There’s a good reason I call my neighbour, Lachlan Master, the Master of Disaster. All of his plans end in disaster. Always. So when a celebrity moved to Hazard River and Lachlan decided we should meet him, I should have known our expedition could only end one way …
‘I heard Just Orsum is working on his most dangerous and daring mission ever,’ I say to Lachlan as we climb over a fence and into the backyard of Australia’s most famous adventurer, ‘Maybe he’s planning a trip to Mars.’
Jack and his friend, Lachlan are always on the lookout for adventure and excitement. And they are sure the arrival of Just Orsum is going to make life interesting. And it does. Just not quite in the way they’d imagined. Together with Jack’s brother Ben and their friend Mimi, Jack and Lachlan find themselves facing the biggest toads they’ve ever seen in an environment they hardly recognise. It takes all their combined skills and some help from some locals to find their way home.
Toads Revenge is the fifth story from J. E. Fison, set in a seaside/riverside holiday area of southern Queensland. Jack and his friends manage to get themselves into, and out of, plenty of trouble. The stories are told from Jack’s point of view but each of the four main characters contributes to both the trouble and the solutions they must find. There’s hardly time for the characters – or the reader – to catch their breath before another complication has them again on the run. Think updated and Australian-set Blyton adventures. Perfect for safe adventuring and hopefully too wild for copying! Recommended for mid-primary readers.
Toads Revenge, J. E. Fison
Ford Street Publishing 2011
ISBN: 9781921665455
review by Claire Saxby, Children’s Author
www.clairesaxby.com