Heather Robertson Mason (Children's Literature)
Taylor Markum has had an unfair life. She spent her childhood following her drug addicted mother until abandoned at a 7-Eleven near a rural town. Rescued by Hannah, she is sent to a private school managed by the state. She is the sole witness to a hermit’s suicide. Unwillingly, and against many people’s wishes, she is made the head of her house and the student leader at school. Still she perseveres through her anger, but when Hannah, the only person she has ever felt a connection with, disappears, she begins to lose it. She breaks into Hannah’s house and finds part of a story about four kids. As she becomes more desperate to find Hannah and uncover her own history, she learns that her life is intertwined with the children in Hannah’s story. Although an incredibly sad story, it is also amazingly beautiful. Some parts are predictable, but still readers will be glued to the book. Although there is little that is obviously offensive (a vaguely described sex scene is the worst), the book is for high school students only. Younger readers, except for the most mature, wouldn’t understand the subtlety of the novel. The book is set in Australia and there are a few cultural references that may be tough for American teens to understand. Filled with passion, resentment, loneliness, grief and love, it is a memorable book that teenagers will read and pass on. 2008, HarperTeen/HarperCollins, $17.99. Ages 14 up.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2008 (Vol. 76, No. 15))
Just when Taylor's only guardian, Hannah, disappears from the Jellicoe School campus, she must lead her classmates inásecret war games against neighboring locals (Townies) and a camp of military kids (Cadets). While the gripping boundary battles among the three factions raise the reader's pulse, Taylor'sásearch for Hannah andáher relationship witháJonah, the stoic cadet commander, charge the storyáwith unwavering intrigue.áTaylor reads Hannah's autobiographical manuscript for clues and finds surprising links to her own life: Jellicoeástudents, cadets,áwar games and even Taylor's long-absent, drug-addicted mother all surface in the book, which recounts events 22 years old. Marchetta plows into a complicated story line head first,áshifting between Hannah's narrative and Taylor's trials as Jellicoe School's war commander. Time flashes forward and back,áhistories bleed together and two generations of friends bear uncanny resemblances to one another. Readers may feel dizzied andádisoriented,ábut as theyápuzzle out exactly how Hannah'sánarrative connectsáwith Taylor's current reality, they will find themselves ensnared in the story's fascinating, intricate structure. Aábeautifully rendered mystery. 2008, HarperTeen, 432p, $17.99. Category: Fiction. Ages 14 up. Starred Review. © 2008 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Claire Rosser (KLIATT Review, July 2008 (Vol. 42, No. 4))
I approached this book already favorably impressed by Marchetta’s previous books, Saving Francesca and Looking for Alibrandi, both set in Australia where Marchetta lives. Jellico Road is also set in Australia, which shouldn’t pose any problems for American readers. What might cause problems is the complexity of the plot, the numerous characters, and the basic mystery of the connections between and among the characters, all because of a car accident that occurred on Jellicoe Road some years in the past. Let’s just say that readers must be patient as they wait for the main character, 17-year-old Taylor Markham, to sort out her disturbing memories and discover the truth about herself, her mother, and just about everyone close to her. When Taylor was 11 years old, she was abandoned by her drug-addicted mother on that same Jellicoe Road. As this novel begins, Taylor is in a boarding school, and down the road is Hannah, a woman her mother’s age, who has a close relationship with Taylor, but an enigmatic one. That is just the beginning of the mystery. It is revealed slowly, with plenty of action and drama. There are close friendships and there is romance, as the relationship between Taylor and Jonah Griggs changes. This reads like an adult novel in its complexity, asking much of the reader, who will be greatly rewarded and satisfied with the resolution that finally comes in Taylor’s life. Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: JSA*--Exceptional book, recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2006, HarperCollins, 419p., $17.99. Ages 12 to adult.

