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Breaking the Wishbone

Breaking the Wishbone

by SiobhanParkinson (Author)

  • Used

    Paperback 1999

    $4.20
Synopsis

A group of teenagers, adrift from their families, scraping together a makeshift home in the House that Everyone Forgot. According to Johnner, it's like camping, like being on your holidays all the time. But then Johnner's just a kid. They find out soon enough, all of them, just how harsh life is when you're young, poor and homeless. The reality of living rough in a Dublin squat faces them with more difficult challenges in their already troubled lives.

$4.20

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1 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 192
 Publisher: O'Brien Press Ltd
Published: 31 Oct 1999
ISBN 10: 0862786355
ISBN 13: 9780862786359
Children’s book age: 12+ Years

Media Reviews
'This is exactly how young homeless people are, how they sound, how they react, how they cope with their situation, living in a culture permeated with drugs, deprivation, violence, and still managing to make some sort of a life for themselves and to find some hope. The book is very funny and at the same time heartbreakingly sad, but above all it is absolutely accurate.' -- Sr Stanislaus Kennedy (President, Focus Ireland)
'This is a hard-hitting novel dealing with a situation which is becoming increasingly common among young people today.' -- Joan Lombard - Northern People
'Breaking the Wishbone is the novel as documentry ... it does not seem like a novel at all: the result is a venture of high risk, but one the succeeds magnificently' -- Robert Dunbar - The Irish Times * The Irish Times *
'A very tough story but one which you don't want to put down' -- Mary Finn - RTE Guide * RTE Guide *
'It is at times heartbreakingly sad and very funny, but wholly credible.' -- Children's Books in Ireland * Children's Books in Ireland *
Author Bio
Having grown up in Galway and Donegal, Siobhan Parkinson has lived most of her adult life in her native Dublin. She studied English literature and German at Trinity, and went on to take her doctorate in English literature. She has worked for many years as an editor, a profession that very closely resembles that of writing. She concentrates more on her writing these days, but is also a very active member of the writers-in-schools scheme, and she gives workshops in creative writing and talks on her work in all sorts of situations. She has held various writing residencies and has been editor of, Inis -- The Children's Books Ireland Magazine, and Bookbird, the IbBy International magazine. Her books have won numerous awards and been translated into lots of languages, her favourites being Latvian, because it is so different, and Japanese, because it is back to front. Her husband, Roger Bennett, is a woodturner and teacher, and her son Matthew is almost grown up. Being her son didn't do him too much harm, he claims, but time will tell. Her book Sisters ... no way! won the Bisto Book of the Year award. Four Kids, Three Cats, Two Cows, One Witch (maybe) won a Bisto Merit Award. Siobhan's next book, The Moon King, also won a Bisto Merit Award and was on the iBbY Honour List 2000, in Ireland's first year as a member of iBbY. Siobhan was Ireland's first Laureate na nOg (Children's Laureate) from 2010-2012.