Summer of Shipwrecks by Shivaun Plozza

Do you have a best friend? Is this friendship so important to you that you would try to change yourself to keep this friend? Is it possible to think of someone as your best friend when you only meet once a year for two weeks when your families visit a seaside campground? It is this last point that I found a little unlikely and yet this was the main driver of the plot - with Sid desperate to win the approval of Lou. 

Sid regards Lou as her best friend and so when Lou brings Hailey along this year it is clear things will be different. You have read this plot line before I am sure - once there were two friends and now there are three girls - is there a way they can all be friend. The annual holiday location is called Shipwreck Coast and Sid is totally caught up in the story of a shipwreck from years ago. 

"Since forever I've spent the last two weeks of summer holidays camping at Penlee Point, so I know about every shipwreck that's ever happened her. ... The Penlee set off form London ... March, 1879; there were fifty -four people on board; ... the Penlee hit a reef off Desperation Point and only took ten minutes to sink; the ship was carrying nineteen million dollars worth of treasure; ... only one person survived: Katherine Natpier."

Last summer Sid and Lou found a coin which surely must come from the ship's treasures. Sid has huge plans for her time with Lou but this year everything is different. Hailey just wants to sit on the beach. Hailey is 'cool' and she wears a bikini and she has her period. Hailey seems to know about boys - how to flirt with them and get their attention. None of this interest Sid but she feels she needs to change so she and Lou can go back to the way things were.

It has taken me a while to read this book mainly because instead of settling down and reading long sections I tended to read only 3-5 pages at a time. I was a little invested in the main character Sid but most of the time she really exasperated me. I just wanted to say 'please stop trying to please Lou because she is no longer noticing you'. 'Please be brave enough to be yourself'. 'Please stop making promises and telling lies so you can get back with Lou'. Lou is giving all her attention to Hailey and Lou in turn is letting Hailey manipulate her activities, taste, reactions to boys and especially her relationship with Sid. Growing up should not be this hard. Poor Sid. 

The suggested age for this book is 10+ but I think it might better suit 11+. Other reviewers really enjoyed this book:

Summer of Shipwrecks is a tender and poignant story of best friends growing apart, and the grief that accompanies this change. It’s also an exciting mystery of long-ago shipwrecks and lost treasure, and how life continues – even after incredible suffering. For me, a highlight is the relationship which slowly develops between Sid and her almost-stepsister, which vividly relates all the awkwardness, pain, and surprising moments of joy which can occur as two families become one. Readers ... who like contemporary, character-driven fiction will wholeheartedly enjoy this story. StoryLinks

ReadPlus review. Reading Opens Doors.

Here is an interview with the author and Joy Lawn for Paperbark Words. There is a link to a set of teachers notes for Summer of Shipwrecks on the UQP page but in my view this is not a book I would use for class study - it feels more like a book to be read privately by a girl who is either at the end of Primary School (Grade 6) or just beginning High School. 

If your readers enjoy this book, I would recommend these companion books especially Junonia which follows very similar themes of change and growing up and summer holidays and altered expectations. 

Shouting at the rain (5 stars from me)

Junonia (5 stars from me)

The first summer of Callie McGee

You could also look for a couple of older books - Half a Chance by Cynthia Lord (2014); and Takers and Returners by Carol Beach York (1974).

Just before I left for the IBBY Congress in Trieste a parcel arrived from UQP (University of Queensland Press).  I simply didn't have time to read the two books which were released 3rd September - Summer of Shipwrecks The Lost History by Melanie La'Brooy. The Lost History is a sequel to The Wintrish Girl but with over 430 pages I won't be ready to talk about this one for a week or two. 

I previously read this book by Shivaun Plozza:

Meet me at the Moon Tree

Being Jimmy Baxter by Fiona Lloyd

Jimmy Branthwaite and his mum have moved to a new house. It all seems quite rushed and strange but there are tiny hints in the text that something is wrong with the way dad treats mum. Perhaps Jimmy and his mum have run away?

In the car Mrs Jessop tells Jimmy to put his head down low and stay quiet. Mum is curled up on the back seat too. Mum has a sore arm.

"Mum says 1991's going to be a better year for us. ... Mrs J says we're not allowed a torch ... the moon is a crescent shape, same as the tip of Mum's nails, when they're not all polished how Dad wants them."

"It's a good thing Dad has a new job.  ... Dad reckons the cops had it all wrong when they said he'd had one drink too many to drive the truck. ... I'm happy we'll have fun now he's busy (far away with a new job)."

"She's prettier without her make-up on. With Dad not being here, she can be just how she wants for a change. Same for me too. I'm lighter when he's not around."

Then Dad finds them! After a very abusive scene he leaves so Mum and Jimmy quickly pack a few things, things they can carry, and they head off to catch a bus. This time they land in Mungo Creek. Surely they will be safe here. Mum gets a job in the local grocery store but they decide it might be best to change their name to Baxter - and so now we have Jimmy Baxter. 

