Anna Fienberg

OK, even though the one-night stand turn unexpected teen pregnancy is nothing new to the YA bookshelf, this book was a clear exception.
It was beautifully written from the eyes of an unsure teenaged girl called Callisto. She considers herself a 'moon', living off 'borrowed light' off more popular, more beautiful and more entertaining 'stars' (there's the explanation of the title), that is until she falls pregnant to one of those 'stars'.
She aborts the baby, and what seems to be a quick-fix to show more the result of a futureless teenage relationship haunts Callisto for the rest of her life. The book ends on a happier note, though.
A must read. show less

Reviewed by Cana Rensberger for TeensReadToo.com

Have you ever had the urge to eat M&M's in multiples of five? Maybe you try to walk out to the car in an even number of steps? Brush your teeth the same number of times on each side? Top and bottom? If so, this book is a perfect square for you!

Jackson loves even numbers, especially the number 8. He always does one extra repetition to avoid an odd count. When he moves across the street from Esmerelda, he finds his love of numbers is a perfect show more match to her need to make some sense out of math. Not only is she okay with his numbers fetish, but her fascination with his mother's love of singing the blues encourages Esmerelda to frequently pop by for a visit. At school, he meets Asim, who not only understands Jackson's love of numbers, but who might actually be better at math that he is.

Jackson and his mother were forced to move to the suburbs to avoid unpleasantness from his mother's old casino boss. Now Jackson has a new best friend, and a potential girlfriend. His luck is running hot. Until he gets in a fight with Badman, the school bully. And a blue mustang, license plate number 777, the ugliest and most ominous number of them all, starts trolling his neighborhood. And, finally, Esmerelda disappears.

NUMBER 8, told in the alternate voices of Jackson and Esmerelda, is a fascinating read. I found Esmerelda's passages more engaging in the beginning. But as Jackson begins to live outside his inner world of numbers, his passages become more active and pull you along as you feel his fear and sense of purpose. The way Anna Fienberg ties up all the plot lines leaves the reader feeling like they've just sat through a perfectly executed guitar riff while drinking a warm cup of cocoa. Well done. show less

Yr 10 - Yr 12
Callisto, influenced by her astrophysicist grandmother, views humanity in terms of celestial bodies. She considers herself to be a moon, living off the "borrowed light" of more charismatic individuals, the stars. Now facing an unwanted pregnancy, 16-year-old Callisto has to stop hiding in the shadows and rely on her own judgment.
The phase between Callisto's pregnancy test and her appointment at an abortion clinic seems to move in slow motion, allowing readers time to grasp and show more ponder her predicament, her emotions and her complex relationships with her inattentive parents, her science-minded grandmother, her beloved little brother and her callow ex-boyfriend. show less

(04-01-2012)
Over the past few months, my eldest and I have been working our way through The Great Big Enormous Book of Tashi by Anna Fienberg, Barbara Fienberg & Kim Gamble. I think the Tashi stories were fashionable in school for a while, which is how we discovered Tashi. I found this tome, which is the 32 individual books collected into one volume, and had to buy it.

Tashi is Jack's neighbour and best friend (they are both about nine years old), and he's escaped by the skin of his teeth show more from some exotic country (which seems to me to lie somewhere between Russia and China. Where would that be? Mongolia? Uzbekistan? My geography isn't up to the challenge).

Each story involves Tashi having to extricate himself from a convoluted predicament, usually with help from some of his myriads of relatives (with names like Third Uncle or Second Aunt). The situations range from magical (dancing shoes that let Tashi fly) to more mundane (being caught by a gang of robbers) and the villains and helpmeets, who can also be mundane or magical - such as demons - involve a cast of sometimes recurring characters, such as the evil local Baron or the good Princess Sarashina. Each story is richly illustrated with several pencil drawings by Kim Gamble.

I like the way that Jack's parents are always eager to hear the next Tashi installment, and the way, after several passages that set the day-to-day scene (everyone chatting around the breakfast table, for example), you know that the Tashi story is about to begin when either Jack or Tashi utters the words "Well, it was like this ..."

The stories are all fun, and draw you in without, I think, being too scary for young readers. You're always rooting for Tashi, who is a likable hero, and you know he's going to outsmart the villains somehow, in the end. I'm finding that they are good stories for 6-10 year old's to read out loud; long enough, but not too long.

(02-10-2012 : we're re-reading)

From something a friend said, I now suspect Tashi comes from somewhere like Tibet or Nepal.

Kim Gamble deserves a mention for his clever pencil illustrations, which are interspersed throughout the text, or sometimes take a whole double page.

