Jellicoe Road (Library Binding)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: prayer tree, territory wars, Jonah Griggs, Jellicoe Road, Club House (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 8 Up—For years, three factions—Townies, Cadets (city kids doing a six-week outdoor education program), and Jellicoe School students—have engaged in teen war games in the Australian countryside, defending territorial borders, negotiating for assets, and even taking hostages. Taylor Markham, a 17-year-old who was abandoned years ago by her mother, takes on leadership of the boarding school's six Houses. Plagued with doubts about being boss, she's not sure she can handle her Cadet counterpart, Jonah Griggs, whom she met several years before while running away to find her mother. When Hannah, a sort of house mother who has taken Taylor under her wing, disappears, Taylor puzzles over the book manuscript the woman left behind. Hannah's tale involves a tragic car accident on the Jellicoe Road more than 20 years earlier. Only three children survived, and Taylor discovers that this trio, plus a Cadet and a Townie, developed an epic friendship that was the foundation of the many mysteries in her life and identity, as well as of the war games. While the novel might put off casual readers, patient, thoughtful teens will remain to extract clues from the interwoven scraps of Hannah's narrative, just as Taylor does, all the while seeing the collapse of the barriers erected among the three groups over the years. Elegiac passages and a complex structure create a somewhat dense, melancholic narrative with elements of romance, mystery, and realistic fiction.—Suzanne Gordon, Peachtree Ridge High School, Suwanee, GA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Taylor Markham isn’t just one of the new student leaders of her boarding school, she’s also the heir to the Underground Community, one of three battling school factions in her small Australian community (the others being the Cadets and the Townies). For a generation, these three camps have fought “the territory wars,” a deadly serious negotiation of land and property rife with surprise attacks, diplomatic immunities, and physical violence. Only this year, it’s complicated: Taylor might just have a thing for Cadet leader Jonah, and Jonah might just be the key to unlocking the secret identity of Taylor’s mother, who abandoned her when she was 11. In fact, nearly every relationship in Taylor’s life has unexpected ties to her past, and the continual series of revelations is both the book’s strength and weakness; the melodrama can be trying, but when Marchetta isn’t forcing epiphanies, she has a knack for nuanced characterizations and punchy dialogue. The complexity of the backstory will be offputting to younger readers, but those who stick it out will find rewards in the heartbreaking twists of Marchetta’s saga. Grades 9-12. --Daniel Kraus --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Library Binding: 432 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen (August 26, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061431842
• ISBN-13: 978-0061431845
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,431,792 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, August 26, 2008

By	TeensReadToo.com "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jellicoe Road (Hardcover)

Taylor Markam was abandoned by her mother at a 7-Eleven on Jellicoe Road when she was a mere eleven years old. Only moments later a woman by the name of Hannah picked her up and brought her to the Jellicoe School. Now she is seventeen and finds that Hannah is a rock in her inconsistent life. While she has Hannah, Taylor doesn't know much about her family except the horror stories she remembers of her mother.

She does find comfort, though, in a manuscript that Hannah has written about a group of five friends who met in the worst circumstances, but developed a remarkable friendship when they only had each other. When Hannah just up and leaves, Taylor doesn't understand what has happened and she becomes a wreck. Not only does she have to deal with Hannah's disappearance, but she has just been named the head of her House and the leader of the school kids in the annual territory wars against the "Townies" and "Cadets."

In the war, the three groups battle and negotiate, following an extensive set of rules that might as well be history. As the war wages on, Taylor learns to take an active role in her community, as well as develop relationships that she never thought possible. Especially with Jonah Griggs, the leader of the Cadets, whom she already has quite a history with.

This war will be like no other. It will not only be between the normal three parties, but among friends, hearts desires, and, most of all, Taylor herself.

From the title I was expecting a light and fun read. Wow, was I wrong! This book is filled with heartbreak, joy, laughter, and sorrow. It completely blew me away and surpassed every expectation I had, even though I was expecting something completely different.

Before I even get into the elements of the story I have to comment on how much talent the author has. Melina Marhetta's writing style is indescribable. It seemed that she was so comfortable writing the story and her words just flowed from page to page with great clarity. I loved how the author weaved many intricate details and mini-stories into one big story, making it like a puzzle that slowly comes together until those last couple of pieces just fall into place.

The only miff I had with this book is that it took me probably until the third chapter to actually understand what was going on. In the beginning, there were two stories and it was hard to wrap my head around everything that was happening. After that, though, it seemed the author settled into writing and the story took off.

Taylor, without a doubt, is one of the best characters that I think has ever been created. She has this true voice where you can hear and feel her emotions ring out. By the time the book had ended I felt like I knew Taylor like I know my best friends. While Taylor was the main character, the author did a fabulous job creating the other characters, too. Unlike many supporting characters in books, the characters in JELLICOE ROAD all had their own voices and became their own people, with real and likable personalities.

