The Lost Soul Atlas

I have literally just finished The Lost Soul Atlas by Zana Fraillon and have to say that it took my breath away. It’s aimed at older children/teens/YA but it blew me away. It’s a thoughtful tale about a boy named Twig who finds himself dead, meets his soul guardian (Krruk, a rather feisty skeleton raven) and, before he can be guided to the place where he will lose all his memories forever, he leaves the path (FORBIDDEN) to follow the sound of someone singing. What happens after this is a quest to find his lost memories, his dad and everything else that was important to him in life. Part of the story takes place in the afterlife and part in the world. We find that Twig and his friends were street children living in a large city where they are preyed upon and treated like vermin. What happens to them and why is a tragic tale, not least because, the author tells us in an afterword: “Although the people and places in this book exist only in our imaginations, the circumstances that Twig and the Beasts find themselves in are all inspired by real events. Lack of housing and social support funding, unemployment rates, failing mental health care systems, natural disasters, conflict and war have led to a global homelessness crisis that affects every country in the world. It is estimated that there are approximately 150 million children currently living on the streets. That means there are more children who are homeless than the entire populations of Australia, the UK, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and Greece combined.” This shocking fact really brought the awful truth home to me...HOW CAN WE LET THIS HAPPEN? Also, when we know this HAS happened, how can we ignore it and continue with our overpriveliged lives as if nothing is wrong? Regardless of your age please read The Lost Soul Atlas, it carries a very important wake up call. Zana Fraillon is a prize winning author and she writes so beautifully, it’s spell binding. I will definitely be reading her previous titles, to be honest I think we all should.