Kathryn's Inbox

The tenth episode of the Baby-Sitters Club TV series is notable only for the fact that the actors who played Pete and Alan (Dave Buzzotta & Russell Harper aka Herbert Russell) have gone on to have long and successful acting careers. Otherwise, this one tries hard but doesn't quite hit the mark. The Baby-sitters Club has a problem--more clients than sitters, but when Kristy's rivals Pete and Alan put themselves forward as potential baby-sitters, Kristy is quick to say no. Unfortunately, the rest of the club think it is a great idea, at least until they see the boys in action. From there, we see a storyline that is almost identical to that of Hello, Mallory with the boys making beginners mistakes and the girls being rather unforgiving, until the boys set up their own baby-sitting service. Eventually, the boys learn that baby-sitting is tougher than it looks, and the girls realise that the boys are learning valuable lessons from their mistakes. It's a sound enough le...

Rabbit Of Seville from Wet The Face on Vimeo . I've probably share this one before, but Rabbit of Seville is one of my all time favourite Looney Tunes shorts. It's a clever take on the Baber of Seville, complete with Looney Tunes humour!

Get your tissues ready, because If I Tell You is one hell of a story of courage, with a real tear jerker of an ending. Alex Summers lives in a small Australian town. In Two Creeks, the saying 'small towns, small minds,' certainly applies. It is expected of her that she will become a school teacher, marry her best mate (and long time admirer,) Justin and follow in her mother's footsteps by baking award winning Victoria sponges. However, deep inside Alex is a secret, something that she is too afraid to tell anyone, even her closest friends. Alex is attracted to girls, not boys, and fears the consequences if anyone, particularly her homophobic mother, finds out. However, life has other plans and things start to unravel for Alex when the charismatic, and very out, Phoenix, moves to town, along with her twin brother, artist mother, and rock and roll star father move to town. Alex finds herself falling for Phoenix, but can she find the courage to face who she really is. ...

Dare is an edgy new imprint from those trailblazers of cheap, throwaway romance novels, Mills & Boon. It's basically the Mills & Boon invented for the post Fifty Shades era, a romance that is heavy on the eroticism but with a guaranteed happy ending. I read this one out of sheer curiosity and well, it does everything that the publisher promises on the back of the blurb. Abby is enjoying her job at a high class Sydney patisserie. For the first time, she has been able to indulge in her passion--baking--and has put her horrible marriage to a man with no redeeming features whatsoever behind her. This is outraged her wealthy, social climbing parents who--like all good stereotypes of the wealthy and the heartless--believe that Abby should have stayed in an unhappy marriage so that the family could keep their place in society. She's basically been cut off from her family, and apparently their all horrified that she has chosen to be happy instead of surrounding hersel...

Creepy, disturbing and in a class of it's own ... and that's just the blurb. Small Spaces is a novel that promises readers one heck of a ride. And it delivers. Oh, how it delivers ... When she was eight years old, Tash Carmondy witnessed her imaginary, and very, very, nasty friend Sparrow abduct a younger girl at a carnival. Mallory was found a week later, but has been mute ever since and has no memory of her abduction. As for Tash, no one believed her about Sparrow. Branded an attention seeker, and after years of psychiatric treatment at the hands of bossy Dr Ingrid, she has come to accept that what she saw probably wasn't real. The only problem is that now both Mallory and Sparrow have returned to her small town and things are starting to get creepy. What really happened to Mallory? Are there supernatural forces at play, or is there something far more disturbing going on? Small Spaces takes readers on a hell of a ride as Tash tries to work out what really ha...

A post shared by Kathryn White (@kathrynsinbox) on Mar 24, 2018 at 1:50am PDT I spotted this on the corner of Hindmarsh Square a while back ... but it took me a long time to get a perfect shot. Love it--it's certainly fair more eye catching that your average traffic signal box!

No, this didn't just happen to me. I'm actually not crushing on anyone at the moment, unless you count Alan Rickman's turn in Sense and Sensibility as Colonel Brandon, and even that is just one of those meaningless but pleasant fantasies. No, I'm writing this, because for about the billionth time I've just seen someone put this question online and it's one of those questions that really bothers me.  And here is how I would like to answer the question: If someone mentions their boyfriend or girlfriend while their in conversation with you, then the healthiest thing to assume is that they are talking about that person because they love them and because that person is a big part of their life. Maybe they're at a point in their life where they have just met this person who they think is completely amazing and they cannot believe how lucky they are that he or she wants to date them. They're so ecstatic that they just can't help talking about tha...

