A Properly Unhaunted Place by William Alexander, illustrated by Kelly Murphy, reviewed by Sarah Hammond

I seem to have developed a taste for ghost-hunting stories of late, including treasures such as Jonathon Stroud’s rip-roaring Lockwood & Co series, and the dazzlingly and original Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge. A Properly Unhaunted Place is another good 'un. It provides an unusual take on traditional ghost stories in which the living seek to send ghostly beings firmly on to the lands of the dead. 

In this middle grade novel, William Alexander skillfully introduces us to the unsettling town of Ingot.  The protagonist, Rosa Diaz, has just moved in with her mother and is not happy about her new home. Something is not right here.Something is missing. Something important. Although, as yet, we do not know what. 

The story unfolds on two levels. We learn that Ingot is strange because it is unhaunted: the ghosts that ordinarily exist alongside the living are notably absent. So why would Rosa’s mother, an appeasement specialist, bring her daughter, who is also skilled in these arts, here? Appeasement specialists respect the dead. They negotiate with restless or troublesome ghosts and strike deals with them so that they settle. And why is Ingot ghostless in any event? 

Rosa befriends Jasper, a local boy, whose parents are heavily involved in the renowned Renaissance Festival that reenacts historical events on a grand scale all summer long. As Jasper introduces Rosa to the festival, the unthinkable happens -- a ghost bursts out of the forest towards the living. 

Alexander's writing is tight, poetic and concise. Humour threads through the story too, introducing the reader to memorable characters: the motorbike riding ghost who does not realize he is dead; the candlemaker who will only converse in old-fashioned speech; the librarian with 'wispy hair, white gloves, and aggressive eyebrows.'

Kelly Murphy's illustrations are scattered sparsely throughout the text. My favourites include her depictions of the otherworldly creatures, and also the image of Jasper with his armour-clad father, cleverly reflecting the face of Rosa in the chest-plate. 


Rosa confronts the questions raised by the unexpected ghost and, together with Jasper, begins to investigate its origins and ultimately Ingot’s past that seems lost beyond the townspeople’s collective memory. 

And this leads us to the second, deeper level underpinning the story. Rosa’s mother describes herself as a ‘servant of memory’ in her ghostly appeasement work. Without memory, without our past and our ghosts, what is left? Rosa comes to realize that Ingot’s celebrated Renaissance Festival is, in fact, ‘a funeral… a wake. They hold it every summer, all summer long, to mourn the history they don’t have and don’t even remember losing.’ ‘Starved of history, they patched together new echoes from mismatched fragments. Unhaunted, they learned how to haunt themselves.’

Ultimately the past and the present must make peace with each other and learn to coexist. It is healthy to remember our ghosts and welcome them in. 

www.sarahhammond.org 

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The Wooden Camel by Wanuri Kahiu and Manuela Adreani reviewed by Chitra Soundar

I am a big believer in dreams and visualising the future. Although that wasn’t the reason I picked up The Wooden Camel written by Wanuri Kahiu and illustratedby Manuela Adreani published by Lantana Publishing. What drew me into the book was the amazing cover illustration that shows a boy racing a camel. Juxtaposed against the title The Wooden Camel, it alerted me to the dream, the aspiration of the young boy.

Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.

Anais Nin

Etabo has a hard life and like any other child he takes it in his stride. His ambition and dream is to become a camel racer. But difficult circumstances lead them to selling all their camels almost closing the door on Etabo’s dreams.

But as Paul Coelho once said, only fear of failure can stop one from achieving his dreams. It is true in Etabo’s case. However dire the circumstances, he doesn’t give up and neither does his sister allow him to let go of his dreams. When you lose what you have and all you have left is family, you learn to look after them and keep their dreams alive, even at the cost of your own. In this story Etabo’s sister demonstrates her love by making him a wooden camel.

Will it assuage Etabo’s  hunger for racing and allow him to let go or would it keep the flame alive? Knowing Etabo, I think his dreams will come true one day.

