A Single Stone by Meg McKinlay

One of the things I love about the CBCA shortlist is that, each year, it encourages me to read books that I may not have taken the time to get to otherwise.

A Single Stone is one of those books that I'm delighted to have taken the time to discover.

Every girl dreams of being part of the line – the chosen seven who tunnel deep into the mountain to find the harvest. No work is more important. 

Jena is the leader of the line – strong, respected, reliable. And – as all girls must be – she is small; years of training have seen to that. It is not always easy but it is the way of things. And so a girl must wrap her limbs, lie still, deny herself a second bowl of stew. Or a first. 

But what happens when one tiny discovery makes Jena question the world she knows? What happens when moving a single stone changes everything?

I confess that the cover art and blurb didn't really draw me in initially. However, as I read through, the strength and beauty and appropriateness of the cover grew on me.

McKinlay's writing, though wowed me from start to finish.

I almost felt suffocated by claustrophobia as she described the girls tunnelling for mica in the first few pages.

And I immediately felt an affinity for her practical, thoughtful protagonist, Jena.

This is not a YA novel full of teen angst and teen issues (those stories are great for teens and those still in touch with our inner teen).
A Single Stone is much, much more than that. It is an engaging, engrossing novel with the universal themes of belonging and personal self discovery.

McKinlay has created a rich, believable post-disaster community doing what they have to, to survive the new conditions in which they now find themselves.

The ending was satisfying and felt right within the context of the story. Personally I would have enjoyed a little more dramatic tension and conflict around the role of the Mothers and the belief that the mountain was somehow giving advise and directives.

Both these points (societal conformity vs personal responsibility and our belief systems) would make for fabulous class discussions and McKinlay does provides plenty of provocations around these ideas to promote a healthy debate.

By the end, I realised that A Single Stone was more of a mature junior fiction book than a YA story.

Therefore I highly recommended it to 10+ readers and all lovers of a satisfying, well-written story.

• Winner, Queensland Literary Awards: Griffith University Children’s Book Award, 2015
• Winner, 2015 Aurealis Awards: Best Children’s Fiction
• Shortlisted, 2016 CBCA Book of the Year Awards: Older Readers Category
• Shortlisted, 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards: Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature
• Shortlisted, Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2016: Writing for Young Adults
• Shortlisted, 2016 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature: Young Adult Fiction Award
• Shortlisted, West Australian Young Readers Book Awards: Younger Readers

My CBCA shortlist post is here.