Review from Aussiereviews.com Reviewed by Sally Murphy, September 08
Black Baron is on the run.
Turning around, Dad glared at me and held up his
hand like a policeman stopping traffic.
“I’m not sharing my house with a
cockroach as if…as if…” He flung
his hands in the air, turned around and stormed
off.
Black Baron didn’t take up much room, I
thought. Besides, no one was using the space
under my bed. “He’s not hurting
anyone,” I tried again.
“It isn’t natural,” Dad said.
“People don’t keep cockroaches as
pets.”
Jake’s cockroach, Black Baron, is on a
winning streak. In Fact, he’s probably the
best racing cockroach ever. But Jake knows that
Black Baron wouldn’t be welcome in the house
if Mum knew he was there. That’s why Black
Baron is kept under the bed, which is a great
place until Mum tidies Jake’s bedroom and
not only discovers the cockroach but also
inadvertently releases it. When Dad calls in the
exterminator, Jake thinks he’ll never see
Black Baron again.
Black Baron is one title in the new Lightning
Strikes series from Walker Books, a series aimed
at 9 to 14 year old readers, and likely to engage
reluctant readers with its contemporary look and
non-threatening length.
Black Baron is humorous, with chaos ensuing
as Jake searches for his cockroach and tries to
prevent it being exterminated, but also touches
on serious issues such as family conflict and
financial stress. The friendship Jake shares with
his mates is also a very positive element of this
story.
A great read for upper primary aged readers.
Black Baron by Robyn Opie Walker Books 2008
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Review from Otago Daily Times, New Zealand 6 September 2008
Latest offerings from
series books impress
Black
Baron by Robyn Opie (Walker Books, pbk, $15)
is a fast-paced, short novel for junior readers
who are just discovering chapter books.
The
Baron is the best racing cockroach Jake has had,
until his mum discovers it and targets it for
extermination.
There
are a couple of narrow escapes before the bug
finds a sort of cockroach heaven. Good fun.
-
Raymond Huber is a Dunedin teacher.
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Robyn Opie, Copyright 1999-2009.
Old Teddy illustration by Donna Gynell.
