Fiona WoodRezensionen

7/10, a rather interesting book about wellness, and how 3 people's stories connect to each other.

Twelve year old Nell is a worrier, but knowing lots about surviving catastrophes doesn’t always help her when faced with difficulties in her own life -- like the plan to move in with her mum’s boyfriend and his annoying daughter, or trying to befriend a new classmate without losing her old friendships.

Wood deftly captures the experience of navigating anxiety and change on the border of teenagerhood.

What even is Important to Me?
Shouldn’t I know that by grade six?
It feels like being on a swing.
Looking down at the ground, heading backwards, legs tucked under, I want everything to stay the same forever and ever, and the next second, head back, eyes full of sky, legs stretched out, can’t wait for everything to change.½

#LoveOzYA - Happy Indulgence Review : http://www.happyindulgencebooks.com/2017/11/11/take-three-girls-in-the-dark-spac...

Dan Cereill has more problems than he knows what to do with. His dad just came out as gay, he and his mother would be homeless if they hadn’t inherited his great-aunt’s house, they have no money, his mother’s wedding cake business is failing, he is bullied and doesn’t fit in at school, his new dog (also inherited from Aunt Adelaide) is sick, and he’s in love with the girl next door. He doesn’t get why his dad decided to leave them or why his mom seems to be trying to sabotage her own business. In spite of having six impossible things to accomplish, from kissing Estelle from next door or talking to his dad again after he leaves them, Dan does his best to try to make new friends, help cheer up his mom, and find a new place to belong in his new life. Even though he started with six impossible things, he learns that if he doesn’t give up, living a happy life might not be as impossible as he thinks.

Dan has a great voice in this book, both snarky but showing how lonely and hopeless he feels most of the time. His love for his mother, even when they didn’t always get along and they weren’t at the strongest point of their relationship, is a strong point for the book with the realistic way it is handled. The other relationships of the book, like Dan’s growing relationship with Estelle and his old friendship with Fred, are believable and fun. The tone is lighthearted, even in its discussion of serious thinks like feeling abandoned by a parent and being horribly lonely. This book at its heart is a story about putting your life together and finding happy things even when everything has fallen apart around you, and for that it will touch the hearts of readers.

When you're a shy, naive girl in high school, gaining a little popularity is pretty much the equivalent of throwing a lamb to the wolves; the only thing worse is having a best friend who is really a wolf in sheep's clothing. For Sibylla this is exactly what happens, but maybe if she can discover herself in time she may escape being eaten alive.

Being the new student is like being a fish out of water, you instantly don't belong, no one seems to want you and your very existence is a fight for survival. For Lou surviving a new school is nothing, she doesn't care about belonging, she doesn't care about being wanted, it is only life she is fighting to survive, only her grief she is struggling to breath through.

Wildlife is not about surviving the animals of the wilderness but the wildness in your fellow students. For these year 10 students, spending fourth term at Mt Fairweather, Crowthorne Grammar's outdoor educational campus, is more then an education on becoming self-sufficient, it is a lesson in becoming self-aware, of growing up and making discoveries on life, love and acceptance of ones-self.

Tons of heart, emotion and honesty marks the tale of three very different girls, who although coming from very differing paths, manage to find strength through each other.

This one is written from three different perspectives, each character as different as different can be. One is popular, one is smart and the other is athletic. Each one has a distinct voice, dreams, hopes and personality, problems, and none of their lives cross. Until they do.

Right away, the voices of the characters demand attention. They are written in a true to life manner, allowing the reader to immediately feel as if they are getting to know each girl personally. While there are raw thoughts, emotions and character depth, all of these things flow along in a nicely paced tale. There's always something going on, and the moments are touching, disheartening, tense or even slightly humorous. But every single one comes across with a naturalness, which makes it easy to sink into each of the girls' stories.

It was very easy to keep track of the character switches and hard not to get lost in each one. The authors start each chapter with a 'worksheet', including an inspirational quote, discussion thoughts, and a task, which hits a certain wellness topic. Then, the characters come in. Some are written like journal entries, other pages hold social media posts. This not only allows the girls' situation and lives to come across in an intriguing way, but also gives the reader reason to dive into the topics themselves.

