Falling from Grace

by Jane Godwin

During a game of hide-and-seek on the beach during high tide, Grace goes missing and soon all eyes are turned on fourteen-year-old Kip who must clear his good name while trying to track down the clues left behind by his dearest friend.

Genres: Young Adult, School, Read For School, Mystery, Realistic Fiction, Contemporary, Fiction

187 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Jane Godwin is the Publisher, Books for Children and Young Adults, at Penguin Books Australia. She is also a highly acclaimed author of many books for children. Her work is published internationally and she has received many commendations. The Family Tree won the 2000 Queensland Premier's Award (Children's Books); Sebby, Stee, the Garbos and Me was shortlisted for the 1999 New South Wales State Literary Award (Patricia Wrightson Prize) and was a YABBA finalist; and The True Story of Mary was shortlisted for the 2006 CBCA Book of the Year Awards, Younger Readers. In 2009 her picture book with illustrator Anna Walker, Little Cat and the Big Red Bus, was a notable book in the CBCA Awards and was also shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Australia Awards, Lower Primary division. Jane's most recent novel is Falling From Grace, and her most recent picture book is All Through the Year, illustrated by Anna Walker, due for publication in October 2010.

Jane lives in Melbourne with her family. Her hobbies seem to have fallen by the wayside a little since she has taken on the role of publisher, but from what she remembers, they were playing tennis, walking, reading (things other than manuscripts), doing cryptic crosswords, talking about the need to do gardening (and sometimes even doing it), cooking, playing piano, spending time with friends and mucking around with family which consists of partner Michael and two adolescents, Wil (19) and Lizzie (17). She still manages the cryptic crosswords, friends and family.

Jane also enjoys working creatively with school students, encouraging them to develop confidence in their own creativity, ideas and abilities.

Reviews

[Miss Schultz · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Year 8 English staple.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

In all honesty this book was terrible, I had to read it for year 8 English, and I ended up skipping parts, it was that boring. But what I find funny, is that after studying this book for a term I didn't even need to know the information in the five chapters I hardly read. I think this shows how unimportant and unnecessary half of the text was.

Now the characters. Other than Kip and a little on Ted, where's the backstory? If you want to right a book where you can connect to the characters, they need to have a backstory to make them more... real.

Then the plotline was just terrible, there were little hiccups the characters experienced, to give the story a story other than just finding Grace, which was good, but then they lasted about a chapter and hardly effected anything else in the book! So it was kind of like, well then what's the point? Then again, I see no point to majority of this book! It's basically Grace goes missing, people get blamed, Grace gets found.

Plus the morals in this book I don't believe are a good thing for a child to be reading, it has mild swearing, but I can live with that, but its also supporting children drinking, excepting drinks, and doing other things children should be learning not to do!

I could go on, but I think I have made my point clear, I do not recommend this book at all.

[Caitlyn Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

The switching of perspectives was powerful, particularly when it switched to Grace.
An easy read, simple yet powerful.

[Stacy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Weird and creepy all at the same time. And creepy in a bad way, not a good one. Like the funny neighbor that talks to your chest and twirls a handlebar mustache and not like a Japanese horror movie.

[bec owens · Rating 2 out of 5]

it’s about a girl named grace who falls.
started my hatred for name pun books

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A child is lost and time is running out, another child comes of age during the search. A fast paced book that’s hard to put down, but with mysteries and clues to keep you wondering till the end. It draws you into the lives of the searchers and those waiting for news.

A major theme is alcoholism. A central character has intimate knowledge of the area, and the power to quickly end the search. Instead, his drunken behaviour and alcohol damaged memory cause the search to be diverted and delayed, and brings trouble on more people.

Also of special relevance to younger people is communication. Valuable time is lost when people are separated from their mobile phones, adults don’t listen to children, children don’t speak up.

Finally, the power of nature to take control of our lives is pitted against the strong human will to survive.

