Mum’s words clunk around inside my brain. It’s the third day in a row where the temperature is expected to tip forty degrees, and my head feels thick from lack of sleep and from breathing all this stinky hot air.
“Come on,” she says, “get a wriggle on. It’s after five. Don’t want to be late.”
Cooper’s life is okay until the day Skye tells him she’s seen his dad. That’s not possible – Cooper doesn’t have a dad – not one he knows anything about. Suddenly he’s plagued with thoughts about this mysterious figure. At the same time, he’s frustrated by his fear of the beach, and by his mother’s strange behaviour.
The new girl next door, Abeba, also seems to have a complicated life. As Cooper gets to know her, life gets even more complicated.
Get a Grip, Cooper Jones is fast paced, lightly humorous look at growing up and taking control. Set in a hot summer with bushfires looming, the story is a mixture of action and self-exploration, as Cooper tries to work through his various dilemmas.
A wonderful read for upper primary and lower secondary aged readers.
Get a Grip, Cooper Jones, by Sue Whiting
Walker Books, 2010
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