The characters are interesting, but it's their problems which give this whole thing depth. Tough issues such as family, romance, finding oneself, weight, and cyberbullying hit hard and make an impact, especially on readers who might experience similar issues themselves. And yet, there's tons of heart as the three learn to bond in an odd but wonderful friendship. It's an inspiring read which packs a punch and shows how powerful friendship, hope, and determination can be.

I received an ARC and thought this was very well done.

Are you the kind of person who wishes on a falling star or when you blow on a dandelion gone to seed or as you blow out birthday candles? If you are, would you be shocked to have your wish come true? Would you believe it's a result of the magic of the wish or something more pragmatic? In Fiona Wood's charming YA novel, Cloudwish, the main character's wish comes true. Not only is this a novel of a little bit of "be careful what you wish for" and a touch of magic, but it's also a novel about life as a second generation Vietnamese-Australian, love, and coming to see, know, and value yourself.

Van Uoc is a scholarship student at a prestigious IB school. She is smart and talented but she is also incredibly aware of the difference between herself and the other, wealthy students at the school. Van Uoc is the child of Vietnamese immigrants who arrived in Australia as "boat people." They don't have a lot of money and live in government housing. She has to try to straddle life between being a regular Australian kid and being different because of her family's immigration history. She is her parents' main translator even though her Vietnamese is pretty poor and she tutors other kids in her situation after school on Fridays. She wants to be an artist rather than the doctor her parents want her to be. And problematically, she has a major crush on Billy Gardiner, the school golden boy. Billy can be arrogant and unthinking, a bit of a jerk really, but he is also sometimes sweet, he's incredibly good looking, and the captain of the rowing team. One day in English class, a visiting writer passes around a box of items as writing prompts. Van Uoc is left with the dregs of the box but eventually finds a small vial with a piece of paper in it. The paper tells her to make a wish. So she does, wishing that Billy will notice her. And he does. So is it a magic wish or is it Van Uoc? And really, does she even want the notoriety and angst that being with Billy is guaranteed to bring into her life, especially as a person who has tried to remain as unobtrusive as possible up until now?

Wood does a good job balancing Van Uoc's life at school and her life at home, showing the dichotomy she lives all the time and the way that it can isolate her from both communities to which she belongs. There is so much going on under the surface of the story here. The reader learns about the reality of immigration alongside Van Uoc since she's been mostly protected from her parents' story. She doesn't quite understood her mother's PTSD until her mother finally tells her the truth about the horror of their immigration story. Early in the book, in keeping with the idea of the creative writing class, Van Uoc writes some essays that tell the unvarnished truth of her experience and life but then selecting all and deleting them. It is an effective way to show the truth of her feelings since her actions don't always do so but Wood does stop peppering these essays in the text as the novel goes on. Van Uoc as a character is quite sympathetic and while she sometimes comes across as the perfect girl/daughter, she's still lovely to spend time with. The novel as a whole comes across as honest and hopeful while still presenting things as they really are. More than just a love story, this is a novel of identity. It doesn't shy away from class differences, the reality (and causes) of immigration, and of the expectations placed on second generation kids. Wood has written a novel that will make her YA audience relate and think both.½

Take Three Girls by Cath Crowley, Fiona Wood, and Simmone Howell is honestly a book everyone needs to read! It’s so vital in terms of its messages and themes, which makes it relatable in many ways! It’s a book I wish I had read in high school, but nevertheless, I’m happy to have finally read it now! Take Three Girls focuses on three girls and it is told from their perspectives:

There’s Clem, once a swimming sensation, but now not at all feeling the longing for the pool that she once had – whilst being tangled up with Stu, one who she can never quite forget. Then there’s popular Adelaide, or Ady, feeling disconnected from her family and friends – her comfortable life falling apart before her own eyes. And last, but most certainly not least, Kate, torn between her music dreams and the career her parents have sacrificed lots for.

All three girls are faced with the brunt of PSST (think Gossip Girl, well that’s what it instantly reminded me of), which is a website that relentlessly shames its targets, namely women. It says absolutely loathsome and humiliating things about them, which are mostly inaccurate and often hurtful things too. No one really knows who is behind PSST, but let me say when I found out, I was pretty surprised! It definitely wasn’t who I would have expected that contributed to the website.

