YA Fiction

Veiled issues

by Anna Ryan-Punch •

October 2005, no. 275

Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Macmillan, $16.95 pb, 340 pp

Still Waving by Laurene Kelly

Spinifex, $19.95 pb, 278 pp

YA Fiction

Veiled issues

by Anna Ryan-Punch •

October 2005, no. 275

The Young Adult ‘issue novel’ is a difficult thing to do well. To write one that rises above the mediocre requires a careful avoidance of both sentimentality and sensationalism, and the better books succeed by either tackling an unusual or topical issue, or by looking at a situation from a novel angle. These two books – though covering very different terrain – are good examples.

Anna Ryan-Punch

Anna Ryan-Punch is a Melbourne reviewer and poet. Her published poetry includes work in Westerly, Overland, The Age, Quadrant, and Wet Ink, and can also be found on her blog. She has been a Program Advisor for the Melbourne Writers’ Festival Schools’ Program since 2006, and was Convenor of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award YA Prize in 2008 and 2010. She specialises in reviewing children’s and YA literature. (Photograph by Andrew Wurster.)