You know about my character’s Lizard and Sky, so here's a bit about me...

My name is Barbara Stanzl and I am 21 years old. I was inspired to write a story where the main characters were dealing with the confusing difficulties of growing up, but also realising that their sexuality might be different and the worries of coming out.

Lizard and Sky are a brief window into my own adolescence although a lot of details were changed. I used my experience of missing the signs when my friend was struggling with their sexuality, much like Sky does. I have learned a lot from understanding and listening to my friend.

Looking back, I have realised we had a hetero-normative education, and there was no information about different uses of pronouns or understanding that not all relationships are between a man and a woman. I know this must have been confusing for my friend, as this was not a good representation on what daily life is like for a lot of people. Lizard tries to deal with the confusion on her own, and this is why we need to change the SRE system. For future generations to feel comfortable exploring the different options without feeling ashamed or othered like Lizard did.

This Fortnight's Art Submissions

You can submit your art through the form below, just make sure you have an adult's permission first.

Don't forget to put your name and age with your drawing so I can give you a shout out, and you can see your very own drawing on the website! 🤯

Monika Age 12

A wonderful drawing of one of my main characters Lizard, I love the details of the glasses and her pink back pack! Well done! ☺️

Eliza Age 10 1/2

What a cool drawing I love the colours! And a great idea to incorporate a lizard pet for Lizard! ☺️ 🦎

Want to submit your masterpiece?

Preview all stories here

Chapter from The Life of Lizard and Sky

“Pst Lizard...”

I felt a nudge but I didn’t open my eyes.

“Pst.”

It felt like water droplets had been sprinkled on my face, but I must have been dreaming.

“Oi! Wake up!”

“Huh!” I opened my eyes, Sky was right in my face, how was she wide awake? I didn’t even get a look at the time before she jumped on me. “Oof! What the-“

“Get up Lazy Bones! It’s time for our midnight snack.”

Oh of course, now I remember. I was just having a nice dream; I think I was winning a race or something but now I was freezing my toes off and sneaking downstairs to my own kitchen to grab some sweets. “Y’know, we could’ve saved time by sneaking the sweets into my room before bed...“

“Nah, not as fun that way- Shh!”

I startled, “I didn’t say anything...”

“No, but you might.”

I rolled my eyes. We passed Mum and Luke’s rooms in silence, and carefully tip-toed through Luke’s Lego village. I followed Sky to the kitchen and we got: chocolates, sherbets (Sky’s favourite), strawberry laces (my favourite) and some fizzy drinks. We giggled at how we felt like Trolls that sneak about and steal things. But this wasn’t stealing, not really, I’m pretty sure I told Mum we would do this. I’m pretty sure... But the look on Sky’s face said otherwise, and then the light came on.

My Top Picks

Who knows what ypu might discover on this list might be your next must-read for 2022

Book review/blog:

As the year is coming to a close, I’d like to take this time to assess the books I’ve read and create a top 5 of my favourite reads this year. If you’d like to join in, feel free to I’d love to hear your thoughts through the discussion part of this website. Who knows, you might even find a new much-loved read!

The secret diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4

ONE

And finally… The number you’ve all been waiting for, or so I would hope if you have made it this far into the list. If not, I commend your commitment. In at the number one top-dog spot, is: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 by Sue Townsend (1982).

Honestly, I couldn’t flaw this series, once I’d finished the first book I was immediately wanting to know more about where Adrian would go in life, and read the second one back-to-back. I found this story amusing as well as a real insight into the 1980’s as it was happening instead of a look back. I found some moments to be really thought provoking, ironically this most likely was not the intention of Townsend, but the book truly is a time capsule. One moment in particular is when Adrian mentions house prices, it truly made me realise how quickly inflation happens as this book is only entering its fortieth published year.

I’d recommend this book to anyone, but in particular if you are in a reading slump this book is ideal as it is written in the form of diary entries (epistolary) and therefore after months of not reading, I found I flew through this. The characters felt so real that I wanted to know what happened next in their ordinary lives just as I would do with my friends.

Noughts and Crosses

TWO

A classic in my opinion and has recently had its own BBC adaptation in 2019 is: Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman (2001). This book was so heartfelt I loved how the narrative was split between Sephy and Callum. I found this made me understand where each character was coming from, but also frustrated me (in a good way) when there were near-misses or miscommunication.

I kid you not when I say I was hooked. I shared this book with my housemates and it brought us all closer. We would ask each other where we were up to and anticipate when each of us had got past the same bit we could talk for hours about it. I have not had that with a book for a very long time. The only reason this is not at the top spot is because, I found the second book did not have the same hold on me to keep reading, unlike this next series.

If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late

THREE

In third place, a very near second but just by a smidge missed it is: If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late by Pseudonymous Bosch (2008). I love how this story is interactive, the narrator is engaging and entertaining. I found each character to be interesting but not over the top with classic ‘main character’ traits that are more often becoming clichés.

The chapters are short, which is good if you are in a rush or find long chapters overwhelming, however it is easy to get sucked in and end up reading until it gets dark and then realising you have not done any of your chores… Oh dear!

It’s Fine It’s Fine It’s Fine (it’s not)

FOUR

Up next is not a novel, but a poetry book, a new release and debut: It’s Fine It’s Fine It’s Fine (it’s not) by Taz Alam (2021). I found this collection to be understanding about adult life and dealing with everything that comes with it. It deals with some quite difficult or possibly triggering for some topics, so discretion is advised. I personally found this book helpful for the time of life I’m at, being 21 and I would like to think still relatively new to adult life… Don’t laugh.

I enjoyed the rhythm to the poems, they followed a rhyming pattern which was very satisfying and easy to digest with the contrasting heavy subject matter.

Code Name Bananas

FIVE

In at number five, I would say this was harder to pick over the top spot. I think I would have to go with: Code Name Bananas by David Walliams (2020). I’ll be honest, this book was okay, I did enjoy it for what it was and the characters were very inventive, I think it is only because I was reading adult novels before and I had forgotten the simplicity to this level in reading. The story was not bad, and I thought a particular part to be my favourite was… Well, I can’t tell you, that would be spoiling the book, and I would never do such a thing, looks like you might just have to read it. And when you do, let me know so I can tell you which part was my favourite.

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