Walker Books

July 2021

ISBN: 9781760653040
Imprint: Walker Books Australia

Australian RRP: $16.99
New Zealand RRP: $19.99

I had already ordered this for our library collection based on the publisher’s promo so receiving it as a review copy was especially welcome and I am not disappointed. This is a beautiful funny and poignant coming-of-age story that will enchant your lower secondary students in particular. As an additional and very welcome ‘bonus’ it explores the sometimes fraught, but also enriching, experience of having a sibling with a disability.

Jamie is 16 and lives with his mum and his younger brother Oscar, who has Down Syndrome. Life has been tough for the past year following the death of his father and often Jamie thinks he should be helping his mum more, though she insists she is fine and that Jamie should continue to focus on his senior studies. While his grief is still very palpable and Jamie often finds it difficult to contain his grief, his emotions definitely improve when he meets Zara, who has recently arrived at his school. It is particularly apt that Zara also lives with a sibling with a disability but even before the pair discover that, they connect as like-minds who have similar goals and aspirations.

When their mum needs to go away to Perth for a weekend, Jamie volunteers to take care of Oscar. After all, he knows Oscar’s routine and needs inside out and he is confident he can manage but after a weekend filled with mishaps, Monday rolls around and Mum does not appear. At first, it seems this is because a huge storm has delayed flights but days slip by and both Jamie and Oscar begin to be agitated – for very different reasons. Jamie’s challenge to manage his little brother and his needs and find his mum and bring her home makes for one of the most delightful YA narratives I’ve read in some time.

Living with a disability is not easy. Living with someone with a disability is also, often, not easy – and especially, I would say for a young adult. This is a novel that explores this aspect of disability with real sensitivity, humor and resilience. I loved reading this so much that I consumed it in one binge read one night last week (yes last week of term when I was dead tired – pretty good indication how great it is really!!).

Will be talking this up big time with my ChocLit readers and certainly promoting it widely in the library after the holidays.

Highly recommended for your readers from around Year 7 upwards – it’s just a pure delight.