Bad Buster (Nibbles) by Sofie Laguna

Aussie Nibbles

by Sofie Laguna

Being bad was what Buster did best. Until his dad thought of a way to sort him out.

Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Sofie Laguna originally studied to be a lawyer at the University of New South Wales, but after deciding law was not for her, she moved to Melbourne to train as an actor. Sofie worked for a number of years as an actor at the same time as completing a Diploma in Professional Writing and Editing at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Sofie is now an author and playright writing for both adults and children.

Her many books for young people have been named Honour Books and Notable Books in the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards and have been shortlisted in the Queensland Premier’s Awards. She has been published in the US and the UK and in translation throughout Europe and Asia.

Her picture book, On Our Way to the Beach, was included in the White Raven 2005 annual selection of outstanding international children’s books by the International Youth Library (Associated Project if UNESCO)

In 2008 Sofie released her first novel for adults, One Foot Wrong, to international acclaim. It was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and long-listed for the Miles Franklin Award. Screen rights for the book have been optioned and Sofie has recently completed the screenplay.

Sofie continues to write for a wide readership, from picture books for very young children, to series for older readers, to novels for adults.

Sofie lives in Melbourne with her partner and their young son.

Reviews

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

What started out as a poor, tasteless read, ended up being a very enjoyable one. I now realise that the beginning had to paint a picture of this bad boy that would swear at girls and would wear the same pair of socks for a month, and that had no friends - was just to show you that you should never judge a book by it's cover. His parents are also painted with this grim, bad imagery as well. After Buster gets into trouble again at school, his dad take him to a place where all bad unwanted dogs go. Buster goes in there and explains to Rhonda about why he's there and she takes him into the kennels so that he could choose a dog as a pet. He couldn't decide which bad, unwanted pet he wanted and ended up going there every afternoon after school, so that he could make his final choice of a pet. This really has a good moral to the story and it has a brilliant ending - so read and enjoy it.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I keep coming back to the Aussie Nibbles, Bites & Chomps. They are such great little stories for students to enjoy, and they need to be borrowed more often!

I think students enjoyed this one, as they can each relate to a Bad Buster they have come across at school, but there is some additional adventure and humour thrown in. I liked that Buster changed his behaviour, but the other students didn't forget what he was like before an didn't trust him. That generated some good discussion about second chances and whether just changing your behaviour was enough to make friends with people.

[Sean Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laguna, author of the brilliant The Eye of the Sheep has this very engaging short tale for children about a bad boy who is helped when he looks after dogs. Laugh out loud moment about his mum's tattoo and a generally fun read help this one. She is a really good author for both the young and for the adult.

[2W Class · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the part when the dogs were fighting the burglars

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both my kids have enjoyed reading this to me and this book gave them more confidence in their reading.