Sensitive is the story of thirteen-year-old Samantha — thirteen-year-old Samantha who has just moved with her family to a new town and wants desperately to reinvent herself.
It’s a situation many kids go through in life, but for Samantha (or SJ as she would like to be called), things are a little more complicated.
SJ has chronic eczema and allergies, and her illnesses impact on every part of her life: how she looks, what she can eat, what games she can play, where she sits.
Her life is filled with doctor appointments, restriction diets, medications, ointments and trips to the hospital when things go bad.
But in her new town, at her new school, surrounded by new classmates, SJ doesn’t want to be the ‘sick girl’. She doesn’t want anyone to know the truth of her life, so she does everything she can to hide her illnesses, even when her decisions put her health at serious risk.
This is a story about courage, friendship and learning to accept who you are. From page one it pulls you in, and chapter after chapter you’ll be captivated by SJ’s story and the struggles she endures to try and have a normal life.
The story screams authenticity from the very start, and at the end you’ll find out why. This is a novel about truth and real, raw life. It will grip your heart and have you looking at your own life a little differently.
Truly, every kid should read this novel, even if it’s not their usual kind of story. It’s a book with real power — a book that forces the reader to think about themselves and those around them, stretch their empathy muscles and put things in perspective.
I highly recommend this book for homes and for classrooms. It would be a fantastic book for students to read and discuss as a group, as well as a special book for a child to read and reflect on alone.
Allayne L. Webster is a gifted author and Sensitive is a book I will never forget.
Title: Sensitive
Author: Allayne L. Webster
Publisher: University of Queensland Press, $16.95
Publication Date: 4 June 2019
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 978 0 7022 6048 3
For ages: 12+
Type: Middle Grade, Young Adult