Review of The White Guinea-Pig

CHILDREN'S book awards have inherent tensions that literary awards for adults generally escape. They reward literary merit, but are also perceived by those working with children as guides for wide audience appeal. There is a perception that awarded books should be ones their audience will find immediately attractive and accessible.

Among the Children's Book Council shortlist for older readers, Ursula Dubosarsky's fine The White Guinea Pig reflects this tension.

Hers is an original voice and the writing is deliciously wry: Perhaps it was one of those mysterious tasks people's mothers find themselves doing in moments of deepest despair, like ironing sheets.

The story revolves around tentative Geraldine, her studious sister Violetta and her asexual boyfriend Marcus, who is obsessed with Africa, Ezra her next-door neighbor and his sorrowful family, who watch Paint Your Wagon over and over to ward off the pain of a child's death. All the characters' fears are symbolised by Geraldine's guinea pig Alberta, who roams the garden and the edge of the characters' vision in almost surreal fashion. Reading this book, you find yourself stopping to savor the small but penetrating insights offered on every page. It's a wonderful piece of writing that improves on every reading but, probably, it will find a select young readership.