NIPS XI

by Ruth Starke

If white boys can't jump, can Asian kids play cricket? Lan's fed up with being called a nip.

He wants to be a true blue Aussie. What better way than by playing the greatest Anglo game of all? Lan gathers a team together and defiantly gives it a name: NIPS XI. Now all they have to do is get some equipment, find a coach, get themselves a sponsor and learn the rules of the game. Then it's time to challenge the best cricket team in the district.

A funny, empowering story of cricket and curry, spinners and leggies, NIPS XI is about overcoming cultural barriers, in sport and in life.

Genres: Read For School, Childrens

183 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2000

About the author

Ruth Starke lives in Adelaide, South Australia, and has published more than 20 novels for young people including the award-winning NIPS XI, which was named Honour Book (Younger Readers) in the 2001 CBC Awards and is currently on the Fiction for Young Readers curriculum, Noodle Pie and the Captain Congo series of graphic novels.

She was awarded the Carclew Fellowship in 2002, and currently serves as a judge for both the Colin Thiele Writing Fellowship and the Independent Arts Fellowship. She is a regular and longtime book reviewer for Australian Book Review, Viewpoint, and Radio Adelaide, an an editorial adviser for ABR, and a past Chair of the SA Writers Centre.

Before becoming an author, Ruth worked in public relations and travel marketing, and at a great variety of other jobs - of which the most interesting, she says, were selling French perfume in Harrods, cooking on the radio, taking tourists to Kashmir, and interviewing Grand Prix drivers.

She turned to fiction writing in 1992, and since then has become one of Australia's best-loved authors for children and young adults.

For more information visit: http://www.ruthstarke.com/

Reviews

[Sam Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

nips XI is a book that discovers multiculturalism and the issue of racism in sport in australia. i enjoyed the book because i like the sport of cricket and it was interesting to learn about problems concerning it. a group of asian boys are told that he can't play the sport of cricket just because of his race. he is labelled a 'nip', a racist taunt that offends him significantly. i read this book as i found it interesting to due its insightful nature on racism

[Michael Lawler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alas, it appears both the passage of time and my personal journey through puberty have not been kind to this once fine novel

[Space Jackson]

the constant use of such racial slurs as "nip", "monkey", "gook", "chink", "slant-eye" and the like is appalling and i was strongly offended by the use of these terms, in spite of the fact that in reality most of these were not even mentioned at any point. regardless, the Asian community in Australia need a voice and I am willing to be that voice despite not actually being Asian, primarily due to my ability to pronounce English words audibly.

[RosiePosie ~/TiEd uP In KNoTs\~ · Rating 1 out of 5]

GET THIS BOOK AWAY FROM ME RIGHT NOW
SOMEONE BURN IT
IT DESERVES TO DIE BY FIRE


I had to read this for school a couple of years ago. It made me not want to attend school for the rest of my life.

[Tessa Wooldridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published in 2000, Nips XI has remained in print for many years due to the quality of Ruth Starke’s storytelling. Starke, an award-winning Australian children’s author, knew nothing about cricket when she began her two-book series, Nips XI and Nips Go National. Nips XI went on to receive an honourable mention in the UNESCO Prize for Children’s and Young People’s Literature in the Service of Tolerance (for readers under 13 years of age).

Nips XI centres on Lan Nguyen and his friends from North Illaba Primary School – hence the seemingly racist acronym NIPS. Lan and his ethnically diverse classmates form a cricket team in an endeavour to be accepted as genuine Australians. They manage to acquire the services of a coach, an ex-Australian spin bowler, who instils in his charges both the principles and ethics of the game.

Nips XI culminates in a match between the Nips and the highly fancied Kings School.

Who wins? According to the Nips coach, ‘the game won’.

You can find more cricket-themed children’s books on my blog post 'Cricket Books for Aussie Kids': https://tessawooldridge.com/2022/02/0...

[Adelaide F]

This story is amazing, so far. I try to be the main character, Lan, and feel as if I were a Vietnamese migrant who wants to play cricket as well. Lan is a great character who is determined to believe what he wants. If he wants to believe that Vietnamese people can play cricket, then so be it. Even if they do lose the game. The other characters are great as well and I like to imagine the setting to fit the others.
The principal, Mr Drummond, I like to imagine as the one who both believes in Lan for his “Big Idea”, and the one who feels as if Lan doesn’t have enough time to select a team, AND teach them to play, as well as practice before Multicultural Week. This book is overall great and I would recommend it to any person in youth, especially migrants.

[Seb]

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[Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had to read this for children's lit and really enjoyed it. Mainly because although it was about migrants I didn't feel like I was being LECTURED about Treating Migrants Better, You Nasty Racist Ango-Australian. After reading several other books filled with harrowing tales of people escaping from war-torn countries and coming to Australia only to be ostracized, hated and labelled with ethnic slurs etc etc, it was a welcome change. There are SOME migrants who've had good experiences in Australia, y'know. Nobody writes books about THEM.
But yeah. This was funny and interesting and well-written, and although there was still a bit of racism shown to the main character I didn't feel like it was being shoved down my throat.

[Alex Feltham · Rating 5 out of 5]

nips xi is a story of cultural stereotypes and the reactions of society when those stereotypes are not followed or adhered to. it follows the tale of hai nguyen as he rejects his cultural asian stereotype and seeks to play the much loved sport of cricket, which is seen as a major stereotype of australian culture. it has a great storyline and really represents the reactions people have when one moves away from their norm. a statement made from an elderly woman when she realised hai, an asian played cricket, was, "i never knew nips played cricket". i recommend this book to anyone, especially younger readers as it portrays its message in a humorous way.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a foreighner boy that wants to change the concert for multicultural week. He decides to have a cricket match. He puts together a cricket team of forighners from school that have never played cricket before.They find an old cricketer that agrees to coach them. This is a great book not only for people who are into cricket. It also has a sequal-Nips go National. My favourite character is the coach he is a great sportmanship.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wasn't sure what to expect with this one as I'm not a cricket fan at all. But it is a really endearing look at a group of multicultural kids just wanting to be seen as Australian. I think this would be a good chapter book for 8-10 year olds who are voracious readers, or to read aloud to them. Prob not of much interest to kids much older than that, simply because of the age of the characters.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it with my son for year 6 History. I really enjoyed it but there were lots of topics we talked about before my son fully understood the varied messages portrayed in the story. I think the Principal had the most lessons to learn! Loved the cricket spin. Helped the children relate to the story far more.

[Cassie Paynter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for school and I now have to write an essay about it I found this book very informing. I found that this book gave me more knowledge about what refugees go through and how self conscious they are. I really enjoyed reading this book even though most of my classmates didn't and they just made fun on the word 'Nips'

[Mia (A Happy Little Bookworm) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nips XI is a great book about a group of determined and hopeful young boys who are fead up with being teased because of their ethnic background so decide to start a cricket team. This book gives an interesting perspective on multiculturalism in Australia. This book is much better than it might first seem!

[Stephen]

It's lol worthy