BfK 14+Secondary/Adult continued


tower or the outside world, Ele’s voice and vision of the world will keep readers intrigued. MMA


Rayne and Delilah’s Midnite Matinee


HHH


Jeff Zentmer, Andersen Press, 386pp, 978-1-78344-799-2, £7.99 pbk


This novel runs the gamut from surreal to affecting: the introductory chapters introduce readers to Josie and Delia, who have their own, self-produced horror TV show. This features such bizarre delights as dog weddings, skeleton raves and showings of films which are so bad they seem in danger of becoming cult. Into


sometimes entertaining-scenario Outside HHHH


Sarah Ann Juckes, Penguin, 978-0241330753, 288pp, £7.99 pbk


Like Rapunzel, Ele is a captive in a tower, or rather imagining herself as a fairy tale princess helps her survive the unimaginable horror of her life. Ele has been imprisoned in a windowless room – six strides long – for most of her young life. Food drops from the ceiling, ‘sun bars’ flick on and then off, and disinfectant ‘rains’ down at regular intervals. She shares the space with the ‘Others’, three friends who may or may not be real, and knocks messages out to ‘Jack’, a prisoner in another part of the tower. Of course there’s a ‘Him’ behind this,


Ele describes him to us one physical attribute at a time – the sound of his footsteps, his thick fingers, scratchy lips. It makes him less human, more monstrous.


Her descriptions of his


actions towards her are more chilling for the details Ele leaves out, but she is clear when she describes how he murdered her brother. Through of all


this, dreams of escaping to the


‘Outside’ sustain her, and she finally makes it, fleeing into a wild Scottish landscape naked and knowing nothing of the world other than what she has gleaned from her book of fairy stories. She finds refuge with a boy called


Willow and his father, who she fears at first is a giant. The tone changes for this section of the book and is less intense, more


sentimental –


putting some strain on credulity – but Ele’s voice, always clear, direct and engaging, keeps readers with her. We know of course that Ele will have to go back to face Him and to save her friends, and the climax is almost unbearably tense. Comparisons with Emma Donoghue’s


Room are inevitable, but Outside feels fiercely original. It’s not easy to write a character in the situation described and keep them cheerful, optimistic, credible, but Juckes manages it. This is well-written, sensitive on issues such as sexual abuse, and, whether in her


this rather improbable-if the


author inserts Lawson- a young man who cage wrestles and also falls in love with Josie. Meanwhile, Delia has problems of her own-she is desperate to trace her long-absent father to find out the reason for his precipitous departure many years earlier, hoping this will bring some closure to her and to her mother, particularly as her mother’s mental health is extremely fragile. If readers have weathered the


accounts of the recording of the TV programmes, then there are more conventional rewards. Characters begin to develop plausibly and the deep friendship between the girls is convincing, as is the gradual yet inexorable


journey towards love by


Josie and Lawson. There are also some very funny set pieces-not least the character of Jack Divine, the has-been presenter and Arliss, the girls’ friend who films their show. Humour is shot through with tension: Josie and Delia are in their final year before college and Josie must decide if she is going to accept an offer which will allow her to develop her career or study locally in order to be near Delia and Lawson. Zentmer


writes authentically


about emotion and the ties of love and friendship and often handles humour in a deft


fashion. More


radical Americanisms and spelling which is completely American may deter some readers from continuing to read beyond the opening section of the book. For those who may feel daunted-there are rewards here. VR


All the Invisible Things HHHH


Orlagh Collins, Bloomsbury, 356pp, 978-1408888339, £7.99 pbk


Helvetica Lake, known as Vetty,


is aged 16. Her sister Arial is nine years younger. Three years before Collins’s narrative begins, the sisters lost their mother to cancer. During these three years Helvetica, Arial and their bereaved father have lodged in Somerset with their aunt Wendy and the aunt’s gay partner Fran, while their father is mourning his loss. Eventually their father decides that it is time for the family to return to


