Unboxed (Super-readable YA)

Short but well written. A great story line and easy to understand but still interesting. A little on the sad side but a wonderful read!

It was short and sweet and everything I love about Non Pratt. I'm not one for short books, I like chunky books full of words about worlds and battles and love, but this was none of that and yet I really really liked it."I know why we all fell apart, that's just what happens. But things that fall apart can be put back together, right? Even if there's a piece missing."The whole book is from one POV, Alix's, although it focus' on the entire group of Alix, Ben, Dean and Zara. (Zara's boyfriend Ash is also there, but he is a jerk so I will be ignoring his presence!). I was only with these characters for 139 pages but I feel like I got to know them all so well even in such a short space of time.Non is amazing at capturing the voices of teenagers and making them real and believable. She is not patronising or stupid and cheesy. She speaks about all the idiotic and the totally raw and honest things that teenagers are about. She makes them relate-able and she makes us think back to when we where teenagers and find our younger selves in the characters.I really liked the idea of the time capsule, I've always wished that I had done one with my friends at school. In this case of this one it becomes the opportunity to bring these four characters back together again and gives them a night to reminisce about an amazing summer they experience and to grieve together for their friend."I never really believed it would come to this. Death was something that happened in other people's stories. Not mine. Not Millie's."I also wanted to mention at this point that the paper copies of this book are dyslexic friendly. What does that mean, you ask? That was my question when I bought it, because in my naivity I thought that dyslexia was all about seeing letters wrong, so how could you make a dyslexic friendly book?It's on thicker (and slightly yellow) paper which helps to make a better contrast between the age and the letters and also stops "ghosting" (the words on the other side of the page showing through. It is also printed with a specific type face which apparently the most easy for dyslexic people to read.Sure, it looks slightly different from my other paperback books, but I couldn't help but find the whole thing fascinating. And who cares if the book looks a little different if it means that more people get to enjoy it?"But the thing about knowing you're about to die is that you spend a lot of time thinking about being alive. Way more than you do if you're actually going to live - living takes up so much brain space that it squished out the other stuff. The important things. Like when you feel like the best version of yourself. Who was there when you did. Whether you've been chasing that version of yourself ever since and never found her."

I work in a school and I have the great privilege of working in the school’s library. We are really lucky because I know a lot of schools have had their libraries closed down; they are seen as a costly resource. I always get angry at this because I saw a news report that said out 24 countries in Europe, the UK came 23rd out of 24 for literacy skills. We were nearly at the bottom of the table. Yet valuable resources like libraries are being closed down within schools. To me, that is barmy.The reason I mention this is that my students always come to me and ask for book recommendations. This is great but the chances are that these students aren’t reluctant readers. They come to me asking me about the YA fiction that I have read and loved. Non Pratt’s Trouble is one such book (I loved it and you can read about how much I loved it here). However, I must admit that I do struggle when trying to find books for some of my students who aren’t as enthused about reading as I am. I just don’t read that many books at that level; I’ve had the love of books and reading instilled in me since I was a young girl.Now though, I have the answer. Non Pratt’s new release Unboxed is specifically for reluctant readers and it is printed in a dyslexia friendly font and on thick tinted paper. Besides all of these technical details, Unboxed is just a damn good story.It is the story of friendship and how people and circumstances can change. I suppose because as teenagers we believe we are invincible. Nothing can touch us. Unboxed makes us realise that we aren’t and that we need to make every moment count. It is a coming of age story that is really powerful in its delivery. From the reluctant reader texts that I have read I can honestly say that Unboxed is nothing like them. I have been harping on lately about how modern day YA fiction doesn’t talk down to its readers. Writers are treating readers with respect and making sure that they tackle real world issues. Writers of this genre are not shying away from the harder topics. Non Pratt is one such author.Unboxed is brilliant. It will make your heart ache and it will make you want to tell everyone you know that they need to read it – reluctantly or not.Unboxed by Non Pratt is available now.For more information regarding Non Pratt (@NonPratt) please visit [...].For more information regarding Barrington Stoke (@BarringtonStoke) please visit [...]

Sometimes the things you believe in remain the same. At 13, how would you know? How many of us would like the chance to get to look back on the things we said and did as teens?Unboxed is a simple story that focuses on a group of friends. They haven’t seen each other for a while, but when one of their group dies they fulfil the promise to open the box they put together one special summer.Initially - perhaps because of the target audience - this felt we were glossing over things. However, by the time we get to the end we realise we’ve been shown the group and their dynamic perfectly.The group were shown to have moved on in some ways, but the way this unravelled showed that in some cases the friends you have in your teenage years may well know you better than you think.

I loved this. Utterly believable characters that I laughed with and worried about and mourned over. It's a Barrington Stoke 'Super-readable' production - quite short, really clearly formatted and easy to read (I passed it by the in-house dyslexics!) without losing any of the complexity of story.Perdita

I know it’s meant to be a short, easy read but honestly the premise that each character had a deep dark secret ended up being a total let down. I thought maybe they would have some kind of terrible involvement in Millie’s death or something equally as dramatic but nope, each of their secrets was pretty underwhelming to be honest. With the small amount of pages in this book I was expecting a short but shocking story but I was disappointed

Awesome book for teens touching on a triggering subject of the death of a friend. Short, dyslexic friendly and very readable makes this a must for those looking for an emotional read.