I love how the book was told from three different perspectives and I loved them all equally! It’s funny because of Ady’s popular demeanour, I initially didn’t like her, but I soon grew to love her as she started to realise every thing is not all it seems in her life. As the reader, we find out that her family is slowly unravelling, not only due to lack of finances, but also due to her father’s health. I must admit, I found that in itself to be a surprise, and of course, it definitely made me feel bad for her! Not only did she have to come to terms with that, but her sister constantly only gives her half attention, and as the story goes further, I really got a sense of how alone she really feels in the world. So when Max came into her life, I was incredibly happy for her! Their friendship and more was just utter deliciousness and made me so happy!

Clem, darling Clem, I just wanted to hug her as soon as I met her in this book. She is so disheartened by her weight, being so hung up on Stu (I have lots of not-so great feelings about that one), but also her toxic relationship with her twin sister, Iris. Now Clem, in my opinion, hadn’t done anything to Iris, but she was so horrible to Clem. It hurt to read about, as they were evidently once close but now all Iris seemingly has to say are horribly negative things about her sister. That being said, how Clem navigated her way through this story was just gorgeous, whether it was coping with fat shaming (which no one should have to go through), to dealing with a change in swimming mindset.

Kate is a friend of Iris’s and an aspiring cellist, along with initially being my favourite character at that! I could so easily feel her passion and love for music and tech and I loved how she would just be so creative in terms of mixing the two. Kate absolutely had inner angst about wanting to chase her music dream, while her parents have given her the opportunity to study medicine, but she was just so brave going for her dream. I loved her banter and chemistry with nerdy Oliver, they were easily some of my favourite scenes as how they bounced off one another and had that shared passion for music was such a pleasure to read about.

Whilst I loved reading about all three girls as separate characters, my favourite scenes were when they all came together. Initially, they weren’t even in the same friendship groups, but their individual character growth, collective friendship development, and self-love was stellar. Now, Kate, Ady, and Clem feel like friends and the book is definitely a new favourite of mine!

Lastly, I love that it was the school’s wellness course that brought them all together, that made them face what was going not so great with their lives. Facing and standing united together against the toxic people, and just being the best and happiest versions of themselves that they can be!

If you haven’t read this book, pick it up! I cannot recommend it enough!

Reference
Zatz, S., & Erne, L. (2019, February 06). Review: Take Three Girls by Cath Crowley. Retrieved July 15, 2019, from https://www.thenerddaily.com/take-three-girls-cath-crowley-fiona-wood-simmone-ho...

Googlebooks review as my review lost by LibraryThing App:-

"WINNER OF THE CBCA AWARD FOR BOOK OF THE YEAR: OLDER READERS
ADY - not the confident A-Lister she appears to be.
KATE - brainy boarder taking risks to pursue the music she loves.
CLEM - disenchanted swim-star losing her heart to the wrong boy.
All are targeted by PSST, a toxic website that deals in gossip and lies. St Hilda's antidote to the cyber-bullying? The Year 10 Wellness program. Nice try - but sometimes all it takes is three girls.
Exploring friendship, feminism, identity and belonging. Take Three Girls is honest, raw and funny. "

A very realistic look at Cyber-bullying and friendship.

Wildlife by Fiona Wood is a novel about Australian teenagers from a private school who spend a quarter of their year ten in an outdoor education program. The story is told from two different points of view. The reader learns about Lou, whose boyfriend has recently been killed in an accident, from her entries in a journal. The other point of view is Sibylla’s who tells the story as the narrator of the events at camp. While Lou, the new girl, attempts to overcome her grief at the loss of her boyfriend, Sibylla finds herself involved in a romantic relationship. And then there is Holly who wants to be the most popular girl and she will do anything and hurt anyone to achieve her goal.

The term spent at camp becomes a learning experience not only of how to survive independently in the wilderness but it also builds character and maturity. Lou lends strength to the book for being able to get beyond her grief, assert her self-assurance and help Sibylla transform into an independent young woman. Reading about the events as they unfold from both of their POV makes it possible for the reader to grow along with these two girls.

The characters in the book appeal to me because they seem very real. Their reactions to one another are those of typical teenagers. Themes abound in this book and include friendship, bullying, popularity, romance, sexual relationships, grief and death, and wilderness survival. Because of this, the story will appeal to the teenage reader. I would offer one word of caution that there is some focus on teen sexuality so the book should be directed to the mature reader.

This review is written from an ARC courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley.

This award-winning young adult novel is about Vân Ước Phan, the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants living in Melbourne, Australia.

