Suitabook

We Are All Made of Molecules

Susin Nielsen

Reading: Consider reading alongside the child, checking in before and after the more serious material. Invite them to distinguish what characters experience from what the narrative appears to approve, criticise or leave unresolved.
Themes: Equality and difference: Stewart and Ashley begin as sharply different people who dislike one another, then become closer while recognising shared humanity. The story appears to use their changing relationship to explore equality and acceptance rather than treating social labels as fixed.
Status, intelligence and belonging: Ashley values popularity, while Stewart is highly intelligent and stereotyped as a nerd; each is described as lacking something associated with the other. The novel presents popularity and intelligence as insufficient alone, suggesting that social and academic abilities both matter.
Serious harm within a light tone: The book addresses serious harm within a light tone; the detail of how it is developed remains unclear. The book leaves its stance open to more than one reading.
Worth knowing: Content needing advance thought includes a death from cancer, bullying, rape, a hate crime targeting Ashley’s gay father, mild language and non-consensual compromising photographs. Consider whether the light tone sits comfortably alongside the more serious material.