Worse Things
Age 10+
Poetry
Worse Things is a story about connections, the ways they are made, and what happens when they are lost or illusive, from the award-winning author of Pearl Verses the World and Toppling.
Winner of QLD CBCA Bilby Award for Younger Readers 2021
Worse Things follows the lives of three main characters: Blake, an Aussie Rules football player who suffers a devastating injury; Jolene, a hockey player who hates the game and and is grieving over the recent death of her father; and Amed, a soccer-loving, non-English speaking orphan who feels like an outsider since arriving in Australia after being raised in a refugee camp.
A touching and inspirational story about connections and the things that bind us all.
Worse Things by Sally Murphy and Sarah Davis, selected as an Honour Book in the CBCA Book of the Year: Younger Readers category 2021.
Resources
Creators
Sally Murphy is the author of more than 28 children's books. Her first illustrated verse novel with Walker Books Australia, Pearl Verses the World (illustrated by Heather Potter) won the children's book category for the Indie Book of the Year awards, 2009; was awarded Honour Book in the Younger Readers category, Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards, 2010; and won the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards, 2010, Best Book for Language Development, Upper Primary (8-12 years). Toppling (illustrated by Rhian Nest James) won the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, Children's Book - Mary Ryan's Award, 2010 and the Children's Book for the 2010 Western Australian Premier's Book Awards. It has also been short-listed for the 2010 Speech Pathology Australia, Book of the Year Awards, Upper Primary category and the 2011 Children's Book Council of Australia Awards, Younger Readers Notable Books.
Reviews
a really quick emotional read told in verse… 4/5
Blue Fairy Tales
Highly recommended… a wonderful story of finding your place, of belonging, of working out who your friends are, of reaching out.
ReadPlus
Beginning from the covers, this verse novel is stunning in every way. It is an experience not to be missed.
Kids Book Review
4 stars. A wonderful collection of prose verse
I Dream of All the Books - Instagram
I loved reading this highly engaging, captivating and also heart-felt book!
Alphabet Soup
