I finished reading Chasing Charlie Duskinby Cath Crowley last night. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I like her voice. It is real. She captures the anguish of teenagers well and their realities and realisations, without making it too ‘adult’. It was also about grief and the loss of a parent as with Will by Maria Boyd. I loved her Gracie Faltrain character and recommend The Life and Times of Gracie Faltrain. Cath Crowley went to our school so I am always recommending her books to our kids. They are highly recommended by the students.
Lost Property by James Moloney was another book that was an honour book for the Childrens Book Council awards and it was great. My son (16)has also read it and he loved it too. James Moloney is getting better and better. I still love teaching ‘A Bridge to Wisemans Cove’ to my year 8’s. I think Lost Property is definately as was ‘No Worries’ for older readers.
The thing I loved most about these two books is that they showed how important families are to young people. So often I hear that teenagers are only interested in their friends and that their families are no longer important to them. I know my own children spend a lot less time at home now they have become ‘teenagers’, but young people really value their families. I think that is the biggest lesson I have learnt or realisation I have had becoming a teacher.
Auntie Angela
An amazing coincidence today, the very same person I was referring to in my last post, came to visit. I looked up my planner and her name was there. I remembered I was intending to take my daughter to Echuca to visit Angela this mid-term break but had forgotten about it.Joh Blogs: Camping on the banks of the Murray
We were obviously in one another’s orbits!
Gado Gado
When I was a kid, I would have wonderful holidays with my Auntie Angela and Uncle Jack in Drouin East. They had 9 kids, although probably less for most of my memories as I was the same age as their eldest child. They were my godparents and were the epitome of godparents as I adored them and loved being in their company.
Uncle Jack was Dutch and had spent his childhood in Indonesia during the war and Angela had lots of exotic (to us) foods as a result of these influences.
I have a memory of a special meal we had of Gado Gado with Kerupuk or (crook cooks) as we called them. The large table was laden with this delicious food and we sat around the deep fryer counting as the hard colorful peices rose out into crunchy prawn crackers, as I know them now. 
Last night for the first time, I made Gado Gado. We had a special visitor coming who was vegetarian, and Andy spent a lot of time in Indonesia when he was younger, so I felt it was appropriate. It was great and brought back wonderful memories for me also. I was quite relieved that he recognised it as I put it together mostly from memory.
I was amazed that I remembered and recognised all the ingredients when I went to the supermarket to find the parts. As it drew closer to putting it together I remembered the Internet and looked up the recipe and verified my memory. I was quite pleased by the whole experience.
I didn’t use potato and substituted snow peas for beans but it was very yummy. For desert I resorted to nana’s Jam Roly Poly, which I will save for another day.