The Kindness Project by Deborah Abela

This is perhaps a minor aspect of The Kindness Project but the teacher has such a powerful role in the lives of the four children who you can see on the cover of this new verse novel. She sets an assignment.

"Each term
we do a class project.

This time Ms Skye says,

'We're doing a project

to change the world.

It's called

The Kindness Project.'

Ms Sky is the BEST teacher

and it think it's great that

she wants to change the world

but doing it with a school project

is a BIG ask. 

Ms Sky says

we need to aim HIGH

and that big changes

come from small beginnings

and that just because we're small

doesn't mean

we can't make a difference."

The school project is one thing but setting up the groups of students who will work together is an even bigger issue. Ms Sky uses a Harry Potter-style sorting hat. She picks Nicolette first, then the new boy named Leaf - Nicolette is not sure he will want to work with her - she has no friends in this class. 

"I feel like there's a manual

for making friends

and it was handed out to everyone

except me.

Maybe mine was lost in the post

or someone got two by mistake

and that's why 

they have so many friends

and get invited to parties

and seem to know

how to talk to each other

at lunchtime

or during sport

or when you're suddenly

put in a group

with kids who don't like you"

Then Ms Sky pulls out Layla. She is one of the cool kids. And finally, it is DJ. Oh no he is the class bully. He is so mean. He has called Nicolette Knickers since Kindergarten. Everyone is frightened of his anger and vicious taunts. 

What these four kids don't know is that each has a deeply personal back story. As they come to trust each other these four stories will form the basis of their class project. 

Nicolette is the narrator of this story so it is her story that we explore the most deeply. She visits her grandmother in the afternoons at an aged care home that Nanna calls Alcatraz. The way lines of this verse novel say so much about this dreadful place - "dry cake"; "a nurse with a bushranger beard and a grey uniform ... talks over her"; "He clangs the metal dinner tray on the bedside table"; "the food is brown and lumpy like carrots floating in mud"; "He pours her a tea that looks like grey dishwater and pats her on the arm like she's a puppy."

When the teachers sets the class assignment Nicolette thinks of all the people who have changed the world - Greta Thunberg and Malala Yousafzai. For some reason which I didn't quite grasp she also lists Roald Dahl. But for Nicolette, her Nanna is the real hero!

Huge congratulations to Deb Abela on writing a verse novel - the world needs more of these - especially by Australian authors. 

Here is an interview with Paperbark Words. She says:

I’ve written 30 books, all in prose, but this novel demanded to be written in verse, which I’ve never done before. I’ve always LOVED verse novels, but I kept thinking, ‘I can’t write in verse! I have no idea what I’m doing’. Having written for over 20 years, I know I have to trust the process. So, I tentatively began writing in verse and found it freeing and fun! Not only did it force me to get to the point more quickly, it was exciting to play with form, fonts, font size and verse length, which together, create the feel and meaning of the story. The Kindness Project is my first verse novel, but hopefully not my last. 

If you are thinking this book sounds incredibly serious…yes, the themes and situations are serious: dementia, grief, breakdown of family, mental illness, feelings of abandonment, trauma, loneliness, hyper-anxiety. But there are also moments of levity as Deborah skilfully lightens the tension ...  Just So Stories

Here is an link to an audio interview with Deborah Abela. 

This is a beautiful story told in verse. With wonderful characters, it is very relatable and has strong themes of friendship and family throughout, lots of fun and laughter, as well as a few tears. This is Deb Abela at her very best and will be a story you remember long after you finish reading. I loved it. Lamont Books (this book was a title in their Primary standing order). 

Here are some other favourite verse novels for readers aged 10+. You can search for the title in my side bar or just select the label verse novel. I think verse novels can be an ideal text to share in a school library with a group of senior students because they are short, and you can pop one or two powerful text samples on your screen for all the class to read.

One more comment about Verse Novels. I was chatting with a well known Sydney bookseller recently and she said a poet had visited her store (I have no idea if he or she was a children's poet or one for adults) and they complained that verse novels were not real poetry! Such a strange comment. What do you think - please add a comment to this post. 

The relationship between Nicolette and her precious grandmother also links with this book I read this week (for ages 11+) - I'll Keep you Close by Jeska Verstegen. This one is not a verse novel - it is a biography/autobiography centered on a child who is making discoveries about her family and the holocaust.