Australia Books

My mother read this to me when I was a little girl from when I was four to eight years old, trying to encourage me to always do my best. I remember that at the time, my only conscious opinion regarding the book was that I wanted to have wings just like the title character in Pixie O'Harris's breathtaking illustrations. Rereading it, I've realized just how brilliant and sweet the story is. The artwork, of course, is incredible. But what makes this book truly wonderful is the story of the little fairy, who never used her wings until she was forced to go to a strange wood, along with all the other creatures that never tried to use their special gifts. While a description of the plot may sound saccharin to jaded adults, the tone of the story is that of a proper fairy tale (no pun intended), with a quietly reassuring message and naturally happy ending. The quality of the artwork of the book is enough to make it a treasured family possession, but the story that guides it will make children of all ages adore it.

My mother read this to me when I was a little girl from when I was four to eight years old, trying to encourage me to always do my best. I remember that at the time, my only conscious opinion regarding the book was that I wanted to have wings just like the title character in Pixie O'Hara's breathtaking illustrations. Rereading it, I've realized just how brilliant and sweet the story is. The artwork, of course, is incredible. But what makes this book truly wonderful is the story of the little fairy, who never used her wings until she was forced to go to a strange wood, along with all the other creatures that never tried to use their special gifts. While a description of the plot may sound saccharin to jaded adults, the tone of the story is that of a proper fairy tale (no pun intended), with a quietly reassuring message and naturally happy ending. The quality of the artwork of the book is enough to make it a treasured family possession, but the story that guides it will make children of all ages adore it.

This book is undoubtedly one of the best exposures to Shakespeare for children. My eight year old daughter loved it so much she brought it to school and shared it with the class. Her teacher found a copy and made it part of his curriculum. Parents were delighted and tried to find their own copies. I must say this was back in 1978! I have recommended this book over the years to numerous young parents who cannot find this wonderful book. Very sad. To not have this book would be like missing "Pat The Bunny" or "Good Night Moon".

This book and its amazing illustrations will expose your children (and yourself) to the wonderful world of Shakespeare. Several of Shakespeares best known plays are retold as stories, without the complicated language. Bernard Miles is able to weave these tales so well that you get completely drawn into the characters and the time. Reading these as a kid (the stories are long, probably best for 12 and up) gave me an interest in Shakespeare and help me to understand them when I read or saw them as plays. Don't miss an opportunity to get a copy of this book!

There are quite a number of Australian Bird field guides these days. they all have merit. This one is right up there with the best and is an indispensible, easy to use essential. The Family summaries and short summary of classifications are succinct and informative - they certainly whet the appetite to learn more if the user is so inclined.
I have used Pizzey extensively ever since the first edition in 1981 (illustrations were then done by Roy Doyle). I actually preferred that first edition but it is now long out of print and this seventh edition is a worthy successor. The illustrations are sound and do help identification. The book is too large to fit in a pocket for a field trip but is certainly packable and although I do not use it in the field, it seems robust enough in construction to handle that if the user wished it.

As with any bird watcher, I have all the field guides to the birds of Australia. There are many and they are all good. However, my favourite (for the last few years...it does change with different editions, etc), is this, the "Pizzey and Knight". As a biology and wildlife based guide and educator in Australia, I travel all over the continent with school groups, tours and for my own recreation, so I 'road test" a lot of different field guides. I have found the illustrations in this book to consistently be the best, especially with the waders and shorebirds where it is most important. It also covers the family groups very well at the end of the book, which is important to gain a wider perspective on our bird fauna.
Damon Ramsey
Author, "Ecosystem Guides Rainforest of tropical Australia"
www.educational-tours.com.au

I love this book! The pictures are wonderful. The authors have taken a very complex ecosystem and presented it in such a way that anyone with an interest in ecology will enjoy this book and find it easy to understand.
I like the way the book is broken down in to large categories. For example, there is a chapter on the sponges common to the fiords, the brachiopods, the echinoderms, the fishes, the mammals and so on. I found the glossary to be helpful when my memory needed a bit of refreshing, and the index is nice because they have listed common and scientific names.
The photographs are amazing. Very high quality and professional. The captions that accompany the pictures are also very well written and informative. As good as they are, however, they almost don't do the beauty of New Zealand justice. The scenery is breath taking and the fiords are a must see should you happen to have the opprotunity to visit New Zealand.

This is a fabulous book to buy if you are interested in learning about the unique ecosystems of the fiords. The pictures are beautiful and the information explaining how this unique enviornemnt exists is easy to read and understand. If you have visited New Zealand and want a book that shows the beauty under the sea, this is a winner.

