Xavier in the Meantime
$14.45
- Paperback
192 pages
- Release Date
1 February 2022
Summary
Sometimes Xavier wakes up feeling hopeless. Every new doctor … this will fix it. Removing him from school … this will fix it. The therapy group … this will fix it. And his dad moving out. Maybe, this will fix it. His daily affirmations seem to be helping, yet the black dog never really goes away. But Xavier has a plan. Enlisting the help of best friend Aster, he tries to convince his dad to turn the family hogget farm into a therapy retreat for the group session kids. But he is up against decades of tradition, his parents who are on a “break,” and the spectre of the black dog. Can Xavier learn to cherish the moments in between the struggles—the moments in the meantime? Companion to ‘Aster’s Good, Right Things’.
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780645218091 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 064521809X |
| Author: | Kate Gordon |
| Publisher: | Yellow Brick Books |
| Imprint: | Riveted Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 192 |
| Release Date: | 1 February 2022 |
| Weight: | 186g |
| Dimensions: | 17mm x 128mm x 204mm |
| Audience Age: | 11-14 |
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Critics Review
Xavier in the Meantime is the new companion novel to Kate Gordon’s CBCA award-winning Aster’s Good, Right Things. Focusing this time on Xavier, Aster’s best friend, the story takes a sensitive but unflinching look at Xavier’s experiences with mental illness, which he calls ‘the black dog’. While Xavier is trying his best and using strategies he has learnt to cope with his depression, sometimes he still feels hopeless. The black dog is his constant companion that never truly goes away. So, he comes up with a plan to make the most of the moments in the meantime, the bits of his life in between the struggles. Gordon’s writing is as exceptional as it was in Aster’s Good, Right Things and the central friendship continues to be a joyful read. Fans of Aster will enjoy seeing her again, as well as other characters including Aunt Noni and Indigo, while both previous and new readers are given plenty of chances to empathise with Xavier as a loveable protagonist. The plot gently incorporates a number of topics in an age-appropriate way, including depression and anxiety, gender expression and animal rights. It offers young readers the opportunity to educate themselves on such issues without feeling preached to. Gordon also explores the pressure to be ‘cured’ or ‘normal’ and how mental illness doesn’t define who we are but shouldn’t be hidden away as something shameful. Xavier in the Meantime is perfect for sparking wider discussions with young people, while also being a hopeful and enjoyable read. *Karys McEwen is the library manager at Prahran and Richmond High School and the president of the CBCA VIC Branch.** Read her interview with Kate Gordon here. *
Kate Gordon
Kate Gordon grew up in a very bookish house, with two librarian parents, in a small town by the sea in Tasmania. In 2009 she won a Varuna fellowship and hasn’t stopped writing since. Her first book, Three Things About Daisy Blue, was published by Allen and Unwin in 2010. She has since been published multiple times. Kate won the 2016 IBBY Ena Noel Award for Writing Clementine, and in 2018 was shortlisted in the Dorothy Hewett Awards for an Unpublished Manuscript. Her YA novel Girl Running, Boy Falling (2018) is a CBCA Notable. In 2021, Aster’s Good, Right Things won the CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers, and in 2023, Xavier in the Meantime was shortlisted in the same category.
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