A fun story encouraging children to work together and use their critical thinking skills to solve a problem.
Former primary school teacher and now author, Australian Tim Harris has been writing novels for young readers for many years. He is responsible for series such as Toffle Towers, Exploding Endings and Mr Bambuckle’s Remarkables. He is a master of the absurd, which of course is always extremely funny for children aged between seven and 12.
Mr Bambuckle’s Remarkables Join Forces is the fifth book in this series. The children in 12B at Blue Valley Grammar are fortunate to have a teacher who encourages critical thinking, fun, and caring about each other and the environment, and maybe has a touch of magic. Mr Bambuckle leads his class by allowing them to make decisions.
In this new novel, Principal Sternblast has decided to go ahead with a new building project. This means that most students will have to leave the school to make way for only the most elite academic students when it becomes privatised. But what about the assistant principal Miss Frost? Why is she not doing anything to stop him? And what can a bunch of kids do to stop a big corporation?
Harris uses various techniques to write his story. We are introduced to each child in the class at the beginning of the book by finding out their likes and dislikes, each in a small box with an illustration of the child. The black and white illustrations by James Hart are amusing.
Sometimes a (ridiculous) conversation might take up several pages, with just the words in speech bubbles. Every now and then a child is also given the opportunity to tell us a little bit about themselves—a nice little vignette that breaks up the main story. Class member Damon Dunst’s reflections on How to Send a Love Letter are very funny as are the subjects of emails sent by Principal Sternblast.
The overall feel of this well-written book is that of a class who enjoys school with a teacher who enjoys teaching and encouraging children to use critical thinking and their own unique gifts.
Children aged between seven and 12 who have read the previous four novels of Mr Bambuckle’s Remarkables will want to grab this new novel. And if you are new to the stories of Tim Harris, you may just find yourself hooked.
Reviewed by Sue Mauger
This review is the opinion of the reviewer and not Glam Adelaide.
Distributed by: Penguin Books Australia
Released: March 2022
RRP: $14.99
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