"Facing fears, speaking out, taking action and finding your truth"
June 2021 Book of the Month
Honest, authentic and (ultimately) uplifting, Holly Bourne’s The Yearbook will strike a powerful chord with young women on the brink of leaving secondary school. Realistically raw in its portrayal of toxic relationships (from poisonous school peers to abusive partners), with an underdog protagonist readers will wholeheartedly root for, and a sweet, slow-burning romance that will melt the most cynical of hearts, this is classic contemporary YA.
Budding journalist Paige lives a lonely, isolated life - “the undeniable truth was that I was invisible as well as unlovable. Nobody could see me see me at all, let alone look at me and see the potential to store their heart there. People don’t fall in love with wallpaper. Or silence.” At the same time, her parents’ marriage shows the jeopardies of falling in love with the wrong person. She and her mum walk on eggshells around her erratic, coercively controlling dad who flips from jolly joker to enraged monster over the tiniest thing. At least Paige has the school newspaper to keep her occupied - until it’s hijacked by malicious narcissists from the official Leavers’ Committee who want to create a yearbook.
As Paige’s family life disintegrates, she realises that the infiltrators steering the yearbook are re-writing history. The same goes for Paige’s dad and his ilk - people who think “they’re the hero of their own story, but, actually, in the pursuit of being so important, they’re often the villain of everyone else’s”. Thankfully, though, hope comes in the form of her independent-minded aunt Polly (“she seemed to genuinely care for me”) and soul-lifting Elijah, who supports Paige’s quest to find her voice and speak the truth after they meet through a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird.
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This book is a must-read for anyone at high school. I devoured it in two days.
I have never read any books by this author before but I am going to find all her others now!
The story is about Paige who is a year 11 girl who is on the school newspaper. She is very shy, she has no friends and her older brother has just gone off to university. Paige is a really good watcher and she sees everything that happens. She sees how the kids are cruel to the weaker children and what they do. She hates it. She doesn’t want them to get away with it, so she keeps a record of everything she sees in notebooks which she keeps under her bed. But she never says a word because she is scared they will then turn on her.... Read Full Review
Whilst the cover is very bright and colourful, this book isn’t always super cheery, in the best way possible. Of course there are sweet moments of fun sprinkled throughout, but some of the main themes are quite a bit darker.
Whilst the cover is very bright and colourful, this book isn’t always super cheery, in the best way possible. Of course there are sweet moments of fun sprinkled throughout, but some of the main themes are quite a bit darker. The Yearbook is about drama at school, but it’s also about why you may act the way you do at school; how your life is affected by what your home is like; why you are the way you are.
The Yearbook follows Paige in her last year of secondary school. As someone who feels invisible, ever being seen is scary to her, usually being just an excuse for someone to tell her who she is, instead of understanding her.... Read Full Review
A great read, very relatable, very realistic to senior schools.
The Yearbook is fantastic I found it really relatable, the characters were so realistic especially Paige. As soon as I picked it up I was hooked and I got into it straight away.
I enjoyed the storyline and the plot twists.... Read Full Review
