A young boy is sent to his grandfather's ranch after his father's death. And learns lessons of a lifetime about love, loyalty, respect for man and nature, mechanics, women and hope.

Wonderful, sad but fulfilling read.

Very bittersweet, very Ocker, very heartwarming. Would definitely recommend this to kids in years 5-8 and probably recommend it to adults too. ( )

Reserved a bunch of books set in Australia from the library and started with this one - short but sweet! Eleven year old Mick is sent to stay with his grandad in the outback of Western Australia when his father is killed and his mother has a breakdown. He settles into the wild outdoor lifestyle, taming his grandad's rescued thoroughbred and experiencing his first cyclone, and along the way he rescues a red kelpie sheepdog his grandad names Blue. Not much to the story - when Mick's beautiful teacher Miss Marble is introduced and sparks dangerous feelings in the young man, the pacing starts to feel rushed - apart from the usual Aussie humour and great characters. I didn't know that this was a prequel to the author's novel Red Dog (duh), about a real life red kelpie dog called the Pilbara Wanderer, so I've just downloaded that story, and will probably watch the movie too! Beautifully told. ( )

It was alright, my life was not enriched by reading it. The pacing was slow and in all honesty I didn't care much for the characters. As it was adapted from a screenplay I got the sense that the story wasn't really the author's and it showed. The only upside is that it was short. In the afterword the author mentioned that it written for 12 year-old's, but nothing of this was mentioned elsewhere. ( )

Een 11-jarige Australische jongen gaat tijdelijk bij zijn oma in de bush wonen en ondervindt hoe anders het leven daar is. ( )