'Another book I got for free from Sync.com that completely makes up for the one I wasn’t too thrilled with; This book came out in Australia first, where it won the 2008 West Australia Young Readers Book (WAYRB) Award for Older Readers, and then after it came out here in the U.S. in 2008, it won the 2009 Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association.
I’ve read very few books that mention the Australian bush, so the location was a nice change. The reader’s accent was also fun. I guess if you read the print version, it’s clear right away that there’s a 2nd story that’s occasionally being interjected, because the print changes to handwriting. I had to replay the prologue and first one or two chapters to figure it out. This is a very well written, engaging story that involves a young teen, who having been abandoned by her mother at age 11, needs to get past some trust issues. There’s MUCH more to it than that, but I don’t want to give it away.
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I was totally mystified by the first half of this novel. Best guess was that this was some sort of dystopian setting, with the Students, Townies and Cadets fighting it out for territory on a post-apocalyptic world. Another reviewer said she didn't understand what was happening for the first 100 pages, so I kept going, but it took till about page 200 before I had a grasp on this story. I have to say I don't know why this won the Printz Award, but maybe if I'd read it when it was first published...So, yeah, it was an interesting story, but not a winner for me. ( )

I don’t even know where to begin with Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. I spent the first third of the book deciding whether I was going to set it aside or not but it was interesting enough that I continued to read on as I wanted to know what was going on. Eventually I couldn’t put it down as I was totally captured by the characters, the setting and the tense atmosphere. The writer gives the reader fragments of various stories and leaves it to us to fit all the pieces together.

This Australian YA story is hard to define or describe, set in and around the grounds of a private school, part of the story is about the yearly territory battles that occur between the students of the school, the cadets that come and camp nearby and the local kids or “Townies”. Revolving around the leaders of each group, Taylor for the school, Jonah for the cadets and Santiago for the Townies, we learn of past and present relationships. There is also a story from the past, involving five young people whose legacy is still being felt, and far off, at the edge of the story, there is a serial killer who has been operating in the area for some time.

Jellicoe Road engages the reader with it’s intricate structure, nuanced writing and the interwoven lives of the characters. It is complex tale that reduced me to tears by the end of book. A well blended combination of mystery and romance, this was a very powerful story. ( )

This book won the Printz Award this year, and I've noticed that I tend to love these award winners, except for when I really, really DON'T (White Darkness.)

Anyway, On the Jellicoe Road was a very beautiful, intricate story of memory, drama, and friendship told by a compelling young woman living at a boarding school in Australia. The telling of the story included snippets of dreams, a novel being written by one of the characters, and even writing on an old tree at the school. It moved slowly but eventually the world pulled me in and I can tell it is one of those stories whose landscape is going to remain vivid in my mind. ( )

To me this book has just such an essence of summer days, of being young, of friendship, of love and family, of growth, all wrapped up in the mystery that connects the past and present. Taylor’s own narrative starts off darker as the tragedy she has experienced of being abandoned by a junkie mother and being present for a man’s suicide is faced, interspersed with the lighter narratives of the friendships and relationships between Narnie, Webb, Jude, Fitz and Tate from the past. As the book progresses Taylor’s own story becomes more hopeful as she develops deeper relationships with those around her which is juxtaposed with how the narrative of the past takes a darker turn when those characters world starts to fall apart with the loss of one of their own. While the book started off a bit slow I found the characters intriguing and charming enough and was quickly fully hooked. It had me questioning everything the entire time as I got completely enveloped into the mystery of Jellicoe. It was touching and amazing and I didn’t expect to cry as much as I did at the end of it. ( )