Post-apocalyptic, dystopian novels might not be the first thing you think of when looking for a book for 11+ year olds, but that’s exactly what Manon Steffan Ros serves up in The Blue Book of Nebo.
Dylan was just six years old when the electricity went off and he had to learn to live in a world after The End.
With just his mum for company, Dylan - now 14 - tries to make sense of the world by writing his thoughts down in an old blue notebook. Dylan’s musings, punctuated by the alternate narrative of his mum, paint a picture which gradually reveals to us what their world is like and how they ended up living such an isolated life.
The book doesn’t veer away from the darker side of life – consumerism, climate change, nuclear threats, violence – all are alluded to as possible causes of The End, and at times we see all too clearly the difficulties Dylan and his mum have to face, both practically and emotionally.
Yet far from the depressing tome this description may suggest, it is a book filled with love and hope. Remembering little from the time before, Dylan thrives in this new, simpler world, showing strength, determination and a practicality which many parents in our own screen-driven world would love to see in their own children.
While the novel is not without its heartache, the love between this mother and son is tenderly portrayed, and despite the ambiguity around the actual events of The End, the novel certainly prompts the reader to consider more deeply the realities of the world in which we live, and what we would do differently if we had the chance to start over again.
This is a lovely book, though a little slow at times for me. Personally, I would have liked to see a little more of the mother’s perspective, but this is certainly a classic example of reader bias, and I would certainly recommend this to my son and others of his age as a thoughtful but hopeful read.
If you like ‘The Blue Book of Nebo’, why not try…?
· Brother in the Land by Robert Swindells
· The Stranding by Kate Sawyer
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