Old Drumble by Jack Lasenby

Finalist in the New Zealand Post Book Awards
Junior Fiction category (and winner of this category)

We have reviewed all the other entries in the junior fiction category but have not managed to fit this one in yet.
But here goes - with a review from Olivia, who is in year 7.

"Old Drumble is a fantastic book by Jack Lasenby about a little boy named Jack Jackman, Andy the drover and Old Drumble, the smartest drover's dog there ever was. A drover, by the way, is a person who shifts cattle and sheep across roads and paths from field to field.

Old Drumble is written in a quirky and different way with funny chapter titles, descriptive wording and interesting questions thought up by Jack that really make you think - e.g. if his street is flat, then which side is the top and which is the bottom? They have equally interesting answers as well.

The book is about the stories that Andy the drover tells Jack about his best droving dog - Old Drumble. About once every week he'd let Jack help him drive the sheep and cattle down Ward Street, and not a step further! - as his mother always said.

That dog had many adventures - he held the whole river up with his bark, he won the Te Aroha races. He even made cattle walk across a tightrope blindfolded.

Old Drumble must be the best children's chapter book this year. I recommend it for children 8 years and up and I'd give it 81/2 out of 10 at least! I hope that you'll read this fantastic book for yourselves to find out more about this engaging story."

Thanks Olivia

Published by HarperCollins