16/12/2024
Name : Ashleigh Meikle
Location : Australia
Title : imbued with mystery
Review : ‘Wasted?’ s imbued with mystery and a sense of seeking to create a perfect world, yet there always seems to be something sinister bubbling underneath, as though someone wants to destroy things and ruin the progress that has been made – if that is what they are doing. And as Kit becomes embroiled in the socio-political goings on whilst grappling with his relationship with his mother, the story unfolds piece by piece, emphasising the need to act and stand up for what you believe in.’

16/12/2024
Name : Jen Scanlan
Location : Australia
Title : Great theme
Review : ..it’s not a book of facts, it’s a story. A teenage boy, clever scientists, refugees looking for a place to belong, and a cat, with a possible murder to solve. ..recommended for readers 11 + who like thinking differently and learning about the world, and teachers who want to pick up some of these themes.

16/12/2024
Name : Jan Harkin
Location : Australia
Title : Loving it
Review : I’m reading Wasted? at the moment and enjoying so much the way it encourages young people to think about solutions rather than bombarding them with problems that can seem insurmountable. The imagined world is grounded in scientific research, adding to its effectiveness as a stimulus for young readers to think about the world around them.

16/12/2024
Name : George Ivanoff
Location : Australia
Title : A very poignant and thought-provoking novel
Review : Wasted s imbued with mystery and a sense of seeking to create a perfect world, yet there always seems to be something sinister bubbling underneath, as though someone wants to destroy things and ruin the progress that has been made – if that is what they are doing. And as Kit becomes embroiled in the socio-political goings on whilst grappling with his relationship with his mother, the story unfolds piece by piece, emphasising the need to act and stand up for what you believe in. The novel doesn’t provide solutions – it’s not meant to, but it does give readers something to think about. It provokes us into thinking about climate change and how it is affecting and going to affect the world, and what people might be forced into, or how they might have to live. It also looks at the implications of COVID and what it could do to small community like this, and its ongoing presence in the world. Wasted? is an interesting novel by a well-known Australian author, Hazel Edwards. It feels very real, very immediate and is a timely novel that reminds us of the lengths people have to go to so they can survive climate change.

16/12/2024
Name : Gaby Meares
Location : Australia
Title : Great Read
Review : Hazel Edwards’ name will be familiar to most readers for her delightful series of picture books, beginning with There’s a Hippopotamus on our Roof Eating Cake, published in 1980. Since then, she has written numerous books for children of all ages. She was awarded an OAM for Literature in 2013. Hazel writes young adult fiction to explore certain political and social issues, in the belief that 13–19-year-olds ‘can make a difference and are often passionate about social issues but unsure if they or their thinking can make a difference’. In Wasted? she explores the challenges faced by asylum seekers together with innovative ways to use ocean garbage to create biofuel and an income for refugees looking to create a new life. The story is told by Kit, a 16-year-old boy who joins his mother on a shanty boat beside a garbage patch in the middle of an ocean. Volunteers on this floating craft are working together to create a utopian society that can gain economic independence by creating biofuel from the surrounding garbage. There is a lot of information in this book, some of it quite technical. Kit arrives on the boat knowing nothing, so it’s via his questions we discover how this boat operates and what the people on it hope to achieve. Some readers may feel overwhelmed by the amount of information provided – in Hazel’s accompanying notes she says she was ‘conscious of getting the research background in’. This leads to the book being heavy on dialogue; there is a lot of ‘telling’ and very little ‘showing’. According to her WIP Challenges in Writing, which she kindly provided with a copy of the book, Kit was 13 years old in her original draft, but she made him older to appeal to a wider audience. Unfortunately, he still reads like a 13-year-old in the way he speaks and acts, with a limited vocabulary (for example, he needed the words ‘toxin’ and ‘dystopia’ explained to him). She debated with herself in regard to how to end the book, asking herself if leaving it open-ended was a cop-out for the writer – she has chosen to leave it ‘open for the reader to decide what choice might have been made’. I found this ending unsatisfactory, but other readers might find it intriguing. It is important that books for younger readers are available that address the issues surrounding both climate change and the refugee crisis. I hope this book inspires readers to further explore both these vital issues. More information is available at the author’s website.

29/11/2024
Name : Cel Jel
Location : Australia
Title : What a very interesting world this story has
Review : The creation of a garbage recycling centre in the middle of the ocean allowing refugees and asylum seekers work that can lead towards gaining visas and keep them from the camps. A boy goes to join his mother who lives there, leaving from where he and his father had lived. I found the build up to the end was well paced and I think the book would be a good one to help trigger thought on issues to do with consequences of war, of scientific developments and how to assess risk, of greed, and the different ways people think.

13/11/2024
Name : Sherryl Clark
Location : Australia
Title : Fantastic Concept
Review : What a fantastic concept. I have heard of the "island" out in the Pacific ocean, a literal island of plastic waste that grows bigger by the day. What could you do with it? You could live on it! Hazel Edwards has explored an exciting new idea, with a feisty main character. How would YOU live on an island of plastic, or a boat attached to it?

13/11/2024
Name : Jen Scanlan
Location : Australia
Title : Great Read
Review : I just read ‘Wasted’ by Hazel Edwards, and I loved it! It’s a unique, divergent approach to refugees and environmental issues. It is set in a new state, the garbage patch, and is backed by research into oceans, calcification, diatoms and much more. I learnt so much from it, but it’s not a book of facts, it’s a story. A teenage boy, clever scientists, refugees looking for a place to belong, and a cat, with a possible murder to solve. There’s an artist in it, too! The book gives hope for a different future for refugees, as their gifts come together in a mind-blowing way. The author doesn’t provide answers; the point is that we can work together in new ways to find solutions. Recommended for readers of 11+, who like thinking differently and learning about the world., and teachers who want to pick up some of these themes. It would be great to use with an upper primary class or group of capable readers, and also comfortably with a Stage 4 class. There’s much more to explore than I can express here. Hazel has a website with free resources. www.hazeledwards.com