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Teachers' notes
Bye, Beautiful
Teachers' Notes
For Loz and Al:
Synopsis
Loz and Al is a story about friendship, secrets, parents and how to cope with big changes at a young age. It is also about fame and how the idea of fame compares to the experience of real achievement. Loz is a twelve year old whose life is falling apart - her best friend's gone weird, her parents are fighting, and the only thing that keeps her from losing it is working on her school project. In the end, Loz finds new relationships where she least expected them - and finds out some new things about herself on the way.
From Julia Lawrinson
Loz and Al is actually my first novel, and the idea behind it came from several things: going to a primary school reunion; Round Australia project of my own that I did in Year Seven; and my favourite childhood pop group, ABBA.
Secrets
Talking to my primary school friends as adults, I realised that most of us had had lots of secrets, secrets that we never even shared with each other. Twenty years later, I found out why some of my friends had acted strange at different times, or why they never wanted me to visit their houses, or whatever. But the really weird thing was that lots of us were actually going through similar things, but because we didn't talk about it, none of us realised! Now I wonder what it would have been like if only we'd been able to share our secrets with each other at the time.
Round Australia
The Round Australia project was a brainchild of our teacher, Mr Sandford (hi Sandy, wherever you are!), and it was a way of getting us to imagine and research the different parts of Australia. It was the best thing I ever did in school - I spent half my twelve-year-old life on it! I think it was actually this project that gave me the travelling bug, because now I have actually been to all the places I wrote about in my project.
ABBA
Until it wasn't cool anymore, my favourite pop group when I was a kid was ABBA, the Swedish sensations who had voices, harmonies and lycra costumes to die for. Because of ABBA, I wanted to be famous. I didn't care what I was famous for, I just wanted to be up on stage doing ... well, something. As an adult I joined an a cappella comedy trio called Novak n' Goode, who toured to places such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Melbourne and Bunbury (go Bunbury!). Although we didn't get very famous, we did get to be in the presence of a fair amount of famous people and were on TV a few times. It slowly dawned on me that famous people were just that - famous - but it didn't make them any happier, and it certainly didn't make them better human beings. I realised that there were more interesting things to do with your life than try and get a whole heap of people you don't know to recognise you. When you look at someone like Fiona Wood, who got Western Australian of the Year for treating the burns victims from the Bali bombings, getting famous seems kind of pointless.
Discussion points
Themes for discussion:
- dealing with difficult situations
- friendship and how you handle problems within friendships
- how to handle difficult situations like divorcing parents or feeling alienated from peers
- using your talents
- seeing people and events from different perspectives
Discussion Questions
- What can you tell about the book from its cover?
- What s Loz's opinion of Al at the beginning of the novel?
- Do you think Loz was right to forgive Al in the end?
- How do the project entries fit with what's going on in Loz's life?
Class Text Activities
- Write a plot-point of the novel on the board as a class. Mark each 'crisis point' of Loz's life in red. Brainstorm all the things that Loz could have done differently at each point (i.e. talking directly to Al when Al first stopped talking to her; telling her mother how she felt about her getting drunk) - children could do this in partners first, then get feedback as a class.
- Tell the story from the point of view of a different character.
- Debate the following topics: 'Honesty is not always the best policy'; 'Friendship is essential to a happy life'.
- Write chapter headings for selected 'sections' of the novel.
- Do your own Round Australia project!
For Suburban Freak Show
Jay is in her first year of university. Even though she's breezing through the classes, everything on the social side is certainly a lot different to what she expected. The non-stop parties in the dorms have become too much for her so she's decided to move into a run down old sharehouse with one of the freakiest hippies of all time.
Christie refuses to have meat in the house, spends all day persuading people to join up to her causes, and there appear to be things growing in the fridge. Jay and Christie are at loggerheads, until they realise they have a lot more in common than they thought. Against her better judgement Jay agrees to help Christie at a protest against the destruction of a forest, but no one told her there's wouldn't be a shower or toilet around - or that there'd be bulldozers involved!
Julia Lawrinson has written a hilarious account of sharehouse living, people who are overly passionate about causes, and the life of a struggling Uni student. In this Young Adult novel, issues of change, the environment, priorities and relationships are addressed.
Language and Writing Style
How does the first person perspective assist your understanding of the novel? How different would the book be if it was written in the third person? How different would the book be if Christie was the main protagonist?
When listening to Leaf and Skye (p.137), Jay makes fun of their conversation. How difficult is it to write dialogue? Has the author deliberately attempted to make Leaf and Skye sound vague, or is this the way that people speak? Write down the dialogue from a conversation your friends have. Are you surprised at the sentence formation and lack of grammar?
We find out a lot about Christie's background - her relationship with her parents, her ex-boyfriend - yet very little is revealed about Jay's life before she came to Uni. Why do you think the author has chosen not to reveal these details about Jay?
From the Book
What do we know about Jay? Make a list of all the personal things about Jay that we find out eg. she's on a scholarship to Uni, she stresses about essay topics but does so well, she has a high IQ, has a grandmother etc.
Make a list of the similarities and differences between Jay and Christie. Think about their priorities, interests and characteristics. Do they have more similarities or differences? Are some of their character traits actually very similar?
Jay claims that she won't go to the protest because of her talk with Hugh (p.129). Do you think this was the real reason? Then she reconsiders and changes her mind (p.135). What causes this turn around?
Christie calls Jay an 'emotional cripple' (p. 160). Is this fair? Use examples from within the book of episodes where Jay does not react emotionally when other people would.
Issues to think about
Why do you think Jay is so hesitant to be a part of the party lifestyle at Uni?
Jay gets fantastic results for her essays at Uni, yet she's very stressed about how to write and research them. Why do you think she's so concerned?
Christie tells Jay, 'I think you're lazy and self-centred and cynical because it's easier than actually trying to change something' (p.65). Is this fair assessment of Jay's character, or is Christie just pushing her own priorities? Why do you think Jay so prickly and cynical?
When Hugh gives Jay the laptop she finds it difficult to believe anyone would do something nice for her (pp 86-88). Yet Hugh considers her a great student who is in need of a computer after the police raid. Why do you think Jay is so shocked?
Christie's life has a number of priorities; the environment, her pride etc. What are Jay's priorities? Do they change by the end of the book?
Christie relies on media coverage of the protest to draw attention to the plight of Hepburn Heights. Why is media coverage so important?
What makes a friend? Are Christie and Jay good friends despite their differences? What about Ben?
When Lotte says that Ben is attractive Jay is surprised when she feels jealous, then blames the feeling on the stew she's just eaten (p.155). Why won't Jay admit her true feelings - even to herself?
Jay's quite excited in the aftermath of Christie's accident, 'I had never been in a crisis before' (p. 189). Why do you think Jay is able to react so well and so calmly at this point when others are hysterical?
Was the protest successful? Do you think Christie was able to make a difference?
Why do you think Christie finally relented and accepted the money from her mother? (pp 208 - 9)
Activites
Rules of the House. Write a list of rules for sharehouse living from the perpective of Christie, Jay and Ben. Are there any similarities? What does each housemate consider vital for house harmony?
If you had to align yourself with a social issue what would you select and why? What would be the most effective way to help your cause?
Research tasks
Are their any environmental concerns near where you are? What is being done to support them?
What is the most effective way you can help the environment?
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