Peter, a 15-year-old Australian boy, struggles to cope with the pressures of his peers, the macho expectations of his society, his emerging sexual feelings, and his unwilling attraction to the gay friend of his older brother.
Realistic Fiction
Realistic Fiction genre
Caddy Ever After
Love is in the air for the Casson family! Four hilarious, endearing tales unfold as Rose, Indigo, Saffy, and Caddy each tell their intertwining stories. Rose begins by showing how she does special with her Valentine\’s card for Tom in New York. Not to be outdone, Indigo has his own surprise in store for the Valentine,s Day disco at school. For her part, Saffy has an unusual date in a very, very dark graveyard, and is haunted by a balloon that almost costs her her best friend.But it is Caddy who dares everything — as she tells all about love at first sight when you have found the Real Thing. Unfortunately the Real Thing is not darling Michael. What is Rose going to do?
Hitler’s Daughter (Bccb Blue Ribbon Fiction Books (Awards))
Her name was Heidi, and she was Hitler’s daughter.
It began on a rainy morning in Australia, as part of a game played by Mark and his friends. It was a storytelling game, and the four friends took turns weaving tales about fairies and mermaids and horses. But Anna’s story was different this time: It was not a fairy tale or an adventure story. The story was about a young girl who lived during World War II. Her name was Heidi, and she was Hitler’s daughter.
As Anna’s story unfolds, Mark is haunted by the image of Hitler’s daughter. He wonders what he would have done in her place if he had known his father was an evil man leading the world into a war that was destroying millions of lives. And if Mark had known, would he have had the power and determination to stop him?
This intriguing novel poses powerful questions about a frightening period in history and will force readers to examine moral issues in a fresh, compelling light.
Being With Henry
“You never know where this life will take you,” Henry Olsen tells Laker Wyatt when he finds the boy could, penniless, and sleeping on the street. Raised by his hapless, childlike mother, Laker has often had to act more like a caretaker than a son. It’s become easy for him to soothe her with a cup of tea or fake a phone call to her boss on a bad day. But when stepfather number two, Rick the Prick, comes on the scene, everything changes. After Laker fights with Rick, his mother, Audrey, does the unimaginable: She kicks her son out. Drifting aimlessly, Laker meets Henry, eighty-three, a widower with family troubles of his own. Being with Henry brings its own challenges, as well as surprises. How these two disparate souls — an angry, homeless teenager and a lonely, crotchety old man — come to know and care for each other makes a sometimes funny, often poignant, and ultimately moving novel about truth and family and the courage it takes to search for these in unexpected places.
City Boy
Set in contemporary Malawi, a poignant account of an orphaned boy’s transition from city life to village life. Sam’s widowed mother has died from “the Disease,” and Sam is claimed by his aunt Mercy, who lives in the small African village where Sam’s mother was born and raised. The gap between Sam’s life in the city, where he had his own room, attended private school, and used a computer, and his new life in the dirt-floored one-room hut, which he is to share with his aunt and cousins, is vast beyond imagining. Grief, loneliness, and the absence of everything familiar make for a rocky transition to a traditional culture where possessions count for little and everyone is expected to do his or her share.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume 5, Issue 2
Crocodile Burning
Seraki Mandindi, young man from Soweto, South Africa, learns a life lesson and finds direction when he travels to Broadway with the cast of iSezela.
Thank You, World
Eight very different kids, from eight different continents, all go about their day and experience the same moments of happiness: greeting the sun in the morning, swinging on a swing, flying a kite, being tucked in by Mommy at bedtime.
This Is a Poem That Heals Fish
Arthur’s fish Leon is bored so his mother suggests he recite a poem for him, but what is a poem? And with that he is off on an adventure through his neighborhood to discover what a poem is.
Panorama: A Foldout Book
The Snog Log
Robbie and his friends have come up with a contest. It’s kind of likea read-a-thon . . . or a telathon . . . except, it’s a snogathon. In otherwords, a kissing contest. And it’s top secret. None of the girls in school know–which is especially tricky, since they’re all in it. What’s also tricky are the rules and points and charts involved. Robbie wants to win by snogging Mel, the class ice maiden, who is high up on the points scale. But Mel has other ideas. This is going to be a weirder and wilder challenge than anyone expected!