Roseby Library

Celebrating Book Week 

The Children’s Book Council of Australia Winners for 2022 have been announced!

Winner of the Older Reader Category
The End of the World is Bigger than Love
Davina Bell

The Older Readers category features “Young Adult Literature” or YA . This can often be a misleading description as for example, The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier was originally destined to be a book for the adult market but by mistake, it landed on the desk of a YA editor and thus became a YA novel and saw Robert Cormier begin a career in YA literature.

To be considered a YA text, the most obvious qualification is the age of the protagonist. Yet the work of Charles Dickens and other nineteenth century authors often began with a young person and detailed the effects his/her decisions had upon their subsequent life. Just consider Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and Great Expectations.  Who can forget the tempestuous childhood of Jane Eyre?  Do not make the mistake of thinking YA literature deals with trivial concerns. The best of Young Adult Literature examines the world around it and explores the moral and real-world consequences of decisions made by young adults.

Davina Bell, the winner of the 2021 Award for Older Readers, has written a novel that departs from her typical style, where she composes pretty picture books for younger children. This year’s novel was four years in the making and is a dizzying blend of genres, magical realism and dystopian fantasy.

The twins, Summer and Winter live on an island without adults. Their father has created a safe haven from the world for them. They narrate in turns. As the story proceeds narrative details clash. Who is the reliable narrator?

What is the catastrophe that threatens their world? Is it environmental breakdown or is it a plague? In the early part of the novel, the twins live an idyllic life with food supplies and a wonderful collection of literature inherited from their mother (Jane Eyre, Charlotte’s Web, Anne of Green Gables are just some examples).  Their enjoyment, of these worlds of literature, is inspiring in many senses. The ability to love and sacrifice exemplified in Charlotte’s Web. The search for integrity and moral purpose in Jane Eyre. This literature causes the reader to question and think.

Into this paradise comes Edward. Is he a Bear or is he a boy?  Each sister sees him differently. This makes us think. Was this such a paradise after all? What happened to their faithful dog? Is there a snake in Eden?  Is this not Eden after all? Why are they here? What has happened to their mother? Has she been arrested  and imprisoned? 

This magical and unpredictable book took four years to write. And rewrite. While researching this book the author came across reference to the Spanish Flu that decimated the world after World War I. Davina Bell discovered this pandemic caused sufferers to turn blue and die shortly after. The author began this book in the world before the present pandemic. But it resonates with us now.

This is a beautifully written and imaginative work that really deserves this prize. While it is particularly relevant in the time of the pandemic, its moral questions are relevant to any timeframe. It offers an example of moral courage and reaffirms the beauty of human courage and idealism in our fragile beautiful world. The reader is constantly asked to re-evaluate the story. The last sentence of the novel causes your perspective to shift completely.

So in summary do not dismiss YA Literature. At its best, it deals with hard issues and causes the reader to re-examine the world. The educational value of the novel lies in the thinking it provokes about real world issues.