Bored: Evie dreams big by Matt Stanton

This is the third in Matt Stanton's Bored series, where each installment is told by one of the children living on the same street, Turtle Place. This one is told by Evie; she's creative, determined, fiercely independent and an effective communicator. She lives with her mum, dad and two younger sisters, one of whom drives her crazy and the other whom has cystic fibrosis. While this plays a major part in Evie's life it is woven in very naturally and doesn't gloss over the hard details, such as mum and dad having to massage her sister to clear mucous or having to stay home when nasty viruses are going around etc.

The storyline is that Evie is so fed up with her sister Grace and her parent's refusal to help diffuse their fighting that she decides to build her own tiny house to live in. What follows is a true reflection of the complexities of people and life. Sometimes her neighbours and family are supportive, sometimes their own personalities get in the way of what she needs from them. No character is one-dimensional. This is a big theme actually - as Evie talks about the four versions of herself: the outgoing, the introvert, the mature her who wants to be treated like an adult and the her who just wants to be protected. The story is honest about hard emotions such as anger and jealousy, which are such fabulous things to normalise, and about how understanding others can help us to live alongside them. 

Just as with the previous two installments, this title hits all the major targets: realistic dialogue and easy-flowing text that is a joy to read. It showcases perfectly the true chaos of home life and the tension and frustrations faced everyday by both parents and children. Conversations are interrupted by phone calls, parents are trying to do ten things at once, are short on time and are often distracted and siblings are screaming at each other. A plethora of relevant, everyday issues that would drive interesting discussions make it a great read-aloud for classes or as a shared class text.   

Stanton is masterful at drip-feeding new details about each of the kids so we get to know them more and more throughout the book and across the series. Each character is incredibly relatable, especially when we are able to look at the world through their perspective. Each one of them have something going on in their lives under the surface and contexts that have made and are making them who they are. Fans of Stanton's Funny Kid series will be obvious readers, but this really is a series that should be put into the hands of all tweens. 

This is fine to read as a standalone, without having read the others in the series.

Themes: Friendship, Emotions, Family, Teamwork.

Nicole Nelson