Sprite Downberry by Nette Hilton
Angus and Robertson, 2008. ISBN
978073228548 7
(Age 11-14) Highly recommended. Sprite's refuge is her family; her dad,
the artist; mum, the fun loving woman who starts things but never
finishes them; and Mozz her little brother. Nits stray into her hair,
and her school friends reject her, saying she is dirty. But she still
has her family. When her family begins to unravel, and her father stays
away one night, Sprite goes to school the next day, hopeful that he
will return that evening. But her class mates talk of seeing her mother
at the clinic, and call her a druggie, which sets the precarious Sprite
off, and she hits one of her tormenters. Returning home she finds
her mother has not left her bed and is too full of sorrow and remorse
to think clearly.
This is a fearless book, showing a family in disarray, the young girl
left to look after the mother and her brother. She holds onto the
belief that her father will return, all the while piecing together the
bits of information she has learnt about her mother; the sweet tobacco
smell when she smokes, the fact that she has gone to a clinic, the
overheard argument between her parents when her father told her to get
rid of it before the police found out. She begins to realise that her
mother has an addiction, and this addiction has permeated all their
lives.
One of the many highlights of this book is the lack of recrimination.
Hilton presents the story as any story of any child who may be in
trouble. This is a family in crisis, with a child called on to make
adult decisions about herself and her family. Children reading it may
be shocked at the behaviour of the mother and possibly the father, but
it will open a window into the lives of some of their classmates, and
for those for whom this story has resonance, what a marvel for them to
see that they are not alone and that there can be a resolution.
And most appreciatively, it is in the third person, making it not just
another angsty sub-teenage novel told in the first person, but a
rounded, informative story about a family from a benevolent and
omniscient point of view.
Fran Knight
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