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Paul Macdonald Paul Macdonald i(A118136 works by)
Gender: Male
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1 y separately published work icon The Hole Idea Beth MacDonald , Paul Macdonald , Nathaniel Eckstrom (illustrator), Beecroft : Book Trail Press , 2019 18713736 2019 single work picture book children's

'Finnian Jones lived in a house brimming with books. One morning, Finnian woke up eager to create a story of his own... Follow Finnian's journey as he takes his Gran's advice and "digs deep" to find his own ideas. Along the way he discovers much more than he expected but will he ever be able to create a story of his own?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.
1 Busy Little Beecrofts Paul Macdonald , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , August/September vol. 92 no. 1 2012; (p. 10)
1 [Review] Everything I Knew Paul Macdonald , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Autumn vol. 17 no. 1 2009; (p. 23)
— Review of Everything I Knew : A Novel Peter Goldsworthy , 2008 single work novel Paul MacDonald sees Peter Goldsworthy as a writer who 'moves seamlessly from the comic to the tragic' and 'moves beyond caricatures and creates characters that rise above the pages'. Everything I Knew is a boy's coming-of-age story, set in 1964 and focused around 'a year of first times and fresh discoveries' (Goldsworthy, cited in MacDonald, p.23) and is reviewed by MacDonald as a story that is as much about philosophical questioning as it is about teenage obsession. He see the narrative as one that invites contemplation by 'forcing' its readers 'to reflect on the title and question how much do we ever really know about the present'. Do we need the gift of time to more properly reflect upon expereince? Does age offer insight or just platforms of regret?
1 [Review] Butterfly Paul Macdonald , 2009 single work review
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Autumn vol. 17 no. 1 2009; (p. 16-17)
— Review of Butterfly Sonya Hartnett , 2009 single work novel In 2008,Sonya Hartnett received the prestigous Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for her innovative and impressive oeuvre of work and her latest novel Butterfly is on the shortlist for The Age Literary Prize, 2009. MacDonald pays tribute to Hartnett as an 'immense talent and an astute observer of characters and the spaces they inhabit' (16) and gives a detailed account of the novel's story, which revolves around characters who 'share a mutual loneliness' and must 'shed skins and facer greater truths about themselves' (17). He argues that Hartnett's 'luminous lnaguage' is what saves the story from 'being a depressing read' and instead finds the text 'intriguing and beautifully written...a novel of nuance and shade, ultimately about metamorphosis, potential and change'. For MacDonald 'the novel lingers when the final words are read' because the story highlights how 'few things are truly worth wanting' and challenges the reader to 'deteremine what those few things are' (17).
1 [Review] Hamlet : A Novel Paul Macdonald , 2008 single work review
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Spring vol. 16 no. 3 2008; (p. 22-23)
— Review of Hamlet : A Novel John Marsden , 2008 single work novel In this longer critical review Macdonald describes Marsden's novel as reimagining the original characters and story and opening the world of 'Hamlet' to a new generation.
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