I visited Point Nepean once, many years before any of it was open to the public. I can imagine things like this happening there.

[Giselle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found that the start was very intriguing and it hooked you in with the use of language. However, you didn’t really get to know Annie and Grace but you got to know Kip in great detail, which annoyed me a bit. I found the ending was very quick and the middle was long but there was not much tension in the middle.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my opinion, I think that this book has a great storyline, but the character development levels vary too widely. Kip’s character is far more developed and detailed than Annie. Aside from that, great book.

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was very interesting however it got a bit confusing at times because of how many characters there were. I liked how there was a chapter for very character but the characters descriptions could have been a bit better. It still enjoyed the book a lot and it had a very enjoyable story line.

[Ruby Pellew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an amazing book with an amazing ending !! Falling from Grace had many twists but still made sense. I loved it so much because you could imagine the story in your head, and what it would look like !! I especially loved that the chapters were in the minds of different characters. I would definitely recommend it.💙

[Sueda Soylamis · Rating 2 out of 5]

read for year 8 english. honestly wasn’t that bad, basically read in one night. was lowkey sick of rereading parts for essays.

[✮demi✮ · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty good except that Kip was a silly character for trusting a stranger (he wasn't written well- either he was just purposefully real stupid or Jane Godwin underestimated how smart a 14-year-old boy could be). Like someone he just met gives him a coke and he drinks it? Those would be the golden rules when meeting a suspicious person: you don't go in their house and you don't accept a drink from them and certainly not interact with them when you know they're drunk while they're asking personal questions like "do your parents know you're here?". Kip also gets in trouble because there was alcohol mixed with the coke and he gets sick from it and becomes a suspect of the police yet he still goes back to the stranger (Ted) and inside his house again. Ted is also an aggressive, most-of-the-time drunk character and mean. Annie was also an ok narrator. She basically does nothing but give updates on what's happening when Grace is missing. Finished this in one day, a bit slow at first, but an ok and short read.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting mid-grade mystery set in a local (to me) seaside area. The characters felt authentic and I enjoyed the familiar setting. The only downside (slightly) is that I correctly predicted where the missing girl, Grace, would be found. Maybe that's because I knew the area. I imagine that the surprise twist that would have come from not knowing this info would have been more satisfying.
Looking at other reviews of this book, the audience seems to be divided. Many like me enjoyed the plot and storytelling. Those who did not seemed mostly to be students who HAD to read it for school. This seems, to me at least, to be a reflection on the students' attitudes to being told what to read at such a formative and rebellious age, and is not a true indication of the quality of this story.
I recommend it!

[Isabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

falling from grace was a very addictive book, as soon as i picked it up and started reading i could not put it down because there was too much suspense and so much going on. this story is about 2 girls who are sisters, Annie and Grace. they are playing a game on the beach with their dad which is like hide and seek except instead of counting to 30 seconds, its 30 minutes. the two girls go the same way and find a penguin who has been drenched in oil and can ot move its wings because of it. grace who cant leave a stranded animal says that they can take it home and was it and set it free again, so they place it in the backpack with their dads phone, Annies wallet and the house keys. to get to the penguin they have to walk all the way around to almost the other end of the beach and when they return to head back towards their dad, the tide ha caught up with them. the try to scale the rocky cliff and then through the trees and bushes to where the car is with their dad but grace can't because of she is 'unco'. as annie gets to the top she realises and tries to help her sister, she can't hold on and slips into the raging water, the backpack is now lost and annie doesn't know where er sister is.

throughout the book there are many very complicated connections which makes the book really interesting because you are constantly wondering how it all ties together but then at the end there is satisfaction is how neatly everything is put into place. i would recommend this book to anyone other year 4 because i don't think that the younger readers would understand how this book has been written and set out and developed.

[What to read next ....... · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great Australian Young Àdult, Mystery Thriller .

Great writing, l thoroughly enjoyed it.