I'll confess, I've had this one on my bookshelf for a while now, since 2015 in fact, when it was first published in Australia and sold exclusively through Australia Post as part of their Classic Collectables range. For one reason or another, I never got around to reading it. I picked it out of my bookshelf the other day, intending to flick through a few pages ... and I found myself devouring this clever book in a single setting. Meticulously researched, this treasury presents itself as a collection of autobiographical essays and interviews with some of the most popular Looney Tunes characters of all time. Unsurprisingly, Bugs Bunny leads the charge with a flippant but informative interview, and Daffy Duck, who knows full well that he is the real star of Looney Tunes is rather jealous. Many of my other favourites are well represented and in character--Elmer J Fudd, Tweety and Sylvester, Foghorn Leghorn and even that annoying amorous skunk, Pepe Le Pew. There are a few surpri...

You must watch this one to the end. This classic Sesame Street sketch has had a little extra added.

I'd heard of American author Jennifer Niven, but I'd never had the slightest inclination to pick up one of her books--the two that are currently in print in Australia are both YA titles that fall squarely into the unlikely high school romance category and I've read my fair share of books like that already. I only picked this one up because my local bookstore was having one of those buy two books from this table and you can get a third free promotion. It was one of those deals where the table had two books that I was itching to read, and this one looked nicer than some of the other titles available. What I got was a YA novel about an unlikely high school romance. Fortunately, this unlikely romance was written quite well. Jack is one of the popular kids. He can be a bit of a jerk at times, but he's not really a bully like some of the others he hangs around with. He's struggling with a surprising secret though--he cannot recognise other people's faces a...

Self-belief and the changing nature of childhood friendships are the core themes of this quirky graphic novel. After seeing a Roller Derby demonstration, Astrid knows that this is something that she wants to get into--and better still, summer is coming and there is going to be a Roller Derby themed day camp happening in her town. Astrid signs up and assumes that her best friend Nicole will be signing up too--after all, the pair do everything together. Astrid gets an unpleasant surprise when she discovers that Nicole is going to attend ballet camp with Rachel, a mean girl from their class. And then she discovers that Roller Derby isn't anywhere near as easy as she first thought. This summer might just turn out to be the loneliest of all.  I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this short novel. I read it all in one sitting and found myself laughing and crying along with Astrid. She's not perfect, but being ditched by her best friend without warning was certainly a bitter ...

The Upside of Unrequited was such a winner for me that I knew I just had to go back and read Becky Albertali's first novel, Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda. And, even better, it turns out that the book has just been made into a film called Love, Simon  which I really want to see at some point. Anyway, the book has just been re-released in Australia and it includes some bonus interviews behind the scenes movie content and a sneak peak at Albertalli's next novel Leah on the Offbeat which will be released in Australia on April 30.  Anyway, the novel tells the story of Simon and how he falls in love with Blue, the person he has been exchanging email's with for the past few months. This is something of a big deal, because Simon is gay, but he isn't out to his family and friends (and it's not one of those stories where it turns out that everyone knows already--they're all completely clueless.) Even though Simon thinks that his loved ones will support him, i...

We had to wait until episode nine for Jessi to get top billing, but it's worth the wait considering that Nicole Leach proves herself to be one of the more talented actors on the series. She was also one of the more experienced actors on the show, having previously appeared on several episodes of The Cosby Show and was a regular on a television series titled Shining Time Station. Much like Meghan Andrews who played Mallory, Nicole Leach is still a working actor.  Within the Babysitters Club universe Jessi stories often featured a variety of social justice issues--the first novel to be narrated by Jessi had her learning sign language so that she could communicate with a character from the series who was deaf. In later books she would help a kid with a life threatening illness, apologise to a teacher who was being bullied and help a friend who was suffering from Anorexia Nervosa. Jessi was always portrayed as being fairly mature for her age, though it was obvious from her...

Spotted at Modbury Interchange #streetart #stickerart #modbury #adelaide #adelaidemetro #southaustralia A post shared by Kathryn White (@kathrynsinbox) on Mar 20, 2018 at 10:39pm PDT

Just another classic Homer Simpson moment.

