Grace is shocked by the prank pulled on her in a Wellington railway station. Asked to look after a suitcase for a minute by a stranger, something begins to move inside. It opens to reveal a small person in a nappy. What’s most shocking is she recognises him from years before.

Grace is now 18, working as a motel cleaner and living with her mum Katherine. Once incredibly close, mother and daughter now have a strained relationship due to Katherine’s ongoing depression after an event on the day of Grace’s birth. Although attending counselling for her PTSD, Katherine has never answered Grace’s many questions about her birth, her Asian father, or her past in Taiwan.

Growing up looking different to everyone else around her has been difficult, with these unanswered questions making it even worse. The bullying and name calling at school was buffered by one thing – a boy named Charlie. On Grace’s first day of school, Charlie took her under his wing as he too looked different from their classmates. He is quite open about the condition he lives with – Achondroplasia, in which his bones grow differently to her bones. He calls this being a LP or little person.

They are inseparable as they grow up together, with both families deeming each of them part of their family. When very young, Grace lived with her mother and chain-smoking grandmother, and is equally welcome in Charlie’s home with his university lecturer parents. It’s only an opportunity far from NZ for Charlie’s mother that separates them. Years later, the prank in the railway station is the catalyst for their friendship to rekindle.

But they’ve both changed, and getting to know each other again is not always smooth. Add Katherine’s ongoing PTSD, depression and Grace’s grandmother’s failing health, and life is challenging. Grace has been training in a martial art discipline called Jeet Kune Do, born from the teachings of another different from his peers – Bruce Lee. With all that is going on in Grace’s life, she increasingly calls on her training and Bruce Lee’s words to help calm her raging feelings.

Charlie too is struggling with his identity, and with the help of his friends is using humour on YouTube to aid a personal crusade to change society’s opinions of Little People.

Mandy Hager has done it again, with a stunning new novel for Young Adults – Gracehopper. Told in third person from different years in main character Grace’s life, it builds a multi-layered picture of her relationships with those around her. There is her mother Katherine, suffering from PTSD and depression and becoming increasingly erratic. Grace has grown up learning how to placate her mother, but this has taken it’s toll. Grace’s friendship with a little person named Charlie is explored and readers can fully appreciate their reconnection and morphing relationship, after being with them as they grew up on the page.

Support characters, both in the narrative and Grace’s life are introduced and we can see how they have helped mold her into her early adult self. Whether it be her grandmother who has been the rock in their family, her elderly neighbour Anoop, who is always there to listen or help when he can, her martial arts instructor with wise advice, or Charlie’s supportive parents.

I got to know Grace well, and as the tension rose within the book regarding secrets Katherine held, and a shocking discovery by Grace, I truly felt for them all as they navigate so much turmoil.

Masterfully written by a maestro of Young Adult novels.

Author – Mandy Hager

Age – 16+

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(2024, Onetree House, NZ Author, Aotearoa New Zealand, Family, PTSD, Little People, Dwarf, Bruce Lee, Martial Arts, Depression, Relationships, Friendships, Illness, Hospital, Support, Secret, Earthquakes, Mental Illness, Grief, Loss, Motel Cleaner, Growing Up, Love, Tension, Mystery)