The Book of Everything
Guus Kuijer
Allen & Unwin 2006

It is really hard to keep a secret.  But when you know that there is something terribly wrong in the secret, it can be even harder to tell it. 

These two books are about kids and secrets.  Not kids’ secrets, these are adult secrets, family secrets, and these stories are about how adults use kids to try to keep them. 

In Helicopter Man Pete and his dad are on the run.  They have to hide and escape whenever the helicopters are near but Pete’s dad will not say why. They have been doing it for several years but now Pete begins to wonder why they cannot live like other people.  There are clues but they lead to answers that are dangerous and painful.  To find the real secret of what is out there, Pete has to look much closer at his dad. 

The Book of Everything is by one of Holland’s leading authors and it, too, is about the secrets inside a family.  Thomas can see things that no-one else knows.  He sees the bottom-biter that terrifies the children of his street, and he sees the witch who lives down the road.  But it is the secret of what he sees at home that really scares him. 

Both these books look at the desperation of kids who have to face the secrets that control their lives.  Pete and Thomas are ordinary children but each of them gradually finds the strength to take steps to deal with the extraordinary secrets.  

And both stories are brilliantly written. They are gripping and suspenseful and make the reader put together the few clues that each boy has.  In both cases, everything might not be sorted in the end, but at least the secrets are out and the boys each learn what they can do. 

And as for the secrets?  I would love to tell you but that would spoil Thomas’ and Pete’s stories and undo all the effort and courage they had to show.

Review by David Beagley

© 2006 David Beagley