From Publishers Weekly
Calma Harrison, the smart, sassy narrator of this memorable first novel by an Australian high school teacher, shares an unlikely friendship with class clown and ne'er-do-well Jaryd Kiffing, known as "Kiffo." Jonsberg reveals the source of their bond in flashbacks on tinted pages, which hint at something terrible happening to each of them four years before. The main narrative begins in Year 10 English class with Kiffo driving off the teacher in a hilarious (unless you are a teacher) opening scene. The replacement, naturally, is far worse. Miss Payne has the "sensitivity of a paving slab," and looks ferocious enough to "disembowel a horse with her teeth." "The Pitbull" instantly makes it plain she plans to "break [Kiffo's] spirit." Calma agrees to help Kiffo get rid of her with a vague strategy that involves stalking which, miraculously, actually raises suspicions she's connected with drug dealing. The plot moves briskly from one calamitous misstep by the would-be detectives to another, but the action outside the classroom often teeters on the brink of absurdity. The momentum stumbles, too, when the story climaxes with a turn that feels unnecessarily harsh. Jonsberg recovers (the final twist is tantalizingly ambiguous) and Calma's assured and mostly comical account is well-nigh irresistible. It's similar to her complaint about teachers who get going on the subject of attitude: "They're like a train with brake failure on a long slope. There's nothing you can do until they stop rolling." Ages 12-up.
(June) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up-In this uneven Australian novel, high school student Calma Harrison and her friend Kiffo decide to get revenge on a much-hated English teacher. Calma is bright and a good student but struggles to get along with her hardworking, single mother, who is rarely home. Flashbacks explain why she has befriended the troubled boy with a mysterious past. The two begin spying on Miss Payne, and Kiffo even breaks into her house. The conversation he overhears prompts the teens to believe that she might be selling drugs. Their further investigations lead to trouble: Calma eventually has run-ins with a counselor, the principal, and the school police officer over her apparent stalking of the woman. A final, shocking incident leads to tragedy and revelations about Kiffo's past. The protagonist intersperses her story with writing assignments, horoscopes, letters, surveys, and imagined movie scenes that-while creative and laced with her trademark sarcastic humor-sometimes feel forced and overshadow the plot. Calma is an appealing character, and her wisecracking tone hides deep emotions. Still, some of the situations seem highly implausible, and Kiffo's character never feels fully developed.
-Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
