Popular YA author Nova Weetman was asked by a student why her books were always sad (and it’s true they often deal with weighty subjects like grief and loneliness) so she decided to do something about it. She has produced SONNY AND TESS (UQP 2025), a funny, quirky meet-cute rom-com that perfectly captures the heady rush of tween romance and attraction, the vital necessity of teen friendship, the yearning of children to be old enough to have a job and earn their own money, and the never-ending delights of salty hot chips.
Told in alternate voices, this story features Sonny, an endearing kid with a complicated family life. After his mum left, his dad immersed himself in his work as a geologist, finding refuge in rocks and the special places unique specimens can be found. He often works away, and while Sonny sometimes goes with him, this time he is staying with his Uncle Frank (cool, music-loving, owner of the fish and chip shop) and his Aunt Marion (kind, understanding, mother-figure). Sonny has come back from a recent trip to begin Year 7 at a new school, with all that entails (rumours regarding his exit from his last school, making new friends, finding his place). While Sonny suffers some abandonment issues from both the leaving of his mum, and the frequent absences of his dad, he finds comfort with Frank and Marion and is a pretty confident and laid-back lad.
Tess’ parents both work, often leaving her in charge of her (annoying) twin brothers, who are four years younger than her. She has to pick them up after school, make them snacks and sometimes dinner, and generally feels she’s got the short end of the stick. She wants to be a teenager and do adolescent things. What she most wants is to get a job and earn her own money. But she’s not yet 14 so would need one of her parents to give written permission – something she knows will never happen. But when a certain fish and chip shop advertises for help, Tess decides she’s had enough of being the nice girl and forges her mum’s signature to get the job. Serendipity that the cute new guy at school happens to be the nephew of the owner of the shop and also works there.
SONNY AND TESS is a sweet, funny, light, warm, nuanced story about first crushes, relationships, family complexities, and of course the awkwardness of tween self-consciousness about how you look, what you say, who you are friends with, how you act in school, what bike you ride, what music you listen to, how weird your family is, and whether you are different to how you think you should be. A delightful story that will resonate with all kids between about ten and 14, with familiar anxieties, dreams, worries and wishes. The sharp, witty dialogue and clever situational problems elevate this book to interest adult readers who will no doubt relive their messy, embarrassing, clumsy and grace-less gawkiness of their own young adolescence, while remembering the sweet delight of that first crush, that singular meeting, the accidental brush of a hand or the anticipation of a first kiss.