The First Year

The First Year by Matt Goodfellow is the highly anticipated sequel to the emotionally powerful The Final Year. The previous book has made a profound impact on readers and significantly boosted the popularity of verse novels for Key Stage 2. The First Year follows into KS3, on as Nate navigates the ups and downs of his first year of secondary.

Matt Goodfellow explores the themes of family bonds, resilience, finding one’s voice, the power of language and the influence of supportive (and unsupportive) adults in school. This sequel is just as emotive – perhaps even more – as Nate is torn away from the familiar comfort and safety of primary school and finds himself thrown into the stark environment of secondary. The story also celebrates the joy of new friendships and the strong sense of belonging Nate shares with his brothers and friends.

This is a verse novel where the story unfolds through poetry. Some of the shortest and most sparse poems are the ones that evoke the greatest depth of emotion, with the white space on the page providing the reader with a moment to reflect and process – but only a moment, as this is really a page-turner that makes you greedy to read on.