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Revision as of 12:48, 29 January 2011
, 12:48, 29 January 2011no edit summary
But grief isn't the Dawson family's only worry. Danny's fourteen-year-old sister Sissy is pregnant and she won't tell anybody who the father is. There's a terrible drought - the rains won't come and the cattle are suffering. The station's future could be in doubt. All hands are needed for the upcoming annual muster and with Sissy pregnant, they take on a housegirl to do some housework. The Pommie is useless - a vegetarian on a cattle station, for heavens sakes! - and it's Danny who seems to be saddled with her, when all he wants to do is join the fellas at the muster and prove to his father that he can fill Jonny's shoes...
I thought Danny's voice was one of the freshest and most original I've read in a while. At times he's blunt, at times he's secretive, but he's always honest. Living such an isolated life on a cattle station in the outback, he is at times ignorant and naive. On the other hand, he has understanding and experience that will be simply jaw-dropping to the average town-dwelling British child. He can drive. He can save the life of an orphaned calf. He can discipline an errant camel. The emotional landscape is recognisable to everyone, though. Danny is having trouble coming to terms with the death of his brother and also with the way his sister's pregnancy is taking her away too, into an adult world of motherhood. He's in a rush to grow up and catch up, and he resents the brakes his parents put on the process. And when things don't go his way, he gets angry and impetuous.
The Pommie, Liz, is an agent for change in Danny's life. We see her only from Danny's viewpoint, which is largely oblivious to the influence she's having and contemptuous of her city ways, but her outsider's perspective allows him to test his thoughts and opinions and, eventually, helps him to move on from his grief.
My thanks to the good people at Andersen for sending the book.
If ''Everybody Jam'' makes them want to read more books set in Australia, we recommend [[Now by Morris Gleitzman]] - about a holocaust survivor years and years on from WWII, and [[Fighting Ruben Wolfe by Markus Zusak]], a w.
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