Blake, Jolene and Amed are emotionally bruised individuals.
They have one thing in common – sport.
Blake’s world has distorted. Life as he knew it is
over due to a football injury which keeps him on the sidelines. He gets shut out
by his friends now he’s not an active player. Alone and feeling discarded, all
he can do is watch.
Another watcher is Amed, a refugee who lost his
family as a child. It took years for his aunt in Australia to find him. He
loves soccer, but is voiceless and isolated. He can’t speak English and
understands very little of what he hears.
What he observes in Blake and Jolene,
when alone and watching, are feelings similar to his own.
Jolene’s parents are doctors.
Her father is
overseas saving refugees and others in catastrophic situations. She longs for
him to be near to save her from a controlling mother, who only cares that
Jolene excels at hockey. Jolene hates hockey. It’s her mother’s dream she’s
living. Books and reading are what she loves.
The negative way Jolene is perceived by her team mates
adds to her unbelonging. She is friendless. Now, her mother wants to send her
to college to be finished; polished and refined, even though she loves her
hometown.
But there are worse things, these three characters
discover.
Jolene is put next to Blake to assist him due to
his broken arm. She learns a great deal during the short time she spends with
him.
Then she is allocated one day a week to converse
with Amed in order to improve his English. She learns about his worse things.
Then, the worst thing happens.
Worse Things is a book I press to
my heart. I was moved to tears of celebration at Sally Murphy’s ability to gift
that to a reader. I experienced the same thing after reading her Pearl Verses the World.
It isn’t only Murphy’s perfect choice of words that
is moving. To accentuate specific words, she introduces them with definitions.
These definitions reflect the who, what and why of the characters.
Murphy’s words are reinforced by the glorious
illustrations of Sarah Davis; interesting, thought-provoking images which perfectly
depict the characters’ emotions, thoughts and actions with powerful expression.
Beginning from the covers, this verse novel is
stunning in every way. It is an
experience not to be missed.
Title:
Worse Things
Author:
Sally Murphy
Illustrator:
Sarah Davis
Publisher:
Walker Books, $14.99
Publication
Date: 1 May 2020
Format:
Paperback
ISBN:
9781760651657
For
ages: 10+
Type:
Verse Novel