Being Jimmy Baxter by Fiona Lloyd

Title: Being Jimmy Baxter

Author: Fiona Lloyd

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Penguin/Puffin

Published: 4^th July 2023

Format: Paperback

Pages: 240

Price: $16.99

Synopsis: A gently funny yet powerful coming-of-age middle grade novel about surviving the odds, unlikely friendships, and the magical music of Elvis.

It’s not eggsactly easy being Jimmy Baxter ’cause:
· The real Jimmy’s hiding inside
· Ned Kelly’s giving him the evil eye
· Mum’s stopped going to work and stays in bed
· There’s no eggs in the fridge — or anything else.
AND there’s new jobs, bad-at-school brains and a whole lot of trouble called Duke.
But then . . . there’s Mac.

~*~

Jimmy and his Mum are running away, but he thinks they’re going on a holiday to a place with blue and yellow curtains. But things soon change, and they have to move again – and Jimmy finds out why. Once Jimmy Branthwaite, he has to become Jimmy Baxter – after his dad finds them and he works out why they’re moving and running – and they end up in a place called Mungo, where Jimmy has to go to school, Mum gets a new job, and Jimmy finds that he is obsessed with Ned Kelly and Elvis, and a new friend called Mac. But Jimmy’s brain notes grapple with his reality and what he knows inside as Mum stops working and stays in bed, as they run out of money and food, and as Jimmy does what he can to help his mum. It’s 1991, and Jimmy’s world has changed suddenly – and he needs to find a way to fix it, to survive, and finds out that he and his mum have friends that they can rely on to get them through.

I know the author of this book, Fiona, through my CBCA Central Coast Sub-Branch, so it was very exciting when she asked me to review this for her. It’s really cool reading novels set in the 1990s when we were growing up – and I think this book captures so much of the nineties experience where we did most of our school work by hand, where we didn’t use computers all the time, and where we weren’t constantly connected with devices or the Internet. I also think having kids see that life isn’t always perfect, that there are many ways of living is powerful, and the people we come into contact with all have a story, and in the nineties, we had to speak with people to learn about them – face-to-face, but at the same time, Fiona doesn’t shy away from the difficulties of doing this, and of how it affects us. I think she’s managed to create a fantastic cast of characters, and love that she gave Debby as a best friend to Jimmy – to show kids that it is totally awesome to be mates as girls and boys. The authenticity of the way kids bully each other also came through, and this aspect is illustrated powerfully – showing that it is wrong but also showing that there will be people who will stand by our side and help us, like Debby and Ms Anna Smith.

I loved that Jimmy took charge as well and became responsible – he did what he could to help his family, and he had to grow throughout the book because of the decisions he had to make – work or school, what did he buy, how did he get food, was he able to ask for help when he needed it – which perhaps is too much for a young kid to deal with. Yet in not shying away from these issues, Fiona has illustrated that there are kids who have to deal with very adult issues and grow up faster than their peers, and who may have had their childhoods disrupted – whether their family has split up, they’ve had to move suddenly, or due to illness – there are many ways that a child’s life can be very different to their peers, and I liked that Fiona showed one of the ways that this could happen, and has happened, which is also what makes the 1991 setting powerful – it shows that some things haven’t changed and aren’t new – it could be that we are more aware of it now than we were back in the 1990s.

I think this is a powerful story with serious themes, but told with heart and humour, in a way that is accessible and understandable for a middle grade audience. It doesn’t shy away from why Jimmy and his mum ran away, but because we see the world and what is going on through Jimmy’s eyes, we see it as he understands it – and what it all means to him. I think this is powerful too because it shows that we all have different ways of understanding the world around us and the people around us. I feel very privileged to review the first book of a fellow bookish friend and I am looking forward to celebrating with Fiona when the book comes out for everyone to enjoy. I believe there will be something lots of people can relate to and connect with in this book and I hope many people enjoy it when it comes out.