 This book was chosen as one of the 21 Must-Reads for Empathy by Empathy Lab UK and The Sunday Times. I love the vastness of the desert, the resting goat on the acacia tree and the hope in every page in spite of the troubles the characters face.

Is it a story just for those in troubled parts of the world? Then perhaps it is for all of us – we all live in troubled spots. There are many children in the UK who live in poverty, there are children in refugee camps across the world and there are children who seemingly have everything, but perhaps still are dreaming about something else. It is for all these children, wherever they are. Today’s dreamers are tomorrow’s leaders, creators and peacemakers. And may they all have the courage to dream a world that is full of love, peace and a well-looked after nature.

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Chitra Soundar is an Indian-born British writer of children's books. Find out more at www.chitrasoundar.com or follow her on Twitter @csoundar.

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As Brave As You by Jason Reynolds, reviewed by Sarah Hammond

I read As Brave As You some time ago, yet the characters — three dimensional, complicated and memorable — are still very vivid in my mind. This middle grade contemporary novel tells the story of two African-American brothers, 11 year old Genie and his elder brother, Ernie, who spend the summer with their estranged grandparents in rural Virginia while their parents have time alone to work on their marital problems. 

We see the story through Genie’s eyes, a thoughtful boy and a worrywart. As Genie tries to understand the world, he writes down a barrage of questions in his notebook. However, without regular access to the Internet, many questions go unanswered. And although he is eager to please, Genie keeps making mistakes that haunt him. He accidentally breaks the wheel of a cherished toy truck that belonged to his late Uncle Wood. He has an even worse mishap in his Grandpop’s ‘nunya bidness’ room. How is he going to put things right? 

As well as experiencing these anxieties, Genie also eases into rural life. He tastes homemade grits and too-sweet tea. Grandma is strict and expects her grandsons to help with chores, learning to pick peas from her garden, then sell them at market. The boys also develop a secret, rather unorthodox poop-flinging method to clean up after the dog, Samantha. 

Many of the characters are quirky. Ernie, a cool dude, always wears shades and seeks to impress the ladies, yet poignantly struggles with the proposed rite of passage on his fourteenth birthday. We also meet a hypochondriac mother, a dentist who sells ‘celebrity teeth’ at the local market, Crab who goes hunting in the woods for hours yet fails to hit a creature. However, Grandpop is perhaps the most complicated of all. A proud blind man who carries a gun, he is self-sufficient yet vulnerable, full of contradictions and love for his family. It is the developing relationship between Grandpop and Genie that beats as the heart of the story. 

Despite the lack of reliable access to Google, some deep questions that Genie raises are answered over the course of the summer. Why had he not met Grandpop before this trip? Why did no-one tell Genie that Grandpop was blind? Why does Dad not want to talk to his own father? What is the untold story about Uncle Wood? And what happened, long ago, that forged his grandparents’ characters? We are gently reminded of the injustices of the African-American past that still reach out and affect the present. And as Genie learns about bravery in its many forms, he also finds bravery within himself.

www.sarahhammond.org 

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What’s cooking, Jamela? by Niki Daly reviewed by Chitra Soundar

  

It’s Christmas and even if it doesn’t snow in South Africa for Christmas, a chicken meal at the centre of the table is a must. Well that’s what everyone tells Jamela. But Jamela has named her chicken Christmas. And you  know what happens when you name farm animals – they become friends. And of course you can't eat them.

In this wonderfully authentic story that charts the hilarious adventure of Jamela and her chicken Christmas, we run through the township, meet wonderful characters, hear African dialects and words in context, and worry for the chicken.

The Jamela series by Niki Daly, published by Frances Lincoln are enduring stories that show us the life of people we are less familiar with – but not with a moral or a lesson about life in South Africa or showcasing the poverty like charity ads do – these celebrate life. These show characters in-situ and show us how these characters are just like us, even though they are far away, they speak a different language and wear colourful clothes (which I absolutely love).

 

These stories also remind me of the young graphic novel that Flying Eye Books translated from French – Akissi – of the little girl in an African township, running on barefeet, bringing trouble and solving problems.

