Karys McEwen, The Paperbark Tree Committee, Text Publishing, April 2025, 208 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781922790705
This delightful novel is not quite the usual coming-of-age young adult novel, for its events happen just short of adolescence. Art (Arthur), the narrator and main character, is twelve, and beginning at a new high school in a new city, Melbourne. From the novel’s opening he is facing a number of challenges, among them the recent divorce of his parents, the absence of his mother, and a father at home who really has no time for him (his father, ironically enough, is a writer of YA novels).
He has the added challenges of making new friends at school, and from day one dealing with a mean bully of a kid who has a small gang around him. As a narrrator, Art is sharp and observant, and open about his own limitations. On the brighter side of things for Art, his best friend happens to be his brilliant, funny and wise ten-year-old brother Hilary, and then there is his great affection for Sally who is his de facto step mum.
As a reader I quickly warmed to Art, amused and absorbed by his thoughts and feelings when the intertwined matters of a neglectful father, uncertainty about Sally’s commitment to her ‘chosen’ family, and an increasing desire for revenge on Jack, the bully, all come to a head. Whether Art will come out of this year any wiser, whether he can effect real change in his life, and whether he has the inner values to make life work for him are all questions that will keep readers turning the pages and hoping for the best for this fierce and smart little kid who is about to encounter a whole lot of new adolescent questions soon enough.
Karys McEwen proves herself a skilled writer, inhabiting her character’s innocence and faults with a spirit of curiosity and much good will towards him. Highly recommended for readers from eight to thirteen.
Reviewed by Kevin Brophy