1- Tashi

This is the story that introduces us to Jack and his new friend Tashi, he of the enormous quiff, who comes from an unnamed, exotic country. With the phrase "Well, it was like this ..." we know we're going to hear another instalment of Tashi's adventures. There's a good mix of everyday life, such as when Jack and Tashi share their school lunch, and outrageous adventures that are told matter-of-factly, for which you need to willingly suspend disbelief. Perfect for the target audience, as attested by the fact that Tashi books are very popular in my kid's primary schools.

Not to mention that Jack is constantly exasperated by his dad (oh, so familiar). It's a short story, wonderfully illustrated (we like the invisible Tashi), though probably not as cohesive as the stories that follow.
(3.5****)

2- Dragon Breath

Tashi meets a dragon who is lonely because he's eaten up his family, but maybe a taste of little boy might cheer him up ...

Again, the outrageous is stated matter of factly, and the illustrations are wonderful. I like the last one, where the characters of Tashi's story wander through the garden as Jack and Tashi walk home oblivious. Hmm ... so maybe Tashi does make up his stories.
(5*****)

3- Tashi and the Giants

Tashi had tricked the dragon, who was friends with the 'fee fie fo'ing, dumpling-cooking giant, Chintu; and so Chintu promised to take revenge on Tashi for him. How is Tashi going to outwit someone as big as a mountain?
(4.5*****)

4- The Bandits

When bandits took shelter in Tashi's village for the night, the Bandit Chief's wife noticed that Tashi looked like her son, who had sailed away on a pirate ship, so the bandits took him with them when they rode out. How did Tashi escape, in spite of Me Too's threats with his deadly nose-hair plucker? Jack's dad could never guess correctly.
(5*****)

5- Tashi and the Ghosts

Jack tells the story of how Tashi got involved with ghosts, on the very same night he escaped from the bandits' camp. As usual, his mum and dad get into the spirit of things. When ghost monsters threatened Tashi's village, he went to see his father's Younger Brother to find out why - and came up with one of his cunning plans.
And, at the end, Jack's family are treated to delicious ghost pie, made from a secret recipe.
(5*****)

6- The Mountain of White Tigers

Just one moon later, Tashi found himself in a sticky situation with a truly wicked Baron. He visited his favourite auntie, Li Tam, to find her under threat of eviction from her landlord, the Baron, who also increased everyone else's rents. Now the Baron was very rich, and was rumoured to have hidden his treasure in a deep cave at the top of The Mountain of White Tigers - which are said to be the fiercest kind. So Tashi came up with a clever idea to help the villagers buy their own houses.
(4****)

7 - Tashi and the Genie

Tashi tells the story of the day he found an inept, lazy genie and met his Uncle Tiki Pu for the first time.

I like the last illustration, where Jack and Tashi are strolling along Circular Quay... and - there's someone who looks like Uncle Tiki Pu, working away in the shadows. And ... over there - is that the genie?
(5*****)

8 - Tashi and the Stolen Children

Jack tells the story of how Tashi went back to the old country for a holiday, and had to rescue some of the villagers from the dastardly warlord, while nearly falling back into his clutches (at this point my child got worried, and nearly stopped reading; but we forged ahead, and - as ever - Tashi saved the day). Jack's dad has concerns about the warlord's smelly socks.
(5*****)

9 - Tashi and the Baba Yaga

Jack's dad is in bed with a cold, but perks up when Jack starts another Tashi story, of the time when Tashi went to investigate when strong winds blew Baba Yaga's house into town, and got invited in for Boy-Baked-In-A-Pie. Do you remember your Russian folklore? (And did you notice there's a house that looks like it came from Tashi's hometown outside Jack's window?)
(4****)

10 - Gone!

Dad gets out of bed to hear Tashi tell this one, of the time when all the chickens in the village disappeared. Tashi suspected the wicked Baron (he whose treasure was guarded by white tigers); but there's a River Pirate involved as well.

Loving the illustrations; the gates to the Baron's house look just like him! And the stories are simply, but well, written.
(5*****)

11 - Tashi and the Demons

Tashi rescues a princess who has been kidnapped by demons; but then they catch Tashi. Can he trick his way out of their clutches?
(4****)

12 - The Magic Bell

Tashi's village had a magic bell from time immemorial that tolled warnings when danger threatened, and had saved the villagers more than once. But the River Pirate returns in search of Tashi, and steals it. Tashi has to go after him and rescue the bell.

Bedtime reading to my youngest. He's read them himself, but he likes them being read to him in the semi-dark while he's relaxing in bed tangled in the covers.

I must confess 'three large ladies sat on him' made me giggle. Un-PC of me, I suspect.

