Jasper+Jones

//Jasper Jones// by Craig Silvey

I'd compare this to a modern day Australian version of To Kill A Mockingbird. Very interesting outsider characters, intricate plotting, and dark societal issues that these kids must face in their community. Beautiful writing. Great book for upper high school level kids.

This was a good story with well developed characters. The language is a little odd at times because it is an Australian novel - for example, Jasper sleeps in his sleepout. There is a lot here on bullying, racism and a lot of teen-like thinking about people and how they act, what death is all about. I didn't like that Jasper often refered to himself as a pansy or acting like a girl which is a bit offensive. The characters are young, between 12 and 14 but act older - beyond their maturity, they are drinking and smoking and there is some strong language here as well. Mostly, the book started to feel long to me like Silvey was juggling a lot of balls and they ended up too much. ~ Sharon Flesher, Nashua High South