Dave Cousins (1)

Laurence ha 15 anni e una famiglia particolare: il papà è morto, la mamma ha problemi con l'alcol e il fratellino Jay ogni tanto crede di essere un cane. Di nascosto, Laurence partecipa a un quiz radiofonico; spera di vincere per regalare alla mamma un viaggio in terre lontane. Il tutto si complica quando, una notte, la mamma sparisce di casa. Per quindici giorni Laurence dovrà prendersi cura del fratellino, indagare sulla scomparsa della mamma e allontanare il rischio di essere affidati a qualcun altro: dunque, a scuola e con i vicini finge che la mamma non se ne sia mai andata. Un giorno Laurence scopre una barca nel canale e comincia a sospettare che a bordo ci sia la sua mamma. Ma non sarà facile riportare ogni cosa alla normalità. Età di lettura: da 12 anni.… (mehr)

In Dave Cousins' debut YA novel, 15 Days Without a Head, 15-year-old Laurence Roach and his six-year-old brother, Jay, are abandoned by their alcoholic mother and left to fend for themselves for two weeks. Life was hard for Laurence even before his mother left. He had to make sure she got up in the morning, get his brother to school, run across town to get to his school, and then rush back after school to pick his brother up. After this he had to keep Jay safe until their mother returned home and finished her "happy hour" before she was approachable and then he put Jay to bed.

Life becomes even more difficult when she disappears. With little to no money and food, as well as a very snoopy neighbor and sitter, Laurence is scrambling to keep Jay safe and avoid having social services called on them, while simultaneously searching to find out what happened to their mother. He is also desperately trying to win a dream vacation in a call-in radio show trivia contest. Laurence believes that a vacation is what his alcoholic mother needs to make everything better. When Laurence makes a friend he can confide in, Mina, their life becomes somewhat better with her help. But Nelly, the nosy and mean-spirited downstairs neighbor, is getting suspicious. It's also getting harder to keep Jay safe and protect him from the truth.

While the subject matter is dark and serious, 15 Days Without a Head is nicely balanced with some lighter, humorous incidents. While I wanted the boys to contact social services and get help, I can understand why Laurence is afraid to do this and remains determined to keep her disappearance a secret and find his mother before someone finds out she is gone. Both Laurence and Jay are very sympathetic characters while their mother, needless to say, is not. This novel takes a serious look at how alcoholism can affect families without becoming overbearing. The conclusion was satisfying while keeping realistic.

15 Days Without a Head was originally published in 2012 in the U.K. The age range on this YA book is 12 and up.

highly recommended - for YA fiction

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Llewellyn Worldwide via Netgalley for review purposes.
… (mehr)

On Marcus “Oz” Osbourne’s first day at his new high school the following happens: (i) upon exiting the car when his mother drops him off, he takes the wrong rucksack and discovers in his English class that he has his sister’s dirty underwear rather than his books, (ii) he draws a moustache (because they are funny) on a photo on the bulletin board of a female student, Isobel (nicknamed Psycho) Skinner and (iii) he gets on the wrong side of a bully, Gareth, who proceeds to make his life miserable. Later, Oz manages to alienate his only friend, Ryan, by taking pictures on his phone of Ryan in costume at a fantasy reenactment camp. When Oz’ phone is stolen, the pictures make their way onto the internet, causing Ryan to be called Frodo. These mishaps and more are detailed in a letter to the mysterious “G”, whose identity is revealed midway through the book.
Unfortunately much of the humor was lost on this reader, especially considering that Oz is a high school student. The antics are more elementary/middle school oriented. Even when Oz thinks he is doing something good, it is never with the other person in mind. Oz is not a likeable character and comes off as dumb and totally self-absorbed. Many plot points are unrealistic. Waiting for Gonzo takes place in England and several of the idioms need American translation, such as Kecks. There are funnier “guy” books by such authors as Andrew Smith, Gordon Korman and Frank Portman.… (mehr)

NOTE: I received the eARC from Netgalley.

For I while I wondered why the heck I'd even requested this book. But when I actually got to it, I realized I'd made a good choice. And the more I read, the more I liked it.

Actually, 15 Days isn't your regular book full of cheesy romance and perfect situations which lead to this absolutely awesome relationship between the characters. On the contrary, this book reeks of originality, funny (in an ironic kind of way) situations, impossible hardships. It's targeting social problems, family problems, and yeah, some romance. And yeah, there's a morale!

In my opinion, what made the book so good were the characters. They had unique personalities, were driven by their thoughts, emotions and life circumstances. All in all, they acted realistic, which felt pretty darn good.

So, I'll start of with Laurence. Dude, if a boy could ever be so responsible, resourceful and caring, this world wouldn't be in such a huge mess! When his mom just up and left, he took matters in his own hands. For a while I'd wondered why he didn't have a job, or go find one, but well... he was just 15 and apparently in the UK that's not considered old enough to work. Also, if he'd gotten a job, who would've cared about his little brother, Jay? Goodness, Laurence was just fifteen and all the responsibilities that fell over him overnight were heavy enough to crush anyone. But he held on for entire two weeks!!!

Sure, half that time he and Jay were starving, dirty and sick, but they survived, so that's what matters in the end.

I'm not sure why Jay was so disobedient and continually insisted that nothing was 'up to Laurence'. It annoyed the crap out of me after the 3rd time. I believe if I were in Laurence's place, I might've slapped Jay on the mouth or something for being so stubborn. But then again, he was just 6 years old. And besides, it's not really Jay's fault that he wasn't raised to be obedient and nice.

It's all come from the mom (who just left them to take care of themselves) and dad (who's never to be found).

To be honest, I felt for the mom. I mean, she was a single mom, who had to care of 2 boys. And she had no one to help out. But dude, if we look at the statistics, isn't that the case of like 25% of the female population? You turn left and you see single moms. You turn right and they're right there to poke you in the eye. So no, lady! Even if I feel for you, you're not right to abandon your kids! What would happen if all single moms just up and left, huh?

And last, but not least, I want to talk about Mina - the girl with the huge heart. She sure won me over, and with that Jay and Laurence as well. She was amazing both in attitude and caring.

Okay, so you have to actually pick up the book and read it for yourself if you got intrigued. I'm telling you, it's worth its money.… (mehr)