(5*****)

(14-10-2016) Coming back to Tashi with my younger son

The Haunted House
Tashi and his cousins are curious about the haunted house but none of the adults will tell them why it's haunted. Then they meet Ning Jing and rescue her from her nasty cousin Bu Li. It's sweet how uncle Joe introduces his new lady, Petunia, to Tashi and I like the way she adds sound effects to the story.

(2018) ... and again with the same son.

13 - Tashi and the Big Stinker

There’s a giant in town - no, not Chintu. It’s his Only Brother and he’s eating Mrs Chintu and Chintu out of house and home, not to mention terrorising the village. And being a fussy eater. But Chintu can’t throw Only Brother out, so Tashi has to come up with a cunning scheme to help change his mind. This one may have stronger consequences than Tashi intended, though!

4.5*****

14 - The Magic Flute

Jack has a moral question to ask his parents which has to do with something Tashi told him; so they happily settle in for another Tashi story.

There is news of locusts in the next village and heading towards Tashi’s village and even the baron is worried. But a strange stranger steps in and promises he can help - for a reward.

A dollop of [The Pied Piper of Hamlin], a sprinkling of [Hansel and Gretel] and a fair dose of Tashi all stirred together give us another magical Tashi episode.

3.5****

15 - Tashi and the dancing shoes

Jack's uncle Joe is visiting so Tashi tells everyone the story of the magic dancing shoes, when Luk Ahead found Tashi's horoscope in time to direct him to find some magical dancing shoes to help him rescue his cousin Lotus Blossom. But when he demonstrated his new leaping powers to the village, greedy uncle Tikki Pu thought he saw a way to profit from them. My 9 year old really liked the first part and really didn't like the second part.

3.5****

16. The Fortune Teller

Uncle Joe is treating everyone to his crocodile dish (except it's not crocodile, thankfully) and Tashi brings ghost pie for dessert. He tells them the story of the time he went back to visit Luk Ahead and learned that his horoscope said he would die on his 10th birthday, in a couple of days time! Fortunately, there is a loophole and Tashi has to rush around getting special ingredients for a special meal ... until he runs up against the Baron who tries to pull a trick on Tashi.

I liked the second meeting with the Baron and the last illustration, with uncle Joe disappearing through the wall (so maybe Tashi doesn't make up his stories?). Lots of fun. But don't read this if you're already hungry!

4.5*****

17 - Tashi and the Haunted House

Jack's uncle Joe shyly introduces his friend Persephone to Tashi one day. She is a percussionist and reminds Tashi of his cousin Lotus Blossom - so that introduces another Tashi story. Tashi and his friend Ah Chu (love these names) are warned against going near the haunted house - so naturally they set off to find out why. Instead they discover Ning Jing who is being held captive by her wicked cousin Bu Li, so of course, they rescue her. That's when Lotus Blossom's talent for making weird noises comes to the fore.

Uncle Joe looks a lot like the actor Terry Thomas.

4****

18 - The Big Race

Jack comes home full of excitement because the school stage had just collapsed and now they needed to think of ways of raising money to replace it. This reminded Tashi of the time he had to raise money to rebuild his school back in his home country and when two strangely familiar demons wandered into town.

Unfortunately, Mum doesn't seem to appreciate Persephone's accompaniment.

4****

19 - Tashi and the Royal Tomb
20 - The Book of Spells
21 - Tashi Lost in the City
22 - On the Way Home
23 - Tashi and the Forbidden Room
24 - The Three Tasks
25 - Tashi and the Stolen Bus
26 - The Mysterious Thief
27 - Tashi and the Mixed-up Monster
28 - Guilty or Not?
29 - Tashi and the Phoenix
30 - The Unexpected Letter
31 - Tashi and the Golem
32 - Thinks-Too-Late

Averaging: 4.5 stars

1 - Tashi
2 - Dragon Breath
3 - Tashi and the Giants
4 - The Bandits
5 - Tashi and the Ghosts
6 - The Mountain of White Tigers
7 - Tashi and the Genie
8 - Tashi and the Stolen Children
9 - Tashi and the Baba Yaga
10 - Gone!
11 - Tashi and the Demons
12 - The Magic Bell
13 - Tashi and the Big Stinker
14 - The Magic Flute
15 - Tashi and the Dancing Shoes
16 - The Fortune Teller
17 - Tashi and the Haunted House
18 - The Big Race
19 - Tashi and the Royal Tomb
20 - The Book of Spells
21 - Tashi Lost in the City
22 - On the Way Home
23 - Tashi and the Forbidden Room
24 - The Three Tasks
25 - Tashi and the Stolen Bus
26 - The Mysterious Thief
27 - Tashi and the Mixed-up Monster
28 - Guilty or Not?
29 - Tashi and the Phoenix
30 - The Unexpected Letter
31 - Tashi and the Golem
32 - Thinks-Too-Late show less