Social Issues
A Tale of Magic Book One
Written by Chris Colfer
Middle Grade, Magic, Friendship, Adventure
Published August 11th 2020
448 Pages
Thanks to Hachette Australia
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★★★★☆
When Brystal Evergreen stumbles across a secret section of the library, she discovers a book that introduces her to a world beyond her imagination and learns the impossible: she is a fairy capable of magic! But in the oppressive Southern Kingdom, women are forbidden from reading and magic is outlawed, so Brystal is swiftly convicted of her crimes and sent to the miserable Bootstrap Correctional Facility.
But with the help of the mysterious Madame Weatherberry, Brystal is whisked away and enrolled in an academy of magic! Adventure comes with a price, however, and when Madame Weatherberry is called away to attend to an important problem, she doesn't return.
Do Brystal and her classmates have what it takes to stop a sinister plot that risks the fate of the world, and magic forever?
In the Southern Kingdom, young girls are educated to become housewives, mothers and caregivers, good girls by honouring their fathers, brothers and husbands as silent, neglected members of society. Thirteen year old Brystal Evergreen is determined to journey across the kingdoms, seeking adventure and freedom but for the time being, Brystal is content to read. For women and girls within the oppressive kingdom, reading is illegal so when Brystal stumbles across a banned magic book while covertly cleaning her local library, she's caught not only reading but practicing magic and sentenced to the horrific Bootstrap Correctional Facility.
Ohh Brystal, what a darling girl you are with your big dreams and immense feelings. I was so incredibly smitten by this spirited young lady. She's courageous and determined to push against societal boundaries. Brystal's father is a leader among their community and although paid handsomely for his work, the family live with the bare necessities, handmedown clothing while Brystal and her mother work tirelessly to keep house. After all, the Southern Kingdom tells women that's all their good for. Grown men scared of the superiority of women and Brystal's father is without a doubt, a misogynist. As a Justice, along with both Brystal's brothers, they're responsible for keeping women in line, uneducated and sentencing those suspected of magic to death.
Girls from across the kingdom have been accused of practicing magic, outlawed after hordes of magical creatures were purged from the kingdoms into the inbetween, a dangerous and unruly place where ogres, goblins and club thumping trolls dwell and fight for resources. The inbetween is incredibly atmospheric and foreboding, an ancient forest and ungovernable land separating the northern and southern kingdoms and where Madame Weatherberry has stationed her new school.
A reprieve arrives in the form of Madame Weatherberry, a delightful Mary Poppins type woman who has Presidential approval to open a school for Fairies, Under the guidance of Madame Weatherberry, students Brystal and her new friends Xanthous, Emerelda, Tangerina, Skylene and travelling showbusiness performer extraordinaire Lucy, will learn to control their abilities and become the faces of the magical community to promote acceptance and understanding. Madame Weatherberry has an ulterior motive, the children must learn to defeat the Snow Queen, an enchantress wreaking havoc on the northern kingdom, decimating villages and homes.
Although the injustice and inequality of the kingdom are fictional, young readers will draw parallel's within the world and the prejudice communities endure. Communities of colour, ethnicity, religion, gender and sexualities, persecuted rather than celebrated.
A Tale of Magic is a whimsical series debut that will delight and enchant readers. Simply magical.
A Tale of Magic Book Two
Written by Chris Colfer
Middle Grade, Magic, Friendship, Adventure
Published September 29th 2020
528 Pages
Thanks to Hachette Australia
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★★★★☆
Brystal Evergreen changed the world, but the journey is just beginning.
Brystal Evergreen and her friends have saved the world from the evil Snow Queen and secured worldwide acceptance for the magical community.
However, when a mysterious new witch named Mistress Mara arrives at the Academy, the celebrations are cut short. As Mistress Mara begins recruiting faeries into her rival school of Witchcraft, it becomes clear she has dark intentions. And soon Brystal's friend Lucy becomes embroiled in an ominous plot against mankind.