Vân Ước’s name means “cloudwish” and in many ways the story is all about wishing. For example, Vân Ước dearly wished to be an artist, but her parents expected her to become a medical doctor. And on a more immediate level (she was still 16), if she had a wish, it would be for 17-year-old "golden boy" Billy Gardiner to like her, or more than like her: to prefer her to all the other girls in the school; in fact, to all the other girls in the world. That is what she wished for in her creative writing class, when she extracted from the “fantasy-prompt box” a glass vial with the word “wish” in it.

But Vân Ước, who often tried to draw inspiration from her favorite fictional character, Jane Eyre, knew that “it was a truth universally acknowledged that [Billy Gardiner] only ever went out with girls like Pippa or Tiff or Ava.”

Vân Ước would never be one of those girls. She was only able to attend her fancy school on an academic scholarship, and lived “in the dumpbin category of scholarship/poor/smart/Asian.”

Even Vân Ước’s art was an expression of her self-image: she shot photographs of overlooked things because she wanted to show that the seemingly insignificant could warrant close attention, and the tiniest elements could be made monumental. It was for similar reasons that she loved Jane Eyre:

“She has no ostensible power, but she is powerful. She’s inconspicuous - modest and unprepossessing - but her presence is strong. She stands up to injustice. She has self-respect. She isn’t afraid to speak plainly about her feelings. She is so passionate, despite all the restrictions and confinement of her background. She’s generous. And she’s an artist.”

After Vân Ước made her wish in the creative writing class, suddenly Billy started noticing her - even following her around. Was it a prank? Was it the wish, and therefore not “real”? And on a more fundamental level, she even suspected the genuineness of her attraction for Billy in the first place: was she a victim of the Anglo-normative definition of appeal featured in every advertisement and fashion magazine?

Meanwhile, at home, she was dealing with the yearly bout of PTSD besetting her mother, corresponding with the date her parents left Vietnam as “boat people” before arriving in Australia in 1980. Her mother wouldn’t talk about why it was so traumatic. But there was hope: she was finally attending group therapy.

It meant a lot to Vân Ước, because her parents didn’t realize that the extent to which they wouldn’t speak about the past made them strangers to her. Moreover, their suffering formed the whole basis of their relationship to their daughter in another way; she felt as if it was all up to her to justify their sacrifices - to make whatever happened to them worthwhile: "How could she ever do enough, achieve enough? Be enough? To compensate for - what, exactly?”

Plus, she felt she couldn’t even feel happy, “because if you survived, then you were all right; no - lucky. What problems? You’re alive!”

She decided she might as well act as if Billy’s interest in her were genuine, even if it all might crash around her one day and break her heart. Billy was okay with all the restrictions put on her by her parents, and saw her whenever he could. He even read Jane Eyre for her, and used quotations in their conversations!

“'I’ve never heard you quote Jane Eyre before.'

They looked at each other.

'This feels . . . real,' he said.

'It can’t be, can it? You didn’t know I existed until a few weeks ago.'

'We’ve known each other forever, haven’t we?'”

This all makes Vân Ước happy, but unhappy too. She is convinced Billy only likes her because of the wish, and decides to track down the teacher, get the vial back, and “unwish” the wish. She then begins the process of mourning what she gave up, only to discover that maybe her life was more like Jane Eyre’s than she thought.

Evaluation: Fiona Wood is a must-read author for me. She packages teen angst into such a delightful bundle, you forget, for a while anyway, why you ever thought teenagers were not adorable.

This is a story about taking risks, making changes, discovering what is important, and dealing with the pressures of others’ expectations and with malicious cyber gossip. Clem (sporty), Kate (nerdy) and Ady (popular) are thrown together by their private school’s Year 10 “Wellness” class

Clem is struggling to get back into swimming after an injury; she’s self-conscious about her body and distracted by a boy. Kate is supposed to be focusing on the scholarship exam so she can stay at St Hilda’s, but wants to pursue her love of experimental cello music. Ady is trying to conceal her family’s problems from her friends, and realising that her passion for clothes goes beyond a typical interest in fashion.

I enjoyed reading this so much. It’s funny and feminist and sharply insightful about teenage experiences -- school, friendships, romance, family, cyber bullying. I loved the friendship which develops between the girls and how they support each other. I appreciated the references to the things in their lives, like the musicians Kate admires, the poetry quoted in their Wellness class, Ady’s older sister’s opinions, and the details about living in Melbourne.

