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hollyxbear's review against another edition
5.0
This book was amazing. I loved looking into the lives of so many different writers. Their backgrounds and the way they wrote their mini biographies really showed who they are as people and as writers. I really cannot wait to read more books by these fantastic authors.
allisonout's review against another edition
4.0
This is a charming and eclectic collection of stories about stories. Thirty-two unique authors write about the stories that made indelible impressions on them in their youth and shaped their pathways as adults. From manga illustrators to novelists, these artists teach us about the astounding ripple effect that occurs when a child finds a story that speaks to them.
As an avid reader and aspiring writer, I love learning about how others respond to stories. It is such a magical process to interpet and surmise the author's meaning and then weave that together with your own responses. This creates a totally unique, intimate yet solitary, experience between reader and author. I love that so many of these stories dive into how appreciative the readers are for that experience but also what they decided to do to continue that tradition and why.
I also really appreciated the inclusion of Aboriginal perspectives and the support this book provides to indigenous Aboriginal communities. A few of the writers touched on the racism and prejudice they had experienced in Australia and New Zealand. This struck a chord with me as I had some similiar impressions during my brief study abroad semester in Australia. I happened to fall for a local I met at a club and his mother was Aboriginal. I was shocked by the backlash I received from the Australian students I considered my friends. I'm grateful to learn brave writers are fighting intolerance with education and compassion. Just another way stories are magical and change the world.
As an avid reader and aspiring writer, I love learning about how others respond to stories. It is such a magical process to interpet and surmise the author's meaning and then weave that together with your own responses. This creates a totally unique, intimate yet solitary, experience between reader and author. I love that so many of these stories dive into how appreciative the readers are for that experience but also what they decided to do to continue that tradition and why.
I also really appreciated the inclusion of Aboriginal perspectives and the support this book provides to indigenous Aboriginal communities. A few of the writers touched on the racism and prejudice they had experienced in Australia and New Zealand. This struck a chord with me as I had some similiar impressions during my brief study abroad semester in Australia. I happened to fall for a local I met at a club and his mother was Aboriginal. I was shocked by the backlash I received from the Australian students I considered my friends. I'm grateful to learn brave writers are fighting intolerance with education and compassion. Just another way stories are magical and change the world.
angelofmine1974's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
3.0
My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:
https://youtu.be/2CvDcAYuU-o
Enjoy!
https://youtu.be/2CvDcAYuU-o
Enjoy!
gabbyreadswithtea's review against another edition
4.0
Glad I finally picked this up! Gave me a lot of insight to some of my favourite authors, and ones I want to make an effort to read from.
Sixth book read for The Reading Rush
Sixth book read for The Reading Rush
librarybrooke's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
nerfherder86's review against another edition
3.0
An anthology of essays by Australian and New Zealand authors about the books they read (mostly as children or teens) that strongly influenced them to become writers, or that showed them characters like themselves, or just had a big impact on their lives. A few of the authors I recognized and have read their work, such as Marcus Zusak, Mal Peet, Shaun Tan, Randa Abdel-Fattah, Jaclyn Moriarty, and Kate Constable. The others were not familiar to me, and all of the essays make references to some Australian books and writers that I had to look up. But it was an interesting mix of essays. Each is accompanied by a childhood photo of the author, which was adorable! Shaun Tan's contribution is several cute cartoons of aliens and goofy characters all reading, answering the question "Why do you read?"--"I never know what I'll find!" or "I'm recharging my imagination," etc. And I liked Queenie Chan, the graphic novelist's segment, which illustrates her story about "cousin Munn" the doctor, who gave teen Queenie a manga about a real doctor. Up til then she hadn't realized you could do nonfiction in manga style. A couple of the essays are about books they discovered as adults, however, which to me wasn't as effective to include in a book aimed at kid and teen readers. But overall, a nice anthology.
nerdy_birdy01's review against another edition
4.0
I skimmed and read a lot of the essays. It’s quite refreshing. I really enjoyed this book
wordshaker12's review against another edition
4.0
Generally a lovely anthology on books, reading and writing. I particularly liked the range - while there was a focus on children's literature, there were also writers who discussed spoken stories/tradition, picture books/graphic novels and discovering books at an older age. It's a bit hit and miss if you're not necessarily familiar with each specific book mentioned (though lots of my favourites were so yay!), but I do love the handy reference list at the back.