Told in short verse, One makes for compelling reading. Grace and Tippi are conjoined twins, fused at the hip. They want what all teenagers want--to be loved and accepted. In some ways, they've become used to being stared at, though they wish that people wouldn't. But most of all, this past year has brought some huge challenges their way. Their father is unemployed and has developed a serious problem with alcohol abuse. Their mother is struggling to keep up with their medical expenses. Meanwhile, their younger sister, a talented ballerina, may be developing anorexia, and she might be missing out on a great number of opportunities because of a lack of family funds. Grace and Tippi know what they need to do to help out with their family's financial situation. But do they really want to sell their story and expose their lives to the world?  This is the first time that I have read a YA novel told totally in verse and it made for a refreshing change. The story is told fr...

When writer Anne Connor started researching her father's life, she made a surprising discovery. While her father, Jock, was serving in the Australian Army in 1943 his machine gun accidentally discharged and killed his friend. It was an incident that the family never spoke of, not even in the decades following his death. In Two Generations , Anne tells the story of her father, her mother, her family and of her own childhood, growing up in the shadow of the Second World War.  This was a pleasing memoir comprising of a blend of Australian history, biography and some very personal stories. It brings to life the horrors of war and the impact it can have on families and their lives even many years after the war is supposedly over. Ultimately, it's a very personal story for one family, but something that is also well and truly worth reading. Recommended.  Thank you to Ventura Press for my reading copy of Two Generations. This book was read as part of the Aussie Au...

A post shared by Kathryn White (@kathrynsinbox) on Mar 21, 2018 at 5:17pm PDT I spotted this giant clothes peg in Hindmarsh Square recently. Cool!

I have been writing a lot of Baby-sitters Club nostalgia posts recently. I did a few when I first started writing this blog, and in recent times, I've started writing them again. The reasoning is pretty simple--those books were a huge part of my life during my pre-teen years and, consequently, I remember the books quite well. (Especially as I read many of them more than once.) One of the strange things about revisiting things from my childhood, though, is that I tend to look at them with a more well, discerning eye. It's easier to see the flaws, but I loved the books so much that I really don't care that the main characters seemingly repeated eighth grade several times over or that we're supposed to believe that their adventures included winning the lottery (well, okay, they won second prize which was just enough to cover the cost seven airline tickets to California,) being shipwrecked on an island (okay, Claudia and Dawn were shipwrecked,) and well, you get the id...

A little cheeky, a little classy and entirely honest is this guide to the female anatomy. Too often, the female genitals are considered to be a taboo subject, which can lead to silly and awkward nicknames and a lack of understanding about what is--and what is not--normal. In this guide, the authors tell readers the truth about the female anatomy in an effort to help women make smart and empowering choices about their personal and sexual health.  Originally published in Norway, The Wonder Down Under became so popular that it has now been published in English for the first time. I really appreciated the factual and friendly way that this one was written--it's definitely suitable for women (and men) from a wide range of backgrounds.  Recommended.

Located on the Yorke Penninsula, Moonta was once the copper capital of Australia. Scores of miners from Cornwall settled in the town and bringing with it a rich identity. Even today, many South Australians associate the town with Cornish pasties, the Kernewek and the term 'Cousin Jack From Down Under.' In Growing Up in Moonta, historian Kristen Weidenbach tells of her family and their rich history with the small town. Most of the stories have been handed down to her by her father, Neil, who grew up in the town. This was an enjoyable read and painted an interesting portrait of life in Moonta, particularly after the closure of the mines. Like all families, the one in this book had their ups and downs, but everything is told with warmth and humour.  An enjoyable read. This book was read as part of the Aussie Author Challenge 2018

For some reason, I remember this episode of the BSC a lot more clearly than some of the others, even though I'm pretty sure that I only viewed it the once, when it aired in Australia on Channel 2 (now better known as ABC1.) I think I just enjoyed Claudia and Janine's bickering. Now here's a random fact about Claudia: she's the only member of the BSC to be the youngest child. All of the others are the oldest child (Dawn, Mallory, Jessi,) the only child (Stacey and Mary Anne,) or they are the middle child (Kristy.) I think for that reason, I always felt a tiny bit of solidarity with Claudia.  Claudia and the Secret Passage opens with the girls from the BSC, along with Mal and Jessi's little sisters Vanessa and Becca, working hard on a storyboard titled "Stoneybrook through the years" which is to be displayed at the local library. To keep the board safe before they can present it to the library, Dawn decides to keep it in the secret passage that leads...

Front of Haigh's Adelaide Arcade store looking rather festive! #haighs #haighschocolate #adelaidearcade #grenfellstreet #adelaide #southaustralia #southaustralianicon #chocolate #windowdisplay #justforfun A post shared by Kathryn White (@kathrynsinbox) on Mar 16, 2018 at 3:02am PDT