Love, Ghosts, & Facial Hair
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I'm a normal guy. An average sixteen-year-old. I think about sex, sport, & nose hair. Sex mostly. Jack's got a lot on his mind: He's trying to figure out the mystery of the opposite sex, he can't stop wondering about facial hair, and he won't let go of his mother's ghost, even though she died seven years ago. Jack knows he can't hang on to the past forever, but what he doesn't know is how to let go. Then he meets Annabel. She's beautiful, smart, and she gets him. Suddenly love makes sense, and the future seems hopeful. And for the first time, Jack feels ready to leave the past where it belongs.Publishers WeeklyIn Love, Ghosts & Facial Hair, the first of these two tender free-verse books, Jack, an aspiring writer growing up in western Australia, and his family finally cope with the death of his long-dead mother. In its sequel, Jack and girlfriend Annabel trade university for a road trip, ending up only "a few hundred kilometres down the road" working for an apple farmer and getting enmeshed in the farm family's hardships. Writing from multiple perspectives and with sentimentality tempered by humor, Australian author Herrick produces complicated characterizations and communicates warmth. In Love, Jack recounts a story his sister told him of his mother getting her cancer diagnosis ("that day was the middle of a heatwave/ but she shivered/ as she stepped from the surgery/ and saw Dad waiting in the car/ and both of us/ waving from the back seat./ she knew/ the doctor, the heatwave/ or this death/ couldn't touch her"). Off-topic poems in the first book, about a new teacher, or Annabel's poetry assignment, detract slightly, and Place may feel a bit saturated in problems (not only has the farmer's wife abandoned the family, but the oldest daughter is pregnant after a rape). On balance, however, poems about Jack and his dad trying to tear down an old playhouse in Love, or Emma making promises to her unborn child in Place ("and I touch my stomach/ and I whisper,/ `I won't ever leave you/ I won't ever...' ") provide lasting and believable images. Ages 14-up. (Mar.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
My family1My name22My family (the dream one)43My family (the real one)54My family (the truth)65Sex, sport, & nose hair86Desiree on sex107Another poem on sex, sport, & nose hair118A writer129The great poem1410Love is like a gobstopper1511Desiree on facial hair1612Violence in the family17There's a ghost in our house13Cancer2014Don't believe2115The photo2216The family holiday2317There's a ghost in our house2418Shoes, socks, the lock on the bathroom door2619Coooeee2820Dad writes poetry3021The family team3222The cubbyhouse3423Wine3624Signature3725Katoomba3826The new teacher4027Shiver42The wild orchard28Valentine's day4629Annabel on Jack4730I kiss Annabel's photo4831There's more to life than Annabel5032First date5233Annabel writes poetry!5434Annabel5535Annabel and the ghost5636The ghost is away5837The fireplace6038Ezra finds the hut6139Megalong creek hut6240Annabel and the wild orchard63Making a living41The funeral6642Desiree6743Careers6844Selling up7045The wreck7146Dad didn't come home last night7247Sunday lunch7448The earthquake7649What I do for a living7850All her brain cells7951Solo Desiree8052The ghost spoke to me last night8253Father of the year8354Annabel writes a poem for english8555Winter Annabel87Echoes56My son is seeing a girl9057Sex, sport, and nose hair (according to Annabel)9258Blue mountains school9459Bloody rain9660Confessions9861The right reasons10062The bike ride10263Monday, the last before holidays10464Ms Curling10665Annabel kisses10866It's easy1096737 lines11068Telling the ghost11269Echoes114
