Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
Chapter Summaries
Chapter 1
Josephine Alibrandi is beginning a new school year as the vice-captain of St Martha’s school in Sydney. She promises to be good but already gets in trouble on the first day. Josie introduces herself to the reader as an Italian living in Australia. She lives with her mother, who had her before she was married, doesn’t know her father, and has a close relationship with both her mother and nonna (grandmother). When Josie arrives home after school, her mother tells her that her father, Michael Andretti, is in town unexpectedly.
Chapter 2
Josie introduces her friends: Sera, Anna and Lee, and her school enemy: Ivy Lloyd (Poison Ivy). Josie also participates in ‘Have a Say Day’, where she sits next to Jacob Coote, the captain of Cook High, a local public school. He teases and flirts with her. Jacob makes a speech about making the most of freedom. The speech affects Josie.
Chapter 3
Josie visits her grandmother and examines the fact that she is illegitimate. She has an argument with her grandmother, who Josie thinks is too hard on her mother. Michael, Josie’s father, shows up unexpectedly, and Josie gives him a clue that she could be his child. Josie also explores her frustration with her culture.
Chapter 4
Josie has a talk with John Barton, a boy that she has a crush on and respects, after the school debate. She comments on the polarisation of their two families, and he talks about his father’s expectations on him with quite a bit of bitterness. Josie is surprised that John is having problems, because his life is what she has always dreamed of. Josie gets a new job at McDonalds.
Chapter 5
Josie goes to the school dance in a dress that her nonna made her. Jacob and John are both there, and Jacob dances with her for most of the night. Jacob gives Josie a lift home on his motorbike and tells her that his mother died. They talk about the differences in their families, and Josie says that he has to meet her...