Bungawitta

by Emily Rodda, Craig Smith (Illustrator)

It's crunch time in Bungawitta. The land's as dry as a dead galah, there's no rain in sight, and only twelve people left in town. Little Glory-Alice blames it all on the TV weatherman. Jay knows better. Nobody can make it rain. But a shower of money would help keep Bungawitta alive. And a festival would attract city tourists with money to spend, Jay's sure of it. But can twelve people, two dogs and a Shetland pony put on a proper festival? Only time, and the ABC, will tell.

Genres: Childrens

122 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Emily Rodda (real name Jennifer Rowe) was born in Sydney, Australia and graduated from the University of Sydney in 1973 with an MA (Hons) in English Literature. Moving into a publishing career, first as a book editor, and finally as a publisher at Angus & Robertson, Rodda's first book was published in 1984.

Reviews

[Michelle]

Have you ever lived through a drought?
I loved this book. It’s fun and funny.
Aside from the giggles this book shows a community coming together to put on an event of a lifetime.
Highly recommend for readers young and old.

[Michael Earp]

A sweet rural story filled with optimism

[Clayton Page]

Read this with my Year 5/6 class last term. Good Aussie yarn.

[Isa Rive]

Bungawitta is suffering terrible drought and many inhabitants of this tiny outback town have left. The outlook is bleak but the creative town's inhabitants hatch a last ditch plan to save the town by running a festival. This book is so well crafted, with short chapters, wonderful characters and a funny story. Would be a good read-aloud for Y3 class.

[Emma Marie]

Spontaneous applause as we finished our first class novel for the term. Concepts of community and change were explored deeply. Some Australian colloquialisms to unpack that the students found very amusing.

[Gaby]

Quite cute!

[Naomi Barnes]

I hope this book happens soon for rural Australia.

[Gemma]

3.75 stars

[Renee May]

Read this to my class over the last few weeks. Such a good way to teach them about the drought

[Jaz]

Terrific little story about one community's respnse to the drought. Funny and entertaining, this far fetched story shows how imagination and working together can produce miracles.

[Mary]

read this to my dog when he had cancer <3 also got failed on a grade bc my teacher had no reading comprehension. still have the shirt i made of inspired by it when i was 9. lovely book, characters were swag

[Clare]

A humorous tale for young readers about a country town that uses its ingenuity to survive a drought. The Bungawitta Earth Sculpture Festival is born, and with the prospect of appearing on television, tourists flock to the fresh air and open skies of the dusty little town. All the town's characters contribute their best, with cakes and a sausage sizzle, tea cosies and chutney and jam, paintings and souvenir t-shirts, and even the elderly Maisie Macduff gives her fingers a run on the old piano and soon has the crowd singing and dancing. A jolly good read that will leave a smile on your face. www.GoodReadingGuide.com

[Mrs Child]

Wonderful story of an outback town struggling with the drought. Great characters, plenty of funny lines with predictable outcome!

[Clad22]

Loved it. Very Australian. Looking forward to sharing it with some city kids of mostly overseas backgrounds.

[Jolanda]

great introduction to colloquial language and community spirit -very australian :)

[Spongebob]

Good book!

[Anna Davidson]

A fun adventure story about a community working together to solve a problem.