Long Story Short
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
From Ireland's first laureate for children's literature comes a story of abuse and neglect told with sincerity, heart, and a healthy dose of humor.
Jono has always been able to cope with his mother's drinking, but when she hits his little sister Julie, he decides it's time for them to run away. Told in Jono's funny, self-conscious voice, the layers of his past and the events of his escape are gradually revealed. Amusing and touching but never sentimental, Siobhan Parkinson is a well reviewed middle-grade author who now turns her considerable skill as a writer to a young adult audience.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"his is not Creative Writing. This is what really happened," begins Jonathan, the 14-year-old narrator of Parkinson's 13th novel, which ought to serve as an upfront warning about his essential unreliability. After his alcoholic mother hits his younger sister, Julie, with enough force to break her cheekbone, Jonathan tells a pack of lies to Julie's school, hoping to stave off the social workers who he's sure will whisk Julie into foster care. But when days pass with no improvement to Julie's appearance, Jonathan decides their only choice is to flee, hatching a halfhearted, underfinanced attempt to run away. After they are captured by the police, the story pivots completely Jonathan even attempts, initially, to tell the second half of his tale in third person, but can't sustain the device. "I thought the third person might make it all seem more real somehow, but it's hard work writing about yourself as if you are not yourself," he admits. What results is a deeply affecting story about what can go wrong when adults fail children and the choices available to them are all bad. Ages 12 up.
