October, October
Author Katya Balen
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Story
October lives in the forest with her dad and doesn’t see her mum any more. She doesn’t go to school and loves to be in the forest, learning about nature. When dad is injured in an accident October must go and live in the city with her mum. She hates the city. She has to go to school and she hates being with her mother. She hates her mother.
As her dad recovers things get better at school, she makes friends and discovers mudlarking and begins to rebuild her relationship with her mother.
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Why we chose it
A story about nature and living in the wild with themes of change and a child’s reaction to change.
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What a young reviewer said
The story seems to be plotted very nicely showing how much care the author has put into writing this book focusing on the descriptions of nature and October’s emotional world. (Zakia, age 13)
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First published
2020, Bloomsbury
Story Reviews
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The story follows October, an eleven-year-old girl who lives off-grid in the woods with her father. She’s wild, fierce, and deeply connected to the natural world. Her life is one of freedom and simplicity, until a sudden accident forces her to live in the modern world with her mother in London. October tries to find a way to go back to the forest away from her mother and away from London, she struggles with the difference between the life she once knew in the forest, running free and the one in London where she feels trapped The story seems to be plotted very nicely showing how much care the author has put into writing this book focusing on the descriptions of nature and October’s emotional world. The connection between October and the rescued owl adds a really nice extra detail to the themes of freedom and forgiving. While the plot felt very realistic, the book felt a bit slow at times. There was so much description it was quite hard to determine what was going on in the book and it took a while for the story to really move. In particular some parts felt a little repetitive and I found the style of writing hard to understand. Also, October’s inner voice was very unique but could be a bit intense or hard to connect with depending on the reader.
October, October was an interesting book with lots of nature and feelings. I liked how October was fearless and powerful, and some parts were really interesting like when it was her first time at school, but sometimes the story felt slow.