Elsewhere, the fragile peace is on the brink of shattering. Outrage has spread throughout the kingdoms in opposition to the legalisation of magic. And a dangerous and centuries old clan known as the Righteous Brotherhood has resurfaced, with one goal in mind: to exterminate all magical life for ever. Starting with Brystal.
As the kingdom celebrates the once isolated and persecuted magical community, Brystal is now academy administrator and along with Xanthous, Emerelda, Tangerina, Skylene and Lucy, the academy welcomes the wider community seeking solace within the sanctuary grounds. The northern conflict has been resolved, the land thawed and the Snow Queen has been banished under the northern lights but a new threat has emerged.
The Righteous Brotherhood is a patriarchal organisation opposing the magical community. While the community was isolated by the kingdom, the Brotherhood remained dormant and with Brystal's new found popularity, they have awoken to destroy the alliance the kingdom and fairy community has aligned. Brystal has found an unlikely but wonderfully charismatic ally in Prince Gallivant, affectionately known as Seven due to his lineage to the royal throne. The Brotherhood will stop at nothing to see their leader on the throne, including the decimation of the royal family and Brystal will risk her life to ensure the safety of the academy and community.
One of my favourite aspects of the A Tale of Magic series is the societal and political undertones. How society often devalues the lives of minority communities and legislates, discriminates and excludes based on ethnicity, gender and sexualities. Brystal has matured into a wonderful young lady, confident and fiercely vigilant, protecting the community she embraces. A Tale of Witchcraft is very much Brystal's journey of acceptance and growth, learning who she is and her place within the world.
Beautifully written and lovingly told, The Tale of Magic series is a wonderful exploration of adventure and found family, of wanting to belong and finding your place within the everchanging world. An absolute delight.
Written by Eric Smith
Contemporary, Gaming, Friendship, Online Safety
284 Pages
Published January 20th 2020
Thank you to Harlequin Teen Australia
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★★★★★
Divya Sharma is a queen. Or she is when she’s playing Reclaim the Sun, the year’s hottest online game. Divya regularly leads her #angstarmada on quests through the game’s vast and gorgeous virtual universe. But for Divya, this is more than just a game. Out in the real world, she’s trading her rising star status for sponsorships to help her struggling single mum pay the rent.
Gaming is basically Aaron Jericho’s entire life. Much to his mother’s frustration, Aaron has zero interest in becoming a doctor like her, and spends his free time writing games for a local developer. At least he can escape into Reclaim the Sun and with a trillion worlds to explore, disappearing should be easy. But to his surprise, he somehow ends up on the same remote planet as celebrity gamer Divya.
At home, Divya and Aaron grapple with their problems alone, but in the game, they have each other to face infinite new world and the growing legion of trolls populating them. Soon the virtual harassment seeps into reality when a group called the Vox Populi begin launching real world doxxing campaigns, threatening Aaron’s dreams and Divya’s actual life. The online trolls think they can drive her out of the game, but everything and everyone Divya cares about is on the line.
And she isn’t going down without a fight.
Reclaim The Sun is a popular online multiplayer game, players from all over the world board their ships ready to explore the universe, colonise planets and mine for resources. For gamer and streamer Divya Sharma, it's how she earns a living. Through sponsorship and revenue to help her single mother make ends meet while she puts herself through college.
Being a female gamer is hard enough, avoiding trolls and online abuse from arrogant males laying claim to online spaces. Divya has tried to protect her personal information. She doesn't use her real name, location or allow people past the virtual walls she's built around herself, she knows all too well how unsafe the world can be for females after her best friend, gaming buddy and streaming producer Rebekah was attacked in an elevator on her college campus. But when Divya is attacked and ambushed in game by a group of dudebros calling themselves the Vox Populi, the online trolling spills into her real life, comprising her safety.
