Representation: Kosovar-Albanian character, Asian character
Trigger warnings: Death from stillbirth, hospitalisation, racism, grief and loss depiction, displacement, deportation, blood depiction, death of a mother in the past
Read these reviews for context like this one, this one and this one.

7/10, after reading a not-so-great book published around a decade ago I decided to read this more recent one and wow was it worth it since I actually enjoyed this but I can surely say this is one of the heavy ones I've read and I can definitely see the parallels between this and The Thing About Jellyfish, but not so much with Wolf Hollow which I did not enjoy so where do I begin? It starts with the main character Winifred otherwise known as Fred and her family is different from other children her age and it was interesting to see a book set in Australia in the late 90s which I haven't seen since last year. Her family has changed ever since her mother died so now she has adoptive parents, she doesn't even have a grandmother and her grandfather was hospitalised early in the book.

The first half was interesting since it foreshadowed the events that would happen later on when there was news of the Balkan Wars and some refugees were reluctantly accepted into Australia. The latter half revolves around the second major plot point after Fred's family changed and that was the arrival of two characters whom I got to see for a while named Merjeme and Arta. If you thought the book was heavy enough as it is, boy is it going to get a lot more than that and even though the text size was quick to read through I still found it quite profound and full of raw emotions and several scenes packed a punch. Fred's parents whom she names by their first names Anika and Luca are expecting a baby and I anticipated it and read on to see what would happen but I was shocked when it was a stillbirth and only a few pages later there was some manipulation going on at the "safe haven" where there was an announcement telling the Kosovar-Albanians that their home was safe now when it was all an attempt to just deport them and some of them went back including Merjeme and Arta which was sad, at least one refugee managed to obtain a permanent asylum. Not to mention the interesting imaginative analogies involving maps, who knew? Also liked the representation of Asians in this, nice touch but why is Trung named Jed, his original name is perfectly fine. ( )

Absolutely wonderful story of a childhood on the Mornington Peninsula and the impact of Operation Safe Haven, the repatriation of Kosovar refugees in 1999. ( )

A really deftly written story about family, community, global events and politics, war, refugees, and good citizenship—big ideas written about through a small, personal, and local lens. Really big issues handled with care and respect, perfectly targeted for middle grade readers. ( )

Some readers will remember my unrestrained excitement when I posted about being able to attend a ‘real’ literary event, the Port Fairy Literary Weekend. That was back in June when Melburnians were tentatively venturing forth after months of Covid restrictions, and we also had plans to go to the Yarra Valley Writers Festival in July. It was too good to last, and the Yarra Valley festival quickly pivoted online when the restrictions were back, so the brief luxury of the face-to-face Port Fairy LitFest will have to sustain me for a while to come. (Though I am at the moment working my way through the virtual offerings at the Edinburgh Festival and the Mildura Literary Festival and enjoying them a great deal.*

The Importance of festivals and author talks is that a personable author talking about her book can be the catalyst for the decision to read it or not. I used to read heaps of middle-grade novels when I was a teacher-librarian… Knowing your stock is an essential element in enticing the reluctant reader and over the last ten years of my career, I made a point of reading 2-3 children’s novels each week. I liked them, especially when they respected the intelligence of their audience and tackled complex issues. But in retirement I put that aside and devoted myself to reading adult novels — so I would probably never have come across The Year the Maps Changed if I hadn’t gone to the Port Fairy festival and heard Danielle Binks talk about it in a session about historical fiction for children.

What prompted me to buy the book was that it was about a topic dear to my heart, Australia’s treatment of refugees. The Year the Maps Changed is set in a year of a child’s life, in 1999 when a group of Kosovo-Albanian refugees was brought to a ‘safe haven’ at the old Quarantine Station at Point Nepean. My memory of this time was that the government represented by Philip Ruddock was shamed by the international community into taking some of these refugees, and that as soon as they could, they cynically declared Kosovo safe and returned the refugees, by fair means or foul. Danielle reminded us that these events may seem like just yesterday to some of us, to the young people reading this book, it is not just so last century, it is actually history.

The central character is Fred, a.k.a. Winnie and Winifred. She’s 12, in her last year of primary school, and she is struggling to find her place in her blended family.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2021/08/23/the-year-the-maps-changed-by-danielle-binks/ ( )

Love what Melina Marchetta said about the book; ‘I cared so much for that family, especially the gorgeous relationship between Fred and Sam and what it says to us about being part of communities on a local and global scale. It’s timeless and beautiful and it deserves to be read by people of all ages.’ ( )