Leaving It To You
first published: 1992
publisher: Angus & Robertson, Australia
age group: 11 to 14 years
length: 149 pages
ISBN: 0-207-17592-6
Excerpt:
The door opened. S-l-o-w-l-y, but at least it didn't creak. Just wide enough so that she could see out but I couldn't see in, and I knew there was no way she was going to let me inside.
"It's Linda Wallis," I said. "From St Christopher's - the school."
"I don't know about any school, do I?"
"Mrs Lambert talked to you about it."
"I don't know any Mrs Lambert," she said, and started to shut the door.
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Description:
It was even worse than Linda had imagined. She'd rather visit the dentist than some old person she didn't even know! Her teacher had dreamed up this great idea of visiting old people in the community and she was stuck with cranky old Mrs Pugh.
However Linda soon becomes fascinated by this independent Welsh woman with rheumatoid arthritis, a quick temper and a musty house full of cats and antiques.
But when Mrs Pugh is rushed back to hospital, mysterious things start happening - her antiques start to disappear. Is someone stealing them? Do they want to get rid of Mrs Pugh? What can Linda do?
 Wendy's Comments:
When I was working as an occupational therapist, I heard about an elderly lady whose kind neighbour had volunteered to care for her when she came home from the hospital. As I was working in another area at the time, I never heard any more details, which left my imagination free to wander into questions such as: "What if the neighbour was not kind at all, but wanted something that the old lady owned?" This led me to wondering, "What if the only person who realised the truth was a kid? Would anyone in the hospital believe her?" Linda's feelings are drawn from how I remember feeling when I first did home visits, both as a student and a brand-new therapist working in community health - just as Mrs Pugh incorporates some characteristics of various people that I met in that job.
While I was planning the story, I saw a newspaper article about a community visiting program at St Mary's Secondary College in Nathalia, Victoria (Australia). Once I'd started writing and had the story firmly in my mind, I talked to the Year 10 students who were involved in this program about their experiences and emotions. They were very open with me, but it was obvious that the teachers hadn't heard some of the stories before, so I felt that I was on the right track with the two levels of experience Linda presents in the book: her own perceptions, and then the reports written for her teacher in the way she thinks they would like her to feel.
Purchasing Information:
Leaving It To You is currently in print in two editions and is available at bookshops in Australia, New Zealand and Denmark.
Or you can purchase it online:
in Australia at The Well
Awards:
Short listed, Children's Book Council of Australia awards, 1993
Shortlisted, Family Therapy Awards, Australia, 1993
Editions and Translations:
 Published in Denmark in DANISH by Gyldendal, 1994, ISBN 87-00-17578-1
Wendy's Recommendations:
If you liked Leaving It To You, I think you'll also enjoy these books:
A Light in Space
Peeling the Onion
And by other authors:
Poet's Den by Julia Holland
The Web by Nettie Hilton
More About This Book:
Teachers' Resources
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