Risk by Fleur Ferris
What’s it about?
Taylor and Sierra are best friends who have grown up together. Sierra is popular, pretty, confident, and a little selfish. She’s made her friends lie for her before, and not turned up when she said she would. So when Sierra asks Taylor to cover for her while she meets a boy from online, Taylor is annoyed. When Sierra doesn’t return on time, Taylor is even more annoyed – doesn’t she care about getting her friends in trouble? But as the hours pass, it becomes clear that something more sinister has happened.
Who’s it for?
Teens! But in many ways, this strikes me as a book that was intended to be talked about – either in school classrooms, or with parents who bought it for their children.
Would I recommend it?
Yes, I think so. There are places where the pacing lags and bits that seemed unrealistic to me (the popularity of Taylor’s website and how they went about building each page), but there were also places where it hurt and plenty of unpredictable moments to keep your interest. I finished it in a couple of days.
Would I teach it?
As I said, I think this was almost written to be taught, and it would be good for a unit on media or just some great classroom discussions. At times it does come across more "message" than entertainment. If I were to teach this I'd start with what students have already been told about stranger danger and online stalking - which is probably quite a bit. Even though kids might be wary of being preached to, I suspect they'll be interested for the same reason most books are interesting - an escape to someone else's life where you get to take risks with them without suffering the consequences. The good thing is that Ferris is realistic about teen internet use and approaches it from the angle of "how can I protect myself when meeting someone online" rather than "why you should never meet online". She talks about proxy boxes a fair bit, but there's also opportunity for discussion about things like ambiguous photographs, taking friends with you, and when it is and isn't okay to keep secrets. One thing I really liked was that Sierra (the victim) does meet this man in daylight in a busy public place. She's not stupid. Initially she asks Taylor to go with her, but Taylor refuses. The author makes it clear that the perpetrator was intelligent and deliberate about how he groomed the girl and earned her trust, both online and when they met in person. Then to ensure that you get a whole novel study under your belt and not just a lesson about internet safety, there's some great stuff about jealousy, grief, and how tragedy affects the main character's relationships (including with her not-quite-boyfriend and her best friend's mother). It's set in Melbourne, written in first person and (obviously) modern, so plenty for teens to relate to.
Final Thoughts
When I saw the subject matter, my first thought was “how has it taken THIS long for someone to write a book about this?” but realistically, it probably hasn’t. It’s probably just taken this long for someone’s book about this subject to be well-written, interesting, and well-marketed. This is another one recommended by #LoveOzYa so if you like YA and haven’t checked out the twitter hashtag yet, go!
What’s it about?
Taylor and Sierra are best friends who have grown up together. Sierra is popular, pretty, confident, and a little selfish. She’s made her friends lie for her before, and not turned up when she said she would. So when Sierra asks Taylor to cover for her while she meets a boy from online, Taylor is annoyed. When Sierra doesn’t return on time, Taylor is even more annoyed – doesn’t she care about getting her friends in trouble? But as the hours pass, it becomes clear that something more sinister has happened.
Who’s it for?
Teens! But in many ways, this strikes me as a book that was intended to be talked about – either in school classrooms, or with parents who bought it for their children.
Would I recommend it?
Yes, I think so. There are places where the pacing lags and bits that seemed unrealistic to me (the popularity of Taylor’s website and how they went about building each page), but there were also places where it hurt and plenty of unpredictable moments to keep your interest. I finished it in a couple of days.
Would I teach it?
As I said, I think this was almost written to be taught, and it would be good for a unit on media or just some great classroom discussions. At times it does come across more "message" than entertainment. If I were to teach this I'd start with what students have already been told about stranger danger and online stalking - which is probably quite a bit. Even though kids might be wary of being preached to, I suspect they'll be interested for the same reason most books are interesting - an escape to someone else's life where you get to take risks with them without suffering the consequences. The good thing is that Ferris is realistic about teen internet use and approaches it from the angle of "how can I protect myself when meeting someone online" rather than "why you should never meet online". She talks about proxy boxes a fair bit, but there's also opportunity for discussion about things like ambiguous photographs, taking friends with you, and when it is and isn't okay to keep secrets. One thing I really liked was that Sierra (the victim) does meet this man in daylight in a busy public place. She's not stupid. Initially she asks Taylor to go with her, but Taylor refuses. The author makes it clear that the perpetrator was intelligent and deliberate about how he groomed the girl and earned her trust, both online and when they met in person. Then to ensure that you get a whole novel study under your belt and not just a lesson about internet safety, there's some great stuff about jealousy, grief, and how tragedy affects the main character's relationships (including with her not-quite-boyfriend and her best friend's mother). It's set in Melbourne, written in first person and (obviously) modern, so plenty for teens to relate to.
Final Thoughts
When I saw the subject matter, my first thought was “how has it taken THIS long for someone to write a book about this?” but realistically, it probably hasn’t. It’s probably just taken this long for someone’s book about this subject to be well-written, interesting, and well-marketed. This is another one recommended by #LoveOzYa so if you like YA and haven’t checked out the twitter hashtag yet, go!
See Australia and Die by Wendy Lewis
What’s it about?
This is a collection of short non-fiction articles about deaths and serious incidents that occurred across Australia, many of them to tourists. The incidents are all caused either by the landscape or the flora and fauna – it brings to mind this song.
Who’s it for?
Adults, tourists, people you want to scare, or people with an interest in navigating dangerous areas.
Would I recommend it?
I’m on the fence. The writing is fine, each story is reasonably short and interesting, if a little over-dramatised at times. In places I found it repetitive – introductions to each story summarised in one or two sentences what I was about to read, and that lessoned the impact of the more detailed versions. Because the stories were grouped by theme I would find myself reading 3 crocodile attack stories in a row, which left me feeling a little tired of it. Overall, though, it was easy to read and would make a fun gift for someone (better than an Aussie Slang book). If I was doing stars I’d give it 3.
Would I teach it?
No, at least not as a whole book. I might pick out one or two stories to do with a junior class on feature articles, anecdotes or narrative non-fiction, but only if they fit well with a bigger unit of work I had planned.
Final Thoughts
So it turns out I could have taken my literary trip ‘round Australia just with this one book… In all seriousness though, it was interesting reading some stories I recognised but haven’t thought about for many years.
What’s it about?
This is a collection of short non-fiction articles about deaths and serious incidents that occurred across Australia, many of them to tourists. The incidents are all caused either by the landscape or the flora and fauna – it brings to mind this song.
Who’s it for?
Adults, tourists, people you want to scare, or people with an interest in navigating dangerous areas.
Would I recommend it?
I’m on the fence. The writing is fine, each story is reasonably short and interesting, if a little over-dramatised at times. In places I found it repetitive – introductions to each story summarised in one or two sentences what I was about to read, and that lessoned the impact of the more detailed versions. Because the stories were grouped by theme I would find myself reading 3 crocodile attack stories in a row, which left me feeling a little tired of it. Overall, though, it was easy to read and would make a fun gift for someone (better than an Aussie Slang book). If I was doing stars I’d give it 3.
Would I teach it?
No, at least not as a whole book. I might pick out one or two stories to do with a junior class on feature articles, anecdotes or narrative non-fiction, but only if they fit well with a bigger unit of work I had planned.
Final Thoughts
So it turns out I could have taken my literary trip ‘round Australia just with this one book… In all seriousness though, it was interesting reading some stories I recognised but haven’t thought about for many years.
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