Principled
Fiction to support the IB Learner Profile for the Middle Years Programme
Macbeth and Son by Jackie French
This novel is about the truth in history and whether it really matters. Jackie French’s complaint is with Shakespeare who wrote about the Scottish King Macbeth who was by all accounts an honourable king but was turned into a villain in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. Jackie uses the dreams of a modern-day boy, Luke who is studying the play at school to show what really? or possibly happened to Lulach and his father Macbeth in eleventh century Scotland. The most fascinating aspect of the story is the theme of whether the truth really matters and whether Shakespeare was justified in making Macbeth a villain for the sake of the play. This would make a fascinating book for discussion. (11 – 14 years)
inquirers, thinkers, principled
The Goat Who Sailed the World by Jackie French
This book has two narrators, a young twelve year old boy called Isaac Manley and a much travelled and superior Goat. This narrative device gives us two very different perspectives on Cooks’ amazing voyage around the world from 1768 to 1771, when Australia was discovered and the ship was almost wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef. Isaac is a caring and very sensible young boy who learns a huge amount on this voyage. Very entertaining and informative. (8 – 14 years)
inquirers, risk-takers, principled, caring
Deadly Unna? by Phillip Gwynne
This is a perceptive and highly entertaining book describing the growing friendship between Blacky, a white teenager and Dumby Red an Aboriginal young man from out of town and how it is affected by the narrowness and pervasive racism of a country town. In the sequel Nukkin Ya, pb $19.95, Blacky falls for Dumby’s cousin but it seems that the whole town has objections to them going out together. Blacky does succeed in making a statement to the town on how he feels about racism. (13 years up)
principled
To the Boy in Berlin by Elizabeth Honey and Heike Brandt
This is the story of an intriguing email correspondence between Henni who lives in Melbourne, Australia and Leo Schmidt in Berlin. The emails fly backwards and forwards providing much amusement and also glimpses of the difference and similarities between their lives. They both become involved in working on Henni’s school project which involves fascinating historical documentation about early German immigration to Australia and the treatment of Germans in Australia during the 2 World wars. We also learn incidentally about some of the problems of immigration in Germany and Australia today. I especially liked the humour, especially humour concerning the difficulties of translation and also some of the extraordinarily long German words that exist. This is an excellent book for discussion on a variety of topics. (10 – 14 years)
inquirers, thinkers, communicators, principled, caring, open-minded
Red Scarf Girl A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji Li Jiang
A deeply moving autobiography set during the Cultural Revolution in China. Ji Li Jiang describes her own experiences as a twelve year old girl puzzling to understand the strange and terrifying events that befell her family at that time. An excellent introduction to any study of the Cultural Revolution. (11 years up)
risk-takers, principled, reflective
Mao’s Last Dancer by Li Cunxin (Young Readers Edition)
This is wonderful story about an eleven year old boy from rural China who was chosen to study ballets and Madame Mao’s dance Academy in Beijing. It is the very moving story of his struggle to overcome loneliness and hardship and how he became one of the top dancers in the USA and then in Australia. The adult edition (pb 9780670040247 $32.95) has been an immensely popular and has been made into a film. The adaptation by Li Cunxin emphasises his childhood. (11 – 15 years)
principled, reflective
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
This is the remarkable story of a mountaineer who in 1993 after a disastrous attempt to climb K2 wandered exhausted and dehydrated into an impoverished village in Pakistan. There the villagers nursed Greg back to health and he was so moved by their kindness that he vowed to return and build a school for their children. That happened in 1993 and since then he has set up a fund and built over 60 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. (13 years up)
Three Cups of Tea (Young Reader’s Edition)
This Young Reader’s edition has many photographs of children from the villages and also of his own family who have also become very involved with this endeavour. There are also maps and a question and answer section with Greg’s daughter Amira and a Timeline and a Glossary. (9 – 14 years)
Stones into Schools follows chronologically from where the first book ended and so it goes from 2003 to the end of 2009. It is perhaps even more fascinating because of the descriptions of the group of Pakistani men and one Afghani man who work with Greg in Pakistan and Afghanistan and how by the end of 2009 they had managed to build 131 schools. The logistics of getting schools built and then staffed in remote areas of Pakistan is difficult enough but in remote areas of Afghanistan, the challenges are mind-boggling! (13 years up)
principled, open-minded, knowledgeable, communicators
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
This is a wonderfully entertaining and continually surprising story of Maurice, a streetwise tomcat who suddenly has acquired the gift of talking and thinking. He wants to put these skills to ever more inventive money-making scams with the assistance of his unlikely friends the educated rats who also acquired the skills of speaking and thinking at about the same time. However as a natural consequence of being able to think, some of the rats begin to struggle with the question of what is right and what is wrong (especially in relation to some of Maurice’s schemes) and also with the stirrings of a conscience. (10 – 16 years)
