The First Year

About this book

This is the sequel to The Final Year, which told us the story of Nate’s last year of primary school and all the things he went through, including his younger brother Dylan nearly dying. 

The First Year carries on the story, as Nate is now in Year 7 and starting secondary school. We jump straight into Nate’s story from where we left off, so this is a true sequel. Readers would need to have read The Final Year first to really understand the story.  

The First Year is written in free verse but it’s got a different rhythm from the last book, just like starting secondary school feels so different from the relative comfort of primary. In some ways, things are just the same: Nate lives with Mum, Jax and Dylan. Auntie San still comes over to go to bingo with Mum and get drunk on cider. 

But, shockingly, Nate’s mysterious dad comes back into his life – for a while anyway. So life gets a lot more complicated and there are so many feelings to explore. And that’s what The First Year does so beautifully – explores all that complicated, messy stuff of growing up and gets it all down in verse to help us make sense of it.  

This is a brilliant book, complicated in theme but simple and quick to read. It’s a book that will make working class kids feel at home and not alienated in any way. It's a book that says, "Come on in."  

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