Any girl gamer who's ever played an online multiplayer can attest to Divya's story. I'm no stranger to online gaming. In my younger years playing Call of Duty online and the amount of assholes who try to intimidate and target females is infuriating. Often console support will suggest you block other users or turn off the in game chat, sure, that solves the issue. I would have thought of that myself but my simple female brain is too occupied with flower arranging and darning socks. The issue is that for so long, they've allowed male gamers to create a toxic environment online where these losers living in their mother's basement get together and drive female gamers from the community. Back then, girls would meet online at a specific time and have female only sessions of online games. Safety in numbers is instilled in us because of men and allowing them to become faceless behind a keyboard only perpetuates their male fragility.
Aaron Jericho is a part time online gamer, his real interest lies in creating games and storyboarding, working for an independent developer who is trying to dodge paying wages for his staff. With no wage and an overbearing mother who refuses to support his dream of becoming a game developer, he's built himself a Frankenstein computer made from dumpster spare parts and pieces found in the neighbours trash. It works and is good enough to run Reclaim The Sun where Divya and her armada has just been attacked.
Aaron is a kindhearted young man and while he's never experienced trolling as Divya is now experiencing, he wholeheartedly supports her and her need for privacy while still checking in to make sure she's doing okay. Aaron's narrative explores the issue of creators not being paid appropriately for their work, taking advantage of because they're afforded experience. Experience doesn't pay the bills. Aaron's blossoming friendship with Divya allows him to escape and seek solace online and although he'd like to meet her, he respects Divya's need for privacy and allows her to set boundaries within their friendship. Never pushing her to meet offline or for her phone number.
The focus of the story is how unsafe online spaces can be for females in particular and like Divya, we can protect ourselves and our personal, sensitive information but online communities whether it be social media or gamer communities, it allows others to have access to us. Streaming her gaming attracts large audiences and although it's wonderful for Divya who can earn money from sponsorship, being a public figure shouldn't mean that her life should be for public consumption. Her private life is her own. These online trolls who are aggressively targeting Divya, her friends and family are dangerous. As soon as your safety is compromised, these faceless assholes become a danger and more needs to be done to be able to persecute those who engage in online targeted harassment and doxxing.
Don't Read The Comments is an incredible narrative of girls fighting back against those who attempt to silence us. Eric Smith is an impeccable author, creating discussion surrounding creating safe online spaces for females and supporting young creators. There's a saying, the standard you walk past, is the standard you accept and we need to be more mindful of one another online. If you see targeted harassment, report harassers. If a young woman is being abused, speak out and if you're a male gamer who doesn't believe in females occupying online spaces, then fuck off.
Aaron is a kindhearted young man and while he's never experienced trolling as Divya is now experiencing, he wholeheartedly supports her and her need for privacy while still checking in to make sure she's doing okay. Aaron's narrative explores the issue of creators not being paid appropriately for their work, taking advantage of because they're afforded experience. Experience doesn't pay the bills. Aaron's blossoming friendship with Divya allows him to escape and seek solace online and although he'd like to meet her, he respects Divya's need for privacy and allows her to set boundaries within their friendship. Never pushing her to meet offline or for her phone number.
The focus of the story is how unsafe online spaces can be for females in particular and like Divya, we can protect ourselves and our personal, sensitive information but online communities whether it be social media or gamer communities, it allows others to have access to us. Streaming her gaming attracts large audiences and although it's wonderful for Divya who can earn money from sponsorship, being a public figure shouldn't mean that her life should be for public consumption. Her private life is her own. These online trolls who are aggressively targeting Divya, her friends and family are dangerous. As soon as your safety is compromised, these faceless assholes become a danger and more needs to be done to be able to persecute those who engage in online targeted harassment and doxxing.
Don't Read The Comments is an incredible narrative of girls fighting back against those who attempt to silence us. Eric Smith is an impeccable author, creating discussion surrounding creating safe online spaces for females and supporting young creators. There's a saying, the standard you walk past, is the standard you accept and we need to be more mindful of one another online. If you see targeted harassment, report harassers. If a young woman is being abused, speak out and if you're a male gamer who doesn't believe in females occupying online spaces, then fuck off.
