Award-winning author Sara Pennypacker has produced another brilliant novel for readers in the nine to 12 age range (guidance only).
Here in the Real World begins with young Ware looking forward to spending his summer holidays in his own special world of knights and castles in the company of his beloved grandmother who matches his enthusiasm and offers the dining-room table for constructing his edifices. Then the unthinkable happens she becomes ill and needs to go to hospital and Ware must face the dreaded Rec club.
However he meets Jolene – firmly based in the "real world" as she plants a garden in the rubble of an abandoned church next to the club and Ware starts skipping club to build his castles in the ruins. They are two "misfits" for whom the "lot" is a refuge but when it is threatened these unlikely companions have to find a way to save it.
This is en engaging narrative which is beautifully written and will be loved by anyone (including adults!) who has ever dreamed, felt they didn't fit in all of us really.
PWT rating: ♥♥♥♥♥
Published by HarperCollins Children's Books Here in the Real World