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Mahaffey's Review: Tomorrow, When the War Began
Tomorrow, When the War Began (by John Marsden) ISBN 0-419-82910-0
This young adult (“YA’) novel of adventure, romance and survival is a modern classic. The setting is in rural Australia, with lush and descriptive backdrops. The vision Marsden paints of Australia is wondrous and pictorial. A group of unsupervised teens set off on a high adventure camping expedition, alone for a week in the wilderness. (Yes, my eyebrows rose on that one, too.) Upon returning from the holiday they find their homes empty, pets and livestock dying or dead and communications down. Most of the town has been captured and is being detained in a make-shift camp. Sounds like a facsimile of the film, Red
Dawn
This is a coming of age novel with all of the expectations of that phrase. It is a survival story of teens that are jerked from the normalcy of a comfortable home and high-school life to living and surviving in an occupied country. They are forced to evade the occupiers, provide food, shelter and security for themselves. Romance blooms while sorting through life changing decisions. This book will definitely open a YA mind to “What if’s”. The young reader is positioned to reflect, “What would I have done?” Throughout the book there is a growing maturity in discussions as well as logical choices and survival skills. The lessons of loyalty and family bonds are presented in a non-sermonizing manner.
Overall, Marsden has the depiction of the average seventeen-year-old spot on. The language and interaction is genuine. The early banter is a little bawdy at times although not explicit. Profanity is not an issue. I know the preoccupation with infatuations in this age group. (Contrary to the opinions of my children, I was not cloned in a tube and emerged as a mid-life adult.) Even so, I felt I was chin deep in teenage, moon-eyed angst. Early in the story romantic fantasies abound. However, there is a fruition of a developing perspective leading the YA to a more mature view. This is a clever device, making the YA reader relate with the YA characters as they evolve. As an adult reader I found glimpse into the developing YA psyche interesting.
John Marsden is an award winning author, published in over nine languages and has written over 40 books. Being an educator he has the ‘voice’ of the young adult characters to perfection. Tomorrow is the first of a series of seven YA books following Ellie and her friends. This saga remains one of the most popular YA reads today, recommended for middle school and older. The original publication was 1993 by Pan MacMillan. I am reviewing the First Point paperback edition, a Scholastic book, published in 2006.
Two caveats about this book. I feel several of the sexually oriented topics are inappropriate for a middle school age child. As I implied in the first paragraph, I am not sure what you think about an entire week of unchaperoned, hormonal teenagers in the wilderness, but in my home that’s not an option.
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