My especially weird week with Tess by Anna Woltz

During the first day of his family holiday on the Island of Texel in The Netherlands, Sam meets Tess, an imposing 12-year-old girl who immediately involves Sam in her everyday adventures. Sam’s older brother Jasper has broken his ankle and so the family can’t enjoy the normal activities together on the island. Sam’s mother also gets frequent migraines, adding to the restrictions on their family time together. Tess has her own problems; she has never met her father and has hatched a plan to lure him to the island to see if she wants to involve him in the life she has with her very independent, confident mother. She has conflicted feelings about her father because of the way her mother is determined to keep him a secret until she is eighteen. Sam suspects she has befriended him to assist her to bring her plans to fruition.

Sam is grappling with other issues. When he and Tess help an old man bury his pet canary it starts a cycle of thought about death and what he would do if he lost his loved ones. He starts to spend less time with them to see if this would help him in the long run. He is helped to realise the stupidity of this thinking by the endearing elderly gentleman in the story.  The characters are well-developed, and the imperfect relationship Sam has with his older brother is realistic and heartwarming. The book was made into an award-winning Dutch film titled My Extraordinary Summer with Tess and the book has been translated into 13 languages.

Themes: Friendship, Fathers, Holidays, family.

Gabrielle Anderson