Written by Vikki Wakefield
Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, #loveozya
320 Pages
Published September 3rd 2019
Thanks to Text Publishing
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★★★★★
I have questions I’ve never asked. Worries I’ve never shared. Thoughts that circle and collide and die screaming because they never make it outside my head. Stuff like that, if you let it go, it's a survival risk.
Sixteen year old Nate McKee is doing his best to be invisible. He’s worried about a lot of things. How his dad treats Nance and his twin half brothers, the hydro crop in his bedroom, his reckless friend, Merrick.
Nate hangs out at the local youth centre and fills his notebooks with things he can’t say. But when some of his pages are stolen, and his words are graffitied at the centre, Nate realises he has allies.
He might be able to make a difference, change his life, and claim his future. Or can he?
For sixteen year old Nathaniel McKee, survival is learning to not to draw attention to yourself, to keep your head down and avoid confrontation. Living in their ramshackle government housing apartment is suffocating, Nate is reminded each day of the mother that abandoned him for her substance addiction, leaving him with his alcoholic, abusive father who uses toxic masculinity as a shield. Now with his new partner eight years his junior, Nance struggles to care for their two young boys Jake and Otis. Otis has developmental difficulties but has responding to cues from Nate of late, angering their father even further.
Nate McKee is a pacifist, sympathetic to the environment and sustainability. Avoiding confrontation with his father, Nate escapes to Youth Works, the local youth centre where the quietude and solace allow him to gather his thoughts in a series of notebooks, composing poems and anecdotes of the things he is too afraid to say aloud. Rowley Park is a low socioeconomic suburb where only the resilient survive and for adolescents like Nate and best friend Merrick, Youth Works provides a haven for those without a safe environment at home.
This is How We Change the Ending represents our low socioeconomic communities around Australia, public schooling, government housing and often areas with above average crime rates as residents are unemployed and unable to support their families financially. Our elected governments consider them as statistics, they're often our neighbours, our friends or our own families and Nate McKee is a vulnerable young man susceptible to becoming a stereotype.
Youth Works is a government funded local initiative for the youth of Rowley Park, providing security and a sense of belonging for those feeling misunderstood, displaced or lonely. The youth counsellors are supportive and encourage adolescents to become independent and motivated, including Nate and Merrick, friends and neighbours since childhood. Merrick is spontaneous, charismatic and a steadfast friend, although underappreciated. Nate is also challenged by English teacher Mister Reid, to think laterally and creatively. He instills a sense of confidence and ambition in his students. Mister Reid and counsellor Macy are important influences for Nate and through their interactions, he's determined to become more than a statistic.
This is How We Change the Ending is harrowing, traumatic and incredibly optimistic. Vikki Wakefield captures the voice of Australia's toughest and most vulnerable families throughout our working class and low socioeconomic suburbs. Authentic, compassionate and a remarkable narrative cementing Vikki Wakefield as an exceptional Australian young adult author. Sublime reading.
Emergency ContactWritten by Mary H. K. Choi
Contemporary, Romance, College
400 Pages
Published January 2019
Thank you to Simon and Schuster Australia
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★★★★
For Penny Lee high school was a total nonevent. Her friends were okay, her grades were fine, and while she somehow managed to land a boyfriend, he doesn’t actually know anything about her. When Penny heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it’s seventy nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind.
Sam’s stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a café and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. He knows that this is the god-awful chapter of his life that will serve as inspiration for when he’s a famous movie director but right this second the seventeen bucks in his checking account and his dying laptop are really testing him.
When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch via text and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.
Penelope Lee has aspirations of becoming an author, sharing adventures with captivated audiences. Embarking on her first year of college, Penny is spreading her wings as a young, independent woman and her nonexistent social standing. Her mother Celeste is a vibrant woman, single parent and although Penny often begrudges her mother for her affectionate and effervescent personality, is concerned Celeste will succumb to opportunists of the male persuasion, a point of contention believing her mother encourages male suitors.
