Awards

• Winner of Children's Book Council Queensland BILBY Awards: Older Reader 2000
• Winner of Children's Book Council Queensland BILBY Awards: Older Reader 2000.

Overview

Looking for Alibrandi chronicles a year in the life of Josie Alibrandi, a third-generation Italian-Australian on the brink of adulthood. In her last year of school, Josie grapples with the awkwardness of first love, the grief of unexpected death and the uncovered secrets of her family history. It's a turbulent year for Josie as she seeks to find her place in the world. Brimming with warmth, humour and vitality, Looking for Alibrandi pits the desire to be independent against the need to belong, in a story that will appeal to all ages. The full screenplay and stills from the film are published here with an introduction by Anna Maria Dell'oso and an essay by Marchetta about adapting her award-winning novel for the screen.

Full Product Details

9780868196237

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Reviews

In this Australian import, Marchetta gets the voice of teenage angst just right in a hormone saturated coming-of-age story. Josephine Alibrandi, 17 and of Italian descent, is torn between her traditional upbringing, embodied by both her immigrant grandmother and her overprotective mother, and the norms of teenage society. A scholarship student at an esteemed Catholic girls' school, she struggles with feelings of inferiority not only because she's poorer than the other students and an ethnic, but because her mother never married. These feelings are intensified when her father, whom she's just met, enters and gradually becomes part of her life. As Josephine struggles to weave the disparate strands of her character into a cohesive tapestry of self, she discovers some unsavory family secrets, falls in love for the first time, copes with a friend's suicide, and goes from being a follower to a leader. Although somewhat repetitive and overlong, this is a tender, convincing portrayal of a girl's bumpy ride through late adolescence. Some of the Australian expressions may be unfamiliar to US readers, but the emotions translate perfectly. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

MELINA MARCHETTA is one of Australia's most celebrated authors of young adult fiction. Her novels have been published in 17 languages. Marchetta's first novel Looking For Alibrandi was published in 1992 and released in 2000 as a major motion picture. The film received rave reviews and was a box office success, winning five awards including an AFI Award and an IF Award for Best Screenplay, as well as the NSW Premier's Literary Award and the Film Critics Circle of Australia Award. The novel won the CBC Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier's Award. Marchetta taught secondary school English and history for ten years, during which time she released her second novel Saving Francesca (Winner of the CBC Book of the Year) followed by On the Jellicoe Road (Winner of the US Printz Award, shortlisted for Queensland Premier's Awards, shortlisted for ABIA Awards). Her other novels include the fantasy novel Finnikin of the Rock (Winner of the ABIA Award, Winner of the Aurealis Fantasy Award, shortlisted for the CBC Award, shortlisted for the Western Australia Premier's Literary Awards), Frio of the Exiles, Quintana of Charyn, The Piper's Son (shortlisted for Queensland Premier's Award), and a children's book The Gorgon in the Gully, as part of the Puffin Pocket Money series. Marchetta's screenplay for On the Jellicoe Road is in development. She is also developing a television series with writer/director Cathy Randall and wrote episodes for the Emmy nominated young adult series Dance Academy for Werner Productions and ABC3.

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