3 Reasons Why You Should Read Sonny & Tess by Nova Weetman

What’s the book about?

It’s the end of year 7 and Tess wants a summer job. She’s keen to earn her own money and buy her own clothes. But her mum has other ideas: it looks like Tess will be stuck at home babysitting her twin brothers.

Thirteen-year-old Sonny is tired of moving around. With his dad up north, he’s staying with his uncle and aunt above their fish and chip shop. And it just so happens his uncle is hiring extra staff for the holidays.

When Sonny and Tess crash into each other outside the shop, sparks and dim sims fly. Soon they’re both wondering if the other feels the same way – but, as Sonny loves to say, it’s complicated.

Over hot chips and chicken salt, can these two work out what they really want?

Recommended for: 

Ages 11+

Three reasons to read it: 

1. One chapter you’re in Tess’s head, dreaming of freedom, the next, you’re chilling with Sonny. It’s like being in two movies at once, except they’re crashing into each other and it’s delightfully all over the place. Dual POV means double the drama, double the heart and double the chances to yell “JUST TELL THEM HOW YOU FEEL!” at the page.
2. It’s like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before but younger and messier. Think: swoony glances, big questions, awkward convos and one very cute almost-romance. If you like rom-coms but wish they had less drama and more hot chips, this is your jam.
3. Sonny and Tess meet outside a fish and chip shop and BAM! — awkward chemistry and dim sims. It’s not insta-love. It’s “wait, do they like me?” love, aka the most accurate kind of Year 7 crush energy. If you’ve ever had a weird, fluttery feeling around someone and immediately overanalyzed it, this is your book.

Buy a copy of Sonny & Tess here.

About the author:

Nova Weetman lives in Melbourne with her family. She has written for TV and is the author of many middle grade and young adult novels. The Secrets We Keep was shortlisted for the Readings Children’s Book Prize, the Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards and the ABIA Awards, and was named a CBCA Notable Book. The sequel, The Secrets We Share, was a 2018 CBCA Notable Book and won the KROC Kids Reading Oz Choice Awards, NT – Best Fiction for Years 7 to 9. It was also shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards. Nova’s middle grade novel Sick Bay was a CBCA Notable Book, was shortlisted for the ABIA Awards and Japan’s Sakura Medal, and won the YABBA Awards Fiction for Years 7–9. In 2022, The Edge of Thirteen won the ABIA Small Publishers’ Children’s Book of the Year and was a CBCA Notable Book. In 2023, The Jammer was shortlisted for the ABIA Book of the Year for Older Children and was a CBCA Notable Book. Nova’s latest book is the adult memoir Love, Death & Other Scenes.