Customer Reviews

Naked Bunyip Dancing

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Steven Herrick is a vastly underated author from Australia. Naked Bunyip Dancing is an easy to read and fun book for early teens. If you enjoy this book, seek out his 'By the River'. Much darker but wonderful imagery!

I had to read this for a graduate class and not being a fan of poetry made me assume that I would not like it. Well, I am glad to be proved wrong! I not only liked it, I absolutely loved it. In fact, as soon as I finished reading the loan book from my local library, I ordered one online as I would love to re-read it again and share it with others who might enjoy it. Yesterday, I read it aloud in the car and both my husband (who was driving) and kindergartener enjoyed it too!

The novel takes a look at class 6C in an Australian school (author/poet Steven Herrick is Australian). The students are anxious to meet their new teacher and when they do meet him, they are quite taken aback. Mr. Carey is unlike any other teacher they've had, with his unconventional approach to teaching (daily yoga sessions before lessons), and great love for poetry. As time progresses, each student begins to discover there's more to Mr. Carey than meets the eye, and discover individual strengths and hidden talents.

The novel is filled with humorous and at times poignant observations and the multiple point-of-view narration gives readers insight into each character. This is an excellent read aloud book and will inspire children (I would recommend this for ages 9 and up) to try their hand at composing free verse, and might just convert those previously averse to poetry!