Reviewed by Dianne Bates
This is one of the best books for young readers I’ve
read in a long time. Based on Owen Reader’s multi-award-winning Heritage Heroes
series, it includes incredible true stories of bravery and survival of
Australian children. There is, for example, the story of Lennie Gwyther, who,
at the age of nine, rode his horse Ginger Mick alone from Leongatha, Victoria,
to Sydney, NSW, for the opening in 1932 of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Another
story is of 16-year-old Grace Bussell, who, with an Aboriginal man, saved 50 people from
drowning after their ship was wrecked in Margaret River, WA in 1876. Altogether
there are seven stories of remarkable children in this sturdy book.
Each story is written as fiction in third person, but
the stories are based on facts: Owen Reeder obviously spent many hours researching
so all the details in the stories are one hundred percent accurate. Accompanying
each story are break-out boxes with historical information. At the conclusion
of each story is a follow-up ‘What happened to’. For instance, Belinda ‘Bee’
Kay, aged thirteen, who cared for her four siblings for weeks on a deserted island in north-west
Tasmania when their parents and younger siblings drowned, never married, and
died in a mental health hospital from pneumonia when she was in her 30s.
At the end of the book there’s a glossary, lists of
resources used in compiling the stories, and author notes and acknowledgements.
Each of the stories is brilliantly written, packed with details that create vivid
images in the reader’s mind. This is an engrossing book which is suitable for readers aged 9+
years. It is highly recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Buzz Words Books would love to hear what you think.