knowledgeable, thinkers, principled
Macbeth and Son by Jackie French
This novel is about the truth in history and whether it really matters. Jackie French’s complaint is with Shakespeare who wrote about the Scottish King Macbeth who was by all accounts an honourable king but was turned into a villain in Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. Jackie uses the dreams of a modern-day boy, Luke who is studying the play at school to show what really? or possibly happened to Lulach and his father Macbeth in eleventh century Scotland. The most fascinating aspect of the story is the theme of whether the truth really matters and whether Shakespeare was justified in making Macbeth a villain for the sake of the play. This would make a fascinating book for discussion. (11 – 14 years)
inquirers, thinkers, principled
The Goat Who Sailed the World by Jackie French
This book has two narrators, a young twelve year old boy called Isaac Manley and a much travelled and superior Goat. This narrative device gives us two very different perspectives on Cooks’ amazing voyage around the world from 1768 to 1771, when Australia was discovered and the ship was almost wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef. Isaac is a caring and very sensible young boy who learns a huge amount on this voyage. Very entertaining and informative. (8 – 14 years)
inquirers, risk-takers, principled, caring
Deadly Unna? by Phillip Gwynne
This is a perceptive and highly entertaining book describing the growing friendship between Blacky, a white teenager and Dumby Red an Aboriginal young man from out of town and how it is affected by the narrowness and pervasive racism of a country town. In the sequel Nukkin Ya, pb $19.95, Blacky falls for Dumby’s cousin but it seems that the whole town has objections to them going out together. Blacky does succeed in making a statement to the town on how he feels about racism. (13 years up)
principled
To the Boy in Berlin by Elizabeth Honey and Heike Brandt
This is the story of an intriguing email correspondence between Henni who lives in Melbourne, Australia and Leo Schmidt in Berlin. The emails fly backwards and forwards providing much amusement and also glimpses of the difference and similarities between their lives. They both become involved in working on Henni’s school project which involves fascinating historical documentation about early German immigration to Australia and the treatment of Germans in Australia during the 2 World wars. We also learn incidentally about some of the problems of immigration in Germany and Australia today. I especially liked the humour, especially humour concerning the difficulties of translation and also some of the extraordinarily long German words that exist. This is an excellent book for discussion on a variety of topics. (10 – 14 years)
inquirers, thinkers, communicators, principled, caring, open-minded
Red Scarf Girl A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution by Ji Li Jiang
A deeply moving autobiography set during the Cultural Revolution in China. Ji Li Jiang describes her own experiences as a twelve year old girl puzzling to understand the strange and terrifying events that befell her family at that time. An excellent introduction to any study of the Cultural Revolution. (11 years up)
risk-takers, principled, reflective
Mao’s Last Dancer by Li Cunxin (Young Readers Edition)
This is wonderful story about an eleven year old boy from rural China who was chosen to study ballets and Madame Mao’s dance Academy in Beijing. It is the very moving story of his struggle to overcome loneliness and hardship and how he became one of the top dancers in the USA and then in Australia. The adult edition (pb 9780670040247 $32.95) has been an immensely popular and has been made into a film. The adaptation by Li Cunxin emphasises his childhood. (11 – 15 years)
principled, reflective
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
This is the remarkable story of a mountaineer who in 1993 after a disastrous attempt to climb K2 wandered exhausted and dehydrated into an impoverished village in Pakistan. There the villagers nursed Greg back to health and he was so moved by their kindness that he vowed to return and build a school for their children. That happened in 1993 and since then he has set up a fund and built over 60 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. (13 years up)
Three Cups of Tea (Young Reader’s Edition)
This Young Reader’s edition has many photographs of children from the villages and also of his own family who have also become very involved with this endeavour. There are also maps and a question and answer section with Greg’s daughter Amira and a Timeline and a Glossary. (9 – 14 years)
Stones into Schools follows chronologically from where the first book ended and so it goes from 2003 to the end of 2009. It is perhaps even more fascinating because of the descriptions of the group of Pakistani men and one Afghani man who work with Greg in Pakistan and Afghanistan and how by the end of 2009 they had managed to build 131 schools. The logistics of getting schools built and then staffed in remote areas of Pakistan is difficult enough but in remote areas of Afghanistan, the challenges are mind-boggling! (13 years up)
principled, open-minded, knowledgeable, communicators
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
This is a wonderfully entertaining and continually surprising story of Maurice, a streetwise tomcat who suddenly has acquired the gift of talking and thinking. He wants to put these skills to ever more inventive money-making scams with the assistance of his unlikely friends the educated rats who also acquired the skills of speaking and thinking at about the same time. However as a natural consequence of being able to think, some of the rats begin to struggle with the question of what is right and what is wrong (especially in relation to some of Maurice’s schemes) and also with the stirrings of a conscience. (10 – 16 years)
knowledgeable, thinkers, principled
