Josh [Library Binding]

Ivan Southall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1988

A fourteen-year-old poet visiting his great-aunt for a week is subjected to some strange treatment from the residents of Ryan Creek, a rural town in Australia.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ivan Southall was born in Melbourne. He started writing his first book when he was 14 and by the age of 20 had written four books, three which were revised and published after World War II. Since 1950 he has written about 60 books, mostly for young people, and his books have been translated and published in 23 languages. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Library Binding: 179 pages
• Publisher: Atheneum (March 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0027862801
• ISBN-13: 978-0027862805
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,906,527 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Into the churning mind of angst-ridden adolescence, July 22, 2008

By 

Zoe Brillantes "Reads Carnegie Medalists For Fun" (Geneva, Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Josh (Paperback)

Josh Plowman is fourteen years old and visiting Ryan Creek, the town founded by his great grandfather for the first time. He stays with his Aunt Clara, considered to be the Plowman family matriarch. While meeting an exacting relative is formidable enough, he also has to contend with the youth of Ryan Creek, who seem to be bent on condemning and shaming him for whatever he may do or not do.

The book description says that "mutual bewilderment" arose from the encounter between Josh and the people of Ryan Creek. But for this reader, it was a three-way confusion. Was the book trying to say that small town hicks could not tolerate people who were different, like poets and dreamers? Or was it that big city snobbish sissy boys took the world too seriously and could never understand the simple, hardworking folk, the salt of the earth?

At the very least, the book conveyed to me very clearly why I never want go back to teenagerhood. The story is written from a very closed Josh-point-of-view that even the sentence patterns seem to careen across the page with only verbs and no nouns nor pronouns to drive them. The effect, while exciting and dynamic, conveying the churning mind of angst-ridden adolescence , gave me a headache and made me want to shout, "WHOA! You need some tranquilizers, boy!"

Though I won't read it again, I would say this book deserved its award. Any teenager who feels maltreated and misunderstood by the world and wondering why people can compromise their principles just as easily as changing underwear, will see themselves in Josh. This is for you, young dreamers, book-readers, poets - all you social outcasts!

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Josh, April 8, 2010

By 

Gayle - See all my reviews

This review is from: Josh (Hardcover)

For 14-year old Josh, Ryan Creek, the town settled by his great grandfather, is a jungle, completely different from the Melbourne life he has known.