Author: Fleur Beale
Just because a boy is sixteen not an academic achiever does not mean he does not have other skills. Ben’s parents and siblings are brainacs. They make Ben’s life a misery. If he does not study, they don’t feed him.
Ben’s passion is motor cars. He finds an after school job with a mechanic, and he excels. Ben changes subjects at school, works enthusiastically at his after school job, and discovers a whole new world... the world of rallying. He becomes a co-driver, thanks to his sympathetic mum who signs the permission form to let him drive.
“Slide the Corner” is about achieving dreams, winning friends and influencing people until they know that accepting individual differences makes not only happy families but the a richer community.
“Petrol-heads” in Middle School and in Years 9 and 10 will enjoy this book. Fleur Beale is a New Zealand author whose understanding of teenagers’ relationships with parents assures affinity with the characters in her books.
Reviewed by Gayle Davidson
by Roland Harvey
Wish you were here! This is just one of the clichés Roland Harvey uses in this delightful travelogue of a holiday from Tassie to the very tip of the Top End.
Henry, Penny, Frankie, Mum and Dad embark on their most exciting adventure yet. Travel with them on the ferry across Bass Strait to the mainland, through Kelly country, along the Murray, into the Flinders Ranges, underground at Coober Pedy, overhead at the Olgas, overland to the Great Sandy Desert, with the fishes at the Great Barrier Reef, deep into the Daintree, out to the islands, kayaking at Kakadu and finally frolicking on the beach at the very top.
Roland Harvey is a great observer of humanity and nature. He uses watercolour to illustrate the diversity of the Australian landscape, and black ink to write for observations through Penny’s eyes. If you have never had the privilege of seeing Australia in real life, enjoying this book will whet your appetite for and Australian road trip. It is so Australian.
Shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council picture book of the year.
Reviewed by Gayle Davidson