The new school is hard. Thank goodness the teacher Miss Anna Smith is wonderful but when the bullies become too violent and mum won't get out of bed Jimmy decides to leave school and get a job or two so at least they can have something to eat. At this point adult readers will need to suspend disbelief that no one questions why Jimmy is not at school and how just how Jimmy gets various jobs including one in a pub when he is way too young and also you might ask why the shop owner doesn't ask many questions when mum no longer comes to work in his shop. 

Out in the countryside Jimmy meets a reclusive man named Mac who offers food, wisdom and friendship. Mac is deeply grieving the loss of his beautiful wife. Jimmy also makes friends with a girl from his class called Debbie and the two of them work on a project about Ned Kelly. Debbie is such a good friend to Jimmy. Things are hard but at least Jimmy and mum are safe until late one night there is a dreadful accident out near Mac's shanty. Has dad found them again?

Some of the vocabulary in this book might be confusing for readers outside Australia. There is a good list in the back of the book which made me happy but here are a few words from the first couple of chapters:

• bonnet - car hood
• yakking - talking
• crikey - wow! or that was unexpected
• lorikeets - colourful native birds
• stoked - pleased, happy
• ripper - that's good

I do like the cover and many of the things coming out of Jimmy's head are found in the story so this might be something to share with a class for a book talk - students could predict the significance of each object - tin foil, wattle, an LP record, a pencil, eggs and yellow Cadillac. 

This is a new book from Penguin Random House (Puffin Books) due for publication in July 2023. I am fairly sure this book will appear on the CBCA 2024 Younger Readers award Notables list. This book is almost my last Advance Reader copy from Beachside Bookshop - I have LOVED reading all the new releases over the last 5 years.  I will desperately miss this opportunity.

If you enjoy books with a very Australian setting and flavour you will enjoy Being Jimmy Baxter. The writing style is very similar to Morris Gleitzman's early books with his main boy character depicted as a naive protagonist in books like Two Weeks with the Queen; Too small to Fail; and Boy Overboard. There is actually an endorsement on the cover of my copy from Morris Gleitzman himself. Companion reads:

Cop and Robber

Dragon Skin

Small as an Elephant

The Secrets we Keep

Waiting for Normal

Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender

 

Caroline's mother gave birth to her daughter during a hurricane. " ... it's a curse being born during a hurricane. I won't have an inch of luck for the rest of my days, and sadness will follow me wherever I go."

There is a deep sadness in Caroline's life. "One morning my mom got up and went halfway across the world ... "  All she has now are occasional postcards sent from faraway places and now the postcards have stopped coming.

She also seems to be under a curse: "Seeing that I'm the littlest girl with the darkest skin and the thickest hair in the whole Catholic School, Missus Wilhelmina doesn't like me - no not at all. I get a smacking on my bum for everything: not looking her in the eye when spoken to, laughing too loud during playtime, and thinking I'm better than everyone else because I know the answers to her questions in class, for asking too many questions in class, for not crying after those bum smackings. I always refuse to cry after a bum smacking." The other girls taunt and tease her, no one is her friend. Every day Caroline makes the long journey by boat from her home on Water Island to Saint Thomas and everyday her experience at school is utterly dreadful. 

All of these things motivate Caroline. She is determined to find her mother. She needs answers to her desperate questions - Why did her mother leave? Does her mother love her? Was it Caroline's fault that she left? Will she please come back? 

Caroline mostly does not worry about being different but she is deeply lonely until a new girl arrives in the class. Kalinda is a special girl. She is not bullied by the other horrid girls, she is confident and wise. It seems impossible to Caroline that Kalinda could very be her friend but somehow this does happen and life feels better until the terrible day when Kalinda (and those other horrid girls) read the beautiful love letter Caroline has written to Kalinda. This love is more than the love of a friend. This is a deep first love. The Wikipedia entry for this book says: there is a "romantic relationship that is developed between two of the main adolescent characters."

This is another one of those books where I feel quite conflicted.  Many reviewers list this book for ages 9+ or even 8+.  When I finished reading Hurricane Child I declared it was a Young Adult title for 12 or perhaps 13+. If you look at my list of labels I have assigned to this post it is clear this book has mature themes.  

Here is a quote from the New York Times (part of their discussion of four recent books including Hurricane Child)

Reading a middle-grade novel can feel like opening Pandora’s box. Devastating storms. Racial injustice. Violence, divorce, bullying, class conflict, depression, displacement, illness, grief, homophobia, abandonment, isolation, money worries and suicide attempts.

I did enjoy so much about this book. The voice and honesty of Caroline, the descriptions of the Caribbean islands, and the unwavering determination of Caroline to find her mother.  The way Kacen Callender describes the Caribbean islands reminded of the way I felt reading Turtle in Paradise set in Key West Florida. Here are some maps to help orientate you to the setting of this book:

Here is a photo of the type of Taxi Caroline catches after her boat ride. 

