Sonny & Tess by Nova Weetman
First job. First crush. But it’s complicated.
It’s the end of year 7 and Tess wants a summer job. She’s keen to earn her own money and buy her own clothes. But her mum has other ideas: it looks like Tess will be stuck at home babysitting her twin brothers.
Thirteen-year-old Sonny is tired of moving around. With his dad up north, he’s staying with his uncle and aunt above their fish and chip shop. And it just so happens his uncle is hiring extra staff for the holidays.
When Sonny and Tess crash into each other outside the shop, sparks and dim sims fly. Soon they’re both wondering if the other feels the same way – but, as Sonny loves to say, it’s complicated.
Over hot chips and chicken salt, can these two work out what they really want?
Whenever Nova Weetman puts out a new book, it’s top of my list. I have never read a book of Nova’s that I didn’t love and her new younger YA, Sonny & Tess, is no exception. Set across a short period of time at the end of year seven, the story centres on the meet cute moment for Sonny and Tess, who instantly have a connection and a blossoming romance.
Tess lives with her younger twin brothers and her parents. Her mum works in a hospital and it seems to Tess that she is always at work. Tess has to look after her brothers and take on lots of responsibilities. Her mum loves rules that only she seems to break, but Tess longs to spread her wings. When she meets Sonny and learns that there’s a job going at the fish and chip shop, she decides that this is going to be her first step towards independence. Partly because she wants to experience the freedom of earning her own money and partly because, well, Sonny…
Sonny lives temporarily with his Uncle Frank and Aunt Marion above the fish and chip shop, because his dad is away working. He loves them, but also misses his dad, who is often away studying rocks on site as part of his work as a geologist. His mum walked out on them when he was little and went to England to make a new family, which clearly affects Sonny, although not on the surface. He is used to temporary living arrangements and new schools, but that doesn’t mean he likes the nomadic life. When they meet, Sonny is fascinated by Tess and begins to fall for her straight away.
Told in first person alternating points of view, we climb inside Sonny and Tess’s hearts and minds as they grapple with growing up and falling in love. Tess forges her mum’s signature in order to get the job at the fish and chip shop, creating an elaborate cover story for her time spent working there on Saturday afternoons, which eventually leads to potential disaster. Meanwhile, Sonny grapples with whether his parents really care about him and where he truly belongs, while learning more about Tess and himself.
A sweetly voiced, character driven story, it’s the first kiss, with chicken salt. A tale of two families, with teenagers who are finding their own pathways in life. I was reminded of my own first love and that excitement of simply being together and eventually holding hands – a small thing on the surface that feels monumental at this age. There’s that sense that more is to come, but for now, this is enough; the heady possibility of youth.
Nova captures this precious part of young teen life perfectly. She is a master at creating the teen voice. At its surface, this is a simple story about first love. But look deeper and you find a story of the complexities of family relationships, the pull for parents between their children and their work, and the importance of extended family and friends in young people’s lives. Issues of identity, truth and when to let go, are all woven into the narrative.
Perfect for the upper middle-grade and lower YA audience, Sonny & Tess will leave you craving potato cakes with chicken salt and reflecting on your own first kiss. Young readers will identify with both main characters and their best friends, turning the pages to discover whether Sonny & Tess make it to that very special moment of knowing that the other person feels the same way they do.
Highly recommended.
x Helen