Free book for a week...

Help, I've run out of books!

Don't worry - I have just the book for you...

New Zealand award winning author, Bren MacDibble (How to Bee, The Dog Runner and Across the Risen Sea) has offered Across the Risen Sea, free for a week, as part of the COP26 Virtual Book Showcase:

You can read it here:

https://ocean.exacteditions.com/issues/95823/spread/1

Now if you don't finish it in a week, just write down the page number you were on, and come and see me when we're back at school. I have a copy in the library you can borrow (or reserve if it's out).

This is what Bren MacDibble has to say on Twitter about her book being showcased as part of COP26:

"I'm proud that a book of mine is being showcased in the lead up to the UN Climate Change Con in Glasgow. I mean, it's really something to be selected. My wild perspectives of climate changed futures is part of a larger and vitally important discussion. The UN!"

I am personally a fan of MacDibble's books and have written reviews for the first two books. Here is my review on How to Bee 

and here's my review on The Dog Runner

Here's a quick review I wrote about Across the Risen Sea on my Goodreads:

"This story has it all for readers who love adventure. Crazy pirates, crocs, sharks, sailing about on a catamaran on the risen sea... a futuristic Valley of the Sun and a people who live gently on this earth. There is mystery and friendship, great character arcs, and community. The story is told in the youthful unschooled voice of Neoma, which added authenticity and made it slightly more challenging to read. The challenge pays off, as we really feel connected to her and her fishing folk world. My favourite of the three recent books written by Macdibble. I’ll be recommending this to our y5/6 teachers as a read aloud."

I hope you enjoy reading the free copy of Across the Risen Sea.

And please send me your book reviews for the Book Review Challenge.

The Dog Runner - Bren MacDibble

A red fungus has destroyed all grass and grains. City people are starving. Ella and her half brother, Emery need to escape the city to find their mother and find food. But how will they traverse a dry and dangerous land? With a land-sledge and five "doggos" (dogs).

The characters embark on a gruelling cross country journey where they are challenged to the maximum. They go mushing and meet some dodgy criminals along the way. 

Emery is injured, and Ella has to dig deep. She has always been under his shadow, but now she has to step up and make life-saving decisions. Ella's character arc is subtle and believable.

I personally love the doggos and their interaction with the characters. As a dog lover, I felt that Bren did an excellent job in capturing the body language and behaviour of dogs. The story is dystopian and otherworldly, and the plot charges along at a breathtaking pace. 

Although bleak, there is a glimpse of hope at the end. Thankfully the ancient grains, mushrooms and wisdom of the first people - may be enough for them to begin to produce food for the planet again.

I would recommend this book to our seniors.

Teacher notes:

https://www.allenandunwin.com/documents/teachers-resources/1454-dogrunner9781760523572tt

Awards:

Winner Aurealis Awards 2019 - Best Children's Fiction

Winner of the Junior Fiction Wright Family Foundation Esther Glen Award in the 2019 NZ Book Awards for Children & Young Adults 

CBCA Shortlist: Book of the Year-Younger Readers  

Three books by Bren MacDibble

Kia Ora,

I hope you're all doing okay today.

I want to share three books with you, written by multiple award-winning author, Bren MacDibble. Bren was born in Whanganui, New Zealand. She has lived in "a muddle of backwater villages, farms and towns in heartland New Zealand" (http://macdibble.com/about.html). Bren lives in Australia currently. After a house fire, she moved into a bus. 

How to Bee, The Dog Runner and Across the Risen Sea, are written for teens. I would recommend them to the stronger readers at our school, who are not overly sensitive. All three books tackle a different aspect of anticipated environmental issues - through the telling of an exciting narrative.

How to Bee:

In a futuristic world, where bees are extinct, the children of poorer farming communities vie for positions as "Bees". The nimble and quick tree climbers use feathered "wands" and pollen carrying satchels to pollinate the fruit trees by hand. Immediately the reader is thrust into a different world, with unique challenges and unusual sayings. 

I was initially hooked in, trying to interpret this new and strange world. Peony is a delightfully lively girl. She is nine, and you need to be ten to be a bee pollinator. Her life's ambition is to qualify as a "Bee". Her character is instantly likeable.

She is unaware of how poor they are on the communal farm, and of how simply they live until she is snatched and taken to the city by her mother, who is looking for a better life. Like the Hunger Games, the divide between the rich and poor is striking. There are moments of domestic abuse which may be unsettling for the more sensitive reader - however, the book is not without its lighter moments. 

I enjoyed the friendship Peony develops with Esmeralda. It reminded me a little of the Secret Garden. Esmeralda is cosseted and afraid of the outdoors. Feisty Peony helps to draw her out of her shell, while Esmeralda learns to be brave and helps Peony back to the place she calls home.

Here are some teacher resources if you would like to explore this book further:

https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/childrens/childrens-fiction/How-to-Bee-Bren-MacDibble-9781760294335

Book reviews for the next two books will follow soon!