Orbiting Jupiter

Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D. Schmidt

Book of the Week: 27 November 2016

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This remarkable book won the Warwickshire Year 9 Book Award last Thursday. Student judges from schools all over Warwickshire voted for a book that left a lasting impression on them from a shortlist of four titles.

Although the cover suggests that the book might be science fiction, the opening chapter gets the reader straight to the heart of a story that is rooted firmly in real life. Joseph is coming to live with Jack and his parents on their farm in rural Maine. He has been in a juvenile detention centre where he tried to kill a teacher. ‘He won’t let anyone stand behind him. He won’t let anyone touch him. He won’t go into rooms that are too small. And he won’t eat canned peaches.’ He also has a baby daughter whom he has never seen. Joseph is fourteen years old.

Mr and Mrs Hurd and Jack are determined to help, but the rest of the local community are not so accepting. When the boys get the bus on Joseph’s first day at the school Mr Haskell, the sour school bus driver, tactlessly brings up the subject of Joseph’s child, so Jack and Joseph get off the bus and walk the two miles to school in freezing temperatures. This is the start of Jack and Joseph’s relationship and of Jack and the reader slowly learning about what has happened in Joseph’s past. Whilst dealing with everyday things such as school, bullies, Christmas and looking after the farm; this simply-told and understated story packs a powerful punch. Several of the twelve boys from our Year 9 who read it said the ending shook them up.

At Warwick School’s Bridge House Theatre award ceremony, organised by Warwickshire Schools Library Service, as well as our hearing a very engaging talk from shortlisted author Richard Kurti, a message was read out from Orbiting Jupiter‘s author Gary D. Schmidt. He started the book after visiting a maximum security juvenile home and talking to boys there who were twelve and thirteen years old. They had not seen their parents in over a year and were locked in cells for more than twelve hours a day. Some of them liked writing but thought no-one would ever read what they had written. He went on to say:

“In voting for this book, the readers of the Warwickshire Schools have expressed a kind of solidarity with those kids who live in cells, in facilities far in the north, who rarely have visitors, and who feel as if no one even knows they exist.  Now you do.  And now they know that you know something about their stories.  You cannot believe how important that kind of knowing is.”

The Bone Sparrow

The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon

Book of the Week: 20 November 2016

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I am reading my way through the six books shortlisted for the Warwickshire Secondary School Book of the Year 2017, so I have to admit to not having read The Bone Sparrow. Here is the publisher’s description of the plot:

Born in a refugee camp, all Subhi knows of the world is that he’s at least 19 fence diamonds high, the nice Jackets never stay long, and at night he dreams that the sea finds its way to his tent, bringing with it unusual treasures. And one day it brings him Jimmie.

Carrying a notebook that she’s unable to read and wearing a sparrow made out of bone around her neck – both talismans of her family’s past and the mother she’s lost – Jimmie strikes up an unlikely friendship with Subhi beyond the fence. 

As he reads aloud the tale of how Jimmie’s family came to be, both children discover the importance of their own stories in writing their futures.

There are lots more stories that feature refugees in the current library display – feel free to borrow any of them.

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Photograph references:
Barrett,E. (no date) Fishing boat in rough seas. Available at: http://quotesgram.com/img/rough-seas-quotes/3354887/ (Accessed: 15 November 2016).
Masiello, A. (2015) Refugees and migrants get off a fishing boat at the Greek Island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea from Turkey. Available at: https://www.lensculture.com/projects/232265-the-long-journey-to-europe (Accessed: 15 November 2016).

The Yellow Room

The Yellow Room by Jess Vallance

Book of the Week: 13 November 2016

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An easy-going and witty writing style is used to tell this unsettling story about sixteen-year-old Anna, who learns that the father she hasn’t seen for years has died suddenly.

Anna lives with her mum, a researcher who is totally consumed by her work and whom Anna feels treats her like an inconvenience. One morning, whilst walking to school with her friend Sienna, she is given a letter by the postman not only telling her father has died but that his girlfriend Edie wants to meet her and give her something important – something her father wanted her to have. Whilst Anna is talking over what she should do with Sienna and their friend George, they are interrupted by Leon Jakes-Field who can only be described as Anna’s stalker. Leon is a horribly compelling character. His mother is a famous writer and he has literary aspirations himself which he is only to happy to share. He is patronising, unaware, intense and creepy but Anna is too kind-hearted to send him packing.

This is a book about relationships and secrets and the destructive effects they can have on our lives. If you are wondering why it is called The Yellow Room it only becomes clear towards the end of the book.

The Yellow Room is Jess Vallance’s second book; her first was Birdy.

The Box of Demons

The Box of Demons by Daniel Whelan

Book of the Week: 6 November 2016

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“The Apocalypse began in Rhyl, during the second-to-last weekend of January. It was the perfect place for the world to end: a neglected seaside resort on the North Wales coast, its best days far behind it. The sort of town where a cataclysmic global event could unfold unnoticed by the locals and ignored by the world at large.”

Ben Robson has had The Box as long as he can remember and plenty of time to get to know its inhabitants: Orff, Kartofel and Djinn. It’s really something he could do without, especially now his poor mum is in a psychiatric hospital and he is staying with his grandparents. Perhaps he can finally rid himself of the The Box, if only so many demons and celestial beings wouldn’t keep getting in the way.

If you like your fantasies funny in the style of Terry Pratchett, then Daniel Whelan’s madcap adventure featuring a giant rabbit, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and pompous angelic creatures, should keep you happy.

This is the author’s first book – his website is here.