by Jenni Leigh | Oct 7, 2022 | Good Reading for Young Adults |
The Hate U Give is the fantastic debut novel written by Angie Thomas. It has it all; high school, bad friends, family devotion, fights, love, Black Lives Matter, and also urban settings such as, gangs, guns and rundown streets.
Starr Carter is a black 16-year-old who has a mum, dad, and two brothers. She exists in two very different places; her fancy high school, and her poor suburb overrun by gangs. She has a white boyfriend (much to the disgust of her dad). She has also lost two friends in fatal shootings.
For her, it isn’t unusual for her dad to carry a gun. And it isn’t unusual for gangs to drive past in their trucks, yelling and cursing. It is basic knowledge to know that when a police officer addresses you, you need to keep your hands visible, to speak only when spoken to. And to follow their commands, no matter what. Khahil, her friend, didn’t follow this knowledge when he and Starr found themselves in this situation. And he died because of it.
Khahil was not a drug dealer, or part of a gang. But it hadn’t mattered, because being black was enough of an excuse for a guilty police officer to get off without any charges. But not enough for Khahil (who got three bullets in his back) to get any dignity or rights.
Thrown into a whirlpool of grief, worry, and fear, Starr must find the strength to speak up about race equality, while battling racist friends and bullying gangs.
I absolutely loved The Hate U Give, and anyone out there who wants a taste of passionate anger and fight – you need to read this book! I have no idea how it managed to incorporate so many smaller stories into one and show so many issues that everyday families may have.
Reviewed by Ella, Year 7
St Columba’s Catholic College
Springwood NSW
Age guide 15+
by Jenni Leigh | Oct 7, 2022 | Good Reading for Young Adults |
When Only One is full of humour, drama, and romance. It depicts school life in a regional area of Australia through the eyes of two best friends, Sam and Emily. Emily has an imperfect family life, while Sam has a typical middle-class family life. Sam wishes to assist Emily in her difficult home life, but Emily refuses to be helped.
Sam is a high school student in Year 12 when his ex-best friend reappears in his life. Emily and Sam, who used to be great friends but fell out due to misunderstandings, have found their way back together, though their bond isn’t as strong as it once was. Emily does not have a stable home environment; her father did not want her to be born, and her mother is mentally unstable.
Sam tries to help Emily as best he can, however, Emily does not want to be helped because she considers it to be ‘charity’. Rei starts at the same school as Emily and Sam and is the new student. Sam falls head over heels for Rei and asks Emily to help him talk to Rei. Emily helps him; however, what Sam doesn’t know, is that Emily loves him.
Emily keeps her feelings for Sam to herself and assists Sam in getting closer to Rei. Sam and Rei finally start dating, while Emily’s home life begins to collapse. Every day, her father physically and verbally assaults Emily and her mother, and she wishes she was in a foster care home, where Emily dreams she would be safe and have a normal life.
Sam and Rei strive to help Emily, though her life is difficult due to the daily abuse she suffers from her father. Will Emily eventually accept the help of Rei and Sam? Will she break out of her abusive household? This novel is full of plot twists that the reader never expects to happen. This novel was interesting to read because it focuses primarily on mental health and abusive relationships, allowing readers to relate to their own life experiences if they have suffered abuse in their relationships, and how it affected their, or someone else’s, mental health.
I’d give this book four out of five stars because it was fascinating to read and had plot twists that I never expected to occur. I would recommend this novel to those aged 13 and above.
This novel is exceptional for those who are interested in reading about the challenges many young Australians encounter in their families, schools, and relationships.
Reviewed by Deeya, Year 9
Cerdon College Merrylands NSW
Age Guide 14+
by Jenni Leigh | Oct 7, 2022 | Good Reading for Young Adults |
Romeo and Juliet meets Chinese mythology, An Arrow to the Moon is an interesting take on the tale of Chang’e and Houyi with a decent foundation, but the final product feels very unfinished.
Romance in young adult books when mixed with mystical themes has often found itself overshadowed by the fantastical elements. It’s refreshing to see the romance take centre stage in An Arrow to the Moon, while the magic unfolds at the periphery.
