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Stuff Happens
Stuff Happens: Sean
Stuff Happens is an important new series for boys about everyday challenges. Created by Susannah McFarlane, the series editor, the series is written by established authors Tony Wilson, Andrew Daddo, Philip Gwynne, Will Kostakis, Oliver Phommavanh, Scot Gardner, Justin D'Ath, James Roy, Pat Flynn and Alex McDiarmid. Each book features a different character and follows them as they overcome a particular everyday challenge.
Aimed at boys aged between 7 and 11, the Stuff Happens series explores those everyday struggles in life that boys can sometimes be reluctant to express: quarrels with mates, a bad day at school, fear of disappointing mum and dad, rejection and not fitting in.
Stuff Happens. Real-life stories for boys. Suitable for beginner and newly confident readers.
Stuff happens sometimes. Everyday stuff.
At school, at home, with sport, with mates.
For Sean it happened starting at a new school.
Sean has just moved from WA to Monvale where his parents grew up. Sean misses his friends and wonders if he'll ever be able to make mates as good as the ones he has left behind …
50 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 27, 2014
2 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
About the author
Will Kostakis
16 books330 followersHi. A teacher-librarian yelled at me to update this, so here goes. Time to talk about myself in the third-person.
Will Kostakis is an absolute delight.
In the past, he has written everything from celebrity news stories that score cease and desist letters, to tweets for professional wrestlers.
Nowadays, he’s best known (but not particularly well known) for his award-winning YA novels.
His first novel, Loathing Lola, was released when he was just nineteen. His second, The First Third, won the 2014 Gold Inky Award. It was also shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year and Australian Prime Minister’s Literary awards, among others. The Sidekicks was his third novel for young adults, and his American debut. It went on to win the IBBY Australia Ena Noel Award. Most recently, Will has applied his trademark style to the fantasy genre, with Monuments and its sequel, Rebel Gods.
As a high school student, Will won Sydney Morning Herald Young Writer of the Year for a collection of short stories. He has since contributed to numerous anthologies, including the ABIA Award-winning Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology.
An advocate for young readers and writers, Will was awarded the 2020 Maurice Saxby Award by the School Library Association of New South Wales for service to children’s and young adult literature.
Will Kostakis is an absolute delight.
In the past, he has written everything from celebrity news stories that score cease and desist letters, to tweets for professional wrestlers.
Nowadays, he’s best known (but not particularly well known) for his award-winning YA novels.
His first novel, Loathing Lola, was released when he was just nineteen. His second, The First Third, won the 2014 Gold Inky Award. It was also shortlisted for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year and Australian Prime Minister’s Literary awards, among others. The Sidekicks was his third novel for young adults, and his American debut. It went on to win the IBBY Australia Ena Noel Award. Most recently, Will has applied his trademark style to the fantasy genre, with Monuments and its sequel, Rebel Gods.
As a high school student, Will won Sydney Morning Herald Young Writer of the Year for a collection of short stories. He has since contributed to numerous anthologies, including the ABIA Award-winning Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology.
An advocate for young readers and writers, Will was awarded the 2020 Maurice Saxby Award by the School Library Association of New South Wales for service to children’s and young adult literature.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 11, 2024
Love this story so much.
February 15, 2020
This review was published on Lost in a Good Book
This is such a sweet story. It is a quick read and part of the wider series but there is a wonderful message in there about being a friend and finding your place in a new school. Despite the length the narrative is quite complicated which I was surprised about. Kostakis covers feeling scared of a new school and trying to make new friends. But he also explores how leaving one place doesn’t make the love of your old home go away. There are lessons about being helpful and making grown up decisions when you are scared of the consequences.
There are morals and messages but they are not obvious as they develop naturally around the characters and their actions. Kostakis doesn’t make it overly complicated either, Sean’s feelings and thoughts help tell the story as well as his feelings and the inclusion of the emotion chart at the bottom of some pages was a clever way to indicate how Sean was feeling.
I read this because it was a Will Kostakis book, now I might need to track down the others in the series as well to get the full scope of this fascinating set of books.
This is such a sweet story. It is a quick read and part of the wider series but there is a wonderful message in there about being a friend and finding your place in a new school. Despite the length the narrative is quite complicated which I was surprised about. Kostakis covers feeling scared of a new school and trying to make new friends. But he also explores how leaving one place doesn’t make the love of your old home go away. There are lessons about being helpful and making grown up decisions when you are scared of the consequences.
There are morals and messages but they are not obvious as they develop naturally around the characters and their actions. Kostakis doesn’t make it overly complicated either, Sean’s feelings and thoughts help tell the story as well as his feelings and the inclusion of the emotion chart at the bottom of some pages was a clever way to indicate how Sean was feeling.
I read this because it was a Will Kostakis book, now I might need to track down the others in the series as well to get the full scope of this fascinating set of books.
August 24, 2016
Nawww adorable!! We follow fifth grader Sean as he tackles the terrifying task of starting at a new school and making new friends. Even though this book is aimed around 8-12 year-olds I still enjoyed it immensely. It was full of Kostakis's entertaining and heart warming style that I know and love from his YA novels.
February 26, 2015
read this book in about 45mins- a great read for kids aged 10.. highly recommended for the youngsters.. funny.. light hearted also teaches some great lessons.. well done, Will Kostakis you tickled our ribs again!!
Read
August 5, 2015j
November 10, 2015
Not an exciting life for Sean at the beginning! I like this book.
January 4, 2016
Great feel-good read for children.
March 27, 2019
Very earnest and sweet. Just a simple story of a young boy moving across the country, missing his old life and friends while trying to fit in and make new friends at the new school.
August 19, 2021
A quick and eat read. I always have a laugh when reading these books
Want to read
July 27, 2017Dingle
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews