Fourteen year old Dan feels like his whole world has ended. His Dad has lost all their money on a failed business… then abandoned Dan and his Mum, and announced he is gay. Their house has been repossessed, and they have been forced to go and live in an old smelly house provided by a relative. True, the girl next door catches Dan’s eye, and goes to his school, but seems aloof. Every effort he makes to attract her attention ends up a disaster.
Finally he makes a list of six impossible things he wants to achieve, such as getting a job and cheering up his Mum. The story is about what happens when he tries to achieve each of these goals. It is always a great sign when you are engaged as a reader within the first two pages. I was a little disappointed that the author decided on a series of happy endings. A book like Life on a Refrigerator Door touches similar themes of parent and child conflict and family tragedy, is largely positive, yet ends with the teen protagonist realising there are things she simply cannot fix. Despite that reservation, I thoroughly enjoyed Six Impossible Things. It is written with a wry sense of humour.
This is a book that could quite comfortably be given to students down to Year Five, though some of the issues canvased and the general reading level probably points to Year Seven and up. This is not a didactic book, and is not written “to help kids deal with divorce”… that is simply the setting for the opening scenes of disaster facing Dan. It is told in the first person in a diary format. It does espouse the value of tolerance and respect for individual choices.
Andrew Lack
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