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Dodger
It’s the 1980s and thirteen-year-old Mick Jamieson is at school in suburban Sydney. He hates it and can’t wait till he’s old enough to leave. Home life isn’t much his mum’s dead, his dad’s a truck driver based in Queensland, and Mick’s stuck living with his elderly nan. When his new history teacher puts on a production of the musical ‘Oliver’, Mick auditions. Will this be one of the worst decisions he’s ever made—or maybe the best?
Critic Agnes Nieuwenhuizen, writing for The Age, called Dodger, ‘compulsive and moving reading’.
First published in 1990, Dodger won the Australian Children’s Peace Literature Award in 1991.
Children’s author Libby Gleeson has written 40 books and has received multiple awards, including the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Lady Cutler Award in 1997, given for distinguished service to children’s literature in NSW, the 2011 Dromkeen Medal, and the 2013 Prime Minister’s Award for Red (2012). Visit her website at libbygleeson.com.au.
Critic Agnes Nieuwenhuizen, writing for The Age, called Dodger, ‘compulsive and moving reading’.
First published in 1990, Dodger won the Australian Children’s Peace Literature Award in 1991.
Children’s author Libby Gleeson has written 40 books and has received multiple awards, including the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Lady Cutler Award in 1997, given for distinguished service to children’s literature in NSW, the 2011 Dromkeen Medal, and the 2013 Prime Minister’s Award for Red (2012). Visit her website at libbygleeson.com.au.
156 pages, Paperback
First published March 14, 1991
8 people want to read
About the author
Libby Gleeson
63 books38 followers"I was born in Young, a small town in south western NSW in 1950. After a few years we moved to Glen Innes, on the northern tablelands and then when I was ten we moved out west to Dubbo. We moved because my father was a schoolteacher and each change meant a promotion for him.
There were six children in the family. I was number three and there wasn't a lot of money. We didn't have television and of course there was no such thing as a computer.
Books and reading were hugely important. I remember going to the library on a Saturday morning and borrowing five or six books and reading them all by Sunday night.
When I finished High School I studied at the University of Sydney. I had a great time studying mainly history but also getting involved in lots of things happening at the University and the city. It was the time of the anti-Vietnam war protests and the rise of the Women's Movement.
I taught for two years in a small town, Picton, which is just outside of Sydney. I really enjoyed that time but I wanted to travel and in 1976 I headed off for five years. I based myself first in Italy where I taught English and then in London where I started writing my first novel, Eleanor, Elizabeth. I attended a creative writing group where the other students pushed me to write a better book. In London I also met my husband. We came back to Sydney in 1980. We've got three daughters.
When we first came back I taught at the University of NSW but now I write full-time. I've written thirty books and I've also taught occasional courses in creative writing and I've visited lots of schools to talk about my work.
I write picture books, novels for young kids and also novels for slightly older readers. I've done a book about writing and also a small amount of writing for television: Bananas in Pyjamas and Magic Mountain.
The writer's life is pretty good. It's a job where you work for yourself, in your daggy track suit, at times that suit you. What more could you ask for?"
from: http://www.libbygleeson.com.au/biogra...
There were six children in the family. I was number three and there wasn't a lot of money. We didn't have television and of course there was no such thing as a computer.
Books and reading were hugely important. I remember going to the library on a Saturday morning and borrowing five or six books and reading them all by Sunday night.
When I finished High School I studied at the University of Sydney. I had a great time studying mainly history but also getting involved in lots of things happening at the University and the city. It was the time of the anti-Vietnam war protests and the rise of the Women's Movement.
I taught for two years in a small town, Picton, which is just outside of Sydney. I really enjoyed that time but I wanted to travel and in 1976 I headed off for five years. I based myself first in Italy where I taught English and then in London where I started writing my first novel, Eleanor, Elizabeth. I attended a creative writing group where the other students pushed me to write a better book. In London I also met my husband. We came back to Sydney in 1980. We've got three daughters.
When we first came back I taught at the University of NSW but now I write full-time. I've written thirty books and I've also taught occasional courses in creative writing and I've visited lots of schools to talk about my work.
I write picture books, novels for young kids and also novels for slightly older readers. I've done a book about writing and also a small amount of writing for television: Bananas in Pyjamas and Magic Mountain.
The writer's life is pretty good. It's a job where you work for yourself, in your daggy track suit, at times that suit you. What more could you ask for?"
from: http://www.libbygleeson.com.au/biogra...
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 7, 2023
Pur non fornendo informazioni sui bisogni fisici dei personaggi, cosa che avrebbe aiutato a capire meglio la loro educazione, questo romanzo mi è piaciuto davvero molto. In particolare, ho simpatizzato molto con Penny e con Mick. La prima è dolce, comprensiva, spiritosa, quasi mai arrabbiata, insomma è l'insegnante che ognuno di noi vorrebbe avere o aver avuto. Mick mi è piaciuto per la sua umanità: per le sue debolezze nelle relazioni interpersonali non per colpa sua; per i guai in cui si caccia, da cui ho sempre sperato che potesse uscire per il suo meglio, anche a costo di una trasgressione sua o di qualcuno; per il suo dolore di fronte a un no di suo padre; e anche un po' per la sua forte antipatia verso il professor Masterman.
Un libro scorrevole e molto piacevole anche nei passaggi più tristi. Da leggere.
Un libro scorrevole e molto piacevole anche nei passaggi più tristi. Da leggere.
October 14, 2022
0:57:01
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews