Gillian Vine reviews the latest novels for young adults.
Robbie lives with his father and Nan in Walgaree, a small New South Wales town.
Set in the 1960s, when an indigenous Australian was referred to as ''boong'' or ''Abo'', Robbie takes for granted the fact that, when he goes to the local shops, he will be served ahead of people from the local settlement.
All that changes when he gets a job at the Walgaree caravan park whose owner, Barry Gregory, has returned after years overseas.
Robbie is fascinated by Barry's stories and his photos showing blacks and whites together in London.
Then Barry employs Micky, whom Robbie discovers is just like him - except for skin colour - and the trouble really begins.
The book works on two levels.
At one, there is Robbie's dissatisfaction at home as he seeks information about his dead mother.
The central plot, though, is the treatment of indigenous Australians and how the freedom ride of 1965, led by Charles Perkins, impacts on Walgaree's residents, especially Robbie.
Freedom Ride is an excellent fictional portrayal of how Perkins' initiative was the first significant effort to raise awareness of the conditions in which Aboriginal people were forced to live. Ages 12+.
FIRE COLOUR ONE
Jenny Valentine
HarperCollins
Iris thought her father, Ernest, had left them 12 years ago, before her mother, Hannah, linked up with wannabe actor Lowell.
In fact, she half-assumes him to be dead, so it is a shock when they return to England from Los Angeles for the girl to learn he is still alive.
Ernest, who is dying, wants to see his daughter (now 16); Hannah wants money or his art collection left to her; while Iris just wants to see her American friend, Thurston, with whom she has quarrelled and lost contact.
Add Iris' passion for lighting fires - nothing too major, though, despite the accident that destroyed Hannah's designer wardrobe and, Lowell believes, his Hollywood break.
An unusual and charming novel, Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine has a clever twist at the end. Ages 13+.
ADRIFT
Paul Griffin
Text Publishing
Matt and John are working over summer, selling drinks and ice creams at a Montauk beach, Long Island. There they meet cousins Driana and Stef, and the latter's boyfriend, JoJo.
Attracted to Driana, Matt agrees to attend a party she is having at her parents' Hamptons holiday home.
But when a midnight jaunt goes wrong, the five end up adrift in a small boat.
Part adventure, part psychological examination of youngsters under pressure (there's even a faint whiff of Lord of the Flies at one point), Adrift falls down in two areas.
The first is the instant connection Matt feels for Driana.
That's forgivable as a device to get the plot moving forward.
However, a more serious defect is that only Matt, who narrates most of the story, is a well-developed character.
Despite the flaws, it's an entertaining read. Ages 13+.
EVIE'S WAR
Anna Mackenzie
Longacre/Penguin Random House
This novel - written in diary form - opens in May 1914 on board the SS Remuera, where Evie, her brother Edmund and parents are travelling to stay with family in England.
Evie, who has just left school, is to acquire some polish and undertake a European tour, while her father is to help his brother sort their late father's estate.
By the time they reach England, however, it is clear there will be a war and Evie's Continental tour is postponed indefinitely.
Edmund volunteers and Evie begins nursing in Cambridge, until a personal tragedy sees her heading to France and Belgium to help nurse the wounded.
The book is well-researched, but a bit repetitive.
Ages: 13+.
• Gillian Vine is a Dunedin journalist.