I liked the ending… but I keep wondering if it could have been written in a way so that it hit its final notes with more oomph. I don’t know if it was just the effect of having three endings for each of the girls, or of there being just so much going on in the story that some things were resolved a bit too tidily and others were left a bit too unresolved. Maybe it’s just a me-thing? Anyway, I still really liked this.

“Okay, girls, I’m going to ask you to sort yourselves into groups of three according to thumb length,” Malik says as though it’s a fun thing to do. [...] It reminds me of a kindergarten icebreaker, but at sixteen we’re frozen deeper than he knows.½

During an emotionally eventful term at her school's outdoor education campus, Sibylla Quinn's quiet life is turned upside down. She spends a great deal of time standing on the sidelines, not saying or doing the right thing, even though she questions her lack of involvement.

I believe the title of the book comes from the Lewis Carol book Alice in Wonderland where the Red Queen says, "Why, sometimes I believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." In the book, set in Australia, nerdish boy, Dan Cereill has just had his world turned upside down. His father has bankrupted the family and came out of the closet to boot. His mother inherited the use of her Aunt Adelaide's house for as long as she is alive. So at least Dan and his mother have a place to live while his mother tries to start up her business of making wedding cakes, which she seems determined to sabotage by convincing the women to not get married. So Dan feels the need to get a job to pull in some money, but he's not quite fifteen yet, so it's hard to find a job. On top of that things are going horribly at school and he's desperately in love with the girl next door that he has yet to meet.

Dan loves to make lists so his first list, the one that follows throughout the book is this: 1. Kiss Estelle. 2. Get a job. 3. Cheer my mother up. Better chance of business not crashing if she's half okay. 4. It's not like I expect to be cool or popular at the new school, but I'm going to try not to be a complete nerd/loser. 5. Should talk to father when he calls. 6. The existential one. Figure out how to be good. I don't want to be the sort of person who up and leaves his family out of the blue. Written below these six are the words Impossible Impossible Impossible Impossible Impossible Impossible. They all seem insurmountable to him.

He is so desperate to learn more about Estelle that when he discovers the hole in the wall between their attics that is covered up in boxes he goes over and looks around. When he knows she isn't there he slips over to her side and discovers that she has several years worth of diaries there along with a lot of other things some of which has come from his side of the attic. He can't stop himself from reading the diaries even knowing that if they ever do get to know each other it will hurt that relationship. And they slowly do get to know each other in a weird way.

While he has made a friend with a girl named Lou and he still has his old friend Fred who lives nearby but goes to a different school, he has made a powerful enemy in the class bully, Jayzo, who makes it a point to make his life miserable. He does eventually get a paying job, which is a good thing because the dog Howard that they also inherited has a limp and needs to see a vet. His mom is obsessed with Thom Yorke, the lead singer of Radiohead, and is in a weird headspace that he can't seem to help her except to not burden her with his problems or any problems for that matter.

This is a delightfully written book with a touch of sarcastic wit that comes from being a teenager who likely rolls his eyes often. Dan is going through a really tough time that at least some of which is very relatable to lots of us out there. But he's a sweet kid who really is trying to do the right thing and step up to the plate and take the place that his father had in the family and he doesn't even know how to shave because his father didn't teach him before he left so he doesn't know who to turn to for advice on manly things at first. You even forgive him for reading Estelle's diaries once you realize why he really did it. You spend the book rooting for things to turn around for him and feel his anguish when they don't or when he gets caught doing something he maybe shouldn't. I really loved this book and highly recommend it.

Quotes
At the time of my snooping, before we’d even met, I realized that just as my regard for her grew with every word I read, hers for me would surely diminish in far greater proportion if she ever found out what I had done. Knowing her now, even so slightly, only makes what I did seem more horrible. I’ve paid a high price for knowledge that should have been earned not stolen. It’s a bad bargain, and one from which I can’t see an escape. Like all good traps, climbing in was easy, getting out might prove to be impossible.

