Description
Alytash and Leopold - Tash and Leo - are neighbours who used to be best friends, but aren't anymore, for reasons that Leo doesn't entirely understand. But now it's the last week of Year Six and Tash is standing in Leo's front yard with a misdelivered letter - and a favour to ask.
It's a request that will set off a chain of events in their little crescent in Noble Park, a suburb that is changing, and fast.
As they solve an unfolding neighbourhood mystery and help Ms Shepparson, a reclusive neighbour with a tragic past, Tash and Leo each has to confront fault lines in their own recent histories and families.
They will discover that friendships can grow and change, that bravery takes many forms, and that, most of all - whatever the future holds - friends and family are what matter.
Six Summers of Tash and Leopold is for fans of Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia and Nova Weetman's The Secrets We Keep, as well as Danielle Binks' previous bestseller, The Year the Maps Changed - and for anyone who enjoys a big, hopeful, coming-of-age middle-grade book that features complicated families and life-changing summers.
Review
Tash and Leo have been neighbours for years and they used to be best friends as well. They haven’t spoken for ages so when Tash turns up at Leo’s place one day with a letter and a request for help, he can’t say no.
This encounter leads to more conversations and they soon spend lots of time together, exploring and sharing the issues they are both facing with their lives and families.
Leo is dealing with stress and anxiety as his dad is away getting help with his gambling addiction, and he is trying to fit in at a new school in Year 7 where he knows no one. He just can’t cope with all the changes, and keeps having panic attacks and stays home from school. Tash is recovering from cancer and is scared that it will come back, and she is being home schooled and trying to cope with the unknown.
I loved this book and it will be one that stays with me for a long time. Set in Noble Park (a place I know well as I also had family that lived there), this story is heart warming and realistic.
Both Tash and Leo are truly wonderful characters that have their own quirks and problems, but the friendship between them is central to the whole story. Danielle Binks writes with such compassion and warmth about difficult subjects, and she had me smiling and crying at different times throughout the story. This book will be loved by readers of all ages, from upper primary onwards.
Teacher Notes prepared by the publisher are available on our website for this title.
