We Are All Made of Molecules

Susin Nielsen's We Are All Made of Molecules is a funny, sad and very honest story for 11 year olds about two teenagers who suddenly have to share a house and absolutely do not agree about it.

What happens

Stewart is thirteen, very clever and a bit awkward. His mum died of cancer a couple of years ago. Now he, his dad and Schrödinger the cat are moving in with his dad's girlfriend Caroline and her daughter Ashley. Stewart has always wanted a sister!

Ashley is fourteen and she's horrified. She's popular, obsessed with clothes and fiercely private. Her own dad came out as gay and moved into the little house at the bottom of their garden. She hasn't told a single friend.

The chapters swap between the two of them, and the gap between their versions is where most of the jokes are. Stewart wonders if Ashley might be hard of hearing, because she keeps walking away when he talks. Ashley calls him "Spewart".

Stewart is SO lovable. He's 89.9 percent happy about the move and draws a graph of his first day at Borden Secondary. He fills Ashley's sleek, minimalist house with his mum's big armchair and her ceramic figurines. (Ashley's reaction is priceless.)

Ashley is much harder to like, and some of the time she knows it. She's snobby about her best friend and unkind about her dad. You'll probably want to shake her and feel a bit sorry for her in the same chapter.

Underneath the jokes it's really about grief and about what makes a family. Stewart's worry that his mum's "vibe" won't find its way to the new house is one of the most touching bits.

This one sits at the very top of the shelf. There's frank talk about puberty and bra sizes, a boys' changing-room scene about who's hairy where, and a rude military word explained with the swear bit left out. Ashley's attitude to her dad being gay is unkind, and she half admits it. If your reader is ready for teenage stuff, it's a thoughtful read about loss and new families. If not, it might be one to save for later.

What to read next

For another family thrown together and told from both sides, The Boy with the Butterfly Mind swaps between Elin and Jamie. Elin's mum has just announced that her partner Paul is part of the family now, and Paul has a son Elin's age.