-Fiona Wood (Six Impossible Things p 95)

“You know who is a good guy?” my mother asks me over oatmeal, in a tone suggesting we’ve just been talking about who’s not a good guy, which we haven’t. “No.” “Thom Yorke. He is a truly good guy.” Radiohead’s singer, songwriter. The unnatural interest isn’t going away. “What makes you think that?” “Because he’s passionate, Dan; he cares passionately about things. You just have to see him performing to see it. He looks like he’s going to burst every blood vessel in his head…” “What’s so good about that?” “He’s also an environmental activists. He cares about climate change. He went to Copenhagen Summit, for god’s sake! He’s helping the planet.” “Okay.” I’m putting my lunch together. I’ve got to get out of here. “And he’s around my age, did you know that?” “No.” “Yep. So, why didn’t I end up with him, instead of your father?” Who knows the right answer to that one? Er—you live on different continents…? You don’t know him…? He’s short and you’re tall…? I don’t point out that I’m the result of her breeding with her reject husband. I don’t feel like much of a consolation.
-Fiona Wood (Six Impossible Things p 96)

Revisiting the list: 1. Kiss Estelle. Okay at least I’ve met her. She thinks I’m a creep. And that’s without her knowing I’ve read her diaries. Unless we somehow fall over, exactly aligned, lips to lips, and gravity causes the pressure, or we find ourselves in a darkened room and through a series of Shakespearean ID muddles she thinks she’s kissing someone else, I can’t see how this is ever going to happen.
-Fiona Wood (Six Impossible Things p 109)

“Do you want to come to mine and see how she [Janie] goes [in the contest]?” Estelle asks. Do I? “I’ll get a DVD,” I say, trying to remind my heart that it’s a super-fit muscle and not a drum getting the crap beaten out of it.
-Fiona Wood (Six Impossible Things p 178)

I feel like a proper dick, but I can live with that. Embarrassment is one of my primary dispositions.
-Fiona Wood (Six Impossible Things p 186)

I want to be good, but good is a slippery customer. I decide to settle for being loyal to my friends. Does this make me a pathetic pushover? Good or bad? Right or wrong? Who knows?
-Fiona Wood (Six Impossible Things p 198)

A change is as good as a holiday.
-Fiona Wood (Six Impossible Things p 204)

She’s good. Are all girls natural psychologists? Everything she says lightens my load of worry bricks.
-Fiona Wood (Six Impossible Things p 213)

A sweet, funny YA novel about a smart but socially awkward 14 year old boy who is starting a new life with his mother after family bankruptcy and the departure of his father. He gradually adapts to his situation, and makes new friends. Dan and his elderly dog are an appealing pair.

teen boy perspective romance

4.5 really. Really liked this book. It reminded of Looking for Alibrandi by Malina Marchetta (another great Australian coming of age book). The themes of identity, independence from parents, responsibility and expectations are handled well. Many topical subjects - particularly race / refugees - would make this an ideal book for secondary schools. Highly recommend for 13

A companion-novel/sequel to Fiona Wood's Wildlife, about a classmate of Lou and Sibylla's, Van Uoc Phan.

Van Uoc doesn't feel like she fits in at her fancy private school - she's stuck "in the dumpbin category of scholarship/poor/smart/Asian". So she's not sure what to do when the boy she has a crush on - the rich, popular, school rowing champion - Billy Gardiner suddenly starts paying attention to her.

Cloudwish is about dealing with family expectations, and the challenges of not fitting in. It's about privilege, and friendship, and finding your voice. It's in the Melina Marchetta / Jaclyn Moriarty / Randa Abdel-Fattah vein of Australian YA.
There are quite a lot of references - and even a few strong parallels - to Jane Eyre, Van Uoc's favourite book. And some of the writing is really lovely and evocative.

But - I expected to love Cloudwish more than I did. There's something a bit reserved about this third person narrative, compared with the compelling first person voices of Lou and Sibylla in Wildlife (or of Jane in Jane Eyre, but that's a less fair comparison).

Although, having said that - that reserve is quite appropriate. Because Van Uoc is reserved. At school, she is determined to blend in, to say as little as possible.
She's reserved with her parents, too. Her parents speak little English, while her Vietnamese is basic - and she has assimilated to Australian culture in a way they have not. So she can't confide in them about school, or her dreams of pursuing art rather than the medical career they want for her. And her parents won't speak to her about their experiences as refugees... It's a complicated relationship in which her parents try to protect Van Uoc and she tries to protect them.
Fortunately for Van Uoc, her best friend lives in the next flat.

I loved Van Uoc. The reserve didn't stop me from connecting with, and caring about, her.

This book just didn't have the same emotional intensity of Wildlife.

Still, recommended.

