Jackie French

It's a difficult job getting humans trained properly, but our wombat heroine is equal to the challenge in this hilarious picture book. With its highly felicitous meeting of text and image, Diary of a Wombat gives the reader a wombat's view of her new neighbors, who provide her with the ideal dust-bath (their picnic area), the perfect place to dig holes (the garden), and plenty of oats and carrots. Jackie French's deadpan narrative, paired with Bruce Whatley's droll illustrations, will have show more children and adults alike in hysterics. Highly recommended. show less

This is a rambling mixture of a 'year long' diary (albeit tidied up for publication) and a cookbook. And while French is a good writer, and the book reflects that, there was a lot of frustration in the reading, as French shames those who aren't eating food out of their own gardens over and over. There is a huge amount of privilege in their owning property, even if it was associated with some very lean years in which they needed to be self-sufficient, because that isn't an option for so many.

Thank you to HarperCollins for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence my review in any way.

I have loved Jackie French’s writing since primary school, and Shakespeare since my first time reading Romeo & Juliet in high school. I was that one kid that really got Shakespeare. I thought he was funny and witty, I could see it all as I read it. I went on from Romeo and Juliet to read a lot of Shakespeare plays (my favourite being Much Ado About Nothing), but show more its funny that the one play that got me into Shakespeare I had some issues with. Romeo was arrogant and rash, Juliet melodramatic. I saw it as a waste of young life. Jackie French’s I am Juliet made me rethink the story I thought I knew,

I am Juliet is the same old story, but retold from Juliet’s point of view. We see her in a different light – a girl ignored by her parents until it is time to marry, sheltered and protected from the world, who wants to choose her own life. She’s not melodramatic – she is smart although she is vulnerable and she is desperate to break free of the life she feels has been chosen for her. She wants to feel love, true love, a connection that goes beyond words. In walks Romeo. And from that moment, Juliet is calling the shots.

I really enjoyed this retelling – it completely changed my view. I like that the primary focus was on Juliet – the dramas of Romeo, Mercutio and Tybalt were only talked about but we saw their effect on Juliet and those around her. Juliet is strong and brave, a girl on the cusp of womanhood about to take her life into her own hands. I had never seen or imagined her this way before and over the course of the book I developed a new respect for her and her relationship with Romeo. It is a tragedy, without a doubt, but I feel I have a better understanding of how and why things happen. Of course, we don’t know if that’s what Shakespeare intended Juliet to feel, but Romeo & Juliet is a play. It is up for interpretation and has been for the last four hundred years. Juliet is no wimpy girl who can’t live without the man she loves. She is a woman who makes a choice when she can see no better option for her life.

Everyone knows the story of Romeo & Juliet, and from the beginning you know there will be no happy ending. It definitely impacts that impending sense of dread you feel as it gets closer to the end. But don’t let the knowledge of an unhappy ending deter you from this book. Whether you have read the play or not, loved it or hated it, this book will give you another way to look at the classic tragedy of ‘Juliet and her Romeo’. Also, the notes at the end help to put things in context if you are not familiar with the customs of Elizabethan times and the history of Shakespeare.

4.5 stars. I loved it. 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