 | |
| Author | James Moloney |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | The Gracey Trilogy |
| Genre | Young adult novel |
| Publisher | University of Queensland Press |
| Publication place | Australia |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 164 pp. |
| ISBN | 0702226106 |
| Preceded by | Dougy |
| Followed by | Angela |
Gracey is a young adult novel written by Australian author James Moloney and first published in 1994 by University of Queensland Press. [1]
Contents
By 2013 the National Library of Australia listed 24 editions of the novel in a variety of formats including book, audio book, braille and e-book. [2] It is the second book in the Gracey trilogy, the first being Dougy (1993) and the third Angela (1998). In 1995 it was an Honour Book in the category of Older Readers in the Children's Book of the Year Awards. [3] It is also part of the Kerry White collection of Australian children's books. [4]
James Moloney wrote about his reasons for writing Gracey:
After Dougy, I didn't intend to keep the story going.... For young black kids in their late teens and early twenties, there were few opportunities - for jobs, for esteem in the community, for access to the things that most young men want such as a car, a bit of money in the pocket, a bit of excitement. This leads into a cycle of helplessness and then hopelessness, often getting them into trouble with the law for mainly petty offences.
I thought Raymond might go the same way ... Gracey had gone off to a boarding school and started to wonder whether she would lose her identity. The idea for the bones ...makes an interesting concept - that a modern Australian town is built over the bones of those killed so that it could be built. [5]
