The ListMaker Set

by Robin Klein

Smart People make lists! It's true. How many times have you made a mental note of must-try restaurant, but drawn a blank when you're trying to decide where to eat? Or how about when you're at the bookstore and can't remember the title of that book everyone's talking about? Now, you can impress your friends and never forget the name of another restaurant/movie/book/important things. This set contains four mini books with 128 pages for jotting down names of stuff you're determined to read, see, try, or do! Be Smart. Be a listmaker! Includes 4 Books : The listMaker's Movies to See, The ListMaker's Books to Read, The ListMaker's Restaurants to Try & The ListMaker's Things to Do.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Childrens, Contemporary, Family, Middle Grade, Australia

512 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Winner of the Dromkeen Medal (1991).

Robin Klein was born 28 February 1936 in Kempsey, New South Wales into a family of nine children. Leaving school at age 15, Klein worked several jobs before becoming established as a writer, having her first story published at age 16. She would go on to write more than 40 books, including Hating Alison Ashley (adapted into a feature film starring Delta Goodrem in 2005), Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left (adapted into a television series for the Seven Network in 1992), and Came Back to Show You I Could Fly (adapted into a film directed by Richard Lowenstein in 1993).

Klein’s books are hugely celebrated, having won the CBCA Children’s Book of the Year Award in both the Younger Readers and the Older Readers categories, as well as a Human Rights Award for Literature in 1989 for Came Back to Show You I Could Fly. Klein is widely considered one of Australia’s most prolific and beloved YA authors.

Reviews

[Tashiii · Rating 2 out of 5]

We had to read this book at school in year 7. I have one word for it: BORING! Don't waste your time on it.

[Ruby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I wasn't gobsmacked, but it was a pleasant enough read, and also lovely to relive my childhood love for Robin Klein and her characters. Ms Klein has a real flair for human interaction and for creating a beautiful sense of home in her writing. It is easy to quickly become fond of her characters. There is something delightfully eccentric and Australian about her writing. Yes, the plot was a bit predictable, but I don't feel like being a hard marker about that, because I think as a kid I would have loved that sense of security, where everything works out in the end. I really enjoyed revisiting My favourite childhood author, and I will always be grateful to her because she was probably one of the first writers I read who focused on character development, instead of having very two-dimensional characters enacting the plot.

It probably wasn't one of her best, in my opinion, but perhaps that is because I read it as an adult who is used to reading more 'sophisticated' books. Even so, I enjoyed reading it.

[Sally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as I'd expected from Robin Klein. One to read once, give away, and forget all about.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Listmaker' follows the story of a young girl growing up in Australia and having to choose between two lives. One, going to a rich boarding school and (at some point) living in a apartment with her father and her new step-mother. Or, choice two is living in a small town with her two elderly Great-Aunts.

I found this book very enjoyable. It interested me for the eight hours I was waiting for my plane, and I truly did enjoy it.

It is mostly a character study. Sarah Radcliffe begins the book as a spoilt, whiney, teacher's pet. Throughout the book she mellows and that is really nice to read. She was a fairly good narrator and I did like how each chapter started with a list.

I really liked how well thought out and multi-dimentional the characters were. I liked the Aunts and Corrie's characters best.

Sometimes, however, I found Sarah to be too annoying and sometimes I did hate her a bit. I just wished the plot hadn't dragged as much or I would've hated her less.

The writing ws very easily accessable, it was pleasantly written and a quick read and it made me want to pick up another Robin Klein!

[Emmeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Listmaker takes me back to my childhood. I think it's technically defined as middle-grade. It is the story of a 12-year-old girl, Sarah, living with her two great-aunts over the summer. She is looking forward to the start of the school term, when she will move into a shiny new city apartment with her father and his shiny new will-be wife, Piriel Starr. Of course, this move will transform her from an unpopular, neurotic child to a sophisticated young woman who can't move for all the invitations flying at her. Or so she hopes.

In reality this is a good journey story as Sarah comes to learn about what really matters in life, and who cares for her properly.

Re-reading this book as an adult, and knowing what I know now, it struck me that Sarah has some Aspergery qualities. Similar to Don Tillman in The Rosie Project, she doesn't always understand what people mean and the effect that her words have, but we can see things only from her unreliable narrator perspective.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's nice to see a character go from uptight young girl to a more mellowed out person. Sarah is not the greatest character, but the supporting characters such as her aunts and neighbours are eccentric (but believably so) and provide comic relief as well as being interesting counterpoints for Sarah as she struggles to figure out her place in her father's life and new relationship. And yes, there are many lists.

[Robynt · Rating 5 out of 5]

the listmaker was entertaining and was confusing in some aspectects but was very sweet and had a charming story i have to say that i did from the begining think that piriel was a bit bonkers but i enjoyed the begining the middle and the end

[Hannah Meiklejohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was drawn to this title because I’m an obsessive list maker and have been since childhood (I remember once writing a list of lists I needed to make).

Most of the reviews seem to go in the direction of: pleasant enough read, nothing spectacular, enjoy then forget. I think I echo these sentiments, but I’m giving it a higher rating because I did enjoy seeing a reflection of my younger self in this book. I guess it was nice to have a central character that was insecure and obsessive without being pathologised (much), had idealised and naive visions of the future, was neither a bully or someone who got bullied, did well in school without being exceptional etc. just your nice, average, normal-ish girl - like me.

