Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: Father

  • My Especially Weird Week with Tess

    My Especially Weird Week with Tess

    Translated from the Dutch by David Colmer My Especially Weird Week With Tess from Anna Woltz, is an amazing journey into the world of young teens who are slightly different in their approach to life. There is so much to ponder and consider, especially where do you find a parent, a Dad to be exact!

    Sam, his brother and father, are staying at a holiday house. In fact, they have just arrived and gone down to the beach to play a game of footy. Sam suddenly hears his brother scream and runs towards him, as does his dad.  

    They see that Jasper has fallen down a hole. He is in pain and says that he heard a crack. Dad carries him on his back to the car, then to the doctor’s surgery where they are told they “Should have made an appointment.”

    Sam waits out the back and is hailed by a large girl who asks him if he can play the trumpet. Being unusual himself, Sam is not fazed by this question and in no time at all, the girl is showing him how to dance.

    From then on, many social issues arise and Sam has his head spinning. An old man comes by with his dead pet bird. Sam says he and the girl, Tess, will help him have a funeral for the bird. Then Tess and Sam discuss dying and if the last dinosaur would be sad if he knew they would be extinct.

    Sam asks about Tess’s father. She is annoyed and says that her mother decided to have her child by herself. “If I say I don’t know my father, people want to know how come…I don’t ask you how your parents made you, do I?”

    In just a few chapters, we are introduced to ideas which children often think about but don’t discuss. There is such an easy dialogue between these two characters that issues arising are examined and given thought.

    For Sam, his constant wondering and questioning is just annoying for his family. Tess is the same, so their friendship is one of delight and discovery. For the reader, there is much to delight in as well.

    My Especially Weird Week With Tess has been a made into an award winning film My Extraordinary Summer With Tess.

  • Dear Dad

    Dear Dad

    Father’s Day is fast approaching and with it comes a time to consider just what the word Father means in your life. Sometimes it is nothing other than pure love of a Father for their children, other times exactly the opposite.

    Samuel Johnston, crusader for Cancer Research as well as an acclaimed Actor has invited in his words ‘the most notorious and best loved notables’ throughout Australia, to write a letter to their Dad or the Dad-like person in their lives.

    Each of the letters from notable sportsmen and women, actors, musicians, academics, authors, and others, who took up the offer, have been complied to offer a very honest look at just what that word Father, means to them.

    Heartbreaking, funny, reflective, and in so many instances the words are those that were never spoken to their Fathers or Dad’s before they passed on. For others, it is the sharing of a special moment full of love, one that perhaps would never be spoken but could be written, to their Dads who are, or were always, an integral part of them and their family’s lives.

    Blowing up weeds in the backyard on a Sunday morning with a can of petrol, a love of cars inherited from a banjo playing farmer and Dad, a box of photos and negatives that mean so much, the gift of being able to build a much-wanted tree house and so many more stories fill the pages.

    Many have been selected by Shaun Tan to have their letter visited with one of his delightful characters who will now always adorn the page of this particular Letter to your Father.

    All the letters that make up Dear Dad have been offered with love, to create this tribute in the knowledge that whatever funds are raised from the purchasing of this book, hopefully lots and lots and lots of money, will go to aid Cancer Research in Australia.

    Above all else and as you dip into the pages of this treasure of a book, it reminds you to say how you feel to your loved ones, not just your Dad, time and time again, before it is far too late.

     

     

  • Up to Something

    Up to Something

    There’s a race coming up and Billy wants to enter a car in it. He was very excited and when he heard Dad banging and crashing in the shed. He thought that perhaps he and Dad could maybe build a small racing car by working together.

    It took some talking for Billy to get Dad to let him help, but Dad’s idea of helping was not the same as Billy’s. Billy wanted to hammer, and bang, and saw as well, not just sweep the workshop floor and pass tools to Dad.

    Billy watched Dad working then went out and found all the things he needed to build his very own car, banging and hammering and creating his very own racing car.

    By the end of the afternoon they had both finished and when Dad wanted to see what Billy had been doing all afternoon, he was very surprised indeed.

    Katrina McKelvey in Up to Something has crafted a gentle, heart-warming homily based on working together, sharing, teaching and learning to create something special, to build special memories that last a lifetime.

    Perfect for reading together and perfect to remind parents that children are capable of achieving great things, even though they may not be perfect, when they work together as a team.

    Kirrili Lonergan has once again drawn a series of illustrations with a distinct quirkiness to them, as Billy’s ideas of being just like Dad bring with them a huge smile and a big tick for inventiveness, something children are incredibly good at being able to achieve when given the opportunity.

    A lovely tale to share and discuss.