Tussock

by Elizabeth Pulford

When a family is struck by tragedy a little hope is all that is needed.When Kate and Madeline’s father goes missing on a routine local flight, family life is thrown into chaos. While the close rural community help the family deal with their grief, Kate lights a lamp every night in the window of the old tin hut on the hill in the hope that it will help her father find his way home. Madeline invests her hope in building a replica of the fabled stone man. But it is the appearance of the troubled Troy that brings comfort to Kate in the most unexpected way. To Kate, Troy seems nearly as lost as her father and the mystery surrounding him and also the stone man leads Kate into dangerous territory.Award-winning New Zealand author Elizabeth PulfordBeautiful and ambient writing makes this story accessible to a large age group of readersAbout the authorElizabeth Pulford was born in Hamilton, Canada, but was brought up in New Zealand from the age of two. She began writing in her early 40s. Since then her publications have included articles, poetry, short stories in newspapers, magazines and on the radio. Many of her adult short stories have won national competitions. Her children’s books range from early readers through to YA novels; two of which have been finalists for the New Zealand Post Awards. Elizabeth has always loved books. In fact some of her best friends are books and she couldn’t imagine life without them. She is a believer that the world is full of enchantment and that there is magic all around if only we care to look.

Genres: Realistic Fiction

185 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2010

Reviews

[Jaime · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought that this book was OK. Personly I would have liked to know more at the end and what happend to certian people.

[Leah]

Just randomly remembered i read this when i was like 10 for my schools book club book. Kinda wanna re-read tbh.

[Pam Saunders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given this in a gift pack, it’s young adult and has a lovely cover. It’s not remarkable but not bad either, suit junior readers as has some interesting issues but not engaging enough for me. Touches lightly on violence but mostly about family Trentham in adversity. The stone man was a good edition and could add to the conversation in a classroom.

[Lê Như · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an okay book. I didn't like it so much. But the ending was good. It has a happy ending.

[Rhys · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Really good imagery, probably more for younger readers than me but still enjoyable

[Molly :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's ok. Not the worst, not the best.

[Today We Did · Rating 2 out of 5]

Today We Did

Kate’s father is missing. He went up in a light plane with a friend, and they haven’t been seen since. They live is a mountainous and bushy area by a lake, so the only way to search for the plane and its occupants is by air. Kate and her sister, Madeline, are both hoping their Dad will be found soon, and they have been lighting a lamp and building a stone man to help guide him home. While they are up at Kate’s hut on the hillside, a strange boy appears. Troy seems sad, evasive and a bit irritating, but Kate comes to like him. While she waits for news of her Dad, she also wonders more about who Troy is and why he is there.

The style of Tussock was nice, and the story flowed well. I really liked the side story concerning the keys on the old rusty key ring that Kate’s Dad had given her when he passed the hut to her. These short anecdotes were interesting and more insightful than the rest of the story. I would have liked to read more of the stories behind the keys.

However, overall, this story just didn’t hit the spot for me, it didn’t pull me in and keep me engaged. There was too much left unanswered. What happened on that last night? What happened to Troy? Where did he come from, where did he go? I was even asking myself questions about how they met in the first place. I would have thought that finding a strange teenager lurking about on her farm would have been out of the ordinary. Despite her concerns about her father’s fate, surely Kate would have told her mother that there was someone trespassing, since she wasn’t aware of the boot camp at that point, and she didn’t know what he was up to. They obviously lived far enough from town that a random stranger wouldn’t just stumble along, and someone there to help with the search wouldn’t be wandering aimlessly by themselves over their property. Perhaps her lack of judgement is due to the stressful situation she is in, but still, I would have thought her instinct would have been to protect her younger sister at least. Kate barely seems suspicious, and is only mildly irritated that he won’t answer her questions directly.

Kate and Troy were the main characters, yet there wasn’t a lot about Troy. He was a fleeting figure, here, and then gone, with only the briefest explanation for his presence and strange behaviour. Really, Kate and Troy were ships passing in the night during a time of distress for each of them, but there could have been a lot more to their relationship. To me Troy was a bit of a shadowy character that I couldn’t visualise that well. In fact, none of the characters really spoke to me, though I found Kate and Madeline likable enough.

Tussock is suitable for upper primary school and lower high school children.

[Phughson4 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kate is a teenage girl who lives in a farm house with her family. Her dad is a pilot, but on one of his flights, the plane crashes. Kate wants to help find her dad, but her mother won't let her. So instead every night her dad is missing she lights a candle in a little hut on a hill. But one night when she is going up to the hill to light the candle, there is a boy there, Troy. Troy and Kate become friends after a couple of days. The search and rescue team finally find the plane crashed but it doesn't have Kate's dad or the other pilot in it. That night Kate gets a phone call from Troy telling her to meet him at the hut that night. So kate sneaks out, and meets Troy at the hut telling her that the criminal who escaped from prison was his father. On her way home, the criminal catches Kate and threatens to kill Kate if Troy doesn't come with him. Kate runs away but we don't know what happened to Troy.

[Hannah-Georgia Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very interesting, but didn't give enough detail on some of the events.