Book Week

A few weeks ago I badly timed the ending of a novel.
It was a beautifully written story - the characterisations were good - but the voice of the protagonist/narrator, Oh, it was fantastic! Every time I picked it up it was too hard to put down. Which is not a brilliant idea for lunch-breaks at work.
And then I started reading it on the way home. Full well knowing that I was nearing the end. The story was written with lightness and sometimes humour. But near the end it skipped and turned and enveloped you with emotion. Christ!
And so I cried and cried on the bus. Hanky out, snuffling away. Putting the book on my lap when I couldn't see the pages for tears.
It was an extremely packed after work bus stuck in the traffic past Central, trying to get us all home. Who knows what all the others on the bus thought. And it was such a good book I didn't care enough to stop reading.
Later at home I went to my room and read to the very end. Later I came down and did the washing up and my flatmate caught me all red-eyed.*

I nearly did the same thing again today. But the novel was written in verse (and no, it wasn't Dorothy Porter, folks) and the feel and flow and structure didn't tug my emotions in any huge way. It made me hover above the story, watching. Much as the main character did in his life, in his small country town. Watching it all flow by until it's time to step away. I know that one. I used to live in a country town. As the back of the book says, it's "...about feeling undercurrents, finding solid ground, and knowing when to jump."**

It's nearly Children's Book Week.
www.cbc.org.au
One of the bigger weeks in my year as a Children's and Youth Librarian.
I'm reading my way through the shortlist. And I am so glad there are some brilliantly crafted stories out there.
I was going to write my favourites here - but there's a lot of them. Some years, the shortlist leaves me flat. This year there are only a few titles that don't hold much promise. Three cheers to Australian authors, illustrators, and publishers!

*Jonsberg, Barry. 2004 "The Whole Business with Kiffo and The Pitbull " Allen & Unwin
**Herrick, Steven. 2004 "By the River" Allen & Unwin