruno tries to find out more about the people who live on the other side of the fence. Through his childish eyes, they seem to be having more fun than him because there were other people and children.
His elder sister, infatuated with the young Lieutenant Kotler, is not bothered with him and one day, Bruno decides to go against his father’s rules and do some EXPLORATION. To his joy, he finds a little friend named Schmuel on the other side of the fence.
Bruno is ecstatic at having a friend to talk to again that he just wants to burst with joy - somehow, after a lot of thought, his young mind cautions him against sharing this precious bit of info, especially in the light of other events:
his teacher, Herr Liszt, tells him that the people on other side of the fence are “the opposite” of them and also, a bit about the Aryan’s rights etc;
he witnesses a disturbingly violent scene involving Lt. Kotler and the Jewish doctor-servant;
his Mum tells him NOT to tell his Dad that the Jewish doctor-servant dressed up his wound
The ending is a tragic one - both for the boys and their families. And of course, for 6,000,000 European Jews.
I’ve read MANY books on the Holocaust, both fiction and non-fiction, but The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Reader is the book on the Holocaust from the eyes of the other side, especially that of a young child.
The best one that I can recall discussing this highly sensitive topic in a classroom with young children is an article from the Reader’s Digest called, “Blue Eyes, Brown Eyes”.
John Boyne’s first book written for children, I found out that:
“Unlike the months of planning Boyne had for his other books, he said that he wrote the entire first draft of Boy in two and a half days, barely sleeping until he got to the end.”
Thank God the lightbulb lit up for John Boyne and he burned that midnight oil to pen this story down!
This truly original take on the Holocaust is causing ripples around the world as the book has been translated into languages including Chinese, Czech, Danish, Finnish, French, Greek, German, Greek, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai and Turkish! Various Eastern Europe editions are also available.
A Miramax film adaptation of the novel was shot in Budapest between April and June 2007. The film will be released September 12, 2008 in Ireland and the UK, on September 17, 2008 in China and Japan, and on October 3, 2008 in Finland.
I know I’ll be keeping my eyes and ears open for the movie!
THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS by JOHN BOYNE
Publisher:
ISBN: 0-385-60940-X
If you haven’t read this book, you SHOULD get a copy today:
Comments(0) 
“, if only to see that SOMEONE ELSE out there feels exactly as you feel…even though that person may be a physically handicapped boy or not. 
” where books were burned and art and music were considered crimes. I also recall a glimpse of this terrible tragedy in the erotic film “
begins with 9 year old Bruno finding out that he has to move to a new house because his father, a Commandant in the German army, has “a very special job”.
