Two kids. Two kids with different life circumstances. Two kids with different emotional responses to change and trauma. Two kids who do not yet know each other. Two kids who are so different and seems impossible that they could ever even tolerate one another let alone become friends.
Now for the problem - their parents. Tom lives with his mum. Dad is in jail and this is a good thing because he was a dangerous man - he was severely physically and emotionally abusive towards Tom and his mum. Zofia lives with her dad. Her mum died when she was a baby. Dad is great but he is not always 'tuned in' because his work as a doctor is so intense.
Have you guessed what happens here - yes this is just like the Brady Bunch except with less kids and less harmony. Tom's mum meets Zofia's dad; they all move into Zofia's house and then the kids hear that a new baby is coming.
Zofia lives her life in a storm of rage or a storm of activity. She is loud and opinionated. Zofia also loves to swim, and she has set herself a long-distance swimming challenge as a way to make her father proud. Tom is small for his age. He is terrified of the dark at night and so fills his room with lights and always carries a torch. Tom is also afraid of small spaces and of upsetting his mum. He knows his dad will not return but the possibility of this is also constantly on his mind. He also has difficulty with trust - especially trust of male adults.
How will these two kids cope with living in the same house and going to the same, very small, school. Zofia has been at this school since Kindy. Tom is the new kid and yet everyone seems to like him straight away. It warmed my heart to see him make a friend almost from the first day.
Two of the really appealing aspects of this book are the alternating voices and the very short chapters - you just keep turning the pages racing to that all important happy ending. Well yes there is a happy ending (spoiler I know), but Katya Kalen keeps up the tension for her readers because the baby is born too early, and she is very poorly. The other part of this book that works really well is the way the two main characters are so very different from one another. I kept wishing they would just talk to each other - that they could feel brave enough or open enough to share their fears and hopes and doubts.
This is Katya Balen’s third book, and, like her previous works, tackles emotionally charged issues with sensitivity, told in beautiful and poetic prose. She explores the complexities and challenges of adjusting to a new and blended family. Balen has a keen awareness of the reader, drawing us into the story and creating characters we care about: pages turn with ease as their stories unfold. Just Imagine
Here are the teachers notes for The Light in Everything and some book group discussion questions. I highly recommend The Light in Everything for mature readers aged 10+.
Why did I select this book from the library? First of all, the cover is beautiful and now I discover this illustration is by HCAA Winner Sydney Smith. Now onto the author - I previously enjoyed several other books by Katya Balen. Her new book due in 2026 is Letters from the upside.
I gave this book four stars and it won the Carnegie Medal in 2022
I gave this book five stars
I am really keen to read Katya Balen's new book which comes out early in 2026:
No comments:
Post a Comment