Life as you know it?

incredibleMichael is a typical school boy living in the suburbs of Western Sydney. For him, life has a rhythm and routine which is closely bonded to his older brother’s. That is until tragedy strikes, and he decides that:

‘my life isn’t my life any more: It is like a movie, it’s the place where I enter the scene again and again and everything is different.’

From the time that Michael regains consciousness after the accident, his thoughts are fragmented. Indeed the nature of Felicity Castagna’s book, ‘the Incredible Here and Now’, is that it, too, is a whole story slowly pieced together. Gradually, chapters reveal little insights into the lives of people in Michael’s world, as the picture develops describing his life with family, school and his mates, and how life can suddenly become distorted and troubled.

Without his older brother, Dom, the form of Michael’s life has changed. At home, his mother grieves and (has) ‘slipped out of our lives’. His father, though acting calm and together, ‘walks (him) to school for the first time since I was 10’. In his own way, Michael disconnects from school and other aspects of his old life. He constantly wonders ‘how can someone be there one day and not the next?’

However, ‘the Incredible Here and Now’ is not a sombre tale, but a thoughtful one. As a coming-of-age story, we are taken through the neighbourhood streets where Michael is growing up and dealing with the first throes of love and conflict. Through his eyes, the tapestry of different immigrant lives are illustrated; with their particular features and foibles. Teenage lives are interconnected not only through school, but through sport and other hangouts.

Castagna’s little vignettes capture many different things about Michael’s family, friends and acquaintances. For most people around him, life goes on as before – but how can things remain the same when someone important is lost from your life. Castagna also captures the differing cultures which permeate Michael’s life, and the unique mix of his neighbourhood. This will provide some ‘aha’ moments to those readers who can identify with some of the locations described, and an interesting insight to others from different social backgrounds.

Teen readers will also love the short chapters which collect the thoughts of Michael fairly concisely. As he dips in and out, his thoughts seem somewhat fragmented but are also part of the whole – as he attempts to deal with his now fragmented world.

The Incredible Here and Now does not tell us how to deal with the loss of a family member. Neither does it come up with a solution to everyday teenaged angst. What it does is provide great realistic fiction which should appeal to many teenage boys; they could easily identify parts of themselves in many of the characters, and the situations in which they act.

In Felicity’s words, The Incredible Here and Now:

… is about being an absolute insider in a place you know as well as the back of your own hand. It’s a young adult’s novel told through the eyes of Michael whose life changes dramatically in the summer he turns 15. Michael knows everything about the community he lives in and through his stories, he lets the reader in; to the unsettled lives of his family members, the friends he meets in the McDonalds parking lot at night, the swimming pool where he meets the one girl who will acknowledge he’s alive and the classmates who spend their mornings drooling at the Coke Factory on their walk to school. (Source: the NSW Writers Centre, Felicity Castagna Talks Writing a Sense of Place, http://www.nswwc.org.au/2013/05/felicity-castagna-talks-writing-a-sense-of-place/)

# The Incredible Here and Now was shortlisted for this year’s CBCA awards, and the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards 2014 – and is Felicity’s first novel.

CBCA 2014 – announcement today…

The winner is announced Friday August 15 in the ‘Older Readers’ category, which includes the following books:

cbca2014_2Shortlisted Older Readers Titles 2014

The Incredible Here and Now, Felicity Castagna

The First Third, Will Kostakis

Life in Outer Space, Melissa Keil

Fairytales for Wilde Girls, Allyse Near #HONOUR BOOK

Wildlife, Fiona Wood #WINNER 2014

The Sky so Heavy, Claire Zorn #HONOUR BOOK

Each of these titles is available from the Senior School Library for you to judge yourself.

Of course, you may not agree with the judges’ selections, or even wish to pick up any of these titles. There are many other worthy titles included in this year’s CBCA selection of notable books by Australian authors for Australian children. These can be viewed at the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s website in each of the following categories:

There should be many great choices available in these lists to inspire readers of all ages! To find out the eventual award winners see the CBCA website, after noon on Friday.

CBCA 2014 shortlist announced

It that’s time of year again, when the CBCA (Children’s Book Council of Australia) shortlist is announced! Congrats to all those honoured.

Since our focus is young adult, here is the shortlist for YA straight from the CBCA website:

Book of the Year: Older Readers

title
The Incredible Here and Now
author/illustrator
Castagna, Felicity
publisher
Giramondo Publishing
isbn
9781922146366
title
Life in Outer Space
author/illustrator
Keil, Melissa
publisher
Hardie Grant Egmont
isbn
9781742973951
title
The First Third
author/illustrator
Kostakis, Will
publisher
Penguin Group (Australia)
isbn
9780143568179
title
Fairytales for Wilde Girls
author/illustrator
Near, Allyse
publisher
Random House Australia
isbn
9781742758510
title
Wildlife
author/illustrator
Wood, Fiona
publisher
Pan Macmillan Australia
isbn
9781742612317
title
The Sky so Heavy
author/illustrator
Zorn, Claire
publisher
University of Queensland Press
isbn
9780702249761

Better get reading!!

Which of these have you read and loved so far?