In conjunction with our work on Literacy, we have launched a Book Club, aimed at senior students in the school. The club has met twice to date. The first novel, chosen for discussion in the last term, was Dermot Bolger’s ‘New Town Soul’, a thriller with a supernatural twist, and a interesting narrative structure that divided the opinions of members. This term’s choice is the novel ‘I’m Not Scared’,
an English translation of the popular Italian novel by Niccolo Ammanati. The novel was suggested by a TY student and is well-known due to its film adaptation which has appeared on the Leaving Cert English course.
”Stop all this talk about monsters, Michele. Monsters don’t exist. It’s men you should be afraid of, not monsters.”
A sweltering heat wave hits a tiny village in Southern Italy, sending the adults to seek shelter, while their children bicycle freely throughout the countryside, playing games and getting into trouble. On a dare, a nine-year old Michele Amitrano enters an old, abandoned farmhouse, where he stumbles upon a secret so terrible that he can’t tell anybody. As the truth emerges, Michele learns that the horror in the creepy old house is closer to home than he ever imagined.
A widely acclaimed international bestseller, I’m Not Scared is a spine-tingling novel that combines a coming of age narrative with satisfying enthralling story of suspense.
The club will meet to discuss this book in the week before the Christmas holidays, when we will also choose our holiday reading!!! All senior students are welcome to join the discussion and we would hope that you might read along at home too.
