Breaking the Wishbone | TheBookSeekers

Breaking the Wishbone


No. of pages 192

Published: 1999

Great for age 12-18 years

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A group of teenagers, adrift from their families, scraping together a makeshift home in the House that Everyone Forgot. According to Johnner, it's like camping, like being on your holidays all the time. But then Johnner's just a kid. They find out soon enough, all of them, just how harsh life is when you're young, poor and homeless. The reality of living rough in a Dublin squat faces them with more difficult challenges in their already troubled lives.

 

 

This book has been graded for interest at 13 years.

There are 192 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 1999 by O'Brien Press Ltd .

 

'This is exactly how young homeless people are, how they sound, how they react, how they cope with their situation, living in a culture permeated with drugs, deprivation, violence, and still managing to make some sort of a life for themselves and to find some hope. The book is very funny and at the same time heartbreakingly sad, but above all it is absolutely accurate.' -- Sr Stanislaus Kennedy (President, Focus Ireland)

 

'This is a hard-hitting novel dealing with a situation which is becoming increasingly common among young people today.' -- Joan Lombard - Northern People

 

'Breaking the Wishbone is the novel as documentry ... it does not seem like a novel at all: the result is a venture of high risk, but one the succeeds magnificently' -- Robert Dunbar - The Irish Times * The Irish Times *

 

'A very tough story but one which you don't want to put down' -- Mary Finn - RTE Guide * RTE Guide *

 

'It is at times heartbreakingly sad and very funny, but wholly credible.' -- Children's Books in Ireland * Children's Books in Ireland *