Everything We Keep

Everything We Keep by Di Walker (Omnibus Books) PB RRP $18.99 ISBN 9781760972349

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Thirteen-year-old Agatha has a happy home life until a tragedy slowly but dramatically changes her parents. Since then, Agatha has been in and out of foster care, but her latest new life is with Katherine, her husband Lawson (at sea for most of the book), and their dog Chief. This life has proved to be safe, and happy as Katherine is calm and attuned to routine, both of which Agatha wants and needs. However, as has happened too many times, Agatha is returned to her parents, to the home she hates, mostly because of her parents’ hoarding. Agatha has a pathological need for order, so when her social worker Nell insists that she return to her parents and her home (which has been somewhat tidied by strangers and neighbours for her return), she is so distressed she runs away, taking her bright orange suitcase which plays a key part in her life. It’s a long way to Katherine’s place, involving a bus and two train trips. However, Katherine is not home nor answering her phone, so Agatha needs to rely on strangers.

This is the start of a novel which, overall, is a satisfying read, full of complex problems, but ultimately imbued with hope. Gentle and compassionate, Everything We Keep is well-written as it explores themes of interest to young readers – family, belonging, anxiety, mental health, and friendship. Some people who come into Agatha’s life – particularly her new friend Tully’s mother Celeste -- cause her more problems, but once she overcomes her school-phobia, with kind adult help, she slowly begins to make friends and to see a future for herself.

Everything, however, is not smooth sailing, and Agatha is ultimately called on to learn to trust, especially adults who have often let her down. By the book’s end, her relationship with her grieving and mentally ill parents and what has caused their fractured life is somewhat resolved, and she has overcome her jealousy of Katherine’s relationship with Lawson who is finally home on shore leave. In fact, Agatha has so many problems with relationships it might prove confronting for some young readers who know little of fostering and mental illness. However, the author manages to write intelligently and wisely so that by book’s end all problems are satisfactorily solved.

It is a shame this moving novel is spoilt so often with typographical errors and with shifts in tense. Overall, though, it recommended for readers aged nine years and over.

When Friendship Followed Me Home

When Friendship Followed Me Home by Paul Griffin (Text Publishing)

RRP $16.99

ISBN 978-192535549-9

Reviewed by Wendy Fitzgerald

Every now and then I read a book that I know I will not forget. When Friendship Followed Me Home is special.

Young Ben Coffin is a foster child. At age 10 he is adopted by a loving mum, Tess- a kind-hearted speech therapist. For the first time Ben feels loved and starts to hope that things will go well for him.

But at school he’s the target for a bully named Rayburn. Ben avoids Rayburn by taking refuge in the library with the kind librarian, Mrs Lorentz. It’s in the library that Ben befriends Mrs Lorentz’s daughter, Hayley (like the comet). And it’s in an alleyway beside the library where Ben finds a small abandoned dog he calls Flip.

Ben and Flip have a strong connection. They embark on a training program to make Flip into an assistance dog. Ben and Hayley start a fabulous reading program called ‘Read to Rufus’ where kids who struggle with reading can read to a trained companion dog- in this case Flip.

There is a beautiful scene on Page 131 where Ben is encouraging a young reluctant reader, Brian, to read to Flip. The interaction between Flip and Brian is precious. I think Flip is the real hero in this story.

I have not heard of a program like this in Australia. Maybe we should try it?

When Friendship Followed Me Home explores some tough issues- abandonment, domestic violence, homelessness, illness, grief, family, friendship, first love, acceptance, loss, pets, imagination and magic.

But all the way there is a wonderful innocence about Ben. In spite of all the terrible things that happen to him and Hayley- I was left with an overwhelming feeling of hope.

I also loved the idea that Ben and Hayley were writing a story together. It is called ‘The Magic Box’ - a time-slip story set in Luna Park in 1905. Often this story mirrors what’s happening in their lives and ties beautifully into the ending.

I like that there are many literary references throughout the book. In particular Griffin refers to ‘Feathers’ by Jacqueline Woodson. I want to read this ‘Feathers’ and I think kids would like to as well.

Paul Griffin is a talented writer. He is a teacher and a devoted helper of at risk and special needs teens. He works with organisations like ‘Behind the Book’ and ‘Literacy for Incarcerated teens’. 

Griffin is the author of several novels for YA – Ten Mile River, Stay with me, Burning Blue and Adrift. Paul lives in Manhattan.

When Friendship Follows Me Home - published in 2016 is Griffin’s first middle-grade novel. His next middle-grade novel, Marty comes out in 2017.

I strongly recommend When Friendship Follows Me Home to kids 11 and older. It will spark terrific discussion with parents and teachers. I loved it.

Run, Pip, Run

Run, Pip, Run by JC Jones (Allen & Unwin)

PB RRP $12.99

ISBN 9781743319222

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Did Pip’s troubles begin at her birth when her mother abandoned her? Or on her tenth birthday when her carer Sully toppled over into her birthday cake as the result of a stroke? Sully is all Pip Sullivan’s got in life so when he’s admitted to hospital and Constable Molly Dunlop makes suggestions about fostering, Pip takes to the streets.

She might only be ten, but Pip is a survivor. Much of this adventure novel for readers aged 8 to 11 years centres on Pip’s escapades, trying to avoid capture and finding shelter and sustenance. This she does – sleeping in a home for sale, making money betting on horses and firming up a friendship with a school mate, Matilda -- until when she is ‘arrested’ and taken to a police station and from there to a paid carer. It’s then that the wily adventurer once again escapes and is on the run.

This is a fast-paced story which is sure to have child-reader appeal. Pip is a resourceful, brave child in a big city, whose loyalty to Sully is unquestionable. When he dies, however, her life is once again transformed, though for this reader the author signalled the ending mid-way through the book.

This is not a prize-winning novel (how does Pip manage, for example, to travel without funds to and from three different race-courses?) but it is easy to read and is likely to engage readers who are looking for an escapist story.