The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen by Susin Nielsen

Book of the Week: 15 May 2016

Susin Nielsen’s previous book, We Are All Made of Molecules, was a hit with our Year 9 judges back in November when it was shortlisted for the Warwickshire Year 9 Book Award. This one is a good deal darker in content but displays the same ability to tell a story with warmth and humour.

We quickly learn that Henry is writing a journal at the request of his psychologist Cecil, an ageing hippy-type who is given to exclamations of ‘Holy Moly!’ and who Henry refuses to warm to. Henry is seeing Cecil because of an awful event in his family that Henry refers to as ‘IT’. (I was halfway through the first chapter before I realised this did not stand for Information Technology). As a result of IT, Henry and his dad have moved from their small town to Vancouver where Henry has to try and settle into a new school. He gets to know a couple of other social outcasts – the geeky Farley and the rebellious Alberta – but the secret he is hiding is so big that he thinks making real friends will be impossible.

Susan Neilsen’s website is here and there is a book trailer here but BEWARE as it tells you far more about the plot than this review.

PS: A plea to publishers – please put reasonably-sized images of your books online. There was only a teeny-tiny one of the UK cover for this book and my photo of a shiny-covered library book isn’t nearly as good.