I received a free proof copy of this, but will be buying the finished book. All views and opinions are my own.
The Final Year by Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton
As soon as I heard about this I knew it was one I would love – a northern, verse novel following Nate through a difficult final year of primary school.
And sure enough, love it I did. It’s likely to be in my favourite books of the year. Both beautiful and believable, this is a book that made me both laugh and cry.
For the first time since nursery Nate and best friend PS are in different classes and they’ve drifted apart as PS has fallen in with bully Turner. Already struggling to find his place without his friend, lunchtime football and weekend Fifa battles, Nate’s world is turned completely upside down when youngest brother Dylan is rushed to hospital.
‘The Noise’ in which Dylan is found unmoving in the night, and the poem that follows it absolutely blew me away before they broke me. Verse novels are always powerful in their immediacy, but nowhere is that more true than here. Drawing us into the confusion, panic, pain and then leaving us jolted and changed.
It is an absolute knock out piece of writing; I made the mistake of reading it on my lunch break at work and could barely hold it together to go back to the shopfloor, so much did I need to read on and know Nate was OK.
And not just Nate, but his other brother, cool kid Jax and his bingo-playing, cider-drinking, step-sitting, hearts-of-gold-despite-their-shortcomings mum and ‘auntie’ San too. This is a family you want to come through, a family that don’t have it easy but do have each other, a family that you don’t often see in stories.
These kids are not packing picnics and heading off on a very middle class adventure with hot chocolate and sleepovers waiting at the end of it all. Rather, there’s the impression of a family struggling but somehow muddling through.
This is a family which so many children will (finally) see themselves in, and one which has clearly been written knowingly – there’s a wealth of observation, experience and understanding underpinning this. All of which means we avoid the clichés, the mawkish pity-party, or the need for a solution – this simply is how it is. And from one ex teacher – who’s also met these families, who’s known her Nates and Dylans – to another it feels spot on.
The scenes journeying to and from year 6 camp and the time Nate spends there are some of my favourites from the book and again are written with such understanding and perception.
I often find ex teachers write children and school life particularly well (Jenny Pearson I’m looking at you here) and Matt Goodfellow certainly knows the inner workings of a school and its inhabitants (‘Now, you’ve never seen Christmas til you’ve seen it in a primary school’ made me laugh out loud and weeks later I’m still chuckling). I’d like to wager there’s a fair bit of Matt’s former teacher self in Mr Joshua (though whether he’d admit to singing Bob Marley to his class I’m not sure!), but either way Mr Joshua is a wonderful character, as is new friend Caleb.
Both offer the support and encouragement and creativity and hope and possibility and stability Nate needs. I’m tearing up again thinking about the penultimate poem in the book from Nate’s final day in year 6. Everyone, especially kids like Nate, need a Mr Joshua in their life.
They should also have access to a local library, though sadly many don’t (I won’t go off on a anti-Tory tangent here, but…) The library is something of a refuge for Nate, and it’s here that he first discovers David Almond (although it’s Mr Joshua who introduces him to Skellig).
And fellow northerner Almond and his books – in particular Skellig – are just as much a part of this book as anything else. References, nods and parallels pepper the book and it reads like the most glorious piece of fan mail, without – importantly – detracting or distracting from Nate’s story.
It has sent me back to Skellig too. A book which, if I’m honest, I don’t think I truly ‘got’ the first time I read it. Luckily I tried it again a while later, this time listening to the audio read by the man himself and I liked it more, and now having gone back again I truly love it (though Mina still steals the show for me, as well as my heart and hers will always be my favourite of the books).
And then there’s Joe Todd-Stanton’s illustrations; the illustrations in my copy are not all finished and I’m eagerly anticipating the finished product, but even with what’s here they add to the sense of place and character – one of the earliest images in the book of Nate’s family accompanying ‘These are my streets’ is such a perfect family portrait and so instantly recognisable.
This is a moving story of growing up, of change, of grief and crisis; of friendships and finding your tribe and making it through and having hope; of books and writing and drawing and creating; of hope and anger and humour and sadness and having each other’s backs. I loved it.
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