When 12 year old wanna-be-climate-scientist Dell and her frog-loving bestie Teddy stumble across a crop circle in a nearby sugarcane field, life changes. The crop circle means Dell’s UFO-chasing mother is back and just expects Dell, her Dad and her three sisters to be happy to see her. But it’s been five years since her Mum left and Dell is so angry she can’t seem to find the words to tell anyone how she feels.
Set in the small rural town of Tully in Queensland – home of the Golden Gumboot and a lot of rain – news of the crop circles spreads quickly. And when Dell’s Mum and her suspicious research buddy tell everyone to expect a visit from aliens real soon, things get even harder for Dell as tensions in her family grow. Dell wants to out her Mum as a liar so she’ll leave again, but getting proof of any deception is hard and Dell’s having just as much trouble talking about how she truly feels about her Mum anyway.
Plozza uses the characters, setting and plot well to explore the turmoil a parent/loved-one can bring when they choose another love or obsession over their children. But as someone who loves the use of dialogue to drive a story forward, I felt that spending so much time in Dell’s head slowed things a little too much at times.
Dell is written as a hardy character though and she is convinced that if she and Teddy can reveal the big hoax, then life will go back to the way it was before. It won’t of course, because Running in Circles is a coming-of-age tale and there are things Dell needs to learn, friendships she needs to forge, words she needs to say and choices she needs to make for all to work out well.
Young readers will readily relate to the topical themes of coming-of-age, grief and conflict, choices, family and friendship, and climate change underpinning this story.
Shivaun is a popular writer of YA and middle grade novels which include Summer of Shipwrecks, Meet Me at the Moon Tree, A Reluctant Witch’s Guide to Magic and The Boy, the Wolf and the Stars, all reviewed in StoryLinks.
