Unraveling Mysteries: A Teen's Journey in Boys of Blood and Bone

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Boys of Blood and Bone is a story of a teenage boy named Henry Lyon when he comes across a small town that houses a great mystery of a soldier who died in the First World War. The story continues to follow Henry as he unravels the mystery and struggles with many issues including relationships, death and the struggle of living in rural Australia. Metzenthen displays the experience of moral and social growth of teens through the voice of the main character encouraging adolescent readers to empathise with this experience.This is verified throughout the book in the ways of the death of Trot, a close friend of Henry’s, the issue’s Henry experience’s between Janine and Marcelle and the effects of war on the community. Throughout the book, Henry The book touches on the issues of the repercussions of war on a small town by the voice, Henry and how he unfolds the story of a World War 1 soldier who lived in the town of Strattford before his death and the sights and thoughts this soldier saw and had such as “Troops and guns everywhere. Wreckage by the roads.”(128) and “I will work at forgetting those places until the day I die”(199). This is relatable to teens today as the Australian ANZAC history is taught in every Australian school and many Australian teens may have family history connected to the ANZAC’s meaning they would be able to see their ancestry reflected in this book making it easy to sympathise with for these teenagers. The voice expresses the social and ethical issues of the effects of war and is able to easily sympathise with young people Metzenthen is able to demonstrate social, moral and ethical growth through the voice of the book Boys of Blood and Bone and it’s relevance to adolescents. This is shown through broadcasting how a teenager reacts to death, relationship breakdown and the ramifications of war. This is clearly interconnected with adolescents as it is shown through the perspective of a teenager and the issues faced are extremely relevant to teenagers. Social growth and change is unequivocally shown through the voice of the book and is able to

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