gerry bobsien – Aussie Reviews

A month before her mad run to Darcy’s place, Maddy Macarthy was in trouble for a different reason. It’s not an unusual thing to happen, but four weeks before the epic stack in front of Max, and before the whole problem that was tucked into her trackpants, Maddy was caught up in another kind of trouble.

She was sitting in a silent car, the air bristling with the fury only mothers can brew. Mum gripped the steering wheel and every now and then she turned and glared at Maddy like she was about to say something then decided not to.

Arty 15 year-old Maddy and her football-mad twin Jack are living with their grandparents while their mother does a stint in a hospital in the country. Maddy loves to push the boundaries of her art, and to provoke a reaction in those who see her work. But this time she may have gone too far. But she needs this, this public response. Because so much else seems to be topsy-turvy. Her business partner Darcy is being too weird, her brother is distancing himself, her loved art teacher is supportive but cautious. How is it possible to see some things so clearly and yet be unable to make sense of others? Her life feels as steep and uneven as the roads around her grandparents’ home.

Maddy, protagonist of The Colour of Trouble has synaesthesia, and for her that means that sounds have colour, and colours have tastes. This isn’t a real problem for her, just a flag for the reader that Maddy’s unique take on the world has a few extra shades. And shadows. For all her insight on things art, she sometimes fails to see what’s happening around her, and also to acknowledge her emotions and reactions. She is at once intuitive and obtuse. Like most teenagers.

The Colour of Trouble is a realistic novel about coming of age, beginning to establish identity and learning some of the rights and responsibilities that come with that. It’s also an amazing look into the mind of a creative teenager and what is possible. Maddy is fortunate in having many caring people around her to support and encourage her, including mother, grandparents, art mentors, teachers and her friends. It is a story about change, growing up and taking grown up responsibilities for your actions. Recommended for early- to mid-secondary readers.

The Colour of Trouble, Gerry Bobsien
Walker Books 2012 ISBN: 9781921720840

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author

www.clairesaxby.com

Available from good bookstores or online.

Ella Alonso was going crazy with the smell of hot chips. She leaned across the bench into the kiosk and tried to communicate telepathically with the sting bean of a cook who was scooping them up out of the fryer and into the draining baskets. Come on, she thought, that’s enough drip-drying. Give them to me. Just give me the chips. At last the cook grabbed the handle of the basket and dumped the chips into the bain-marie. He wrapped them up in butcher’s paper then handed them over.

Ella and her family have moved back to Newcastle from Melbourne after many years’ absence. All Ella’s memories are of Melbourne and the friends and boyfriend she has had to leave behind. Creaky, Ella’s little sister seems to have little trouble adjusting. But Ella is a dancer and the beachside lifestyle is not one she has aspired to. Her dad is very excited to be back and her mother is just working, working, working. But the surf is mesmeric and gradually Ella too falls under its spell. Dance, previously her grand passion, takes a different place in her life. Then an opportunity is presented and Ella must make a choice. Dance or surfing? Add in secrets from her mother’s past, and boys and Ella’s year is a big one.

Surf Ache is a term used to explain the need to surf, the feeling that the whole world revolves around how the waves are breaking. Ella comes from strong surfing genes, although she knows little of this when her family return to Newcastle. While the rest of the family settles quickly into their new/old home, Ella struggles with the changes. She knows she had to leave behind her boyfriend and breaking up was the only option, yet she struggles with the timing. She has to find a new dance school but again struggles to find her place. Everything has changed. Surf Ache uses the third person intimate voice to bring the reader in close to Ella and her turmoil. She is a likeable main character, as is her family. Only Mel, classmate and fellow surfer, seems put out by her arrival. And eventually, some of the reasons for her antagonism become clearer. There are plenty of details for the keen surfer, but not so many that the non-surfer gets lost. An enjoyable read for early- to mid- secondary girls.

Surf Ache, Gerry Bobsien
Walker Books 2009
9781921150920

review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author
www.clairesaxby.com

This title can be purchased online from Fishpond.

Tag: gerry bobsien

The Colour of Trouble by Gerry Bobsien

Surf Ache, by Gerry Bobsien