Summer of Shipwrecks (Shivaun Plozza, UQP)

Award-winning children’s author Shivaun Plozza’s Summer of Shipwrecks is a vividly real, heartfelt middle-grade novel that explores the capriciousness of tween friendship. Sidney has been waiting all year for her family’s annual caravanning trip to the Shipwreck Coast, where she will see long-distance best friend Lou. Although Lou hasn’t always replied to Sid’s texts this year, Sid is certain they will pick up from where they left off, hunting for the lost treasure of the 1879 Penlee shipwreck and playing pirates at Katherine Cove. But Lou has brought along her new friend Hailey, a self-centred ‘cool’ girl who is unwilling to share Lou. Suddenly Lou, who used to love shipwrecks and treasure-hunting, is ditching Sid for Hailey—to wear bikinis, impress boys and play mean pranks. Will Sid allow her heart to be shipwrecked by Lou’s growing detachment, or can she harness the bravery of Penlee’s sole survivor, 13-year-old Katherine Napier, to stay true to herself? Although Plozza has a knack for narrative structure, the pace of the novel feels slow at the beginning, with the buried treasure plotline taking a while to kick off. However, the action soon picks up, and Plozza perfectly captures Sid’s tender vulnerability, as well as the insecurities and peer pressure that girls face in adolescence. This thematically rich book will appeal to fans of Nova Weetman and Jane Godwin.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Charlotte Callander is a freelance writer and an educator at Melbourne Museum. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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