The Memory Book

By: Lara Avery
Location: FIC AVE
Genre: Contemporary Youth Fiction

I am so annoyed by this book, when it came to my desk I nearly chucked it across the room.
Why- you ask?
A Year 10 student, our wonderful English teacher Miss Bigge and I had decided to write a book from three POV's. A 15 year old, a mum and a grandmother. The plot- the 15 year old was diagnosed with Alzheimers and had one year to create memories with her grandmother and mum. We even had the first chapter completed- Sarah had written it- it was about a  day in school- she had done a great job of putting the setting together- her last paragraph was her completely forgetting what class she had next...

Then this book arrives- our book- someone had beaten us to it.

This is the blab
"The Memory Book by Lara Avery, a romance that unfolds through a series of journal entries, text messages and other mementos and features a teen girl diagnosed with a rare disease that causes memory loss."

“It’s like, take my body, fine, I wasn’t really using it anyway. I’ve got this enormous butt on ostrich legs, the hair of a “before” picture, and weird milky brown eyes like a Frappuccino. But not my brain. My true connection to the world.”  ― Lara Avery, The Memory Book

"Sammie is a smart girl. She has plans, she has dreams, and she has goals. She has worked toward these things every day of her life, and they are right there within reach. She can almost taste them. Then she gets the diagnosis that she has a rare disease, one that will slowly or quickly make her start to lose control of her body, her speech, her mind. She will start forgetting things, the good and the bad, and she will even start to forget the people she loves the most. But Sammie isn't a normal teenage girl, and she is determined to beat this and follow every dream she has ever had. So she starts a book, The Memory Book. It is Sammie's story, facts about her life, stories about her family, notes and reminders about who she is and what she likes and dislikes, stories about her past and her present. This book is the secret for Sammie, the cure for this incurable disease. Through it, we start to learn who Sammie is and we meet the people surrounding her, and it is a beautiful thing. "- Jaime