I thought this was a great read when it was first published, and returning to it has confirmed that impression. The internal and external dramas are skillfully woven together, and the tension holds taut as everything builds to the final climax. We are the mind of fourteen year old Zac in remote midwinter Alaska, asContinue reading “Something About Alaska – Review”
Category Archives: Reviews – Teen Fiction
Review of ‘Fish Out of Water’, by Kate Hendrick
State swimming champion Finn is on the starting block when a face among the spectators snaps his focus. Missing the start, he finishes last. Finn had just seen his dad, his greatest supporter, who drove him to every training session, every competition, critiqued him, fought for him and believed Finn could swim for Australia atContinue reading “Review of ‘Fish Out of Water’, by Kate Hendrick”
Review of Untidy Towns
Review of Untidy Towns On the spur of the moment, Adelaide Longley walks out of her expensive Melbourne boarding school and catches the train home to her country town. We might expect Addie’s family to be upset, even angry, but the relationships in this family are warm, supportive and depicted in rich detail. They wantContinue reading “Review of Untidy Towns”
Review of “The Road to Winter”
A near-future Australia has been devastated by a virus, the survivors clinging to life however they can. Finn is a survivor. Two years since his parents died and the rest of the locals fled, he and his dog Rowdy are the lone occupants of what was once a thriving holiday town, we assume on Victoria’sContinue reading “Review of “The Road to Winter””
Untidy Towns
Kate O’Donnell On the spur of the moment, Adelaide Longley walks out of her expensive Melbourne boarding school and boards the train home to her country town. We might expect Addie’s family to be upset, even angry, but the relationships in this family are warm, supportive and depicted in rich detail. They want AddieContinue reading “Untidy Towns”
Review of ‘Girl on a Plane’
It is one thing to be a fifteen-year-old English girl caught up in a mid-air plane hijacking. It is quite another to be able to recreate that experience decades later in a novel which puts the reader right there as one of the exhausted, terrified passengers. Miriam Moss achieves just that. As the fictional Anna,Continue reading “Review of ‘Girl on a Plane’”
Meg’s Guest Review of “Maybe”
It’s 1946. Poland is in ruins after the Second World War. Happiness is scarce. A fourteen-year-old juvenile named Felix is stranded in his own mind. A prevailing addition to Morris Gleitzman’s Once series, Maybe follows directly after the novel Soon. Gabriek is the middle-aged guardian of both Felix and Anya who is a recalcitrant pregnantContinue reading “Meg’s Guest Review of “Maybe””
Review of ‘Because of You’ by Pip Harry
Tiny and Nola should never have met. Tiny scrounges for food on the streets of Sydney, Australia, and is driven to steal sanitary supplies from a pharmacy. Nola and her friends are picking out $1000+ dresses for their Year 12 formal in a trendy Harbourside boutique. But Tiny hears the writing group at homeless shelterContinue reading “Review of ‘Because of You’ by Pip Harry”
“Talk Under Water” by Kathryn Lomer
The Facebook page of Jessica Watson – the Australian teen who skippered her sailboat solo around the Southern Hemisphere at age 16 – brings Summer Rainbird and Will Lane together. They both think Jessica is awesome, but Summer has never set foot on a sailboat. Will lives on one. When they find out they haveContinue reading ““Talk Under Water” by Kathryn Lomer”
‘Yong – Journey of an Unworthy Son’ ; ‘Ties That Bind, Ties That Break’
Yong – The Journey of an Unworthy Son by Janeen Brian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_gold_rush Thirteen-year old Yong recounts his dangerous journey from southern China to join the 1850s gold rush in Ballarat, Victoria. He tries with all his heart to be worthy son, obedient to his father’s decision to sail to Australia after drought and famine devastateContinue reading “‘Yong – Journey of an Unworthy Son’ ; ‘Ties That Bind, Ties That Break’”
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