Search Results for: zola

Zola and the Christmas Lights

 

 

 

 

Zola and the Christmas Lights

Zola and the Christmas Lights

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zola and the Christmas Lights

Melina Marchetta

Deb Hudson

Puffin, 2022

32pp., hbk., RRP $A19.99

 9780143777649

Zola loves living on Boomerang Street with her mum and her nonna and next door to her cousin Alessandro in a little house in a little street in a little suburb in a big city. Every day of the week is an adventure and now,  it’s Zola’s last day in 2B and having learned that not everyone in the class celebrates the Christian festival, she wonders what it is that all the festivals, stories and traditions have in common.

This year, though, Christmas will be different because Nonno is no longer with them and he was the one who transformed their house into a wonderland.  The box of Christmas lights has even disappeared.  And as Zola searches for them because the street hasn’t had lights for two years and she and Alessandro want to light it up once again, she learns what is at the core of the celebrations, regardless of their different ways and times of marking them. 

For two years during 2020 and 2021, young readers followed Zola’s adventures as her curiosity got her into all sorts of strife but at the same time drawing her diverse neighbourhood into a community.  For many, during the long days of COVID restrictions and lockdowns she became another friend who took her fans beyond their own rooms and houses for a brief time.  Thus, for many, Melina Marchetta, author of Looking for Alibrandi (a classic for older readers which has just been re-released) gave them a gift as precious as Nonno’s lights and shows that this time of the year is so much more than expensive toys and shiny gift wrap. This is the perfect wrap for a delightful series. 

 

What Zola Did on Sunday

What Zola Did on Sunday

What Zola Did on Sunday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Zola Did on Sunday

Melina Marchetta

Deb Hudson

Puffin, 2021 

96pp., pbk., RRP $A12.99

9781760895228

Ever since we first met Zola a year ago,  readers have been following her adventures as she brings her community together and now all the connections reach their pinnacle at the St Otto’s Community Fete. Their is the stall of the knitting group that Zola and her nonna belong to; her friend Leo’s mum is going to be givng a demonstration about how police dogs work in the community; her other nonna will be hosting the organic produce stall and her mum will have the cake stall.  As well there are competitions and all sorts of other attractions.  Will Zola be able to get through the fete without any of the drama and strife she seems to attract?

This is the final in this series that has had young readers enthralled and Zola and her friends have become friends of the reader too.  And for those who have not yet met Zola, then there is a treat in store.  A must-have for anyone with a reader who is just embarking on novels but needs the textual supports as well as the familiarity of characters and situations to consolidate their skills.

What Zola Did (series)

What Zola Did (series)

What Zola Did (series)

What Zola Did (series)

What Zola Did on Thursday

 9781760895181

What Zola Did on Friday

9781760895020

What Zola Did on Saturday

:9781760895211

What Zola Did on Sunday

9781760895228

Melina Marchetta

Deb Hudson

Puffin, 2021

96pp., pbk., RRP $A12.99

This great series for newly independent readers continues with the  release of three new titles and concludes in September with What Zola did on Sunday.

Readers first met Zola, her cousin Alessandro and her friends last year in What Zola Did on Monday  when she roped her Nonna into helping rebuild the community gardens and as her adventures continued in subsequent books, so the community got to know each other and bonded. And so in these latest releases, even though she continues to get into strife – forming a band and upsetting a cranky neighbour, painting Nonno Nino’s little yellow boat; helping Nonna with her prized tomatoes; and joining in the fun of the St Odo’s Day fete – she still manages to bring the community together so that instead of being isolated individuals as they were to start with, there are now friendships and love and laughter.

Inspired by her own daughter who was intelligent but reluctant to read, Marchetta has written this series with its humour, relatable characters and all the supports for those building their confidence with novels, so that others can grow as her daughter did. She has taken parts of her daughter’s character and family members and events and melded them into stories that not only her daughter was able to relate to, but just about every other child in Australia.  While there is a vast variety of characters, settings and plots in children’s stories today (as opposed to the good vs evil didactic tales of the past) those that resonate with readers, particularly reluctant ones, are those in which they see themselves, where they can put themselves into the events and become a participant rather than an observer.  So creating something with a big family, cousins who live in the house behind you, a hole in the fence to climb through so you can play together and a street of diverse interesting neighbours to explore means that this has wide appeal for so many. 

