Goodies vs Baddies just the themes that change

That's Bond - James Bond. (Well, actually, that's Sean Connery, who was the best Bond in my opinion.) Just watching him tonight and thinking that the evil depicted in the movies of my childhood often centered on the Cold War. Today the baddies are often eco-terrorists or careless and greedy countries/people who have plundered the earth for their own selfish ends.

In the end, though, it just comes down to goodies vs baddies. Good hopefully triumphing over evil.

The kind of stories that give the reader/viewer hope for the future.

Willy Fest

Had fun at Willy Fest on May 1 with a group of writers armed with paper, pen and ready to write. I rarely get to this part of the world and I was struck by how gorgeous it is. A nice sunny day, the sun glinting off the waves, and some sail boats showing off their snowy white sails. As always, the festival volunteers were fab and all deserved medals. What a nice way to spend the day.

In Short

Okay, going to break my rule of never responding to book reviews.

After a nice review for Short and Scary in The Sunday Age, Young Lit section several weeks ago, I was surprised to see a review in today's Sat Age.

The readership for the anthology was years 8 - 14. There is no mention of this in the review which is flanked by adult titles such as The Woman Who Shot Mussolini and 35 Arguments for the Existence of God.

The idea for the short series was a mentoring program, matching established authors and illustrators with emerging talent, both young and old. There is no mention of this in the critique either. (Although there was mention of one contributor's poem as mediocre will probably have the 16 year old author running for cover.)

Feedback from teachers and readers about the short series has been positive. It is a smorgasbord of stories and poetry that young readers can dip into. That's what makes it work for young readers. Perhaps the reviewer is better suited to reviewing adult books...?