The Secret Beach has a slight mystery to the title, a mystery that grabs the reader from the very beginning.  Suitable for children between middle childhood and young adulthood, it is one of many books written by Jackie French and concerns topics such as escape, children of divorced parents, mermaids and therefore imagination and mystery.  

Jackie French is a renowned author, known for her range of writing abilities. French has written gardening columns in newspapers and magazines, picture books and novels. French’s interests include gardening and wombats.  Since writing her first children’s book in 1991 Jackie French has received many awards including the Younger Reader Book of the Year from the CBCA, KOALA, ABA, COOL and YABBA (all individual organisations presenting awards for various categories – including younger reader).

The Secret Beach tells the story of a young girl, forced to stay with her father while her mother is overseas.  The young girl feels uncomfortable in the small town and can’t wait to leave.  Through the story she deals with issues stemming from her divorced parents, their past, her wants and needs, and making friends, sometimes in the unlikeliest places.  She meets a woman who claims to have lived with mermaids for ten years and through her comes to understand her own feelings toward life.

Other books that deal with similar issues would include Crossfire (Moloney 1992), So Much to Tell You (Marsden 1988) and Tiff and the Trout (Metzenthen 2004).  These other stories along with The Secret Beach provide young readers with some real life examples that they can relate to and hook onto in the story.  They are real issues that a lot of children deal with in the real world.

Because of this I agree with the author’s need to write about this topic.  It is highly appropriate for the intended audience and can only encourage readers who encounter difficulty with reading to slowly step into a relevant story.  One may wonder why French wrote such a story.  The only reason I have been able to place my hands on is the coincidence that as a young child French would walk along the beach listening for the sound of mermaids singing above the waves.  This is an enjoyable, at times sad, and at times uplifting story.  The author manages to draw in the reader and make them wonder ‘what if that was me?’  There is an element of fantasy, or is it fantasy?  Maybe mermaids are real after all.  The impression of French’s work being left on the reader is that wondering in the back of the mind.

I vote this story into the lives of children, all children, girls, boys, single parent, nuclear family, same sex parent, all families.  Let the story unravel in your bedroom and enjoy the ride ahead.

Other books by this author:
The Black House (Koala Books, 2003)
Vampire Slugs on Callisto (Koala Books, 2003)
Diary of a Wombat (Angus & Robertson, 2002)
Too Many Pears (Koala Books, 2003)
Hitler's Daughter (HarperCollins, 1999)
Tom Appleby, Convict Boy (Angus & Robertson, 2004)

Review by Georgie Eberbach

This piece was originally submitted as part of the course work in Australian Children's Literature.

© 2004 Georgie Eberbach