The Prize for Young Adult Fiction:Shortlist 2004

Judges

Clare Renner (Convenor), Chris Girdler and Pam Macintyre

Shortlist

Nights in the Sun
Colin Bowles
Penguin Books Australia
In Nights in the Sun 1926 is a watershed year in the life of the central character Sam who recounts the dramatic events that awaken him to the adult world and the choices he must make. Sam leaves school, falls for a girl out of his class and his league, and learns that the world is not as simple as the cowboy serials shown at his father’s Sun Picture Stadium portray. Australia of another time is plangently evoked in this coming-of-age story, as is steamy, volatile, multicultural Broome which hugs the coast with the vast scrub and desert behind. Racial tensions simmer in the pearling town with strict hierarchies no more evident than in the seating arrangements in the open-air cinema. Sam’s notions of what makes a hero, which he has divined from his avid consumption of Hollywood versions are challenged when the child-like Manilaman Jesus kills a Japanese pearler in self-defence.

While he constructs a lighthearted, witty story rich in the Australian vernacular and laconic speech of the times, Bowles does not flinch from presenting the rough and tough aspects of frontier-like Broome on the edges of the continent. The cinematic Nights in the Sun is simultaneously funny, wry, accessible and profound.

Black Juice
Margo Lanagan
Allen & Unwin
In Black Juice, Margo Lanagan has produced a book of short stories that, like her earlier collection White Time, blurs the lines between fantasy and reality. She writes of times and places that are strange yet elusively familiar, of alien landscapes that throw out universal echoes of need, despair and joy. These compelling stories explore the ways in which we form relationships and construct our identities both as individuals and as groups - each tale reflecting long-established patterns through mirrors that distort their original context.

Black Juice is strong and beautifully written; the stories wrap us slowly in their meaning, forcing us to engage firstly on a sensual and emotional level, taking it on trust that understanding will follow. The language is at once sophisticated and accessible – not a word is wasted in building a rich imagery that is all the more compelling, created as it is with such measured economy. It is language that resonates and breathes, language that demands input from the reader but that seduces first so that the effort is unnoticeable. The nature of Black Juice is such that the readership cannot be confined to any one group. However, in all these stories, Lanagan speaks particularly to young adults about a world they will inherit – about the paths they may choose to follow, influences they can decide to embrace or ignore and about the intense, reassuring but variable nature of love. Each short story is tightly contained but remains fluid enough to find room for all the world with its frailty, prejudices and possibilities - room also for the young adult reader to move around and look for meaning on their own terms. Lanagan doesn’t offer up answers but forces a shift in perspective that opens the way for questions.

Boys of Blood & Bone
David Metzenthen
Penguin Books Australia
When Henry Lyon’s Volvo breaks down in sleepy Strattford, he is forced to take time out and meet the locals, not realizing that the person who will have the most profound effect on him is long-dead First World War veteran Andy Lansell. Andy’s story is told as a contrast to Henry’s own journey, and is related partly through diary extracts. As the well-meaning Henry battles to find direction through his friends and relationships, Andy is fighting a faceless enemy alongside his best mates in a foreign land.

Using parallel narratives as a means of presenting historical war stories to a contemporary teenage audience is nothing new. Recent young adult fiction authors, Linda Newbery and Anthony Eaton have also used this device to great effect. However, David Metzenthen cuts between his two protagonists in a fluid and effortless manner, allowing the stories to interconnect convincingly. The diary extracts appear apparently at random, intersecting rather than signposting events in the present-day chapters, which contributes towards the natural flow and credibility of the book.

Much of the book is an appealingly idle rite of passage for Metzenthen’s contemporary character while the blood-soaked tales from the trenches of the Great War are unforgettable in all their harrowing detail. The more sobering passages in both stories are underlined with humour, courtesy of a rich cast of supporting characters such as the dry-as-toast Miss Hainsworth and the endearingly blunt Darcy. The protagonists share a willingness to support their friends, adapt to unfamiliar surroundings and deal with issues of love and loyalty. The characters are brought to life through the strength of the writing and a strong sense of place. Boys of Blood & Bone is a memorable and often brilliant tale of friendship and remembrance.