One terrible night Ren’s house burns down. (Or ‘burns up’ as she describes it.) Within a few hours Ren loses all her clothes, her treasured possessions and her home. Her family moves in with her stiff and disapproving Gran while her parents try to sort out their insurance claim and keep their business going. But there is nothing to do at her Gran’s house, the food is awful and Ren has to share a room with her little brother.
Caspar is missing his older brother who has gone away to university, but he likes his new teacher, Miss Chatto, and he is looking forward to the new project their class is working on with a local artist, called ’My Life in a Box’. But when Ren comes back to school she has nothing left to put in her box and then things start to disappear in Miss Chatto’s class. Perhaps Caspar can help Ren to start afresh.
Like Cath Howe’s other books, the story is told in alternating voices. Ren is angry and grieving for everything she has lost, but protective of her brother and worried about her parents. Caspar is kind and thoughtful but frustrates his teachers with his endless questions and curiosity. (There are definitely some lessons in empathy for adults as well as children in this book.)
‘My Life on Fire’ has a particularly arresting opening. A house fire isn’t a topic I’ve seen explored much in contemporary children’s fiction, though it happened to a friend of my daughter’s in primary school. And there are probably children who experience kleptomania in most primary schools, although it is more frequently represented in teen fiction.
I always enjoy the way Cath Howe takes unusual situations and explores the emotional tensions surrounding them, without sensationalising them, and with great insight and sensitivity. ‘My Life on Fire’ is another gripping and engaging read and I’ll definitely be recommending it in the library.
Swimming in Books 