Did or did they not eat chicken for Christmas? Did they eat Christmas the chicken? Maybe you will read and find out and also find other Jamela books out there.

www.chitrasoundar.com

@csoundar

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Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke, illustrated by Lauren Tobia, reviewed by Sarah Hammond

Anna Hibiscus is an engaging chapter book for readers aged 6 and upwards, and charts the adventures of the eponymous heroine in her colourful African life. At a time when there is a welcome drive toward diversity in children’s fiction, this is a warm and inviting story for early readers. 

Anna lives with her boisterous, extended family in an ‘old white house’ near an unspecified African city. Her father is African, her mother Canadian, and she has young twin brothers Double and Trouble, together with her grandparents, many aunties and uncles and 'big' and 'little' cousins. The sense of community is strong, and the reader is given a view of a new way of living. Character names are inventive — Chocolate, Auntie Comfort, Uncle Bizi Sunday, Wonderful to name a few — and the vibrant settings, rituals of life, dress codes, manners and expectations are sprinkled throughout the story to give a strong visceral sense of everyday African life. 

In fact, the theme of comparing worlds runs through the whole book. It is not only the reader who learns about another culture: Anna Hibiscus and her family explore these differences, too. Anna’s Canadian mother offers another perspective on everyday choices — should they spend a holiday as an immediate family unit, or with the whole extended family? Is peace and quiet better than noisy hustle and bustle? Similarly, Anna’s Auntie Comfort now lives in America and returns home to visit. We see how she feels about her African heritage, and how her family at home responds to her new life. Likewise, traditional life rubs alongside modern technology and developments. Anna, too, has a lively mind, and she is curious and tests her boundaries, both within the world she knows and by looking to countries beyond.

The illustrator, Lauren Tobia, adds much to the storytelling by giving visual clarification to young readers with her friendly, personable drawings.

This book is divided into four chapters and each tells a self-contained story. The style is simple and evocative. For instance, when Anna's father is faced with a problem, he goes swimming: '[his head] was a black ball in the waves. A black ball getting smaller and smaller. Just before it disappeared, it began to grow big again. Anna's father swum back with an idea.'  Every chapter starts with a similar refrain, inviting us to sink into ‘amazing Africa’, and ends with Anna Hibiscus (and, vicariously, the reader) learning a life lesson. We realise the value of family, of remembering where you come from while also adapting to change, the importance of seeing things from someone else’s perspective, and how great things happen when you use your initiative to follow a dream.   

Most importantly, although the stories describe unfamiliar cultures and places, there is much that a young reader will find to identify with in Anna’s curiosity and liveliness. The tone of the stories is good-natured and speckled with humour. I was left with the impression that there is more that unites those of different cultures than divides them, that the whole world itself is a colourful community to enjoy.

www.sarahhammond.org

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THE SHIVER STONE by Sharon Tregenza. Reviewed by Saviour Pirotta

Title: THE SHIVER STONE
Author: Sharon Tregenza
Publisher: Firefly Press
Publication date:
Paperpack

I was seduced into buying Sharon Tregenza's The Shiver Stone by its bold blue cover. I'm a sucker for beach scenes on book covers. They remind of my own childhood visits to the sea, and of my favourite Enid Blyton adventures, especially The Secret Island and Five on a Treasure Island.

The Shiver Stone has the same breathless, exciting pacing as Blyton's best. But whereas Blyton's characters tend to be smug and middle-class, here is a cast that reads true to modern life and that young 21st century readers will empathise with.

Set in a fictional Welsh coast town, the story is part mystery, part social comment. Carys is furious with her mum and dad who have split up, with mum jetting off abroad to help patients with HIV and Dad falling in love with a new woman. When she tries to uncover the identity of an artist who is creating secret beach art, Carys sets off a chain of events that not only leads to a humdinger of an adventure but also to big time changes for all the members of the family. And an adorable dog!

Tregenza has an easy, punchy writing style that makes this book a perfect read summer or winter. Grab a copy!

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