I was expecting something different and darker. I thought it was going to go a bit deeper into the potentially harmful aspects of when obsession goes too far and the crutch you are leaning on becomes a hinderance more than a help. It only really does this toward the end as she learns to change her list making to be more reflective than as a way to try to control things. The main storyline wasn’t about that, but once I realised this and just enjoyed the story, I found it to be more pleasant and relatable than I imagined it would be.

[laura margaux · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book definetely wasn’t amazing, but it had been waiting on my to be read book pile for long enough and i had never been able to get past the first few pages so I decided to give the Listmaker another go. I found the book boring and very predictable. The plot wasn’t interesting enough, it follows 12 year old Sarah who lives with her two old and excentric aunts in a small cottage. She is one of the most unpopular girls at her school but she believes all this will change when she leaves the two people who have cared and loved her her whole life and move in with her Dad’s new wife, rich Piriel Starr in their amazing new city appartment. I found Sarah’s character so annoying, she was so ungrateful for her two aunts, and didn’t have any unique personality apart from wanting to be popular at school. The only good things about this book were : the storyline, I liked how each chapter started with a list, showing Sarah’s habit of listmaking, and the ending as it really brought out the good in Sarah.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

It had a bit of a slow start for me, but by a little before halfway, I was hooked.

For me, a lot of the way through the book, Sarah was an unlovable character, however, by the end I was liking her more and more.

I don’t think that this is a representation of a mental illness habit, but just a safety habit, so if your looking for a mental health read this isn’t really for you, however I would recommend it!

[Tess · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Stars.
I had to force myself to finish this one. I'm obviously not the target audience, as this is a youth/children's book. I just found the protagonist unlikeable, and not in the good way (at least for me).

Posted review (that has semi spoilers) here:
https://thebookcident.wordpress.com/2...

[Leia Winter · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was one of the worst I’ve ever read. It was so boring and predictable. The writing style was not bad but the story itself went no where and did nothing.
While I hated it I understand some people have different tastes than me so may enjoy its writing style.

[Roslyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Aislinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars A sweet and gentle tale with fantastic supporting characters, but not quite as memorable as some of Robin Klein’s other stories.

[Jacqueline Tasik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book, it’s a young adult book. It is about a girl who is twelve years old trying to decide who she is and where she belongs

[Robyn Harvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute read.

[Susan Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m enjoying reading some classic YA fiction that I would have read and enjoyed when I was young, and that I can share with my daughter. This was a predictable but charming story. 3.5 stars

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has been in a childhood "do I still want this around?" pile for (cough) years. By the time I reread it I didn't remember anything about it and I'd gotten it confused with another book where the stepmother is actually warm and lovely, which clearly was an error.

Unsurprisingly, I found Sarah a bit insufferable but also she's young and clearly has an anxiety disorder and above all it's natural she'd want her parents to like, if not love her - but it's also hard to swallow that she should have such pure disdain for the only loving people in her life for almost the entire book. A more gradual thawing would have helped, but it took, what, 90% of the way and it just felt too long to get to where we all knew we were going.

That said, it was interesting from a narrative perspective to see how the author framed Sarah and her responses, what the story said and what it meant, and it would be interesting to discuss with a class. But it's just so much of the same thing. Mostly the lying - I would understand well-meaning earnestness, "I cleaned our room so we won't get in trouble, why are you mad at me" thing - but the outright lies were a straw too far.

[Susan Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this book but I was surprised about how quickly we've adapted technology into our lives. For example, pay phones are used and there's no talk of emails, the internet... not a thing! The young girl does receive a computer but mainly plays games and uses it as a word processor. The book was published in 1997 and just goes to show you how far we've come.

I enjoyed the characters in the this book, especially the old aunts and I was a little envious of their charming cottage. I think this is a book many children will enjoy reading as it deals with blended families, peer pressure and odd friendships.

[Kimberley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Robin Klein has written a great book about the sudden changes in an ordinary teenage life. Personally, I found this book really boring halfway through, although it had a wonderful ending. The book was a bit predictable and it's easy to tell what's coming next. I don't really think the book was completely about the annoying habit of making lists; that just came up in the beginning of the story but doesn't really get dwelled on much. The storyline was good though and Robin Klein finished it with a fantastic decision of the main character which completely changes everything.

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and suspect that in part it was because I could really identify with some of the quirks of the 'heroine' Sarah. I liked the way that Klein explored the challenges Sarah faces as a teenager dealing with the 'ideal' image of home and family and her own 'less than ideal' life spent between boarding school, eccentric aunts and a 'busy' father. The key to the story is in Sarah's evolving understanding of the adults in her life and the way that she chooses to interpret their behaviours and actions. The book is both funny and sad, but ultimately a satisfying read.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually never finished this. Got up to chapter 7 and my mind could not keep going from the incredibly boring, predictable and annoying everything in this book. And I actually wrote an essay about it in yr 7

[Sarah Johnston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of 12 year old Sarah who has high expectations of the changes that will take place in her life once her father marries his sophisticated girlfriend. As the book progresses Sarah comes to learn what really matters and who really cares for her the most.

[Chinchilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitly one of my favourite books of all time. A touching, poingant first-person account of a young girls struggle for acceptance in her father's new relationship.

[Dolorosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Reread.]

[Hannah]

Sounds like a really good book. Can't wait to read it!!

[Ashleigh]

I think I read this in high school *confused* It couldn't have been very good because I'd remember it.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book can get really boring but just keep going coz at the end it is actually pretty good

[Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to study this in year eight. It was so poorly favoured, that the school's english department had to remove it from the booklist the following years! Yes, boring very VERY boring!

[Veronica · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was boring. I would never have read it if school didn't force me to.