The Year My Sister got Lucky
Aimee Friedman
June 2009
Rating: Very Good

Katie and her sister Michaela are extremely close, more like best friends. They have lived in New York all their lives, both attend a prestigious ballet school and both love their lives in New York. Or so it seems.
Katie is devestated when she finds out that she has to move with her family to a small town, called Fir Lake, in upstate New York. It’s nothing like her beloved New York City. The people are overly friendly, her new ballet school is, to put it bluntly, a joke and they actually live near real cows! Katie immediately sticks out like a sore thumb, with her ‘New York’ sense of style and attitude. But to her surprise and horror, Michaela fits in straight away.

As Michaela settles into her new country life, making friends, gaining a footballer boyfriend, joining the yearbook team and attending homecoming, she and Katie grow apart. Katie finally does start making friends and trying new things, but she does this reluctantly. And then she finds out that Michaela has been hiding things from her, important things that she would usually tell Katie. Can these sisters also be best friends?

I had added The Year my Sister got Lucky to my wish list on Amazon, only to have it bought by my Library the next day. What a coincidence! And I’m glad I got to read it too, as it was a wonderful and entertaining book, with a great message about how your attitude effects your situation. Both Katie and Michaela were likeable, in their own way. Neither of them were perfect and made plenty of mistakes through the book, but this was part of what made them so likeable and real. The Year my Sister got Lucky is a great story about sisterhood, change and growing up that I’d definitely recommend.

Pink
Lili Wilkinson
2009
Rating: Excellent

Blurb: “The pink jumper was practically glowing in my grey bedroom. It was like a tiny bit of Dorothy’s Oz in boring old black-and-white Kansas. Pink was for girls. Ava Simpson is trying on a whole new image. Stripping the black dye from her hair, she heads off to the Billy Hughes School for Academic Excellence, leaving her uber-cool girlfriend, Chloe, behind. Ava is quickly taken under the wing of perky, popular Alexis who insists that: a) she’s a perfect match for handsome Ethan; and b) she absolutely must audition for the school musical. But while she’s busy trying to fit in – with Chloe, with Alexis and her Pastel friends, even with the misfits in the stage crew – Ava fails to notice that her shiny reinvented life is far more fragile than she imagined.”

I’ve often seen Lili Wilkinson’s books around but have never had the chance to read any. When I saw Pink though I knew I had to read it, especially since one of my favourite colours is pink.

I can honestly say I really enjoyed reading Pink. Ava’s story and her struggle with her identity and sexuality were very real, honest and something I think most people can relate with. Pink shows that it’s okay to be unsure of who you are and who you want to be, but that in the end it’s important to just be yourself and not be ashamed of any aspect of yourself. All of the characters were easy to identify with, many of them hiding parts of their lives as well.

Pink was very well written, with quick snappy and funny dialogue, and conversations and stories seemingly straight out of a schoolyard. I loved the fact that the book was set in Melbourne, with mentions of lots of places I like to go to. I will definitely be hunting down more of Wilkinson’s books in the future.