30 Books for Keeps No.235 March 2019 Proud HHHH


Various, compiled Juno Dawson, Stripes Publishing, 978- 1788950602, 352pp, £7.99 pbk


The authors and illustrators in this new collection of stories were each given the theme of pride, and asked to respond to it. Contributors range from the very well-known – David Levithan, Tanya Byrne, David Roberts, Steve Antony, Caroline Bird – to young authors and illustrators being published for the first time. Whatever the setting for their stories or poems, there’s an overarching sense energy


of and excitement, almost


certainly arising from that invitation to give voice to the LGBTQ+ experience and a shared sense of celebration that the stories will do more than entertain readers: after all, as one of the characters says, ‘We take stories to heart, even when they are our own.’ Coming out is a recurring theme, Bird’s witty opening


from Caroline


London. Vetty welcomes this decision. She will renew her friendship with Peregrine, known as Pez, a boy with whom she has been friends since they were both ten. Collins now sets out to describe the renewal of this friendship and the problems Vetty and Pez face as they grow up, including a discussion of burgeoning sexual awareness. The book begins with a structural


difficulty. In the early pages Collins takes


trouble to introduce and


develop a cast of characters whom the reader expects to play a significant part in the unfolding narrative. But with the move back to London these characters


disappear almost for


good. They certainly take a back seat in the structure of the book. The major strength of this book is


its detailed consideration of a topic hardly ever broached in literature for this age group – namely an addiction to online pornography. Such addiction and the way it erodes the character of the victim are described in painful detail. Collins’s text explores not only the way in which the addiction takes hold, but also the reasons why such a preoccupation exists. RB


poem Dive Bar, to Dean Atta’s How To Come Out as Gay, which concludes the book. For many of the characters it isn’t easy, and help comes from, among other things, gay penguins in a zoo, a phoenix, the owner of a record shop, a somewhat eccentric driving instructor, even Lady Gaga via the Philadelphia Queer Youth Choir – a list that gives a good indication of the sheer variety of the stories included. Communities play a major role in stories of those choosing new identities too, be that the gay football team or the Dungeons and Dragons players eager to subvert the school’s binary rules for one of their friends. Offered


these affecting, honest,


sensitively written stories, all readers will close the book with a sense of optimism, hope and yes, pride,


in


young people and the world they are making for themselves. LS


My Brother’s Name is Jessica HHH


John Boyne, Puffin 247pp, 978 0 241 37613 3, £12.99 hbk


My copy of the novel was


accompanied by a reflective letter from John Boyne to his readers. In his books for younger readers, he is concerned to write about “children who are isolated in some way”. It is important, he believes, to stand up for those who are oppressed or bullied, even when offering support can prove costly. His own journey through his teens was difficult – the prospect of coming out as a gay man terrified him; but when he did so around the age of twenty, life became “a million times better”. In this novel, Jason, the idolised 17 year old brother of narrator Sam, is also very anxious as he tells his family he plans to transition. Boyne mentions talking to young transgender people while working on the story – how impressed he was by their bravery, their honesty and their recognition that people fear what they don’t understand. My Brother’s Name is Jessica isn’t


quite the book readers of Boyne’s letter might expect. He has a sharp talent for satire and for much of the narrative the parents of Jason and Sam are treated with comic mockery. This is no ordinary family. Mum is a Cabinet Minister and the top job is almost within her grasp; Dad is her private secretary, ensuring the family’s lives are shaped by Mum’s drive to No.10. So when Jason – an outstanding footballer – turns down a chance to sign for Arsenal because he doesn’t want soccer to absorb all his time, Dad’s reaction is: “It would look very good for your Mum if you were signed to a professional club”. Mum looks up briefly from filing her nails and observes, “You’re selfish. You only ever think about yourself”. These


parents are close to


caricature, as parents so often used to be in fiction for young readers. Mum’s concerned that a mixed-race family moving in nearby will damage her political image as well as bring down property values. She is also implausibly


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32