Elizabeth Honey’s Stella Street books are great! The adventures of the very mixed bag of neighbours, faithfully told by young teen and aspiring author Henni Octon, are hilarious, touching and very, very real.

The Ballad of Cauldron Bay is the third in the series, after 45 & 47 Stella Street (and everything that happened) and Fiddleback (when Stella went bush). This time the Stella crew head off to a remote beach house somewhere down the Great Ocean Road to discover rock pools, bush, surfers, storms and, in Henni’s case, do a lot of growing up.

Nearly all the regular characters are there: Zev with the electric hair, Danielle the painful little sister, Frank and May the young audience of Henni’s story sagas, sensible adults Sue and Tibor, even Briquette the dog.

But Henni’s self image as author, observer and, thus, controller of the story is challenged by the arrival of another girl, Tara. Unlike Henni, Tara (Mascara) is into make-up, image and surfer guys. But she also has secrets and problems. So, as she and Henni spar, snipe and edge warily around each other, the reader can see the two young teenagers desperately trying to understand themselves and their place in the world.

Henni’s voice, confiding in Byron her computer, is very honest. She does not hide her feelings – excitement and delight is matched by confusion and sulking. Her final confrontation with Tara is entirely believable, desperately dangerous, and holds major surprises for both of them.

All the Stella Street books have so much for young teen readers. And it would also not be a bad idea for a few parents to read them too, for a pretty clear idea of how those teens think.
 

Other books by this author:
The Moon in the Man (Allen & Unwin, 2002)

Review by David Beagley

© 2004 David Beagley