Old Drumble

by Jack Lasenby

The smartest drover's dog there ever was. Winner of the NZ Post Children's & Young Adults Book Awards 2009 - Junior Fiction.the humorous and heartwarming story of Jack Jackman, a young boy who wants to be a stock drover, set in the small Waikato township of Waharoa in the 1930s. Jack has a wonderful, warm relationship with his parents and an old family friend, Andy the Drover, who each week drives a mob of sheep or cattle through the main street with the help of his dog, Old Drumble, and his horse, Nosy. All three become the boy's close friends over the long hot summer holidays, and each week Andy tells him an even more amazing story of how Old Drumble has saved the day yet again, with each adventure becoming more and more absurd. A Baron Munchausen of the sheep mob, Andy's yarns are delightful, funny and quixotic - and in the hands of a master storyteller like Jack Lasenby, a passionate advocate of children's literacy, the result is pure magic.

Paperback

First published April 1, 2008

About the author

Jack Lasenby was an editor and writer of children's books. From 1969 to 1975, Lasenby edited the School Journal, which had previously been edited by the poets James K. Baxter, Alistair Campbell, and Louis Johnson. His work with School Journal brought him into close contact with leading authors and illustrators of children's books. Lasenby has been honored many times, receiving the Esther Glen Award for distinguished contribution to New Zealand literature for children and young adults in 1987 for Mangrove Summer. He also received the 1993 AIM Children's Book Award Honour Award in Senior Fiction for The Conjuror. In 1996, his book, The Waterfall, received the AIM Children's Book Award for Senior Fiction. Lasenby also received the New Zealand Post Children's Book Award in 1997, 1998, and 1997 for The Battle of Pook Island, Because We Were the Travelers, and Tour, respectively.. His latest books, Old Drumble and The Haystack, were, respectively, winner of and finalist for the NZ Post Junior Fiction Award.

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have only recently learned of the tradition of big yarns about sheep dogs in NZ. Big big yarns that stretch the truth and seem completely infeasible. So it took me a while to understand that the yarns that were being passed on to young Jack from Andy the Drover in this book were of this tradition. Taken at face value, the yarns appear ridiculous and unrealistic, but taken in the context of the tradition of droving stock and 1930s New Zealand, the stories are delightful and heart warming. I read this story aloud to our two boys, ages 9 and 11, and we were all captivated by Andy's tales, and we all cringed when Jack would bound home and repeat Andy's tales to his mother, knowing (better than Jack) that Andy's stories were not to the liking of Jack's mother. I thoroughly enjoyed the New Zealand slang and colloquialisms, almost all of them unfamiliar to my boys and many of them unfamiliar to me (thankful for the glossary at the end of the book).

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most amazing book ever. This is how I grew to absolutely love dogs and when I started to help Dad train the dogs. This is AMAZING book

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's set in Waharoa!

[Sonia · Rating 2 out of 5]

it is boring!