What is A The First Year about?
Following the first book in this duology (The Final Year), this verse novel is about a boy in the first year of high school, dealing with new friendships, teachers and classes. Other new challenges include serious bullying, school expectations and his absent father entering his life for the first time.
Plot summary of The First Year (No Spoilers)
Nate is excited to be going to the local high school, even if he and his mates feel weird in their school blazers and new routines. He knows he’ll miss Mr Joshua from primary school but is keen to take the next steps into his new schooling life.
He meets new teachers and students including a girl who seems remote but is the opposite with those close to her. She soon becomes part of his friendship group who surround him when he needs them for both challenging school and home-life problems.
Review
The sequel to the multi award winning The Final Year, this verse novel packs just as much punch as it portrays a normal kid in his first year of high school in Manchester England.
After dealing with so much in The Final Year, this novel is even more personal as Nate deals with a face from his past school, a new face who brings him strength and understanding, and a face he has dreamed about but has never been sure they would ever be part of his life.
He’s also dealing with different teachers who are stretched for time, understanding and patience, unlike his primary school teacher. Constantly under pressure, the high school teachers prefer to stick to the school rules instead of trying to understand challenging behaviour, and Nate’s writing is acknowledged but not nurtured as much as before.
Although the health issues of his little brother seem sorted, he begins to drift away from his siblings with all that high school places upon him. He takes more time for himself as he wrangles with the feelings about his father entering his life, and the higher expectations of school.
I was lucky enough to listen to The First Year, read by the author himself, with the accent, dialect and slang of the place and time – right now.
Writing Style
Verse novel in 6 parts. Readers see the end of Year 6 and the start of Year 7 and further.
There are illustrations throughout by Illustrator Joe Todd-Stanton sharing the story with readers.
Each page/poem begins with a title, and the novel is written in the vernacular or slang of the Manchester setting. Only when Nate recites one of his actual poems does his language change.
What age is it for?
Ages 10-12Â for those beginning Intermediate (NZ) or High School.
Where & When is it set?
Manchester, England / Present
What is the Point of View / Tense of the novel?
First person / Past tense
Is there Violence?
Yes
What genre is The First Year?
Middle Grade Verse Novel
Themes
School / Family / Change / Social challenges / Friendship
Is it part of a series?
Yes – The first book in the duology – The Final Year, covers the year before at Nate’s last year of Primary School
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Author
Matt Goodfellow
Illustrator
Joe Todd-Stanton
Publisher
Otter-Barry Books
(2023, Otter-Barry Books, Verse Novel, School, Poems, Writing, Poetry, Social challenges, Poverty, Friendship Dynamics, Change, Siblings, Brothers, Multi Award Winning, Series, Duology, High School, Bullying, Violence, Absent Father, Growing Up)