Blog Tour: Sky by Ondine Sherman

Welcome to my blog and my stop on the Sky blog tour!

Sky by Ondine Sherman is a young adult contemporary book which tackles many issues young adult authors have shyed away from in the past. It considers veganism and the struggles that come with that, animal rights, coming to terms with the death of a parent and trying to fit into a new town.

The synopsis is as follows:

After her mother’s death, Sky leaves her city life to move in with her aunt and uncle in a small Australian town. When her mum was alive, Sky knew who she was: a kind hearted and full of a passion for justice, especially the rights of animals. She was also a vegan whose hero was Jane Goodall. And until recently, she preferred the company of dogs to boys. But being vegan and trying to fit in to her new home isn’t easy. Her aunt has forgotten she doesn’t eat meat, and Sky is desperately lonely without her mother and friends. It seems the only way to fit in and make friends is to pretend to be someone she’s not.

When Sky starts to investigate the local chicken farm for a school project, the cruelty she witnesses goes to the very heart of who she is. She knows she has to do something, but what? Can one single act really make a difference? 

Let’s start off with the characters. I thought the inclusion of a vegan protagonist was a great idea, but the execution I did struggle with a little. I found Sky to be quite difficult. She had been through a lot in the past few months with the loss of her mum and with the move to the country to live with her aunt and uncle. Despite this, I still feel like she was very blunt towards her aunt. She was abrupt towards her because she forgot that she was vegan. I feel like Sky could have just told her that she didn’t eat meat because I’m sure it was just an honest mistake and that it wasn’t due to her not caring about her. Her aunt was also going through a very difficult time, losing her sister, struggling to make ends meet and conceive. I just wish that Sky was a little more understanding and could see that she was not the only one with problems in her life.

I found the parts of the book regarding her new friends interesting. All Sky wanted to do was fit in and that ultimately meant hanging out with the ‘cool’ kids. I enjoyed seeing Sky and her attempts to fit in with this group, while it did not eventuate in the end. This is an all too common situation in high schools, with students trying to fit a mould that they don’t fit and bringing it into the book made it more realistic. I was saddened when she was trying to fit in by not eating (where there were no vegan options), I feel like she should have been upfront about this but suppose that she felt she would not have been cool if she’d been honest about her views.

The animal rights arc within this book was extremely prominent and so critical to the main themes being conveyed. I applaud Sky for standing up for the chickens and for what she believed was right. Without her risky antics, the farm would never have been discovered as being unethical and she could live knowing that she made a difference to the lives of hundreds of animals. I feel like by using chickens as examples, you get two sides of an argument. Some people do not believe that having chickens in cages is animal cruelty while others do. If this had of been written with a more severe case of animal cruelty, you would not have been able to see two sides of an argument. Nevertheless, the book goes into great depth about the impact that the cages have upon the chickens and how they would benefit from being free from the cages.

I thought that this was a really eye opening book. This was the first book I’d ever read that is focused around animal rights and veganism. In young adult books, it is so important to consider new views and I feel like this book did it in a positive way. These are issues which are present in Australia today and I felt that Sherman has done an excellent job at portraying these to those who may not have been aware of them.

While I am not vegan, while reading this book I came to accept veganism and it increased my understanding of vegans and how they are so passionate about what they believe in and strive to make the world a better place. I would highly recommend this book to younger young adult readers as it is very easy to read and deals with complex issues that they might find easier to understand in a novel format. It places so much importance on veganism as a lifestyle choice and how Sky aims to stick to this despite numerous battles.

I rated this 3/5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐

Sky is available for purchase now from all good booksellers in Australia

Thank you to Pantera Press and Aus YA Bloggers for providing me with a copy of the book for review purposes and for allowing me to participate in the blog tour!

 Happy reading J

Review: The Boy who Steals Houses

The Boy who Steals Houses is the second novel written by Australian author C.G. Drews. It is just as emotional as her first novel, A Thousand Perfect Notes (if you haven’t read it, please do yourself a favour and pick it up), but also focuses on so many other important issues that other authors seem to shy away from.

The synopsis is as follows:

Can two broken boys find their perfect home?
Sam is only fifteen but he and his autistic older brother, Avery, have been abandoned by every relative he's ever known. Now Sam's trying to build a new life for them. He survives by breaking into empty houses when their owners are away, until one day he's caught out when a family returns home. To his amazement this large, chaotic family takes him under their wing - each teenager assuming Sam is a friend of another sibling. Sam finds himself inextricably caught up in their life, and falling for the beautiful Moxie. 
But Sam has a secret, and his past is about to catch up with him.

Often it takes me a while to get into a book, but this novel had me captivated from the first few pages. Early on we learn that main character, Sam (Sammy) Lou and his brother Avery are both homeless. While Avery often gets by through couch surfing, Sam goes around breaking into people’s houses, whether they are on holiday or just out for the night, so that he has somewhere safe to stay. He collects the house keys from each house so it gives him a sense of hope that maybe one day he will have somewhere that he can call home. The story is told through both the present day and through a series of flashbacks. The flashbacks retell events which occurred between the boys and various family members over a number of years. The most difficult part I found to deal with was the domestic violence. The domestic violence that both him and Avery were subject to was difficult to read and how Sam in particular was treated by various people within his life was upsetting. Both boys had been through so much in life, they were well overdue for some happiness. Throughout the whole book, all I wanted to do was alleviate some of Sam’s pain.

One aspect of the book I really thought was well done was the Autism rep. All too often authors shy away from representing people with disabilities in their books but the character of Avery was so well done. The tics, panic attacks, need for routine and things to not change and being naïve are all things commonly associated with Autism and these were all represented in Avery. The one thing which stood out to me was his relationship with his ‘older’ friends and how they took advantage of him. This is all too common of people with Autism as all they want is to feel accepted. I loved seeing the relationship between Avery and Sam develop throughout the novel too. Even though Sam was the little brother, he was so protective of his older brother that he would do anything to ensure that he was safe. This was not only in the present time of the story, but through the flashbacks too.

While I absolutely loved every aspect of this book, what really stood out to me were the characters, not only Sam and Avery, but each member of the DeLainey family who appear after Sam is discovered in their house. Each DeLainey family member has their own quirks and it was great seeing them develop a relationship with Sam over time. Moxie was certainly a stand out and she was such a fun character to read about as she dared to be different. It was like reading about a regular family from the suburbs and it was so easy to relate to in that sense. I also really liked reading about the other characters who were key to the story, but who had a negative impact upon the main characters (I won’t go into detail as, spoilers). While these characters were awful to Sam and Avery, it was interesting to discover the reasons behind their actions and how these had an impact on the future.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Boy who Steals Houses. While it was an emotional rollercoaster which involved so many themes, ultimately it was the relationship between Sam and Avery which made this book so special. The brotherly bond was critical to the plot and withheld everything that was thrown at them over the years. So will Sam and Avery find a place to call home? You will need to read this beautiful piece of work to find out!

I rated this book: 4 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Boy who Steals Houses is released on the 9th of April in Australia

Thank you to the publishers, Hachette Australia, for providing me a copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.