In The Year my Life Broke, Josh and his family are forced to move to a small town because of a change in their financial situation. Josh goes from being a big cricket star at his old school, to a loser at his new one, when the PE teacher decides he can’t play sport. Josh is resigned to a boring life in this “hole”, but then interesting things start happening next door and he gets drawn into danger.
I’m liking
This is a nice easy read for pre-teens who are interested in cricket and maybe not that interested in reading. There’s lots of action and lots of details about cricket to keep kids interested.
Things that made me go hmmmm
This wouldn’t be my favourite of John Marsden’s books. The plot seems to go super quickly, in a this happened then this happened then this happened sort of a way.
If swearing is an issue for you, then maybe this isn’t a good book to give to your kids.
The conclusion
I think this would be good for reluctant readers around 10-12 who are into cricket.