My favourites: Queenie Chan, Allison Croggon, Kate Constable, Cathy Cassidy, Ambelin Kwaymullina, Markus Zusak and Shaun Tan's illustrations!
My favourites: Queenie Chan, Allison Croggon, Kate Constable, Cathy Cassidy, Ambelin Kwaymullina, Markus Zusak and Shaun Tan's illustrations!
babyleo's review against another edition
2.0
A version of this review was published on Lost in a Good Book
I picked up this book because there were stories from authors that I love to read and the premise sounded really interesting. There’s always a risk with anthologies that a reader won’t enjoy all the stories equally and unfortunately this was the case for me. Sometimes it is only a few but I found with this collection I couldn’t engage with a lot of the stories. I wanted to enjoy them, I wanted to read about what books had an impact on these writers but I struggled to get through many of the stories. This may be my own personal issue and perhaps it was because they were personal essays and not fictional stories, but I kept putting the book down and finding reasons to skim.
I shouldn’t be too harsh, there are 32 stories in this anthology and some certainly were engaging; they were humorous and fascinating stories about how a single book, whether it was a massive dislike or a fascination with a concept, changed how the author saw the world and shaped who they wanted to be. Will Kostakis told how his hatred of a set book in primary school inspired him to write his own story, Benjamin Law wrote how he fell in love with Roald Dahl and reading things ten year olds probably shouldn't be reading, while so many more mentioned that books were their treasures and offered them an escape. There were stories from indigenous authors and how their culture and stories impacted them, and there’s also voices from minorities in Australia who talk about never seeing themselves in books and how the culture of their parents affected the books they were exposed to.
These stories opened my eyes to how different people had access to different books, some read the same books I had read as a kid, and certainly the age ranges between these authors offered a wider range of books again. The reasons how and why these books made an impact were interesting in themselves, I only wish I enjoyed more of them.
The format was not only essays, there were lists, comics, dot points, poems, and a few people had more than one book that shaped them. A nice surprise were the Shaun Taun illustrations sprinkled throughout. Tan asked random strangers why they read and seeing the responses sprinkled throughout with an accompanying sketch was an adorable and entertaining way to break up the stories.
Even though it wasn’t my favourite anthology, I still enjoyed seeing how so many books, especially ones I had read myself, had such an impact on these authors. Just shows you the true power of reading and how people can read the same book in so many different ways.
I picked up this book because there were stories from authors that I love to read and the premise sounded really interesting. There’s always a risk with anthologies that a reader won’t enjoy all the stories equally and unfortunately this was the case for me. Sometimes it is only a few but I found with this collection I couldn’t engage with a lot of the stories. I wanted to enjoy them, I wanted to read about what books had an impact on these writers but I struggled to get through many of the stories. This may be my own personal issue and perhaps it was because they were personal essays and not fictional stories, but I kept putting the book down and finding reasons to skim.
I shouldn’t be too harsh, there are 32 stories in this anthology and some certainly were engaging; they were humorous and fascinating stories about how a single book, whether it was a massive dislike or a fascination with a concept, changed how the author saw the world and shaped who they wanted to be. Will Kostakis told how his hatred of a set book in primary school inspired him to write his own story, Benjamin Law wrote how he fell in love with Roald Dahl and reading things ten year olds probably shouldn't be reading, while so many more mentioned that books were their treasures and offered them an escape. There were stories from indigenous authors and how their culture and stories impacted them, and there’s also voices from minorities in Australia who talk about never seeing themselves in books and how the culture of their parents affected the books they were exposed to.
These stories opened my eyes to how different people had access to different books, some read the same books I had read as a kid, and certainly the age ranges between these authors offered a wider range of books again. The reasons how and why these books made an impact were interesting in themselves, I only wish I enjoyed more of them.
The format was not only essays, there were lists, comics, dot points, poems, and a few people had more than one book that shaped them. A nice surprise were the Shaun Taun illustrations sprinkled throughout. Tan asked random strangers why they read and seeing the responses sprinkled throughout with an accompanying sketch was an adorable and entertaining way to break up the stories.
Even though it wasn’t my favourite anthology, I still enjoyed seeing how so many books, especially ones I had read myself, had such an impact on these authors. Just shows you the true power of reading and how people can read the same book in so many different ways.