A Boy Called Hope
by Lara Williamson
This book was such a scream, I had a smile on my face nearly all the way through and chuckled out loud in a few places. But beware the last chapter - there's a bit of a bombshell and it's so sad it'll have you weeping. What a rollercoaster of emotions in just a few pages!
The boy called Hope is Daniel Hope who lives with his sister Grace, his mum and her boyfriend Big Dave. Daniel's dad left when he was about 4 and since then he hasn't heard anything from him, not even a birthday card. But then he and his sister see him on the local news - as a presenter. Daniel finds out where he lives and begins to formulate a plan to meet with him and finally have his dad back. Unfortunately the best laid plans often go awry, but Dan has his friends and family around to help him through.
The book is full of great characters - the awful older sister Ninja Grace, the school friend Christopher who has secrets of his own, the best friend Jo who has a love of all things saintly, and the family dog Charles Scallybones who eats and sicks up again just about everything. A great read, highly recommended for readers aged 9-12.
Trouble
by Non Pratt
I must admit, from the first sentence I didn't think I was going to like this book at all. The first few pages were full of sexual references, crude language and inappropriate behaviour - all from 15-yr-old girls and boys. Do the teenagers of today really talk and behave like this? It's disgusting - and frightening. I have an 11-yr-old daughter and behaviour like that in a few years time is my worst nightmare. Then so is what happens to 15-yr-old Hannah - she becomes pregnant. And that is when the book turns a different corner and I began to enjoy it.
Even though we would never wish anything like that on such a young girl, the way it is handled in the book is with warmth, encouragement, sensitivity, understanding. Of course, there are the expected taunts and bullying from some of Hannah's classmates, and the fact that the father of the baby does not want to accept responsibility (but you will find out why), but Hannah's emotions during this period of turmoil seems very true to life. She is afraid of telling her parents, she wonders if her decision about the baby is the right one (and what a decision for a 15-yr-old to have to take). She is also about to take her exams.
Then there is Aaron - new to the school, son of one of the teachers, hanging out with a crowd he doesn't really want to be with, carrying the weight of a horrific incident from the past. He befriends Hannah and offers to do something that no other boy would do - pretend he is the father of the unborn baby. So begins a friendship which is strong enough to carry both of them through the rocky 9 months ahead. But then, being a pregnant 15-yr-old schoolgirl is never going to be easy.
