Jessica Davidson – April 3 2016

National Youth Week – April 8-17 2016

National Youth Week is an annual, week-long celebration of young people (aged 12–25) throughout Australia.

Jessica started writing when she was fifteen and tore her knee cartilage. Her father claims he’s the inspiration for her writing as he used to make up wonderful stories when Jessica and her sister were little. Jessica’s sister claims she’s the inspiration because she and Jessica used to write and illustrate books called The Boogy Woogy Sheep. Jessica was only 22 when her first novel, What Does Blue Feel Like?, was published. She went on to win the Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist Award in 2008. Jessica lives in Queensland, where she divides her time between teaching and writing. every thing left unsaid is her second novel.

What Does Blue Feel Like? [Verse novel]
Pan Macmillian, 2007; ISBN 9780330423076
Teen
Char is seventeen, in her last year of school, and struggling with depression. She’s in a mess. She can’t sleep, she can’t eat. She feels … nothing. As she deals with her parents, her boyfriend, her friends, parties, school work and exams, we feel just what it’s like to be 17 and so unsure that the future is anything more than just a concept of time. Confronting, realistic, funny and chilling, the kaleidoscopic emotions of a teenager on the edge are poignantly conveyed in powerful verses that weave in and out of Char’s view of the world, and the views of those around her who watch, disturbed, helpless, as Char slowly loses herself.

every thing left unsaid [Verse novel]
Pan Macmillan, 2012; ISBN 9780330424950
Teen
“I wait for him, the cold seeping through my clothes, until it finally dawns on me that he’s not coming back. And I wonder why he chose her instead of me? Why he went looking for her when I was right there.” Tai and Juliet have been best friends forever – since they met in kindy and decided in Year 1 to get married. They love music, beach walks, energy drinks and they understand each other in the way that only best friends can. As they begin to dream of adventures beyond the HSC – a future free of homework, curfews, parents – their plans are suddenly derailed. For Tai is sick. And not everything you wish for can come true. A poignant story of first love, hope, grief, family, and the twistedness of life.