Deborah Peters (Kutztown University Book Review, Spring 2009)
I found this book hard to “get into” – BUT once I did, I couldn’t put it down. It is a story that jumps back and forth between the present and the past. The past is the history of the young woman whose present we are learning about – how she is learning about the past and what memories she is having. There is danger and sadness, intermingled with a little bit of influence from Lord of the Flies. The main character doesn’t know as much about herself and her past as some of her friends actually do. They have been warned by adults to let her learn/remember in her own time. They stand by her as she is coming through this period of difficult memories. It is a strong book that can help students who have lost parents to cope, but because of the profanity, I can’t recommend it to my 7th grade students, although I know that they would enjoy it. Category: Survival; Realistic Fiction. 2006, HarperTeen, $18.89. Ages 15-18 (restricted, use of strong profanity)

Deborah Stevenson (The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, November 2008 (Vol. 62, No. 3))
Jellicoe Road is where Taylor Markham was abandoned by her mother years ago, and since then she’s been living at the Jellicoe School and with Hannah, who works at the school and who has taken a special interest in Taylor. Now Hannah has suddenly disappeared, leaving Taylor feeling abandoned all over again, and the timing couldn’t be worse: the military Cadets have returned for their annual local camping stint, making it time for the resumption of the long-running and secret territorial war between the Cadets, the Townies, and the School, with Taylor this year the leader of the School—and trying to forget her history with Jonah, the leader of the Cadets. Into this already intense and elaborate plot intertwine segments of another story about similar teenagers, a quintet of friends drawn from School, Cadets, and Townies and linked together by tragedy, and as the interpolated passages accumulate to make a clearer narrative, it becomes apparent that these segments of what was initially supposed to be Hannah’s unfinished novel is actually her true life story, which hides the mystery of Taylor’s own past. The book uncompromisingly starts with the fragments unconnected, leaving readers teased by a mystery they can’t even begin to piece together even as they’re enticed by the taut intensity of the atmosphere and Australian author Marchetta’s impeccable, long-striding style. Though the elements are melodramatic, they serve to heighten the intensity of emotion rather than the drama itself, steeping the book in loss and longing. Yet the solution to these griefs is subtly constructed before Taylor’s eyes as the people around her demonstrate that she matters deeply to them, and it’s clear that her circle is, in its own way, recreating the bonds of the previous generation and offering a happy ending that their predecessors were largely unable to find. Even readers with boringly normal lives will recognize the strains of Taylor’s individuation (about Hannah, she says, “I hate her for not working out what I need from her”), and they’ll be relieved to see her and her collection of surprising yet staunch friends finding their way at last Review Code: R* -- Recommended. A book of special distinction. (c) Copyright 2006, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2008, HarperTeen, 419p., $18.89 and $17.99. Grades 9-12.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 2009)
Two tragic stories come together in this carefully constructed novel set in the Australian bush. At the Jellicoe School, seventeen-year-old Taylor pieces together the truth about her past, through broken memories of life with her drug-addicted mother and dream visits from a mysterious boy. Suspenseful plotting, slowly unfolding mysteries, and generations of romance shape the absorbing story. Category: Older Fiction. 2008, HarperTeen, 422pp, 17.99, 18.89. Ages 12 to 14. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.

Stephanie Petruso (VOYA, December 2008 (Vol. 31, No. 5))
Taylor Markham has been living at the Jellicoe School since her mother abandoned her at a gas station when she was eleven. Taylor's whole life is a mystery to her-from what happened to her mother and who her father was to why certain people in town are so interested in her well-being. As the Jellicoe School students begin their annual territory wars with the Townies and military school cadets, Taylor is thrown together with Jonah Griggs, the leader of the Cadets. Although they are sworn enemies, Taylor and Jonah have a history and find themselves drawn to one another. Together they begin to unravel the tragic story of the five teenagers who started the territory wars a generation before and how their lives are tightly linked with Taylor's own. Marchetta, author of the highly acclaimed Looking for Alibrandi (Orchard, 1999/VOYA June 1999) and Saving Francesca (Knopf, 2004/VOYA October 2004), provides yet another great story. The interwoven lives of Taylor and the doomed teenagers from the past create a complex tale with some great twists that readers will not see coming. It is a great choice for more sophisticated readers and those teens who like multifaceted stories and characters. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P J S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2008, HarperTeen, 432p., $17.99 and PLB $18.89. Ages 12 to 18.