On the Jellicoe Road

By: Melina Marchetta

Narrated by: Rebecca Macauley

Taylor Markham is now a senior at the Jellicoe School, and has been made leader of the boarders. She is responsible for keeping the upper hand in the territory wars with the townies, and the cadets who camp on the edge of the school's property over summer. She has to keep her students safe and the territories enforced and to deal with Jonah Griggs - the leader of the cadets and someone she'd rather forget. But what she needs to do, more than anything, is unravel the mystery of her past and find her mother - who abandoned her on the Jellicoe Road six years before. The only connection to her past, Hannah, the woman who found her, has now disappeared, too, and the only clue Taylor has about Hannah and her mother's past is a partially written manuscript about a group of five kids from the Jellicoe School, twenty years ago.©2006 Melina Marchetta By arrangement with Penguin Group (Australia) (P)2006 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

2009 American Library Association Michael L. Printz Award, for excellence in literature written by young adults.

must read

i loved this book. its the feeling of summer, friendship and life. the narrator too was great and overall listening to it was just an amazing experience.

Deep and emotionally charged. Good to listen to t

What did you love best about On the Jellicoe Road?

I actually really enjoyed this one as an audiobook. Marchetta's ability to paint with words is simply amazing. She is strong exactly where I am weak as a writer. She was really good at describing Taylor's emotional pain and struggles from the first-person point of view.

The dialogue was Believable. She sets up a lot of tension in the conversations. As you read, you learn most of what you learn in dialogue. Taylor is trying to find out who she is because she's at a boarding school and she doesn't really know who her mom is and she has missing pieces in her memory.

The story arc is hard to follow in the beginning, but it's the kind of book you can go back to the beginning and get a lot more out of it the second time. This definitely had a lot of depth.

What about Rebecca Macauley’s performance did you like?

Great job of getting the Australian feel and distinguishing parts.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It is very emotional.

Amazing.

I loved this one so very much. EVERY WORD. The narrator was so wonderful. <3

Poignient and gripping no matter your age.

The musical interludes which seem to be the trademark of all Bolinda children's and YA audiobooks are actually very off putting and condescending here. The fact they play the music backwards to indicate the shift to the story from the past is painful. If you can ignore the music, though, which I hope you can, this is quite an amazing story. Performed flawlessly and written in a way which is so endearing you're in love with these kids before you even realise it. Ignore the age label. I did and thank god for it. This is a classic.

Terrific Book!

Wow. So it took me a little bit of time to get into this book. I'm a southern girl with my own accent issues and this is obviously an Australian book with it's own accent issues so getting used to the accent took me a while. Then the book just jumps between alternating storylines and it takes some getting used to but once I did, I was hooked. I was glued to the story and could not put it down. I was at work, listening to the story and crying and thinking I needed to turn it off because I was crying at work and then thinking "forget that, I've got to know what happens." This is an absolutely beautiful story about friendship and the bonds that are formed in the lowest moments of our lives and I loved it. I can definitely see why it won the Printz Award

Strange but good

Where to start? This story was very confusing at first, but I expected that because I had an advanced warning. The story went back and forth between telling the story of a present day situation with a bunch of kids to an older story of a bunch of kids. The similarity being the place they were located, Jellicoe Road, in Australia. Jellicoe Road reminds me of a summer camps where they have kids who live in the camp and then bring in kids from the neighboring town and then bus kids in from wherever else. The three groups have mini battles of control and territory, but all in a nice way (or at least it is supposed to be in a nice way.) Most of the kids that live at the Jellicoe Road school seem to have some emotional dysfunction or other problems they are dealing with, like both parents getting killed or pyromaniac tendencies. The main character, Taylor, is a Jellicoe Road resident. She is a bit unstable and has huge gaps in her memory and is constantly trying to figure out how to get back to her Mother who had abandoned her when she was 11.
Toward the end of the story, I did decide that I liked the book, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. (I am a hot chocolate drinker.)

Beautiful in every way

Beautifully read. I'd read the story years ago but listening to it only makes me love it even more. Only thing I didn't like was the annoying music in between chapters.

Moving

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

yes because it's got a little of everything, romance, action, mystery

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Some of the voices were not distinct enough

Loved it

What other book might you compare On the Jellicoe Road to and why?

Any coming of age story, but Melina Marchetta is becoming a favorite author of mine, she writes well, and I love her charactes.

Which character – as performed by Rebecca Macauley – was your favorite?

The characters were well written by Marchetta, and Rebecca Macauley does a great job narrating. I loved Taylor and her personality and the transformation she makes as she learns about her past, and the past of those around her. Jonah seemed real to me also, and I loved his softness and sweetness that gradually showed through his tough guy image.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me both laugh and cry. I loved the real emotions portrayed, and I really

Any additional comments?

Great reader, I loved listening to it!

Slow beginning, but worth the wait

I had a hard time staying with this story, but, boy I'm glad I stuck with it. The first third is a bit confusing because of the many story lines it presents. But, once I got past the the confusion, the story became compelling. Even though I finished listening to it two days ago, I find that I am still thinking about all the wonderful characters Marchetta created. Rebecca Macauley did a fantastic job narrating this story. I look forward to more stories by this author.