Jasper Jones is an award winning book and a great read for young avid readers.
Late on a hot summer night in 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a precocious boy of 13, is startled by an urgent knock on the window. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the regional mining town of Corrigan. Rebellious, mixed-race and solitary, Jasper is a distant figure of danger and intrigue. So when Jasper begs for his help, Charlie eagerly steals into the night by his side. Jasper takes him through town to his secret glade in the bush, and it's here that Charlie bears witness to Jasper's horrible discovery. With his secret, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself as he locks horns with his tempestuous mother, falls nervously in love and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend. In the simmering summer where everything changes, Charlie learns why the truth of things is so hard to know, and even harder to hold in his heart.
Author: Craig Silvey