GENRE 6 - JELLICOE ROAD

Marchetta, Melina. 2006. JELLICOE ROAD. Harper Teen: New York.

CHARACTERS
The main character is Taylor Markham, a young teenage girl. There are many supporting characters in the story: Hannah – an older single woman, Jonas – a young Cadet, the Brigadier – a mysterious man, and other school age friends. The lives of the characters are intertwined but you do not find out how until well after half of the novel. Young adults will be able to relate with Taylor and her struggles with growing up.

PLOT
The story jumps back and forth between past events and present events. These are noted with a change in type style. Taylor lives in Australia at a boarding school away from large cities. She has strange dreams which do not make any sense to her and she has complicated relationships with her school mates. Her mother left her at a gas station where a Hannah finds her and takes her to the school. Hannah seems to watch over Taylor from a distance but then suddenly disappears. Taylor has a strange relationship with Jonah, a cadet, whom she met several years earlier when she tried to run off and find her mother. The plot thickens with the battle between the school mates, city kids and the cadet’s explodes. Taylor journeys through the novel discovering things from her past while coping with the present. The ending is full of surprises for everyone.

SETTING
The novel takes place in rural Australia. The town is several hours drive from Sydney, major metropolitan city. Taylor lives at a boarding school and is head of her house, which contains about fifty students. The students do go into town and also the bush, or forest area, surrounding the school.

STYLE
The novel was very challenging at the beginning with the time jumps back and forth. Taylor was a difficult character to follow until about half way through the book. Once you reached that point many of the instances in the beginning of the book began to make sense. Taylor has many different events happen in her life that young adults can relate with either for themselves or others. This novel is best suited for older young adults due to the subject matter.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
Michael L. Printz Award 2009
W.A. Young Readers Book Award 2008
Cybils Award
Old Premier’s Literary Award
Australian Books Sellers & Publishers Award
Positive Reviews
VOYA
School Library Journal
Kirkus – The Best Young Adult Books of 2008
KLIATT
Horn Book Review
Who Weekly, Book of the Week
BCCB Starred Review