Don't Pat the Wombat! - Hardcover

Honey, Elizabeth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0375805788 ISBN 13: 9780375805783

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2000

Synopsis

From one of Australia's most popular authors, here's a fresh, fast, laugh-out-loud-funny story of boys being boys at school-camp.

"Adults won't find this very tasteful. Sorry, it can't be helped, it's what happened."

Mark Ryder gives us the good, the bad, and the messy in this antic account of his friends' misadventures during a week of school-camp in the Australian outback. Camp is everything the boys expect and more--there are caves to explore, mud fights, bad showers, great food, flashlights, hidden candy, wombats, and leeches. Then disaster strikes: Mr. Cromwell (a.k.a. Crom the Bomb, or simply The Bomb) arrives as a substitute chaperon! "Cromwell at camp is like Darth Vader at your birthday party. How could this happen?" But in the end,
it's what Jonah, Nicko, Wormz, Azza, Mitch, and Mark do to The Bomb that sets off an explosion. . . .

About this title

Review:

Mark, Jonah, Nicko, Azza, and Mitch, a.k.a. the Coconuts, a.k.a. the Convicts, are set to have the time of their lives at pioneer camp. Wattle and daub building, great food, blood-sucking leeches, mud fights, nose-biting horses, half-wild wombats, pirate plays... it's everything they dreamed of. Until the Bomb shows up. Mr. Cromwell is the dourest, cruelest, most unfair teacher at school--and is now a camp chaperon. Crom the Bomb has a particular sour spot in his evil heart for Jonah, and takes every opportunity to make his life miserable. The feud reaches a fever pitch when the Bomb and Jonah inadvertently are paired in a canoe trip, and disappear around the river bend. Can all the Coconuts survive this camping trip uncracked?

Mark's voice as narrator in this story is flawless. He is, through and through, a sixth-grade boy, complete with delight in the grossest things and hilarity over goofball practical jokes and muddy exploits. William Clarke's kidlike drawings of ant-covered boys and baby wombats combine nicely with Elizabeth Honey's photographs of rowdy campers to create a totally boyish document of a week at camp. (Ages 8 to 12) --Emilie Coulter

From the Back Cover:

“Fans of Louis Sachar and Thomas Rockwell will enjoy this antic tour. The book has a contagious humor that translates well.”
–The Horn Book Magazine

"Honey perfectly captures a pre-teen boy's voice."
–Rocky Mountain News

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0375805788
• ISBN 13: 9780375805783
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144
• Illustrator: Clarke William