Penelope is a ambitious young woman although frustrating, intolerant and critical. Penny begins her journey on the threshold of her first year at college, reluctant to abandon her mother, anxious but determined to become an accomplished author. Penny believes her mother Celeste is irresponsible and effortlessly coerced, ridiculing her choice of attire and her demeanour as an affectionate, compassionate single woman. Her disregard for her mother was disappointing. A woman who raised her child to become an independent young woman, providing for her daughter and a wonderful encouragement. Once arriving at college, Penny ceases communication with Celeste. Penny is undoubtedly obnoxious but possesses a relatability that is confrontational and reflective.
Sharing a dormitory room with Penny, Jude is a vivacious girl, her wealthy and ignorant friend Mallory is abrasive, as Penny despises commercialism and material possessions. Despite the dissimilarities, Jude is determined not to exclude Penny and encourages her socialise. Jude is a wonderful character of compassion and enthusiasm and although privileged, is considerate and nurturing.
Sam Becker is despondent, his relationship fractured as he now resides in an intimate loft above his workplace, an Austin coffee house and patisserie. As a child, Sam endured a home of alcoholism and neglect, his mother a stern and resentful woman now estranged from her only child. Sam is a passionate, intense character yet wilfully ignorant, although his former girlfriend is unfaithful, Sam is prepared to absolve her of responsibility, a desperate young man moments from destruction. Uncharacteristic altruistic, Penny has volunteered to become the Emergency Contact and concerned by his behaviour, they begin messaging one another secretly, under the covers until the sun rises. Throughout their covert messages, Sam and Penny begin a tentative friendship, sharing their aspirations, thoughts and trepidation.
Sam and Penny are undoubtedly attracted to one another but I appreciated the platonic friendship and Sam allowing Penny to determine the parameters of their friendship. The narrative also touches upon casual racism, poverty, socioeconomic barriers, privilege, alcohol abuse, pregnancy and sexual assault through a Korean American own voices narrative. The essence of Emergency Contact is a narrative of companionship, acceptance, maturing as individuals and learning from our experiences. A gentle, mature and beautiful contemporary romance, thoroughly enjoyed it.
This review is part of the Simon and Schuster and Australian Young Adult Bloggers and readers group tour. You can follow the rest of the tour by clicking here.
Grace Beside Me contains sensitivities such as racism, abuse and attempted sexual assault.
Written by Sue McPherson
Contemporary, Indigenous, #LoveOZYA
Published December 2012
224 Pages
Thank you to Magabala Books
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★★★★☆
A warmly rendered story of life in a small town that interweaves the mundane with the profound and the spiritual.
Told through the eyes of teenager, Fuzzy Mac, awkward episodes of teen rivalry and romance sit alongside the mystery of Nan’s visions and a ghostly encounter. Against a backdrop of quirky characters, including the holocaust survivor who went to school with Einstein and the little priest always rushing off to bury someone before the heat gets to them, Grace Beside Me is full of humour and timely wisdom.
Thirteen year old Ocean Skye McCardell, affectionately known as Fuzzy Mac, lives within the small outback town of Laurel Dale. Since her mother passed, Fuzzy has lived with her grandparents, known to the town as Nan and Pop, her father employed in the mining industry and unable to care for his only child. Thirteen years of age will become a monumental year for Fuzzy as she begins to see spirits, a long held tradition of Seer passed down through the McCardell women. Navigating adolescence as Fuzzy finds her sense of self, her ancestry and her role as an Indigenous, Irish and South Sea Islander young woman.
It's the listening and telling of stories that bring our people close, both young and old. Stories keep our culture strong and our faith alive.
Politically, the landscape of Australia is changing. The Australian government have announced a national day of apology, a small step towards the process of healing Indigenous communities, touching on long held racism, prejudice and the Stolen Generation. Grace Beside Me places the focus on family and the small community of Laurel Dale's societal issues. The neighbours experiencing domestic violence, Holocaust survivors, Uncle Lefty who through loss of identity, is now on the straight and narrow. Nan and Pop are pillars of the small town community, caring for the downtrodden.
