Jasper Jones

Jasper Jones, is a 2009 novel by Australian writer Craig Silvey. It has won and been shortlisted for several major awards including being shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. The novel was selected by the American Library Association as 'Best Fiction for Young Adults' in their 2012 list. Overview In summary, a small rural Australian town grows fearful when a young girl goes missing. Thirteen year-old Charlie grows especially fearful, because he alone knows what has happened. The academic literature has described Jasper Jones as conforming "to the conventions of Australian Gothic, which projects contemporary experience onto … dysfunctional families in small, remote towns.... where young protagonists encounter violence or death, and where outsiders are punished for their difference". Plot The protagonist Charlie Bucktin is a quiet, book loving, 13-year-old boy who lives in the fictitious rural town of Corrigan, Western Australia. On a summer evening in 1965, Charlie receives an unexpected visit from 14-year-old Jasper Jones, who is excluded by the Corrigan locals because of his Aboriginal heritage and rebellious lifestyle, and who is a source of distant intrigue for Charlie. Jasper asks for Charlie's help and leads him to a private clearing in the bush. Charlie is horrified to find the corpse of a young girl, Laura Wishart, Jasper's only friend, beaten and suspended from a tree. Jasper inspects Laura's body and discovers indications Laura was raped but Charlie does not recognise what Jasper discovered. Jasper, aware that he is likely to be blamed for Laura's murder, convinces Charlie that they should hide the body to buy them time to solve the murder themselves. They throw the body into the nearby dam, weighing her down with a rock.