She was going to be arriving at Billy's party underdressed, too early, in a van that said Bao Mac's Happy Chickens with graphics of, yes, very happy-looking cartoon chickens painted on its sides [...] Before this moment of new hell, the van had only ever been a vague philosophical conundrum: how could the chickens be happy, given that they were dead and destined for the dinner table? Now, it had been transformed into a weapon of torture for her personal mortification. She was spending a night in reverse-Cinderella land.½

Six Impossible Things is about 14 year old Dan, trying to cope with various upheavals in his life: Guys, please, one life-changing shock at a time, I felt like saying.
He writes himself a list of six goals - six impossible things - and then starts out to try to resolve them.

I enjoyed this - it's funny and thoughtful, and I wanted to see Dan's situation improve.

However, I read this after I read Wildlife. Although Wildlife isn't a direct sequel and spoils very little of what happens in Six Impossible Things, it alters one's perspective, knowing what happens next to some of these characters.½

Sibylla, Lou and their classmates spend the final term of Year 10 at their school's mountain campus. Dormitory living, compulsory hiking, no TV, no mobile reception, no physical contact between members of the opposite gender.
Sibylla is expecting the outdoor education program to be demanding, but it's the social environment that she finds the most challenging, particularly the lack of privacy, and managing her recent appearance on the popular kids' radar.
Lou's biggest challenges are ones she brings with her - she's still dealing with the recent death of her boyfriend, and is not ready to share her emotional rawness with her new house-mates.

The back cover describes Wildlife as a book about "first love, friendship and NOT fitting it". That description applies not only to Sibylla and Lou, but also to their mutual friend Michael, and I like the way all three of them are dealing with those things in different ways. There are old friendships and new friendships, positive friendships and toxic friendships; Lou is grieving after the end of a relationship, Sibylla is cautiously embarking on a new romance and Michael is dealing with unrequited feelings; they don't always fit in for different reasons. The story is much richer for this - diversity of experience, for want of a better phrase, and for switching between Sibylla and Lou's perspectives.

What struck me most was how real it all feels. The characters, the intensity of emotions, their dilemmas, their perspectives. The delight when I shared their cultural references. The zing of recognition when the characters put into words something I've experienced - or observed.

The writing is gorgeous... and I wasn't surprised to discover that it had won the 2014 Book of the Year award for Older Readers.
I just really loved this book.½

Dan is 14 and in Year 9 and his entire world has fallen apart; not only has his father bankrupted the family , he is divorcing Dan's mother because he is actually gay. Having lost their home, Dan and his mum are forced to live in his great aunt's heritage listed building, he is taken out of private school and his mother tries to make ends meet with a wedding cake business. The only positive is a dog called Howard (who came with the house) and the beautiful girl called Estelle who lives next door.
Dan makes a list at the start of the book with 6 impossible things on it ; the first being to kiss Estelle. He starts at the local high and discovers that she is in his class and not interested. He also discovers that they share adjoining attics and she hides her diary in hers. He does the unthinkable - he reads her diary.
Dan is a great character - angry with his father, concerned for his mother and the dog, frustrated at the changes in his life but basically a really nice guy. He is bullied at school - his name is Cerrill but the bullies call him Cereal and Cyril, gets a job at an op shop ( and then realizes it doesn't pay), and is roped into helping organize the school formal.
There is a lot of humour in this book - Dan's mother's wedding cake business fails because she keeps talking the brides out of marriage because all men (ala her husband) are scum,
when Dan sets up his best mate Fred with Lou, a girl from school, they discover that their parents were trying to set them up before. Then there is Howard the dog's wry look at life as well as Dan's attempts to win over Estelle.
All in all, a lovely book with a small amount of coarse language. Oh and set in Melbourne which is awesome too.

Australian YA fiction is so regularly superior that I pounced when I saw that this 2010 book by Fiona Wood had been re-published in the U.S.

The story is narrated by Dan Cereill, “nearly 15” and having to start a new school after his dad (newly out as gay) left them, the family business went bankrupt, and he and his mom lost their house. Fortunately, they were able to move into a place left to them by the mom’s great aunt.

Dan makes a list of what he needs to do next, which includes cheering up his mom, getting a job, trying not to be a loser in his new school, making himself speak to his dad again, figuring out how to be “good” (“I don’t want to become the sort of person who up and leaves his family out of the blue”), and at the top of the list: “Kiss Estelle.” Estelle is his new next-door neighbor, a girl he hasn’t even met yet, but from the moment he first saw her, she started carrying his heart, as he explains.

