A Single Stone (Meg McKinlay, Walker Books)

In almost all cases, shortness of breath is not a great feeling. In this instance, though, it was merely a symptom of good writing, and it happened as I read the opening pages of Meg McKinlay’s taut, thoughtful story about a girl who has spent most of her life squeezing through tiny passages, deep in a mountain of rock. Jena lives in an island village where petite girls are prized for their ability to wear ‘stone like skin’. Every harvest, seven girls are sent into the mountain in search of flakes of mica, a precious commodity used as a heat source during the brutal winters. Governing the village are the Mothers, powerful women who ensure suitable girls are trained from birth. These chosen ones spend years bound in cloth to stunt their growth, but as Jena discovers, one Mother in particular has started to use an even more sinister way to ensure newborn girls remain small. Author of the award-winning Surface Tension, this Fremantle-based writer has created an engaging, beautifully written novel that manages to pose big questions about gender and power, and thoroughly entertain. This is a quietly powerful, polished story for readers aged eight and above.

Frances Atkinson is the children’s book specialist at My Bookshop in Melbourne