Maggie is the middle child in her family of five. She has a little brother called Trig and an elder brother named Jed. Jed is an eldest – the eldest child in his family. This is deemed an honour, as when Jed is 14, he will join all the other eldests across the country at camp. He will be trained to help fight ‘The Quiet War.’

Maggie loves her big brother but resents all the attention he gets. She doesn’t think it’s fair that Jed never has to do chores, is given his favourite dishes, can sit and do nothing, while she and Trig run errands, do dishes and help around their farm. Maggie feels invisible.

She has grown up with a fear of wanderers. These are people outside her small town, who choose not to send their eldests to camp, and live like wandering tramps. It has been drummed into Maggie through school songs and studies, that wanderers are ‘Dirty, Dangerous and Deceitful,’ so when she meets one in the town cemetery, she’s not sure what to do.

The young girl, a little older than Maggie, is dirty all right, but she’s friendly and talkative and seems perfectly harmless. Maggie is confused, but decides if she catches this wanderer, she too will get the attention from not only her family, but the whole town – especially the Mayor.

Soon Jed and another girl from town turn 14. They are celebrated and cheered as they too are ready for camp. But is military camp really where they are going?

Told in Maggie’s point of view over the space of one week, I enjoyed her voice, frustrated at being a middle child, and loving her brothers but resenting the attention Jed gets.

She’s been sheltered from the truth and as she peels back the layers of lies, she has to make decisions that will change not only her life, but those of her entire town. A tale of established misconceptions, lies and betrayal. Readers of ‘How to Bee‘ will love this as much as I did!

Author – Kirsty Applebaum

Age – 10+

(Future, Lies, Tolerance, Family, Middle child, Siblings, Betrayal, Hero, Attention, Truth, Courage, Mistake)