Jasper Jones

Jasper Jones is a 2009 novel by Fremantle-based writer Craig Silvey. It has won and been shortlisted for several major awards, and was selected by the University of Canberra as its inaugural UC Book of the Year for 2013.

Plot

Protagonist Charlie Bucktin is a thirteen-year-old boy living in the fictional rural mining town of Corrigan in Western Australia. His character reflects that he is somewhat socially awkward, being uncoordinated in a town that places high value in sporting ability. He is a relatively intelligent boy – a trait which causes other students to resent him. His best friend is Jeffrey Lu, a Vietnamese boy who, along with his parents, experiences racial discrimination throughout the novel. On a summer evening in 1965, Charlie has an unexpected late night visit from fourteen-year-old Jasper Jones, an outcast in Corrigan due to his mixed White-Aboriginal heritage and rebellious lifestyle. Jasper takes Charlie to his private glade in the bush where a terrible crime has taken place.