Jackie French

I loved the first four books in this series, and wondered, as I started this story, what I’d think of it now that this book moves us closer to modern-day history. I don’t agree with Jackie French’s position on feminism, and as I suspected, that was a bigger element in this story than it was in the earlier books in the series.

This book shared many of the same features as the rest in the series—beautiful, descriptive language bringing me into the setting, relatable characters, and a show more gripping plot. I enjoyed getting this peek at the space race—I’ve never read about that in the setting of a novel before, so that was fun. It was also interesting to get a bit of a perspective on the Vietnam War protests that were going on at the time, and to see hints of hippies coming through (although both of the latter were very much side issues). Historically speaking, I found this book fascinating.

I also loved the way this brought together characters from the previous four books, more than I’ve seen in any of the others! I loved getting to see where everyone was at, and joining in the journey with them for a bit.

Overall, though, due to the feminism and some of the choices characters made, I didn’t end up enjoying this book as much as the previous ones. I’m still looking forward to finishing the series, but this wasn’t my favorite of the five books so far. show less

I am absolutely a wombat and a Wombat fan. Despite the presence of many WOMBAT SKEPTICS in my four year old kindergarten classes (It's a bear Ms. Jennifer! Wombats aren't real!") I persist in bringing these stubborn, adorable, and, in the hands of French and Whatley, utterly hilarious animals to a disbelieving audience.
I was vaguely aware there was a whole series out there, but had never really pursued it because it's not generally available in the US (why does the UK have so many more show more things available in paperback? It's a mystery.) However, when I was offered a copy for review, I simply could not resist.

The book starts in the same vein as the other Wombat books, as the Wombat has a normal day of sleeping, eating grass, and scratching... and then she finds a hole! This leads her to school where she wreaks havoc in the principal's office, delights and horrifies the children by mistaking things (including their orange socks) for carrots, and herself gets mistaken for a furry brown ball! Finally, she returns home, to the bemusement of the crossing guard and the grins of the children, and settles back into her usual routine.

I find these books endlessly humorous, with their straight-faced, tongue-in-cheek humor. The children wear uniforms, kind of, and backpacks, but the school looks familiar enough to be anywhere and features a small, but diverse class. The brief text, from the wombat's viewpoint, leads to most of the humor as she mistakes things for carrots and other wombat-friendly items.

Verdict: I don't include paperbacks in my picture book collection, or I would buy this like a shot! As is, it will go into my traveling library of paperbacks and I can't wait to show it to my wombat skeptics!

ISBN: 9780732299033; Published June 2020 by HarperCollins Children's Books; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library show less

I’ve been enjoying Jackie French’s Matilda Saga for several years now, and I finally decided this year is the year to finish the series. I enjoyed the first three books; they all touched my heart in different ways, and I even listened to the first one twice!

But this book…this book blew all the others out of the water for me, and quite possibly has set an impossibly high standard for any other book written about the war in the Pacific during World War II. It was that good.

I don’t show more typically like to read about war; fighting isn’t my thing. I also don’t like to read about people being taken advantage of, or of people suffering in terrible circumstances, and this book had both. And even with the way the ending happened! I don’t typically like books finishing quite the way this one did…but I still loved it (and yes, I may have cried a little, but it did finish with some hope, so that’s something).

I read this book four months ago, and while I intended to review it a lot earlier (and even mentally wrote many reviews), it just hasn’t happened. And I still really don’t have any words to describe my reactions to this book.

Except I’ll say this: If I thought the first books in the series had great characters and were hard-hitting, they don’t hold a candle to this one. Jackie French didn’t let up on her characters for one second, and I love her for it, because it felt so realistic. It was horrible, yes, but it was also wonderful. Heartbreaking, but unexpectedly hopeful.

This book had more of a feminist slant than I typically like to read about in books, but just as with the first three in the series, I couldn’t end up caring about that, because the story and the characters and the setting all swept me away and made me feel like I was there.

If you enjoy hard-hitting stories with strong characters and a solid dash of realistic history, I’d highly recommend you check out this book. If I could give it more than five stars, I would, in a heartbeat. show less

Best-selling Australian author Jackie French has produced what I would argue is her best work yet with The Whisperer’s War.
She has cobbled together a wonderful story of love and secrets, hatred and racism, topped off with a batch of beguiling recipes.
The story begins as Lady Deanna Claverton, a member of one of England’s Upper 600 families, interposes days shovelling manure in the grounds of the family’s crumbling castle with nights snooping for intelligence at dinner parties thrown by show more the entitled.
For “Lady Dee” is a spy, recruited by Uncle Jasper, a school chum of her beloved grandfather’s, who is looking for dirt on Nazi sympathisers as World War II begins.
Throw in a surprise visit by Lady Dee’s titled American cousin, a friendship with a talented Aussie pilot, the arrival of three young, homeless sisters and recollections of meeting with the Duke of Windsor before he gave up the throne to live in France with his lover, American divorcee and socialite Wallis Simpson, and you have the makings of a soaring story.
The author pulls the whole tale off brilliantly, locking readers in with scores of magical moments. show less