I really enjoyed the Chinese mythology aspect of this book and I could definitely see the parallels between the two stories, and loved seeing how an ancient myth could play out in the modern world. But after finishing this, I’m just left with more questions than answers, which is quite unfortunate. Nothing really feels as developed or fleshed-out as it should, leaving most of the characters looking pretty one[1]dimensional. The plot is a little all over the place, and the antagonist didn’t really feel like a threat, which is too bad, because the writing is really pretty; but this isn’t quite enough to make the story work.
As much as I loved reading this story, the world-building bothered me. I know I shouldn’t be trying to criticise a YA fantasy for not having enough world-building, but I felt in the dark a lot of the time. There were a lot of strange things happening in the small town where they lived; cracks in the earth, an indescribable funk that permeated the emotions of people in town, a strange stone with mystical powers being hunted down by a gangster, fireflies that kept following the characters, and money just being found randomly. Maybe it’s because of my ignorance for not knowing enough about Chang’e and Houyi and wanted some explanation about that, but it was never further elaborated on.
I actually loved the perspective change every chapter because it gave you such a deeper look at these families and what they’re going through, but the ending really lacked any kind of resolution and left you with a lot of unanswered questions. At the same time, I understand why Pan did that. Because destiny doesn’t wait for you to resolve everything; sometimes destiny does what it wants to do, and the rest take their cues from that.
But the legend of Chang’e and Houyi ended the way it did, as both Luna and Hunter relive the tale right at the very end. I absolutely loved that part of the story and I didn’t see it coming to that conclusion. I was so bogged down by all the questions I had about everything else that when it finally did happen, it took me by surprise.
All in all, although I hold two different opinions on this novel by Pan, I still think people could definitely enjoy it, especially if they’re looking for a contemporary romance with a stolen artifact side plot and a hint of mythology.
Reviewed by Christina, Year 11
Cerdon College, Merrylands NSW
Age Guide 12+
by Jenni Leigh | Oct 7, 2022 | Good Reading for Young Adults |
The Museum of Broken Things follows 18-year-old Reece. She has recently moved from a busy city to the small coastal town of Hamilton. Nothing feels right, and she can’t help but miss her old life and her old friends.
Things start to take a turn for Reece after she is left a strange artefact in her grandmother’s will. This causes new relationships to form and new discoveries to be made about the town, the people in it, and even the life of Reece’s grandmother.
This is a very engaging novel full of twists and turns that constantly left me wondering what would happen next. I enjoyed watching as each character grew and secrets began to unveil about their lives.
Overall, I would recommend this novel to anyone who is looking for a book that explores love, loss and everything in-between.
Reviewed by Olivia, Year 7
Cerdon College Merrylands NSW
Age guide 7+
by Rowena Morcom | Sep 30, 2022 | Featured Reviews (Homepage), Fiction, Good Reading Magazine, Latest Reviews, Modern & Contemporary, Open Access |
The newspapers called it the ‘Economic Crisis’. Comparisons to the Depression were rife, until the crisis worsened.
It became the ‘National Crisis’ and then simply, with no end in sight, ‘The Crisis’. Loss of jobs, loss of housing, loss of dignity. The American public needed a scapegoat, somebody to blame, so they blamed the Chinese. China’s affluence seemed to grow as America’s problems multiplied. Suddenly, it became dangerous if you had an ‘Asian’ face. Isolated attacks on Chinese Americans became daily events. When a person of Asian appearance attempted to assassinate a senator, the PACT laws were passed by the House and Senate.
The PACT laws were designed to outlaw unpatriotic behaviour and protect the people from threats to the American society from within. Those who did not conform, or behaved ‘unpatriotically’, had their children taken away from them. The novel opens with 12-year-old Noah, or ‘Bird’, living with his father. The time period seems to be the present. Margaret, his mother, left them three years ago. It’s obvious to the reader, but not Noah, that she did this to avoid losing him to the PACT laws. But what forced her to leave? After three years, Noah receives a letter from his mother. He sets out to find her, he must know her story.
This is one of those novels that seem prescient. A future that could so easily, under the right circumstances and the current state of the world, come to be. It is a wonderful book about ideology, misinterpretation, veiled authoritarianism, a warning of a possible xenophobic future. It is also about the love and bond between a mother and her son, and the indomitable human spirit.
My favourite read this year.
Reviewed by Neale Lucas
