Sport fans, especially fans of basketball and netball are sure to enjoy this new Australian verse novel due for publication in June 2023. This is the second book I have read by Karen Comer and I was happy to discover this one relied a little less on familiarity with Melbourne.
There are a few reasons I enjoy verse novels. They are quick to read of course but more than that they usually contain quite emotional stories. Sunshine on Vinegar Street didn't quite touch my heart but I did relate to Freya's fear of riding in lifts. At her age of twelve, I had a fear of riding on escalators.
Back to the setting of this book. Freya has moved with her mother to the eleventh floor of a city apartment building. She has to navigate a lot of stairs each day and worse, she now has to navigate relationships in a new school. Especially relationships with awful girls who plan to be selected for the A Grade basketball team. Freya loves basketball and she is a skilled player but Val is determined to see her fail. Freya also has to cope with desperately missing her dad who is working in Broome.
Across the road from their new apartment there is a Melbourne landmark - The Skipping Girl Sign or Skipping Girl Vinegar Sign, colloquially known as Little Audrey - an historic animated neon sign in the inner suburb of Abbotsford, Melbourne. You can read more about Little Audrey here. Turn off the sound and watch this video of the neon sign in action.
Publisher blurb: Freya's world is turned upside down when she and her mum move to inner-city Melbourne. Now she's ... Stuck in a new apartment on the eleventh floor and Freya is afraid of lifts. Stuck in a new basketball team where not everyone likes a killer new player. Stuck in a classroom of kids who don't know Freya is a donor-conceived baby. Stuck, just like little Audrey in the Skipping Girl sign suspended in mid-air over the suburb of Abbotsford. Being the new girl makes Freya feel like a dark cloud on a summer's day. Can she figure out how to belong on Vinegar Street?
Here is Karen Comer's previous book which was also a verse novel but aimed at an older reader:
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