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SCIS number 1263297
ISBN 9781920764777 ( 978-1-920764-77-7 )
Personal Author Smith, Derek

Title The boarding house / Derek Smith.
Publication Details Rockingham, W.A. : Equilibrium Books, 2006.
Physical Description 153 p.
Summary Age 15+ Anyone who can remember growing up in the suburbs during the sixties will enjoy this book.

Through the eyes of Mick, a teenage English migrant, Derek Smith takes us back to an Australia in transition from the conservative Menzies era to the moral and social turmoil of the sixties.

Mr Smith sympathetically evokes the bewilderment, confusion and loneliness experienced by Mick during his first six months spent in a boarding house in western Sydney. The characters Mick encounters in the boarding house are skilfully used to explore the aspirations and dilemmas of young people covering issues ranging from military conscription, domestic violence and sexuality.

I found the book to be quite moving. It could provide a basis for an interesting comparative examination of the more sophisticated attitudes and experiences of contemporary youth.

Bill Cuthbert, Maritime Museum, Fremantle
Topical Subject Australian stories.

Topical Subject Hotels, motels, etc. - Fiction.

Topical Subject Immigration and emigration - Fiction.

Phase of Development Late Adolescence/Early Adulthood

Learning Area Society and Environment

Learning Area English

Outcomes Reading [English]

Outcomes Time, Continuity and Change [S&E]