The Thirteenth Home of Noah Bradley by Amber Lee Dodd is a book about 12 year old Noah and the reason the Bradley family have such awful luck.
The Bradley family are living underneath a literal curse. From the actions of their ancestors they are destined to walk the earth unable to settle for too long. Once they have lived somewhere for around a year the warnings start to happen. There are seemingly innocent accidents. Sightings of black cats and animals behaving strangely. And then the birds of the north will rain down on them until they leave again. When they flee it must be as far away as they can get from their old home to hold off the birds from the north for as long as they can.
Noah has made his peace with this. He’s used to moving from place to place. Only this time he has friends and a bike and he’s actually popular at school. This time he doesn’t want to go.
The relationship between Noah’s parents have become strained. It’s hard to move house every year and to never really unpack your most precious belongings. His Dad goes to Singapore for work and Noah promises that he’ll tell his mum if he sees any signs that the accidents are happening again or any cats. But he doesn’t. He wants to win the history cup for the first time ever and he wants his little brother to go on his first school trip to the aquarium. He wants his Mum to be able to keep a job that she actually loves. But avoiding the signs only makes things worse.
This is such a fun book. It’s a story about a boy wanting to fit in and to find a home. About wanting to protect his family and to fight the impossibility of getting out from this curse that has plagued his family for generations. It’s fundamentally about family and what you’re prepared to do for the ones you love.
Noah’s younger brother Billy is definitely one of the stars of this book. His character has wonderful progression through the book from a nervous little boy. The relationship between the brothers is also beautifully written. Billy is partially deaf and when either boy is scared they communicate through sign language to reassure one another. They have an incredible bond that’s so nice to read about.
There’s also Noah’s friend Neena who lives across the street. Noah and his friends have not been kind to Neena at school but circumstances force Noah to befriend her as he, Neena and Billy set out to solve the problem the adults haven’t been able to fix. How to end the curse.
Truly a fun adventure book aimed at children and teenagers but enjoyable for all ages. There are curses and mystery and unexplainable occurrences. Really fun read. Has you guessing at what will happen the whole way through.
literbugbooks 