Slice of Heaven

by Des O’Leary

Life for Sione and his mates at Manawahe East High in South Auckland is pretty sweet – a slice
of heaven. But one day when they’re in after-school detention there’s an emergency. Another school’s turned up for a softball game but the Manawahe junior boys team has gone awol.

Sione, TJ, Hieu, Jordan and the rest are hurriedly pulled out of detention and onto the field to form a replacement team, with Leilani in charge of the equipment. The problem is none of them can play and they don’t really want to learn … at least not at first.

Slice of Heaven is a novel about a bunch of young people surprised by sport that is pitch perfect, funny and packed with life as it’s lived in South Auckland.

Genres: Young Adult

220 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2018

About the author

Des O’Leary started life in Greymouth and has taught at high schools in Fiji, Whakatāne and Kerikeri, and at Aorere College in South Auckland, where he took softball and rugby league teams and helped with the Samoan culture group. He is now a relief teacher at Papamoa College, Tauranga. He lives in the Bay of Plenty with his wife, Hazel. Slice of Heaven is his first novel.

Reviews

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please can we have more books like this for the youth of New Zealand. A book with realistic characters, situations and communities. It has taken me ages to read this book but only really because the world felt hard to escape from recently and my reading has suffered. There is much to love in a story where a bunch of kids are hauled out of detention one day to make up the softball team by an enthusiastic if somewhat skeptical teacher. Through softball this bunch of young high school students become friends. They banter, they have disagreements and they fall in and out with each other. It is all handled with humour and with a caring tone. We find out about their lives outside of school, the hardships, the love of their parents and for some the awful circumstances they live in. This story is set in South Auckland but could just as easily take place in any large town in New Zealand. It has themes of belonging, courage, family violence, loyalty and friendship and I know of lots of people who need books like this.

My only criticism is that it is a bit too long, I think some of the detail bogged it down just a little too much for the intended audience, but it is exactly the kind of book which should be available in our school libraries. Please write another Des O'Leary!

[Jayne Downes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was totally absorbed in this realistic and amusing story set in a South Auckland secondary school. It also portrays how families from many different cultures live together in a community which has poverty and violence. It is easy to read with short chapters and characters who will appeal to young adults.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slice of Heaven by Des O'leary is a fun loving, hilarious book about students in South Auckland. The story follows students caught up in detention. While they are in detention they are asked to join the school softball team. As a result the students form a bond creating the most unlikely friendships with one another. What I love about Des O'Leary's book is the diverse range of characters. The characters were relateable to all students from New Zealand and beyond. The dialogue I found to be voicing teenagers in a humorous way. I believe Slice of Heaven is a enjoyable, lighthearted read that many will enjoy. Well done Mr O'leary!

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A group of pupils on detention at a South Auckland high school are roped into becoming the school’s softball team, even though they’ve never played before.
Humorous, feel-good book, with a simplicity and authenticity I enjoyed. Some underlying issues such as gangs and domestic violence are treated sensitively and give a clear message to young readers without being too heavy.
Would be an excellent suggestion for reluctant teen readers.

[Linley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gentle, slow story that builds gradually. I loved it and shoved bits of life aside so I could get another chapter in. Nothing much happens (not a spoiler) and the youngsters wander to and fro. It's a slice of life in an Auckland suburb with some sport thrown in. I found myself going to work with a slightly different mindset (I work in an Auckland school). Sit back, relax and read.

Highly recommended to Y9 upward (age 13+). Wouldn't go any younger as the family situations in some of the houses is (sadly) realistic.

[Wendy Bamber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amusing tale of a group of detention sitters who get roped into being their school’s softball team. Set in South Auckland, there is a multicultural mix of characters who each somehow introduces team sports into their lives.

[Bookrapt (Est. 1983) · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging novel about a multi-cultural group of students in detention at their South Auckland high school. When the teachers discover that the Manawahe Junior Boys Team have gone AWOL after being reminded about permission slips and the $20 season fee, and another schools softball team are only 20 minutes away, the detention students are hurriedly pressganged into service. They have never played softball, with one of them asking what it is, but it will get them out of detention and so despite much grumbling tag along. They are all very diverse characters, most are endearing, some have no other ambition than to embrace the gangsta lifestyle, others want to work hard to better themselves and make their struggling families proud. Their ethnicities range from Samoan, Tongan, Māori, Indian Fijian and Vietnamese, and all are affected to some degree by poverty, overcrowding, physical abuse, gang fights and drugs. They are still figuring out how life works, will the team sport of softball bring them together, or just highlight their differences and lead to more fights? A helpful glossary at the end rounds out this humorous and thought-provoking book that could be a great class read-aloud. My favourite characters were Sione and Redemption who were facing very different responsibilities and struggles, characters with which many teens will be able to empathise as they too try to find their place in the world. Des O’Leary’s experience teaching and coaching softball for many years at Aorere College in South Auckland brings authenticity to this important story, an authenticity that shines through, and would have been lost if attempted by another author without his experience. Well done.

Reviewed by Debbie McCauley (Bookrapt).

[Miss Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although having so many characters was difficult to keep track of, they were necessary to get the multicultural vibe across. For the most part, chapters were very very short. The main character, Sione, was very easy to like, and minor characters like Charity made me laugh. It was good to have phrases in both Samoan and Fijian incorporated into the text. Tension rose around the conflict involving Leilani and as folk gathered in the park. The constant news stand headlines helped set further background and Oko's raps provided some light relief.
The storyline touches on themes like: the lure of gang life vs softball team, high family expectations are a driving force, poverty shouldn't hold you back, decisions have consequences, think before you act, do right and fear nothing, regret is unhealthy, step outside your comfort zone and be surprised, good things take time, every cloud has a silver lining, it's never too late to meet new people, unlikely friendships are created by unlikely scenarios and your future is what you make it.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contemporary but upbeat. Insightful, kind, gentle, thought-provoking, and also funny.
The quantity of characters is overwhelming at first because we're meeting them all at once, on the first pages, at roll call for detention after school: Charity, Tasha, Alice, Junior, Redemption, Liz, Vikash, Robert, TJ, Sione, Hieu, Deepak, Oko, Rajendra, Jordan, Lisa, Danny... Leilani's there because she has to walk home with her brother TJ - so if he's on detention, she's got to stay back too. And as the book rolls on the reader gets to know and understand all of them, and easily, with thanks to the development of the softball team run by Miss Moala and Mr Green. I'm including their names in my review because I want to remember all of them.
Des O'Leary has dedicated this book to classes 9OR and 10OL of Aorere College 2004-2007 where he was teaching. I hope those real-life former students get to read this book too. It's wonderful.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, this is a book that I probably wouldn’t have chosen if it wasn’t for meeting Des O’Leary at the Books Alive day at Waikato Uni. I can say that I really enjoyed this book and even though I don’t live in South Auckland and my life is very different from those of the characters, I still found it really relatable, especially because about 1/5 of my school would be exactly like MEHS.

[Timaru Boys]

This book shows how sport can bring people together. Not complicated in plot or vocabulary so perfect for early teenagers and represents a lot of cultures that often struggle to find a voice in literature.

[Christopher Audain · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author snapshots life in a south Auckland school perfectly.
You could say he practiced what he preached in class

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fresh and authentic Kiwi voices in a story that will appeal to many kids.

[Kelly Mucalo · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.

[Charlotte · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had to read for class
Extremely boring

[Neil Emmanuel · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is a good book. But it felt like there was almost no plot to the book. It felt never ending and honestly boring.

[Nadia. B · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my getting-back-into-reading book, it was okay had some interesting parts. I’d probably enjoy it more today as an experienced reader.