My Big Birkett by Lisa Shanahan

My Big Birkett by Lisa Shanahan


Today was one of the days where I feel absolutely privileged to work at a publisher. I had nothing to do, so my editor gave me a book to read that was sent to us by the Australian publisher Allen & Unwin, as they are trying to find an American distributor for this book. She told me to just start reading it and see what I thought. The book was My Big Birkett by Lisa Shanahan.

I started . . . and continued . . . and read some more . . . I laughed out loud and made funny noises all the way through reading the manuscript. My editor said that the best way to convince anyone of its merit would be to tape me reading the book and my reactions to it, lol.

It's a Young Adult novel, and I really loved it (which of course does not mean that teens would love it or that my editor will, but I sure hope she does). It was funny, but also sharp, serious, and moving. The author has a theater background, and that really shone through in the way she incorporated Shakespeare's The Tempest into the text. It's also great to read the Australian version because the author of course used phrases and slang that you'd never find in America, which made the book especially fun. I think this would be a great benefit to the book in the US, in the same way that the British series which began with the book Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging has become a success.

On the extremely low liklihood that an Australian or New Zealander happens upon my blog, I will strongly recommend this book, and I hope it comes to the US within the next year. I'm crossing my fingers that my editor likes it!