It’s a perfect series to binge-read during this lockdown and inspire the children to get to know their communities better when they are allowed out to play again. There are teachers’ notes available  and Thursday has an activity pack that could be used as inspiration for children to build their own for the others in the series. 

Zola, her friends and their adventures have become a friend over the last 18 months or so and it’s sad that the series is complete, but I’m glad they were in my life. 

 

What Zola Did on Wednesday

What Zola Did on Wednesday

What Zola Did on Wednesday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Zola Did on Wednesday

Melina Marchetta

Deb Hudson

Puffin, 2020

96pp., pbk., RRP $A12.99

9781760895174

Zola is getting very busy after school these days.  She has her gardening club on Mondays and her knitting group on Tuesdays and she still has to find time to play with her cousin Alessandro and the dogs while trying to keep out of trouble.  But when her neighbour Leo’s mum, who is a police officer, brings home a new sniffer dog for training, things can only get interesting – particularly when her friend Sophia’s little turtle goes missing and Lola hatches a plan to find it…

This is the third in this series about Zola and her friends – a diverse group of kids who could live in any neighbourhood, anywhere. Their everyday lives are just like those of the readers who can see themselves, understand and relate to the friends, while being a stepping stone for  consolidating their new reading skills with a solid text combined with lots of illustrations, short chapters and humour.  Because the characters and events are so common,  the stories could be the inspiration for children to get together in ways they did in previous generations and be the foundation blocks of a new community as we find new ways to get together in these COVID times. Perhaps our new lives may not be so frantic that we don’t have time for the simpler pleasures of yesteryear.

There are seven stories in the series altogether and each one is as entertaining as the others. 

What Zola Did on Tuesday

What Zola Did on Tuesday

What Zola Did on Tuesday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Zola Did on Tuesday

Melina Marchetta

Deb Hudson

Puffin, 2020

96pp., pbk., RRP $A12.99

9781760895167

Cousins Zola and Alessandro live next door to each other – there’s even a gate cut into the fence by their Nonno Nino before he died so they could be together as much as they want, so most afternoons after school they play together. 

After her adventures trying to help her Nonna and the school gardening club, Zola has been trying to stay out of trouble joining Nonna at the community gardening club, trying to learn to listen and even giving Alessandro’s dog Gigi obedience lessons so she will be allowed to play in Nonna’s garden with the children. But new neighbours, cats and dogs that aren’t yet friends,  Nonna learning to knit and a new school project to help the homeless can really only have one outcome when Zola gets involved…

This is another joyous romp about Zola and her friends doing ordinary everyday things  in which the reader can see themselves, understand and relate to, while forming a stepping stone for newly independent readers with a solid text combined with lots of illustrations, short chapters and humour. This could be any neighbourhood anywhere and it could be the inspiration for children to get together in ways they did in previous generations and be the foundation blocks of a new community as the children in this series are. Most children, regardless of the heritage, understand “Nonna” is the Italian word for grandmother and now they can add the Arabic word Teta to their vocabulary – just another subtle way that diversity is celebrated in the story.

There are seven stories in the series altogether and each one promises to be just as engages and entertaining.

 

What Zola Did on Monday

What Zola Did on Monday

What Zola Did on Monday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Zola Did on Monday

Melina Marchetta

Deb Hudson

Puffin, 2020

96pp., pbk., RRP $A12.99

9781760895150

Cousins Zola and Alessandro live next door to each other – there’s even a gate cut into the fence by their Nonno Nino before he died so they could be together as much as they want., so most afternoons after school they play together. 

Zola’s Nonna Rosa is a keen gardener and everyone admires her beautiful roses but Nonna Rosa loves her vegetable garden best. So when Ms Divis, the children’s teacher, starts talking about rejuvenating the community gardens where the school is being housed while the original buildings are being refurbished, people look to Zola for advice.  But while Zola might like the flowers, she certainly doesn’t like gardening – Nonna Rosa has so many rules about it. And in this hilarious romp where the reader wonders what can go wrong next, Zola discovers the reason for those rules.

This is the first in a series of seven books about Zola that will form a great stepping stone for newly independent readers transitioning to novels. Using everyday kids in everyday situations in which the reader can see themselves, understand and relate to, is a recipe for success and with a solid text combined with lots of illustrations, short chapters and humour it is sure to be a favourite. Although it’s target audience is probably those in about Year 2-3, there is also enough depth to the story to make it ideal for older students who may be learning English as a new language and needing something to engage them as they practise their reading skills.