Azita and Me

Azita and Me

A journey towards independence and self-belief.

Azita and Me came about because Sarah wanted to write a picture book about the life cycle of the bulloak Jewel butterfly.

It turned into something more, however, and she soon found that the growing friendship between Holly, the daughter of single sex parents and Azita, an Iranian refugee, developed as the main focus for a story that explored a number of topical issues from their point of view.

In no time at all, Holly took over as the narrator, and as many authors discover, it was Holly and Azita, both in Year 7, who were making all the moves as they explored ways to cope with the class bully, their newly discovered curiosity about insect life, and as they gained in self-confidence and in mastery of their own world.

But the bulloak jewel butterfly’s story was not forgotten. It makes a powerful plea for more understanding about the myriad webs of life and interdependencies between plants animals and insects that underpin the health of our world today.

‘I have just finished Azita – what an awesome book! A must read for high school girls.‘
– Mimi
‘Azita and Me is a fiction story about the friendship of Holly and Azita, both come from diverse family’s and backgrounds, and I believe Sarah Martin (the author) captured that brilliantly. Holly, who has always been bullied because she has same sex parents, immediately becomes friends with Azita, a refugee who has moved into her class. Their peers call. them ‘uncool’ but as they start to learn and love each other’s family and cultures, they realise it doesn’t matter what other people think. This is a journey of self-belief, courage and independence, 10/10!’
– Lily (Year 7, Mount Eliza Secondary College)
‘I loved Azita and Me. I was fully engaged all the way through – moved as well – I teared up at the paragraph on Page 150. Full of fascinating information about ants, conveyed without being didactic, and it was clever to use the school project device to bring together the strands – Azita’s father especially, and then later to bring all the parents together. The recycling project also well integrated, plus the bullying, and same-sex parenting.’
– Val
‘Azita and Me. What a book. I was so impressed with the way the writer handled many concerns a teen needs help to understand themselves when confronting new issues. Sarah Martin writes so well. She stays at her heroine’s age. A great book for the young as well as the old. I was in tears.’
– Claire
‘Sarah Martin is an Australian writer driven by her passion for the environment. Her first novel, Azita and Me, for middle readers addresses several topical issues in a delightful story about Holly’s tumultuous first year of high school.’
– Angela
`Azita and Me is a beautiful and emotional story. Both Holly and Azita come from families ‘different’ to the mainstream families in their town, and an unlikely friendship begins between the two girls. Together they learn truths not only about their society and the world around them, but about Australian nature and climate change, and also about themselves.
`This story is a valid reminder of what our children face in schools today, and it shows the power of true friendship and the importance of learning the truth before forming judgements.’
– Julie Priebbenow (Author of Kiya’s Journal)
‘I thought Azita and Me was great. Once I picked I up, I did not want to stop reading. It was so cool how facts about the bulloak jewel butterfly were incorporated into the narrative so that even though you weren’t reading a list of facts, you still learnt a lot about them.’
– Odette

Azita and Me Book Launch

Meet author, Sarah Martin at the launch of her latest book Azita and Me. Sarah is interviewed by English teacher, Katrina Renard and young readers Radha Tiedgen and Charlotte Berryman (whose friendship began thanks to this book). Hear about Sarah's motivations for writing the book, her creative process and what she hopes Year 7 students in particular will take away from the story.

About

Sarah Martin

Sarah Martin can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to be a writer. As a child she wrote short stories for her family as Christmas presents. But it took a series of extraordinary events to jumpstart her career as a writer after twenty years as a secondary school teacher and ten as a fundraiser.

She began by writing a biography followed by two histories and then a children’s picture book. During lockdowns in Melbourne throughout Covid-19 in 2020 and 2021 she indulged her secret passion for writing fiction and completed four novels, Azita and Me being the first to be published.

Click here to read Sarah’s Blog