Why do I think this book is for older readers: Caroline's mother has previously attempted suicide; every day Caroline is beaten by her Catholic school teacher; Caroline is making new discoveries about her own sexuality; and then there is the violence of the bullying inflicted on Caroline every day.

Each of these reviews has more plot details:

Kirkus Star review

Horn Book

Ms Yingling Reads

School Library Journal

You can see several awards on the front cover - Stonewall Award (Given for exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience in English-language books published in the U.S.) and Lambada Literature Award (Created over 30 years ago to recognise the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world). Here is a video review by Andrea Pinkney.

Companion reads:

Jubilee

October October

The list of real things by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

"Look at the secrets that lie beneath the surface! Look at the way the world can surprise you!"

When I saw The List of Real Things in a bookstore in London recently I recognised the name Sarah Moore Fitzgerald and her book The Apple Tart of Hope. Some time ago I read The Apple Tart of Hope but I did not talk about it here on my blog and the odd thing is I do remember the plot but I do not own this book, it is not in my school library, all reviewers list it as a YA novel, I rarely select these and so it is mystery when and how I came to read it.

The List of Real things is a little confusing. It is a book about bereavement, about siblings, about fitting in, about difference, but it is also a ghost story and it contains some fantasy elements but I would not classify it as a fantasy because the emotional journey Grace travels is raw and real. Take a look at some of the labels at the end of this post.

This is a book for a sensitive reader who has some degree of reading stamina. While it is not an especially long book (204 pages) the plot moves slowly as Grace tries to make sense of the death of her parents. She has new relationships with her Uncle and Grandfather to navigate but the hardest part of life right now is making sense of her eccentric little sister Bee. This sad time in their lives is told from Grace's point of view but it is little Bee who is (for me) the true hero of this story. 

Read some reviews for more plot details
Catherine Larner
Between the Pages
Goodreads

Here is the blurb:
"Grace knows the difference between what's real and the strange ideas that float around in her little sister's mind. Their parents died - that's real.
A secret hotel on the cliff top where their parents are waiting - definitely NOT real.
When grief strikes again, Grace is determined not to let her sister's outlandish imagination spiral out of control. But the line between truth and fantasy is more complicated than it seems."

This is a boo

Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder

I hardly know where to begin with this very different, deeply thought provoking book, Orphan Island, which for me seems to be exploring what might happen if we go against our destiny.  Or perhaps it is about the external forces that control our lives.  Or maybe it is about taking steps into the unknown when the time is right. It is also a book about our human strengths and weakness.  Then there is the important lessons about responsibility and the power of kindness.  I will give one warning here.  Please do not be tempted to skip to the end and see 'what happens'.  Be patient and let Laurel Snyder take your hand and lead you carefully to an ending which will probably raise more questions than answers.

Nine children live on an island.  They are each one year apart in age.  The island somehow provides all their needs and over time the children have developed their own rules and so have a fairly good life.  Each year, as adolescence, looms a boat arrives to deliver a new child and take away the eldest. This is called The Changing.  Today Deen will leave and Jinny will take over as the leader.  She is expected to take care of the new child (her Care) who is called Ess and teach Ben his Elder lessons so he will be ready when his turn comes next but already Jinny is begun to question the status quo.  She misses her friend Deen terribly and initially resents the arrival and burden of this new child.

The first part of the book you will be in paradise. The children gather food - eggs from wild hens, honey from hives. They have a library filled with old books. The catch fish and wash in the beautiful waters on the shore line.  Ben is an excellent cook and seems to be able to provide just the right amount of food for each meal using everything the children have foraged.  They have even learnt to dry fruit and eat this as a type of candy.  High on the cliff top the lightest children can float on the updrafts.

"One by one Jinny and Joon set the dark green-skinned fruits out on the dry rocks. If they were lucky, and the birds didn't steal too many of them, the sunshine would shrink and sweeten the firm globes into rich bits of chewy deliciousness.  In about a dozen sleeps, they'd come back and collect them again."

Jinny begins to notice a change in herself.  As adult readers we might recognize the beginning of adolescence.  She seems to need to spend time alone.  For the first time ever she takes up the habit of marking the days.  Finally a year passes and the bell rings again signalling The Changing.  Spoiler alert - Jinny does not step in the boat.  She picks up the new child called Loo and now, with ten children not nine,  the island balance is disturbed.

Small things happen at first but you just know a tragedy or catastrophe is close.

Here is an interview with the author.  I highly recommend Orphan Island for any mature senior primary student.  I am sure it is a story that will linger with me for a long time.


Orphan Island is a metaphor, an allegory, a work of magical realism, a fantasy, a post-apocalyptic work of quiet science fiction. It’s for kids. It’s for adults who think they think like kids. It’s for adults that don’t think they think like kids at all. What’s the true story here? What is this book and who is its audience? Orphan Island is a book that leaves you with more questions than answers.  SLJ Elizabeth Bird

This charming, engrossing tale set in a vividly realized world is expertly paced and will appeal to fans of wilderness adventure stories and character-driven relationship novels alike.  Kirkus