Wow I don't believe it, Amazon has the same wonderful edition I borrowed from the library. I've been looking everywhere for this big 8 tape set read by Wanda McCaddon. My daughters and I felt this was just an incredible story, and the reader they picked made all the difference in bringing it to life. I think this is unabriged version, so don't settle for anything else, especially if your family is going to listen to it. The story is just so interesting it just moves along fine, don't worry about it being too long, you will wish it was longer!

A wonderful book about everyday life in Africa around 1914 through the eyes of a young child. Every page is filled with wonderful details of the customs of the African tribal people, the English characters are very well defined and interesting. The love of the animals, the tribulations of English settlers who have to deal with lazy unreliable workers,the lack of medical services, everything is so real, it is like being there. Humour is also part of the wonderful, sometimes poetic style of the author.

Nearly a year has passed since the death of patriarch Bertram Thorton. Rebecca and Daniel Thorton are expecting their first child and deeply in love with one another. Life is good at Douloo Station.

Daniel, struggling with his feelings of inadequacy in filling his father's footsteps, works long hours and feels the heavy burden of supporting the station, his mother, wife and coming child. To add to his burdens, a drought has hit Queensland, Australia, turning the surrounding countryside to nothing but dust. As a cattle rancher this is disasterous.

For the Love of the Land is a story of love and courage, strength and faith as the family supports one another, loves one another and looks to God for His divine intervention.

Bonnie Leon ends this book with a dramatic flare that leaves the reader breathless.

In 1872 about a year has passed since Bostonian Rebecca Williams married Australian rancher Daniel Thornton and moved to his Dooloo Station in Down Under (see THE HEART OF THORNTON CREEK). Although her father-in-law has since passed away, Rebecca is happy and pregnant. Adding to her feelings of euphoria is her beloved Aunt Mildred has come for a visit. Perhaps her only concern is how hard Daniel works to keep the station afloat especially with the devastating drought.

Daniel feels like a loser as he works as hard as he can but feels failure is pending. He believes he is not the man his dad was as his father would never allow their family station to go under. Still in spite of his efforts Daniel finds each day closer to the doom with only his beloved mother, wife, and now newborn keeping him going. Rebecca, unable to help her spouse, prays everyday for rain.

The return to Thornton Creek is an interesting Australian historical romance that showcases the plight of farmers when the weather fails to cooperate for an extended period as much as living up to the title FOR THE LOVE OF THE LAND. The story line provides a deep look at people struggling to cope with a drought especially Daniel who feels the weight of the world on his shoulders as he believes he is not up to the standard set by his late dad in spite of the women who love him telling him his father would be proud of his efforts. Bonnie Leon writes a terrific family driven Queensland saga.

Harriet Klausner

I cannot rate this book highly enough - thorough research and incredible stories make it impossible to put down until the last page.

Freedom or Death is a collection of stories about the most dangerous aspect of the Australia prisoner of war experience - escape. Here is all the adventure, suspense and courage of ordinary Australians who defied their captors; men willing to risk death in order to overcome almost impossible odds in the loneliest war of all - the fight for the right to be free. In Freedom or Death we meet Australian POWs from all walks of life and all theatres of war: one who fled a German work camp during the Great War; another who escaped from the legendary Colditz Castle and an airman who brazenly attempted to fly a German Messerschmitt back to England. We also re-live the tragic saga of the brutal Japanese death marches across North Borneo, from which six Australians escaped to become the only survivors from 2000 POWs on the march. We follow the incredible journeys to freedom from the Japanese-held islands of Ambon and Hainan by some resolute members of Gull Force. The author, Colin Burgess, is also the author of several children's books and adult non-fiction including The Diggers of Colditz (with Jack Champ), Prisoners of War and Barbed Wire and Bamboo (both with Hugh Clarke). These tales of valour, sacrifice and grim survival are Australia's great escape stories, true stories of suspense and the indomitable spirit of ordinary men determined to escape - or die.

Everyone knows that when it comes to romance, the genre gets no respect. And why is that? This book does something for the romance industry that no other book to date has. It demands R-E-S-P-E-C-T and starts breaking down those barriers and answering the question as to why the genre gets no respect. It's amazing to see how many people actually judge a book by its cover and yet never by its contents. What's even more shocking is to discover that the same people bashing romance never actually picked one up. Or better yet, never tried to write one. It's not easy writing about emotions. Or sex. Meaningful, emotional sex. Not a how to guide. And then there are others that might have read one book in 1982 and based on that, have judged the romance industry since. No surprise people, but the books changed since then! Big time! There's no bodice getting ripped, that's for sure. Yet why is everyone still using the term? Brilliantly, Juliet Flesch weaves through the misconceptions and uses examples and trends. The biggest thing I walked away with this book (being a romance writer myself) is a HUGE class in self-esteem. Which I needed. From Australia with Love not only focuses on the history of how romance writing sparked and developed (not just in Australia but in the US and around the world) but how stereotypes and misinformation (caused by others who never picked up a romance in their life) has both promoted and harmed the industry. Juliet Flesch does an amazing job representing the true essence of the romance writing industry and their readership. So the next time you think to judge a romance by its cover, pick up a copy of this book first and then figure out where you are as a reader or a writer in the most successful fiction genre ever to date.

