This Boy I Hardly Know
Binding: Paperback
Imprint: Andersen Press
Age 13+
Romance & Relationships Stories Personal & Social Issues: Family Issues Personal & Social Issues: Siblings
A beautiful coming-of-age love story and song to the bond of sisters and found families, combined with a tense drama set against our broken care system.
Sixteen-year-old Dusty is smart, talented and fiercely protective of her younger sister Poppy. They’ve been bounced from foster carer to foster carer, until one day the unthinkable happens: Dusty and Poppy are separated.
Dusty is sent to a children’s home in a different town; Poppy to a family hundreds of miles away. No one can say when they will see each other again.
Devastated but determined, Dusty has to find a way to reach Poppy. Everything seems stacked against her until she meets beautiful, fearless Cooper at the home, and together they decide to run…
What follows is a heart-breaking love story, road movie, tense police hunt, and hope-filled celebration of sibling bonds and kindness, which shines a light on a failing care sector where a quarter of children are living apart from their siblings.
Creators
Lisa Heathfield’s YA novels have all won or been shortlisted for awards, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize (twice), the YA Book Prize, the Virginia Reader’s Choice Award, the North East Teen Award, the Fabulous Book Award, the Leeds Book Award, the Concorde Book Award, the Southern Schools Book Award and the GDST Award.
Reviews
I read this book over three days and struggled to put it down!
Amelia, 14 , Reading2Smile blog
Heathfield highlights the issues within the care system, including how young people are restrained when they do not co-operate, but also the courage and vulnerability of these teenagers. A modern- day Junk for our times.
Bookseller
Sibling love, first-love soulmates, questionable care system ethics, and the cathartic, calming power of art and poetry — this YA debut amounts to a powerfully beautiful book
Love Reading 4 Kids
A moving and thought-provoking read about the fractured care system and children within it
ReadingZone
A wonderfully tender and insightful read…emotive, empathetic and thought-provoking
Books for Keeps
