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Commendation: Welcome to the Martin Tudhope Show by Sarah Britten Sanlam Prize for Youth Literature: Silver 2002 |
| When I first read this manuscript, I fell hook, line and sinker for its hero and his wacky family. But I assumed they all felt so familiar because they resembled my own family, which can politely be described as eccentric. So I was delighted to find my fellow judges equally enchanted by Welcome to the Martin Tudhope Show. |
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We are lucky to be extremely rich in youth fiction. Nevertheless, local fiction for young South Africans can err on the worthy side. Tragically, far too many of our teenagers face HIV/Aids, family violence, gangs, drugs and homelessness, and sometimes this is reflected in the literature to a relentless degree. Martin, on the other hand, is an ordinary white 16-year-old boy, who describes his worst problem as follows: "I am the only person at school - |
| including the guy who cleans out the rubbish bins - who does not
possess a cell phone. You have no idea how embarrassing it is when people ask
me for my number."
However, the slice of Martin's life presented in this novel is neither glib nor trivial. The author has an unerring sense of the issues that confront all young people, rich, poor, black or white. Every teenager - and everyone who's ever been a teenager - will identify with Martin's chief battles: handling the uncomfortable mix of love, loyalty and sheer embarrassment he feels towards his family; gaining the acceptance of his peer group; working out what his responsibilities are to others. And we all remember the agony of being hopelessly in love with someone unattainable. The author keeps the pages turning through an apparently simple plot - a year in Martin's life. She adds a clever twist to the question "Will the guy get the girl?", and comes up with a satisfying solution to Martin's dream of becoming the next Jerry Seinfeld. Her characters are engaging to the extent that when I finished, I hoped for a sequel, so I wouldn't have to let go of them. Most refreshing of all, the book is genuinely funny. Humour is one of the hardest things to write, and this author does it with panache. I laughed out loud not only when I read it the first time as a judge, but also when working through it a second, third and fourth time as an editor. I'd love to read you some samples of the fresh and in-your-face exchanges, especially between Martin and his four sisters, but I'd rather you read the book yourselves. So I would like to announce the winner of the Silver Sanlam Prize, for the second time, with only her second novel - Sarah Britten, thanks for all the pleasure you're going to give thousands of young readers. Helen Moffett
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