Me and Mr Booker by Cory Taylor

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Genre - Teenage

Teenage genre but I think this is one of those books that crosses to the Adult boundaries.

Well written, its a modern story set in an Australian town of a young sixteen year old girl desperately waiting for her life to begin when there isn't really anything happening. Anyone with a small town upbringing can relate as you really empathise with the character as she battles within a very dysfunctional family environment that drives her into the arms of a middle age man...maybe a sexual predator that seduces her into thinking he is the love of her life thus experiencing some kind of life experience and meaning.

---- Reviewed by Leonie, Ringwood

Where the streets had a name by Randa Abdel-Fattah

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Genre - Fiction

This is a moving and topical story about the Palestinian experience from a child’s perspective. Thirteen year old Hayaat and her family deal with many obstacles in their daily lives. There are curfews and checkpoints, travel restrictions and dangerous public protests. They live in a small apartment as the family home was confiscated to make way for a new road which is now on the other side of the wall that divides the West Bank. When her grandmother falls ill, Hayaat decides it is important for her to once again touch some soil from her beloved Jerusalem. So she sets out on a curfew free day with her best friend Samy, who loves football and X factor. Although they are only venturing a few kilometres for this handful of dirt it is a long and dangerous journey as they pass through numerous checkpoints without correct travel permits.
This story gives us a very personal insight into the reality of life for so many people who live in the turmoil of war and is based partly on the authors own experiences of travelling in Palestine.

---- Reviewed by Sue, Knox