The diversity of characters are wonderful. Nan is biracial Indigenous and Irish, her mother Koori and father of Irish heritage. Nan and her sisters were only young girls when they were stolen from their families. Pop is a descendant of the South Sea Islanders, enslaved and brought to Australia. Indigenous Australian, Māori, European and white Australia coexist within the small community that is beautifully portrayed.
The writing is incredibly organic, Sue McPherson engages readers within the narrative as I felt as though I was part of the Laurel Dale community. Simple, wonderful storytelling at its finest.
Watch the Adaptation
Kyliric Masella shines as the character of Fuzzy Mac, a beautiful young Indigenous girl who is coming of age. After her mother died of an overdose, Fuzzy has been raised by her grandparents, her father working in the mines and unable to care for his daughter. Her journey begins on the morning of her thirteenth birthday, coinciding with the spiritual Spooky Month, leading Fuzzy to learn she is to become a Seer of spiritual insight, guided by the spirits of her ancestors.
Each episode of the thirteen part series follows Fuzzy as she learns about her gift and the spirits that need assistance before moving on. It entwines the Indigenous spiritual beliefs with a wonderful sense of family, as Nan and Pop are always a positive influence in Fuzzy's life, helping guide her moral compass.
Each episode of the thirteen part series follows Fuzzy as she learns about her gift and the spirits that need assistance before moving on. It entwines the Indigenous spiritual beliefs with a wonderful sense of family, as Nan and Pop are always a positive influence in Fuzzy's life, helping guide her moral compass.
Navigating her adolescence, friendship, family and responsibilities, Grace Beside Me is a beautiful blend of diverse Australiana and the celebration of Indigenous country, spirit and history. Adapted from the award winning novel by Sue McPherson, published by Magabala Books and previously screened on NITV, you can watch season one of Grace Beside Me on ABC iView here. Or check out the trailer by clicking here.
Magabala books is a non for profit arts organisation and independent Aboriginal Corporation with the objective of restoring, preserving and maintaining Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and the rights of traditional storytellers and artists. To read more about Magabala Books and to donate, visit their website.
Written by Elizabeth Acevedo
Poetry, Contemporary, Social Issues
320 Pages
Publishing April 1st 2018
Thank you to Hardie Grant Egmont
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★★★★
Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking.
But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers, especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself.
So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out, much less speak her words out loud. But still, she can’t stop thinking about performing her poems.
Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent.
Sixteen year old Xiomara Batista is a beautiful young woman, intelligent and compassionate, whispering words between the pages of her worn leather journal of a life never her own. Altagracia and her husband migrated to America from the Dominican Republic, surrendering her celibacy to a womaniser and embracing her Catholicism, residing in the community of East Harlem.
My parents probably wanted a girl who would sit in the pewswearing pretty florals and a soft smile.They got combat boots and a mouth silent until it's sharp as an island machete.
Brother Xavier was birthed as a whisper moments before Xiomara, wailing, entering the world. Xavier attends a prestigious private school, incapable of confronting his tormentors, incapable of confronting the men who sexualise Xiomara, now conscientious of her physique.
Her mother is antagonistic woman, disapproving, abusing and degrading Xiomara and the young woman her daughter represents. An independent feminist young lady. Emotionally absent, her father is a complacent bystander, creating a turbulent and oppressive environment.
We're wild women, flinging verses at each other
like grenades in a battlefield, a cacophony of violent poems
and then we're both gasping, wordless.
Xiomara's exploration of the world as a young woman is analytical, faith, femininity, relationships and the expectancy of young women and women of colour. Inspired by the poetry of women of colour, creative writing encourages Xiomara to articulate her thoughts. A formidable young woman who will confront, inspire and empower her captive audience throughout her verse narration.
To grab my notebook,
and write, and write and write
all the things I wish I could have said.
Make poems from the sharp feelings inside,
that feel like they could
carve me wide
open.
Written by Clare Atkins
Diverse, Political & Social Issues, Romance, #LoveOZYA
Published January 29th 2018
304 Pages
Thank you to Black Inc
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★★★★★
Is it possible for two very different teenagers to fall in love despite high barbed wire fences and a political wilderness between them?
