Bookshelf Best

This week's Bookshelf Best is one which will stick with the reader a long time after closing the book.

I know there have been many people gushing about this book, and it has attracted a LOT of positive attention. So I was determined not to like it. I even left it on my bedside table (only giving it an occasional ‘side eye’) for well over a week. When I picked up ‘The Final Year’ and realised it was a poetry book, I had flashbacks to trying to understand Shakespeare and felt smugly satisfied that there was no way I would enjoy this book. But then I started reading. And. I. Could. Not. Stop.  

 Nate is facing Year 6 in Primary school: new teacher; new classmates; and an absent best friend. In between making the dinner for his brothers, revising for his SATs and trying to hide his disappointment when there isn’t any money for his birthday presents, Nate’s littlest brother needs him more than ever.  

It’s raw, it’s real and it’s in your head within the first few pages. I loved it... even though I didn’t want to! I will be recommending it to every single Upper Key Stage 2 child.  

Teaching From Text's Bookshelf Best: 'The Final Year'

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