From Australia With Love is a lively, eye-opening examination of Australian romance writing between 1950 and 2000. With objectivity, humor and irony, Juliet Flesch makes a solid argument for the importance of romance writing and why it should rightfully take its place alongside other genres, such as mystery writing. She skillfully disabuses those feminists who believe that all heroines in romances are poor role models, giving many examples of strong, independent women who have rewarding careers and function in complex webs of relationships. The background information about the huge romance publishing industry is also very interesting. For example, the English language version of a romance novel in Canada is sold in bookstores, while the French version, which loses some humor and subtlety in translation, is sold in drugstores and supermarkets. This entertaining book will engage the interest of the romance reader and the general reader alike. The fact that it is both beautifully written and easy to read is an added bonus.

Michael Palin (of Monty Python fame) is more than funny: he's a perceptive and compassionate traveller! I loved his first two BBC travel series and their companion books, so when one day in Seattle, I read in the paper that the next evening he would begin a third, I made sure to tune in. I wasn't disappointed; from a remote Alaskan island so close to the International Dateline that Palin writes: "The Russian soldiers staring at me across the water have already had the day I'm having" to "the southernmost place of worship in the world, outside of Antarctica", this one is as good an armchair journey as any the BBC has produced. Something special: the photography is, as usual, superb, and there's an underwater sequence in the Philipines that has to be seen to be believed. So, either take a year off yourself (that's about what it took Palin), pack your own forty-eight (!) suitcases and spend your own mint to do this trip of a lifetime, or just do it with Mike Palin. After all, that's what books are for, isn't it?

Michael Palin's "Full Circle" trip involved traveling all of the way around the Pacific Ocean. He (and his film crew) started at the Bering Strait in Alaska and then traveled down the Asian side of the Pacific, crossed over to Cape Horn, and traveled up through South and North America, returning to Alaska.

The trip covered 50,000 miles through 17 countries in ten months. Specifically, these countries were visited: USA (Alaska), Russia (Siberia), Japan, S. Korea (entry to N. Korea was denied), China, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, USA (California and Washington), Canada (British Columbia) and back to Alaska again.

This trip, like the other ones done by Michael Palin for the BBC, was filmed for viewing as a television mini-series. (This version is available on DVD, at least at Amazon UK.) Afterwards, Michael Palin and Basil Pao (the stills photographer in the filming crew) created this book as an alternative record of the trip.

The book is richly illustrated with Basil Pao's beautiful photographs. Michael Palin's text is wonderful because he has a way of finding interesting places and people and of describing them with warmth and humor.

The diversity of the many countries and places is amazing. Artic wilderness, tropics, deserts, cramped cities, huge rivers, high mountains, etc., etc. There are many high points along the way, the most exciting being when Michael Palin had to lasso a camel while standing in the back of a pickup truck that was going over bumps and around bends at break-neck speed!

At the same time, Michael Palin does not shy back from visiting and describing the thought-provoking places along his journey. The Russian Gulag in Siberia, Hiroshima and the remembrance of the atomic bomb, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea and the border between Mexico and the United States are all discussed with unusual insight.

This book easily deserves five stars. Except for the audio version, that is.

The nice thing about the audio version is that Michael Palin reads the book himself, and he does a great job as a reader. But the audio version does not include Basil Pao's beautiful photographs, of course, and worst of all, it's abridged. My dislike of abridged audio books results in me giving the audio book version only three stars.

Rennie Petersen

Need to understand an Aussie? This is your book! Natively I don't speak english; I can understand american speakers but when my daughter married an Australian it was like listening a completely different language. A friend handed me this book to help me communicate with my son in law and "G'Day Mate" did the miracle! It was very helpful for understanding certain qualities in the language used in Australia. I highly recommnd this book to anyone, english speaker or not, who wants to speak "aussie" or at least understand it.

Need to understand an Aussie? This is your book! Natively I don't speak english; I can understand american speakers but when my daughter married an Australian it was like listening a completely different language. A friend handed me this book to help me communicate with my son in law and "G'Day Mate" did the miracle! It was very helpful for understanding certain qualities in the language used in Australia. I highly recommnd this book to anyone, english speaker or not, who wants to speak "aussie" or at least understand it.