Chickenpox by Remy Lai

Sibling relationships can be hard at times but as the eldest of five children in the Lai family 12-year-old Abby has a lot to contend with. They embarrass her in front of her friends, take her stuff and eat her snacks. She takes any opportunity to get away from them but when friends Monica and Julia come over to hang out at Abby’s place she is so annoyed with her siblings that she gets into a fight with them, behaving childishly, causing more embarrassment. But even worse is to come, Julia gets chicken pox and after the two-week incubation period the Lai children start to come down with the virus.

Set in 1998, before immunization was common in Indonesia, most adults caught the disease, they call ‘watery pox', in childhood and, like Abby’s parents, have developed immunity. The Lai children must undergo 7 to 10 days quarantine at home together, jail time with no escape. As the illness progresses Abby sees her siblings suffering and unnaturally quiet with fevers. Fact pages deliver bulletins on how the disease progresses and the children get over their fevers but are still quite itchy and grumpy. As the eldest and responsible daughter Abby tries to help her mother and look after her sisters and brother with mixed results, and of course she gets the blame when things go wrong. As they pass through the blistering and itching phases everyone has to adjust and adapt. Abby worries about what her friends at school are saying about her after the childish outburst, added to that, they seem to think that Abby ‘likes’ classmate Sandy, so embarrassing. Contrary to Abby’s expectations they do all survive their jail time and they may even have grown closer through the experience. Abby negotiates some difficult conversations with her friends and is able to return to school with confidence.

The hilarious family chaos is beautifully captured in vividly dynamic graphics, full of action and 1990’s references like boardgames, Nintendo, cassette players and TV without a remote. The information on the virus is well delivered and the author’s note mentions that a vaccine became available in 1995 so most people now do not get chickenpox.

Themes: Sibling relationships, Chickenpox, Friendship, 1990s Indonesia, Memoir.

Sue Speck