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 Josie
Montano's books for children and young adults have burst
onto the bookshelves in a satisfying stream since Camclub
2000: The Ghost of the Bell was published in 1999.
I was initially attracted to this book for its historical
content, and the way it cleverly utilised the futuristic
hype around the year 2000 to hook readers into looking
back a hundred years in time and thinking. |
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 Montano's
next book, her first with Lothian, Wogaluccis,
was published in February 2002. Wogaluccis' main
character, Angela, has Italian grandparents who own a
restaurant 'Fiorucci's' which is commonly know as 'Wogaluccis'.
In her often quite hilarious coming-of-age story, Montano
convincingly portrays the interests and dilemmas of a
group of teenage girlfriends as they struggle to find
a sense of self in contemporary multicultural Australia.
Montano writes with a light touch and Wogalucci's is
seriously funny in places but, as the story develops,
many issues of substance emerge. These are issues as diverse
as sex and relationships; questions of identity, culture
and fitting in; ethnic stereotyping, racism and gender
issues; and the questions which seem to haunt all teenagers
— doubts and uncertainties about self-confidence,
families, friends, attitudes to authority, dealing with
emotions, smoking, drinking, regrets, blame, guilt, and
exactly what is 'normal'?
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 Wogalucci's
was closely followed by a series of works from Lothian.
In 2002, Chicken Pox—Yuck!, and then in 2003,
the 'Snot' series—Snot Cool!, Snot Fair!
and Snot Funny!, Pop Starlets and Stuff
They Don't Teach You At School. Some of these developed
from each other, Popstars featuring, and developing,
some of the female characters from Chicken Pox—Yuck!
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This
prodigious output did not, of course, spring from nowhere,
and I have heard the author relate how her desire to be
a writer began at her primary school, where she would
shelve her self-published stories in the school library
alongside more famous authors. Her first rejection letter,
for a manuscript titled 'Mother Christmas', was received
from Golden Books when she was 13. Montano was a student
in my writing classes a few years ago but, even acknowledging
her contagious enthusiasm and energy, I was surprised
how much I enjoyed all her work — reading each as
a book in its own right rather than as a critic of children's
books — even the 'Snot' series which is pitched at
a market of eight-year-old boys!
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