Reviewed by Melissa Wray
Layla is preparing for her final year of
secondary school. She is trying to get ready for the most important year of her
school life, not fight with her mum, work out her friendship circle, and get
used to her troubled cousin Marley coming to live with them for a while. Oh,
and work out how her indigenous culture fits in with her world.
Layla’s rocky road of being a teenager and
finding her identity is a road that many teenagers will connect with. Making
the right friends, going to parties, getting schoolwork done, and having crushes
are all part of the teenage years. Layla makes some impulsive choices,
but she also shows her vulnerable side in the choices and the angst that comes
with some of them. Tisdell can write with a direct yet vulnerable style, so it
is easy to become a fan of Layla and hope that things work out for her.
Tisdell creates Layla’s world with a
gritty dose of reality. She doesn’t sugarcoat the complexities of growing up
as a teenager and adds another layer of additional challenges for Laya who is
not only a teenager but an aboriginal teenager in a predominately white world.
Tisdell has woven some big personality-supporting characters into Layla’s world that both challenge and support Layla
as she navigates the world around her. The Skin I’m In has quick and
easy-to-read chapters and is suitable for a 13+ year-old readership.
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