I highly recommend this book to readers everywhere. Whether you're a girl or a guy, you will treasure this novel and hold it near and dear to your heart for a long time to come. JELLICOE ROAD is a beautiful love story, a heart-wrenching story of loss, a poignant self-discovery, and, most of all, an unforgettable tale.

Pre-order this book NOW!! It hits stores August 26 and you don't want to miss out on this one-of-a-kind novel.

Reviewed by: Tasha

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Book, January 7, 2009

By	Book Eater - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jellicoe Road (Hardcover)

I can honestly say, this is one of the best books i've ever read. It's my favourite, along with Saving Francesca. My sister got our first edition from her friend in Australia. While she was reading it I was not interested in it until she forced me to read it. I couldn't put it down.
Taylor Markham is an abandoned child in Jellicoe School. She lives in a boarding school. Her care taker is a girl called Hannah, whom Taylor is very close to. Taylor strives to find the truth about who she is. Along with her friends Ben Cassidy, Raffaela, and Santangelo she finds that friendship is the closest thing she can have to a family. Along the way she falls in love with the enemy, unearth secrets about her past, and is the leader in a war she does not want to happen.
This book made me laugh, and from a specific point onwards I cry non-stop, despite having read it over ten times. Easy read and catchy plot, Melina Marchetta does not fail you!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jellicoe Road, September 6, 2009

By	Shel Julian Kessel "SJ Kessel" (Columbus, Oh) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jellicoe Road (Hardcover)

Machetta, M. (2008). Jellicoe Road. New York: Harper Teen.

9780061431838

Finally got around to reading this year's Printz winner!

Originally published in 2006, in Machetta's homeland, Australia, this story, set in the Australian bush, crosses time to share the events on Jellicoe Road and their repercussions for students at the Jellicoe School, the cadets who camp near by for six weeks and the townies.

The majority of the narrative follows Taylor, a seventeen-year-old girl who has just been chosen to lead her school's underground community in a battle over territory lines with the cadets and the townies. Abandoned by her mother on Jellicoe Road when Taylor was twelve, Hannah, the woman who has been her guardian since then, has left. Adding to her turmoil, a boy, Jonah Griggs, who Taylor ran away with in a quest to find her mother several years ago and who betrayed their location to the school and Brigadier is back as the leader of the cadets.

The narratives of the past, arguably sections of a book one of the characters is working on, provide insights into Taylor's situation and her relationship with some of the adults in the area.

A complicated text full of contrasts and parallels, Jellicoe Road seems very confusing for the first 20 or 30 pages. After that, interest in the story and Taylor's wit, toughness and struggles as a leader captured my interest. But then around page 80 or 90, I began to see how the different narratives from the past and present began to weave together and I began to make connections. That's when I became totally engrossed and didn't want to put the book down. So, readers be warned, get through the confusing beginning and it will be worth it.

Now, I don't want to rush things. I'll have to read Saving Francesca and Looking for Alibrandi, but I think I may have to add Melina Marchetta to the list of authors I'd like to marry.



Activities:

This is a good sample text to share with students to show examples of parallels, contrasts and foils.

Doing some research on Australia would probably help to flesh out some of the details of the text: their education system, the appearance of the bush, the uniforms cadets wear, etc. A teacher could also use this book to trigger a refresher on metric measurements.

Jellicoe Road could also be used to encourage students to make and organize notes on the characters to help students to make connections.


Quotes of Note:

"My father took one hundred and thirty-two minutes to die.
I counted.
It happened on the Jellicoe Road. The prettiest road I'd ever seen, where trees made breezy canopies like a tunnel to Shangri-la" (p. 1).

"Someone asked us later, "Didn't you wonder why no one came across you sooner?"
Did I wonder?
When you see your parents zipped up in black body bags on the Jellicoe Road like they're some kind of garbage, don't you know?
Wonder dies" (p. 2).

"I don't know where I fit in. One day when I was eleven, my mother drove me out here and while I was in the toilets at the 7-Eleven on the Jellicoe Road, she drove off and left me there. It becomes one of those defining moments in your life, when your mother does that. It's not as if I don't forgive her, because I do. It's like these horror films where the hero gets attacked by the zombie and he has to convince the heroine to shoot him, because in ten seconds' time he won't be who he was anymore. He;ll have the same face but no soul" (p. 20).

"The territory wars have been part of the Jellicoe School's life ever since I can remember. I don't know who started them. The Townies say is was the Cadets from the city who have been coming out here for the last twenty or so years. They set up camp right alongside the Jellicoe School for six weeks each September as part of their outdoor education program. We say the Townies started the wars because they think Jellicoe belongs to them, and the Cadets blame us because they say we don't know how to share land" (p. 35).

"I need to act quickly before there's a coup and as I glance around the table I realise, once again, that my only potential ally is a drop-kick moron with tomato sauce all over his face" (pp. 45-46).

"Is a person worth more because they have someone to grieve for them? (p. 60).