Follow the Blue - Hardcover

Lowry, Brigid

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0823418278 ISBN 13: 9780823418275

Publisher: Holiday House, 2004

Synopsis

When her parents leave her in the care of the family's very formal housekeeper for the summer, fifteen-year-old Bec decides it is time to break free of her self-imposed constraints, change her style, meet new friends, and have the vacation of her life.

About this title

About the Author

Brigid Lowry is well-known in Australia, where her first novel, Guitar Highway Rose, was a runaway success with young readers and a finalist for or winner of numerous awards. She spent much of her life in Australia but now lives in New Zealand, where she was born and raised.

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up-This coming-of-age novel set in Australia is peppered with local slang. Bec, the narrator, has a carefree, dashing style, and sprinklings of familiar family dramas, school-lunch gossips, and inevitable crushes on older boys abound. At 15, she must cope with her father's breakdown and gradual recovery, her parents' extended trip abroad, and the "dull and plodding" housekeeper who is put in charge. Flying by the seat of her apricot chiffon skirt, Bec fields her younger siblings' quirks, deals with peer pressure to experiment with drugs and lose her "vees," and experiences the skateboard recklessness of first love. Essentially a well-balanced, bright, and creative girl, she finds too much happening in her life and has trouble coping. Readers will identify with her caution, whimsy, and outrageousness-a fine adolescent mix of good girl and free spirit. Despite Bec's often feeling like a complete "wally," she is very likable and ingenuous. Lowry is also a poet, and she paints lovely splashes of color that transcend and augment the characters' trials and tribulations. An of-the-moment quality permeates this novel, with frequent mentions of current pop bands and fashion fads. Although it may become quickly dated, this one is worth "bunging" onto the shelves as it's a "hell-fun" read.
Roxanne Myers Spencer, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green
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About this edition

• Publisher: Holiday House
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0823418278
• ISBN 13: 9780823418275
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32