Joanne Owen's Pick of the Year 2015 “Words scare me, the lies and the truth, so I decided to stop using them,” so declares Tess, the troubled heroine of this remarkable novel about alienation, family conflict, the often cruel dynamics of school and, ultimately, the struggle to find one’s place.
Everything changes for Tess when she uncovers an earthshattering family secret. With her whole life pulled apart and seemingly founded on a lie, Tess makes a stand by retreating into selective mutism, thus the voice she’s always used to please others is transformed into a form of rebellion. In place of conversing with people, Tess communicates with the fish-shaped torch she bought when planning to run away.
But while Tess withdraws into herself, the outside world becomes increasingly hostile.
Always inimitable and never confined by convention or recourse to cliché, Annabel Pitcher’s protagonists are consistently created with insight and honesty, warts and all, and Silence is Goldfish is an unforgettable novel. ~ Joanne Owen
'I know what planet I am, thank you very much and I am sick of trying to bump myself up the solar system when my true position is obvious, just ask the dinner lady with the crinkly face who spotted it a mile off. At primary school when people tried to find friends, I tried to find space that my imagination could fill with whatever it wanted - nearly always butterflies, because to me they were perfection, like real-life fairies, with prettier wings.' Tessie-T has never really felt she fitted in and after what she read that night on her father's blog she knows for certain that she never will.
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'I know what planet I am, thank you very much and I am sick of trying to bump myself up the solar system when my true position is obvious, just ask the dinner lady with the crinkly face who spotted it a mile off. At primary school when people tried to find friends, I tried to find space that my imagination could fill with whatever it wanted - nearly always butterflies, because to me they were perfection, like real-life fairies, with prettier wings.' Tessie-T has never really felt she fitted in and after what she read that night on her father's blog she knows for certain that she never will.
The LoveReading4Kids Editorial Team have read and reviewed Silence Is Goldfish and determined it is suitable for children aged 11-18 years old
Silence Is Goldfish features in the following genres: Books Reviewed by our Reader Review Panels, Recommendations, Featured Books for 13+ readers, Stories about Family and Friends, Children's and Young Adult Fiction, Children’s, Teenage and Educational, PSHE: Self-Awareness, Self-Esteem and Wellbeing, Personal Social Health Economic (PSHE), Recommended Children's eBooks, Featured Books for 11+ readers, Featured Books for Young Adults
Paperback, Hardback. Not Available.
Silence Is Goldfish was written by Annabel Pitcher and published by Orion Children's Books an imprint of Hachette Children's Group
Silence Is Goldfish has 384 pages
