2012 reading challenge: 'The Golden Day' by Ursula Dubosarsky

I listed this book in the "crime/mystery fiction" genre of my 2012 reading challenge and I think I may have unintentionally cheated. It certainly isn't a cheap page turning paperback mystery, although the plot is centred around a mystery.

Set in 1960s Sydney in an all girls private school, it tells the story of a class of 11 year olds who go on an excursion with their teacher, only to have their teacher vanish and not return.

Although the content is dark and the mood sombre it's very readable; I spent about an hour on it whilst Little E was having her lunch time nap and finished it that night. In a guest post at Kids Book Review, Ursula Dubosarsky wrote that the novel was partly inspired by a painting she saw the National Gallery in Canberra, Floating Schoolgirl: "It’s a painting of a surreal schoolgirl in hat and tunic floating above the city in the darkness - the flying child may be frightened, but she’s also brimming with the joy of a secret life."

Prior to reading this book the only thing of Dubosarsky's I had come across was her picture book The Terrible Plop which is funny and clever and gets a regular workout at our place. Impressed by her versatility, I then picked up another of her "young adult" novels The Red Shoe. I preferred The Golden Day but recommend both.