Drift

What would you do if a thousand bees settled in the walls of your house? What about if a video of the worst moment of your life went viral? You might have your own answers, but for Nate and Luna, the two teenage voices of Pip Harry’s new verse novel Drift, the key to solving their problems lies in each other. For Nate, recently uprooted from life in Singapore, Luna is the perfect first new friend and, more importantly, the perfect ally to help protect his bees from extermination. For Luna, new-kid Nate is the only person at school who hasn’t seen the video and doesn’t see her differently because of it. It also helps that they’re next-door neighbours – friendship was almost an inevitability.

Although these two central sources of conflict in Drift – bees and internet infamy – are certainly exceptional, they both speak to real challenges of adolescence: with his dad still working in Singapore and his mum disabled by a slipped disc in her spine, Nate has already been thrust towards independence, but the swarm of bees becomes a responsibility he embraces and grows from. Likewise, while not every teen gets turned into a social pariah overnight, everyone who’s been to high school knows the tensions and stresses of friendship have only been amplified by the speed and anonymity of the internet. Add in Pip Harry’s great use of verse to strike right at the heart of each scene and you get a thoroughly entertaining book that addresses a lot, without ever feeling overstuffed. For ages 12+.