Anahita is passionate, curious and determined. She is also an Iranian asylum seeker who is only allowed out of detention to attend school. On weekdays, during school hours, she can be a regular Australian girl.
Jono needs the distraction of an infatuation. In the past year his mum has walked out, he’s been dumped and his sister has moved away. Lost and depressed, Jono feels as if he’s been left behind with his Vietnamese single father, Kenny.
Kenny is struggling to work out the rules in his new job, he recently started work as a guard at the Wickham Point Detention Centre. He tells Anahita to look out for Jono at school, but quickly comes to regret this, spiraling into suspicion and mistrust. Who is this girl, really? What is her story? Is she a genuine refugee or a queue jumper? As Jono and Anahita grow closer, Kenny starts snooping behind the scenes...
Jonathan Do is the biracial son of an Australian mother and Vietnamese immigrant single father, living within the parched landscape of Darwin in the Northern Territory. Jonathan disinterested in his education and preferring intoxication rather than accountability, choosing to isolate himself from his estranged mother living in Sydney. The relationship Jonathan shares with his father is distant and impersonal, preferring the company of Minh, Dzoung's sister. After the collapse of his relationship with girlfriend Priya, Jonathan became increasingly depressed, his father now concerned is the cause of Jonathan's destruction.
Anahita Shirdel is an Iranian asylum seeker at Wickham Point Detention Centre, previously located on Nauru and Manus Island. Wickham Point is a fortress to asylum seekers from Burma, Afghanistan, Iran, Vietnam and New Zealand, pregnant women and children have been transported to Darwin without their partners, the Australian Human Rights Commission convicting the centre as inhumane, ignored by the Australian government. Anahita's mother is pregnant to partner Abdul who remains on Manus Island, transported to the mainland after being diagnosed with preeclampsia along with Abdul's son, three year old Arash. Anahita is a beautiful young woman, gentle and compassionate. The devastating conditions experienced in Iran have left Anahita traumatised, overwhelmed by nightly terrors. Australia offered an opportunity of freedom and safety, now left behind the cyclone fence and kept in oppressive, inhumane conditions.
Dzoung Do is a guard at the regimented detention compound, his narrative often confronting and intolerant. Dzoung is a Vietnamese immigrant, sponsored by his sister Minh to journey to Australia, marrying an Australian citizen and forgoing his traditional Vietnamese heritage. Determined to integrate into western society. Dzoung initially facilitates the friendship between Jonathan and Anahita, as Anahita begins her education at the local secondary college. The guards at the Wickham Point facility are often cruel, some regarding those seeking asylum as subhuman. Dzoung is an infuriating character, judgemental and increasingly without compassion. He allowed his own moral compass to be poisoned by the racist, bigoted employees at the Wickham Point facility.
The tentative friendship between Jonathan and Anahita is gentle and compassionate. Jonathan allowed Anahita to set boundaries within their friendship concerning her personal and cultural principles. Although Jonathan continues to experience casual racism, Anahita's peers are considerate and courteous. Friend Zahra's journey to Australia is indicative of the harrowing journey made by asylum seekers. Boarding substandard transport with family members often lost to the treacherous conditions.
The plight of asylum seekers is a precarious discussion for Australians. Men, women and children journey to Australia in dangerous conditions only to be denied basic human rights. They are detained behind cyclone fences in remand compounds on Nauru or Manus Island. Those granted refugee status will never be afforded the opportunity of freedom, treated inhumanely and exposes vulnerable asylum seekers to sexual, physical and psychological abuse, withheld in indefinite detention.
Clare Atkins is one of Australia's finest young adult literature authors. Between Us is a passionate conversation of Australia's inhumane treatment of those seeking asylum, reminding us of our understanding and our compassion. Compelling and influential reading.
Written by Megan Jacobson
Contemporary, Social Issues, Realistic Fiction, #LoveOzYA
272 Pages
Published July 31st 2017
Thank you to Penguin Teen Australia
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★★★★★
He’s back.
