We've just had Children's Book Week, and at Mandurah Library we held our second 'Meet The Shortlist' evening. It was a great night, a range of speakers presented their views on the shortlisted books for this year's awards. The review below is mine, I didn't think I would enjoy it, but it was a very enjoyable read. Check out the other items on the shortlist and see the winners at http://cbca.org.au/awards.htm .
Henry Hoey Hobson by Christine Bongers
Henry Hoey Hobson is starting a new school, in fact this is Henry sixth school in as many years. Henry and his Mum have moved twelve times in Henry’s life. In Henry’s life there has always been, just him and his Mum. His Mum found herself pregnant at 18, and thrown out by her parents, but they have each other and they have a good relationship despite the many upheavals Henry has had throughout his life.
He arrives as a new boy at his new school ‘Our Lady of Perpetual Succour’ to find out that he is the only boy in his year seven class (Mum hasn’t done her research properly again) and because of an accident with his braces, Angelica, the queen of the catty year sevens labels him a ‘Vampire’ before he can even get into his classroom.
The action in this book occurs over a week, and Henry has to deal with a lot of major factors including his Mum’s accident which is the catalyst for Henry finally learning about his Dad. I loved this book, in fact I stayed in bed one Saturday morning because I had to find out what would become of Henry, his mum and the swimming carnival and who was the mysterious guy called Anders from the house next door. The message I took away from this book was that family are not only people related to you by birth but all the people in your life who help take care of you when you need it most. I would recommend this book for middle primary upwards, especially for boys, but this girl really enjoyed it.
