Out of This Place - Hardcover

Cameron, Emma

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0763664049 ISBN 13: 9780763664046

Publisher: Candlewick, 2013

Synopsis

A powerful novel in verse captures the voices of three teens as they struggle against hardscrabble realities — and move toward their dreams.

Luke spends his days hanging out at the beach, working shifts at the local supermarket, and trying to stay out of trouble at school. His mate Bongo gets wasted, blocking out memories of the little brother that social services took away from his addict mom and avoiding the stepdad who hits him. And Casey, the girl they both love, longs to get away from her strict, controlling father and start anew in a place where she can be free. But even after they each find a way to move on and lead very different lives, can they outrun their family stories — and will they ever be able to come together again? Set in Australia and narrated in alternating points of view, here is an affecting look at the evolving lives of three friends from talented author Emma Cameron.

About this title

About the Author

Emma Cameron works in school libraries, where she enjoys being surrounded by books and children. About Out of This Place, her first novel, she says, “I am fascinated by watching people finding their way in life. . . . I always hope that where people end up is not too far away from where they had aimed to be.” She lives in the South Coast of New South Wales, Australia.

From School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-In this novel in verse, Luke, Casey, and Bongo stand on the brink of graduating and leaving home. All three struggle to decide who they are and what will come next. Luke is a star cricket player, but knows he wants more. Casey longs to climb out from under the thumb of her overbearing father. Bongo mourns the loss of his brother to child-protective services while living with an absent addict mother and abusive stepfather. The Australian teens tell their stories in succession, with each one overlapping slightly so as to deepen scenes already depicted, push the plot forward chronologically, and bring the protagonists back together by book's end. While Luke is a somewhat less vividly drawn character than the other two, he likely suffers slightly from his position as first narrator. The pacing can be inconsistent, leaving events underdeveloped (such as a friend's death toward the end). Ultimately, however, what stands out are the teens' authentic voices. Cameron superbly renders characters who never feel like caricatures. Though all are down on their luck to various degrees, Luke, Casey, and Bongo are not on the downward spiral of characters in an Ellen Hopkins novel. Depictions of their struggles are correspondingly tempered. Sex scenes, for example, are in no way graphically depicted. Redemption comes quickly to these highly likable characters in a tale to which many teens will relate.-Jill Heritage Maza, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, NJα(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

About this edition

• Publisher: Candlewick
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0763664049
• ISBN 13: 9780763664046
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416