Natalie
‘Mrs Rizzo,’ I said shyly, looking over at the Italian woman who’d just picked me up from Rome airport. She was going to be my ‘house mother’ at the Giovane Drammatico Collegio. ‘I know it’s late, but do you think we could make a stop at the Trevi Fountain, even just for a minute? My mum told me when she visited Rome she made a wish there and it came true.’ As soon as I’d met Mrs Rizzo I could tell she was really nice, but I still felt stupid asking.
Veronica
‘Veronica, darling, the school looks – er…lovely!’ said Mother, trying her best to sound convincing as eh looked dubiously at Giovane Drammatico Collegio.
‘Grrr!’
I was already in a seriously bad mood after surviving the ten-hour flight in premium economy class (gross) and no first class like I’d been promised. then to top it all off, I find out the supposedly exclusive summer acting school I’d had to audition for and pull serious strings to get into was a crumbly old dump.
Natalie and Veronica have both come to Rome to spend their summer at the Giovane Drammatico Collegio, honing their acting skills. But that’s where the similarities between them end. Natalie has travelled from Australia and her family have scrimped to get her there. To help pay her tuition fees, she will also work in the Collegio kitchen. Veronica, from New York, and is used to having the best, or at least the most expensive of everything. Her parents are divorced and Veronica lives with her mother, although this doesn’t stop her spending her father’s money. It is no surprise then, that these two girls are to spend the summer sharing a room. The scene is set for an exciting summer. Both must prove themselves worthy if they are to win a place in the end of summer production.
Roman Holiday uses alternating first person voice (and font) to bring the reader close to both the main characters. Natalie is shy, except when she’s on stage, and Veronica’s over-the-top bad-girl behaviour is a mask that she wears for protection. Kathy Buchanan presents the reader with one likeable main character and one very unlikeable one. She then sets about unravelling initial judgements as slowly she exposes Veronica’s secrets and Natalie’s strengths. Each has come to Rome with expectations and hopes. Rome and the Collegio deliver, but not necessarily in the way they expect. Recommended for upper primary-early secondary readers.
Roman Holiday, Kathy Buchanan
Scholastic 2010
ISBN: 9781741693904
review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author
www.clairesaxby.com
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