The monster.
It’s the middle of the night and I’m awake, because even though I’m seventeen I still haven’t outgrown the childhood monster that haunts you in the dark. I haven’t outgrown it, because when I was a child, the monster was real.
He was my father.
But the thing is, the monster was the person I was closest to in the whole world, closer than I’ve been to anyone since.
That will tell you everything you need to know about me.
And still, I wouldn’t hesitate to kill the monster.
That will tell you even more about me.
Seventeen year old Iliad Piper is named after war and angry at the world. Growing up with a violent father and abused mother, she doesn’t know how to do relationships, family or friends. A love hate friendship with Max turns into a prank war, and she nearly destroys her first true friendship with misfit Mia. Iliad takes off her armour for nobody, until she meets Jared, someone who's as complicated as she is.
Spousal and family violence is predominant throughout our communities. Aggressors are habitually husbands and fathers, wives and children persecuted by noxious, patriarchal male dominance exasperated by alcohol or substance abuse.
The Build Up Season narrative accompanies seventeen year old Iliad Piper on her journey, a tormented and indignant young woman. Although Iliad was educated at boarding school after her mother and father separated, she now lives in Darwin with her surly grandmother and mother, a new age healer specialising in spiritual wellness. Iliad's narrative is one that resonates profoundly, confrontational and resembling my own childhood experiences.
The Build Up Season narrative accompanies seventeen year old Iliad Piper on her journey, a tormented and indignant young woman. Although Iliad was educated at boarding school after her mother and father separated, she now lives in Darwin with her surly grandmother and mother, a new age healer specialising in spiritual wellness. Iliad's narrative is one that resonates profoundly, confrontational and resembling my own childhood experiences.
Iliad is a family violence survivor. Family violence and abuse is a confronting narrative, Iliad is a young woman who harbours animosity towards her mother for raising her in a violent environment, her mother a woman who endured years of physical and emotional spousal abuse. Her husband is possessive, manipulating Iliad to degrade her mother with contempt.
Iliad's fear is palpable, the unease of her father pursuing them to Darwin where her mother is a small business owner specialising in spiritual health. The trepidation of leaving everything behind to begin a new life is daunting and while Iliad and her mother were fortunate to have the financial assistance of Iliad's grandmother, funding Iliad's private school education, many women escaping violence are placed in shared housing for family violence survivors, a haven for women and children who otherwise were not afforded the same assistance.
Jared is a character of contrasts. He appears to be a charismatic young man but underneath he's manipulative and noxious. He's easily angered, jealous and possessive of Iliad. It was reminiscent of the relationship between her parents and although often Iliad felt nervous of Jared's behaviour similar to many victims of violence, believed she was responsible for Jared's actions.
Throughout the narration, Iliad has a long running rivalry with Max. I adored Max. He's an intelligent and aspirational Indigenous young man of Bininj and Anmatyerre heritage from the Northern Territory. Max faces his own adversity and as the two call a truce, develop a wonderfully caring friendship. Iliad's friendship with Max was a positive experience, his family welcomed Iliad into their home with Max a testament to his loving and close knit family.
The essence of The Build Up Season is new beginnings and learning to forgive, reiterating the importance of holding perpetrators of violence accountable. The narrative although confrontational, are incredibly important for adolescents. If you haven't experienced family violence, it's likely you unknowingly know someone who has. The Build Up Season is the book I wish I'd had as a teen, an important discussion as a community in support of those family violence has touched.
For more information on help available to victims of domestic and family violence
1800 Respect is funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Social Services to provide support for people experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, sexual assault, domestic or family violence, their friends and family, workers and professionals supporting someone experiencing, or at risk of experiencing sexual assault, domestic or family violence. This is a confidential service available twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
Lifeline Australia is a national charity providing all Australians experiencing a personal crisis with access to twenty four hour crisis support and suicide prevention services.
Kids Helpline is Australia’s only free, private and confidential twenty four hours, seven days a week phone and online counselling service for young people aged five to twenty five.
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