Are You Seeing Me?
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
This road trip will have earth-shattering consequences . . .
Twins Justine and Perry are about to embark on the road trip of a lifetime in the Pacific Northwest.
It’s been a year since they watched their dad lose his battle with cancer. Now, at only nineteen, Justine is the sole carer for her disabled brother. But with Perry having been accepted into an assisted-living residence, their reliance on each other is set to shift. Before they go their separate ways, they’re seeking to create the perfect memory.
For Perry, the trip is a glorious celebration of his favourite things: mythical sea monsters, Jackie Chan movies and the study of earthquakes.
For Justine, it’s a chance to reconcile the decision to ‘free’ her twin, to see who she is without her boyfriend, Marc – and to offer their mother the chance to atone for past wrongs.
But the instability that has shaped their lives will not subside, and the seismic event that Perry forewarned threatens to reduce their worlds to rubble . . .
‘A funny and beautiful story about love, life and other disasters, told with the help of Robinson Crusoe and Jackie Chan. I think what we’re “seeing” here is a writer at the top of his game. Just wonderful.’ MICHAEL GERARD BAUER, author of The Running Man
SHORTLISTED, Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year - Older Readers 2015
SHORTLISTED, NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature 2015
SHORTLISTED, Queensland Literary Awards Griffith University Young Adult Book Award 2015
SHORTLISTED, Children's Peace Literature Award 2015
SHORTLISTED, Governor General's Literary Award - Children's Literature (Text) 2015 (Canada)
SELECTED, IBBY Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities 2015
SELECTED, White Raven 2015 (International Youth Library)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Groth presents an insightful and rewarding road-trip story about 19-year-old Australian twins Perry and Justine Richter. Their mother abandoned them when they were children, and Justine has served as the caregiver for Perry, who is on the autism spectrum, ever since their father's death. While high-functioning Perry is intelligent and kindhearted, his anxiety can turn to panic, and his obsessions with sea monsters, Jackie Chan, and seismic activity can be a handful, even for patient, understanding Justine. Two years after their father's death, Perry has decided to move into a group home, so this two-week trip traveling through the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. and Canada marks the end of an era in their relationship. Along the way, they visit a lake that's allegedly home to the mythical Ogopogo, meet people with a range of reactions to Perry, and track down their mother. Told from the alternating perspectives of both twins, along with excerpts from their father's journal, Groth's story is uncommonly sensitive, his characters' emotional journeys as critical as their physical ones. Ages 12 up.