His mom sees he is worried on the first day at the new school, and says “Just be yourself.” Dan thinks:

“My ‘self’? I don’t really have a clue who that self is. It’s like some kind of amorphous blob I’m trying to make into a better shape. I just know the bits I don’t want to broadcast to a group of strangers.

Loser
Nerd
Gay dad.
Single mom, question mark over mental stability.
No cash.
Private-school refugee.”

Dan quickly discovers the lay of the land at the new school, observing that his class has divided itself into a number of groups including:

“…the blondes, in a teen-America time warp. Why hasn’t anyone told them that’s (no way) (omigod) (only) (like) (so) (totally) (random) (gay) and (way) (not) (cool) or (whatever)? I’ve tuned in. They use about twenty transposable words in all; quite efficient, I guess.”

His new life starts out poorly: “I’m the opposite of okay. I’m nokay.”

Dan is so delightfully charming, funny, insightful, self-deprecating, and brave, you can’t help rooting for him as he sets out against very tough odds to accomplish his goals.

He soon makes a new friend, Lou, another “odd sock” like himself, finds a job (after a hilarious false start), and gets to know Estelle. He keeps revising the progress of his list in his diary as the book proceeds, and by the end, you just know that list is going to come out in pretty good shape.

Evaluation: Fiona Wood is a must-read author for me. She packages teen angst into such a delightful bundle, you forget, for a while anyway, why you ever thought teenagers were not adorable.

Cloudwish is a delightful new contemporary young adult novel from Fiona Wood, author of Six Impossible Things and Wildlife.

Asked to choose a prop for a creative writing assignment, Vân Uoc Phan selects a small glass vial. Inside, a slip of paper says wish. Vân Uoc considers the possibilities, she could wish not be the only ‘scholarship/poor/smart/Asian’ in her privileged private school, or that the government would stop persecuting asylum seekers, but Vân Uoc’s most private and fervent wish, is for Billy Gardiner to like her.

Readers familiar with Wildlife might recognise Vân Uoc and Billy for their role in the book as minor characters.
Vân Uoc is the only daughter of Vietnamese refugees, she lives in a housing commission flat, attending the prestigious Crowthorne Grammar on an academic scholarship. She is quiet and studious, her parents expect she will become a doctor or a lawyer, though Vân Uoc dreams of becoming an artist.
Billy Gardiner is Crowthorne Grammar’s golden boy, he is smart but takes very little seriously. One of the first eight on the successful school rowing team, the son of wealthy parents, he takes his privilege for granted in a way Vân Uoc never can.

When Billy suddenly takes notice of her, Vân Uoc assumes she is being set up for a joke but as his attention persists, she begins to wonder if a wish really can come true. The ensuing relationship between Vân Uoc and Billy is sweet and believable, deftly handled by the author within the context of the story.

But this is not just a story about a teen romance, throughout the story, Wood sensitively explores the experience of diversity in all its forms with a focus on socioeconomic, racial and cultural difference. Vân Uoc keenly feels the divide between herself and her classmates, she can’t afford designer jeans or even a cup of coffee after school, her free time is limited to spending Friday nights watching movies in her neighbours flat, and she has responsibilities they can’t imagine. Vân Uoc is also haunted by her parents experiences as refugees. Though she knows few of the details, her mother’s annual slide into depression suggests unimaginable horrors.

With references to Jane Eyre, Vân Uoc’s idol, and Pretty in Pink, Australian politics and the legitimacy of asylum seekers, mean girls, Chapel Street, and magic, Cloudwish is a wonderfully observed and heartfelt Australian story about identity, belonging, love, and dreams.

“Jane had all the answers. Of course she did. When had she ever let Vân Uoc down? It struck her like a proverbial bolt from the blue that within Jane Eyre’s framework of realism – of social commentary on class, on charity schools, on imperious rich relations, on gender equality and the restricted opportunity for women, on love and morality…there was also some mad magic.”½

Wonderful characters and a warm, funny, intelligent story.

This book alternates between Sib and Lou as they work through an outdoor education program. Filled with teenage drama, secrets and reveals, this is a book many female teenagers will enjoy. As a woman in my mid-thirties, I found the book less appealing but know that it will appeal to a certain age group.