Pete was a paddock-basher…A paddock-basher is an old vehicle that’s used on a farm to smash and crash about the place. It can be a utility or a small truck, or just a car, which is what Pete was. But whatever it is, it’s always old and worn out, which is also what Pete was.
Pete the Paddock-Basher is worried that he might live out his days on the farm and never go into town again. So when two nice men decide to ‘borrow’ him, he is excited. Little does he know just how big his adventures will be!
The two ‘nice’ men are bank robbers trying to escape the police and, rather than taking Pete to town, they drive along many country roads before dumping him at the beach. After being bogged in the sand, Pete is taken away to a scrap yard where he is destined to be crushed – until he is rescued by another nice man, Mr Morgan, who lovingly restores him to his former glory. But Pete’s adventures are still far from over. There is another meeting with the robbers, a race, a brush with the demolition derby and even an encounter with aliens. In the meantime, Pete has decided that a quiet life on a farm wouldn’t be so bad after all.
The Adventures of Pete Paddock-Basher is a delightful collection of six stories which kids aged 8 to 12 will love. Three have been previously published in an earlier edition of the book, first released by Margaret Hamilton Books in 1999. This expanded collection extends Pete’s adventures and will still leave readers looking forward to the possibility of more tales.
Heffernan uses humour and action to draw readers in to the adventures of this car and his human friends – Mr Morgan and young Nick, a boy who lives nearby and joins Pete on some of his escapades.
Great fun!
The Adventures of Pete Paddock-Basher, by John Heffernan
ABC Books, 2004