A nice quick read , whilst having a stressed 🙃 out week.

Annie and Grace squeeze in one more game of ' Tracking ' , with their Dad before the school holidays are over .

Set in Point Nepean , a beach ⛱ in Victoria Australia, there is a storm , coming and it's getting dark , Annie younger by 11 months and more agile, then Grace struggles to follow , when suddenly the ground falls away .

The search for her begins but is hampered by bad weather.

The police are convinced that a young boy Kip who found Grace's backpack 🎒 on the beach , and Ted another interesting character, who was stressed and drunk too remember much of what he did that night on the beach , may have had something to do with her disappearance.

[blues.recent.reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for school many years ago, and just re read it for the first time since then.

It was definitely a book with a plot. I think the main plot with Annie and Grace was fine. The plot with David seemed irrelevant, and Ted… well reading about Ted and kip as an adult just stressed me out. I knew Ted wasnt a predator or bad in that sense, but he was so weird and creepy that every time Kip went over there i was just so stressed. In no circumstance should Kip have gone into Teds house, or even spoken to Ted after that first night. Kip knew he felt uncomfortable there but continued visiting regardless.

[Natalia Block · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much, it was definitely a read for older kids because of the language that was used sometimes (not very often) towards the end of the book, I would highly recommend this book to a friend because it is a mystery with only one problem and it does not get confusing to follow along. The only thing I would say is that it only focuses on one thing and does not truly talk about anything else. The author did a great job of describing the characters, For example like the way Grace looked after being found was described with great detail. I could picture it in my head. Overall, I would say this is definitely a good read.

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book was intriguing and compelling. I liked the storyline and the detailing of the book. I think the ending could have been a bit more detailed and not as abrupt to end; like when Kip found Grace, it just ENDED THAT IS NOT GOOD VERY NOT GOOD (sorry for the grammar miss) but honestly books need endurance like humans. You have to start well and end the same as you started. But the idea of having young people as the motive of the story is good.

[Charley Thomasin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just got this in a "fill a bag for $5" deal at a charity store, so I wasn't expecting the most, but I definitely expected more. This was honestly disappointing. I breezed right through it and yeah, I've been reading more this month, but not THAT much more. It was originally from a school library and the inside said year 8, but this seems low-level even for year 8. I wish I had better things to say but I just did not like this book.
Not that I hated it, it was just nothing really.

[Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple book, read it to my younger cousins and they enjoyed it. Characters weren't very expanded upon and left the book with a bit of a meh impression and the plot wan't good enough to hold up the characters. I know we are supposed to feel suspense but I was left just feeling confused and lightly bored.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book because it got intense. I like books that have mysteries. Annie was my favourite character because it shows that she really cares about her sister and blames that she got lost in herself. Annie is a trustworthy person and didn’t hide that grace got lost.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter read this for her Year 7 English class and passed it on to me. A terrific little YA book with some interesting characters and, at the heart of the story, a terrfying situation that is every parent’s worst nightmare. A quick and entertaining read.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will have you on the edge of your seat. A lost child, siblings and parents worried, and what are the strange connections between strangers on a beach?
Ever got away for a weekend or summer to the beach? This will reframe your memories and have you looking back and asking "what if...?"

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grappling Godwin #1
Somewhat interesting book with an array of different characters, easy reading but not one that will stay with me I don't think.
Would like to hear more about Grace and Kip and maybe a sequel of their relationship would be rewarding.

[Mika · Rating 1 out of 5]

From what I remember the book didn't interest me at all, I had to read it for school, and I would not read it again. It's not my kind of book.

[Zhangxiaoqian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel's narration is special in three person's view. And it reminds me of my life and thought I had when I was young.That were many little thoughts and worries we have in that age. It might help teachers and parents get knowledge of their children.

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

URGH.

[Luai · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this book

[Jake · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring

[Gilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book we had to read for semester 2 English