Nargun and the Stars [Library Binding]

Patricia Wrightson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2001

The Nargun was born of the rocks when the earth was first formed. When Simon Brent moves to Wongadilla from the city, he turns to the land and the spirits who inhabit it for comfort. Among them lurks the Nargun, a spirit older than time itself, and a spirit who is not happy to be disturbed.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Hans Christian Andersen Medalist writes of Simon, an orphan who must come to terms with a mythic creature that threatens to destroy the boy's new family and everything else in its path. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: Bt Bound (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0833518577
• ISBN-13: 978-0833518576
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,587,736 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Quintessential Australian children's fiction book, May 6, 2005

By 

E. Lindsay (QLD, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Nargun and the Stars (Hardcover)

This book stamped itself indelibly on my mind as a young girl growing up in Australia. It evokes the land and it's inhabitants, plant and animal alike, in a beautiful haunting story that never fails to rouse my love of this big red land on every read. This book gives insight to the heart and minds of every Australian and the bittersweet relationship between us and the environment. If you are a foreigner, it will give you a taste of the terrible beauty and history of this place. The story relates to the conflict of white australians in learning to live and respect this land that we love despite it's harshness, and find ways to live harmoniously with it's aboriginal people and it's history. But it is told in a fantasy that reminds me of dreamtime stories. This story is told so that past and present exist simultaneously, as it does in dreamtime history.

An orphan boy Simon is sent to live with some relatives in the country, and discovers that life is not always as it seems. As machinery goes missing from a local road project, he encounters strange creatures that live in the bush and the rocks and the trees, and works with them to divert a fearsome primitive being that is rampaging through the area. He learns to really see the world, to trust, to believe and ultimately to live his life fully.

Read it, and then take a walk in the Australian bush next visit- I promise you will have a new 'sense' of what surrounds you, and the possibilities of what may be encountered....

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't let the book go., March 19, 2011

By 

JF (CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Nargun and the Stars (Puffin Books) (Paperback)

For me, although I am an American and was well into adulthood when I first read it, this book is a keeper. There was something mystical or magical about it, with just a touch of scary, and I find it delightful. The first half was more interesting to me than the part that takes place underground, though.