Another exciting month ahead, and we have another fantastic title on our list. This is one that I read a while back, but it was just so damn good, that I can’t wait to share it…
It’s always an honour to announce new titles, and this month’s book was selected by Dave Burton, the author of HOW TO BE HAPPY, which we read in April. To keep us bushy-tailed in May, Dave has chosen CLANCY OF THE UNDERTOW by Chris Currie.
CLANCY OF THE UNDERTOW is the second novel from Chris Currie, a Queensland author. Chris’s previous book, The Ottoman Motel, was an adult book also released by Text. How sixteen-year-old Clancy, loner from the dead-end town of Barwen, finds a way of juggling growing up, her weird brother, a potential new friend, her attraction to hot chick Sasha, and her father’s involvement in a town tragedy, is all tackled in this amazing book. Kids’ Book Review called CLANCY ‘a thoughtful coming of age story narrated by a strong, authentic Australian teen voice’, and I would have to agree.
And it would be remiss of me not to mention that this was the book that started a kerfuffle online a little while back, when Melbourne Review of Books published their review. While the review itself was glowing about CLANCY, the reviewer contrasted the book against his own negative perceptions of YA as a category…and then the fun and games started, with every YA writer and reader I know chipping in to comment in defence. As a direct consequence of that furor, Melbourne Review of Books published an online apology.
An interesting situation, and a win for YA as a category – no category or genre of literature should be dismissed out of hand, but it still happens. It was bad luck that CLANCY was caught in the crossfire, but the book itself is very special, and didn’t suffer from a little extra attention. I loved it when I read it a few months ago – I pored through it in one sitting. Now you know the strange history of it all, I’m curious to find out your reactions…
I hope you enjoy CLANCY just as much as I did, and remember that if you’d like to order the book through Boomerang Books, you can use the code ‘loveoz’ at the ‘use promotional code’ section of the order form to get free shipping.
Hope you’re getting a bit of rain, like we are here, and I can’t wait to hear what you all think of our May title!
xxEllie