Books with author Jack Lasenby

It's war-time and Dad's away, so Mum has to run the farm. Sometimes the stress of it all gives her funny ideas, in this hilarious tale by a much-loved, award-winning junior fiction author. 'You wait till Constable Cuff hears about this . We're going to tell everybody in the district you sold your children for sixpence.' In When Mum Went Funny, the cry of mothers everywhere is heard loud and clear. Ideas like trying to sell off the children, making nail soup and sleeping out in a haystack to catch whoever's 'bandicooting' the potatoes. When Mum gets that look in her eye, the children go on high alert. They watch Kate, to see how worried they should be, because Kate, the eldest, is an even match for her Mother. Their frequent battles of wit and will-power keeps everyone entertained. In spite of Mum's tricks and grumbles, she never loses control; the children know they can rely on her, even as they try to frustrate her at every turn. Mum's mischievous tugging at the rug under her children's feet provides lots of delicious fun and fretful anxiety.In this gently comic novel, Lasenby draws a heart-warming but unsentimental portrait of a family and community under duress, and of a mother who channels her exasperations into inventive ploys that not only help save her own sanity, but also bring grist and intrigue to family life.

A powerful award-winning young adult fantasy — the second novel in the excellent Travellers series.Pursued by the hateful Salt Men, Ish flees south with his friend Taur, the mute Bull Man. But nowhere is there refuge from the brutal Squint-face, who wants his greenstone god back, and wants Ish's life. Across the ice of Cook Strait lies the South Land. Can Ish and Taur find peace there? 'Taur', winner of the 1999 Senior Fiction category in the NZ Post Children's Book Awards, is the riveting sequel to 'Because We Were the Travellers', winner of a 1998 NZ Post Honour Award and shortlisted for the 1998 Esther Glen Medal.Lasenby writes impeccably...with an uncommon preciseness, a poetic flow. His language is poignant, profound, yet held back from sentimentality, each word weighted for relevance.

The first novel in the exciting Travellers series — a young adult fantasy story of survival against the odds in a fearful futuristic world.In a land called the Whykatto, south of the city of Orklun, the sun rises angry in the sky, eats the winter grass and flames towards the western horizon. As the sky turns fiery, figures appear in the landscape: a boy, limping, accompanied by an old woman. Cast out from their tribe they make the journey alone, away from the sun's rage, away from the deserts of the north, toward the southern lands.This is Ish's tale, a tale of rejection, of survival against the odds, of growing up in an age when much is feared, and few can be trusted. Written by one of New Zealand's most awarded writers for children and teens.

Maggie torments the boy down the road, sets fire to the dunny, helps with half the district to build a haystack, and sees the tragedy of unemployment. Along the way, Maggie makes new friends, and receives kindness and help in learning what a girl needs to know. Vintage Jack Lasenby tale set in Waharoa, the same town and Depression years as the setting for Old Drumble, and featuring some of the same characters. this time the protagonist is Maggie, a young girl being raised by her widowed father, with the help of the whole village. the whole of Waharoa is also banding together to beat the weather and bring in the harvest and build the haystack. Warm, witty, delightfully poignant story with fun, mischief, the burning down of a dunny, and ultimately a tragedy as seen through the eyes of a child.

The second book in the hilarious and outrageous 'Aunt Effie' series for junior readers.Aunt Effie, dressed in her green canvas invalid's pyjamas, hibernates all winter, leaving her 26 resourceful nieces and nephews to deal with snowstorm and flood, ravening monsters, a barnful of hungry animals and a wild ark-ride over the Vast Untrodden Ureweras. Among the comic cast of cousins are Daisy, whose primness puckers the mouth, Alwyn, who echoes and 'backwardises' the most emphatic statements, and Jack, a junior version of Jack-the-deer-culler Lasenby. There's a horse who acts as a dubiously qualified doctor, a gander who causes the ark to roll, and cows with insomnia - snoring in tune. With his trademark embellishments and wonderful blend of humour, excitement and wacky fun, award-winning writer Jack Lasenby has created another story of mayhem and delight.

When Jack visits his grandparents, they tell him stories - each outdoing the other with a tale taller and wilder than the last. When Jack visits his grandparents, there's no television to entertain him. No internet, no mobile phone, no tablets. In fact, there's no technology or modern distractions at all. But he still likes to visit, because Grandad and Granny tell him stories - each trying to outdo the other with a tale taller and wilder than the last.Did you ever hear about the dragon of Waitemata harbour?Or the bridge between the North and South islands?Or why the Beehive is round in shape - and who REALLY made the Marlborough Sounds?And then there's the pumpkin larger than a garden shed, and a wheelbarrow that converts into a boat for a seasick kangaroo. There are lost false teeth, eels and the ingenious invention of the world's first rotary clothesline helicopter . . . and a flying train that touches down at the station in Nelson.With equally wild watercolour illustrations throughout by Bob Kerr, Grandad's Wheelies is a hilarious, rollicking yarn stitching together a picture of life in New Zealand a couple of generations back that is just about true.Jack can't get enough of his Grandad and Granny's stories - and readers young and old will love them too!

The smartest drover's dog there ever was. Winner of the NZ Post Children's & Young Adults Book Awards 2009 - Junior Fiction. the humorous and heartwarming story of Jack Jackman, a young boy who wants to be a stock drover, set in the small Waikato township of Waharoa in the 1930s. Jack has a wonderful, warm relationship with his parents and an old family friend, Andy the Drover, who each week drives a mob of sheep or cattle through the main street with the help of his dog, Old Drumble, and his horse, Nosy. All three become the boy's close friends over the long hot summer holidays, and each week Andy tells him an even more amazing story of how Old Drumble has saved the day yet again, with each adventure becoming more and more absurd. A Baron Munchausen of the sheep mob, Andy's yarns are delightful, funny and quixotic - and in the hands of a master storyteller like Jack Lasenby, a passionate advocate of children's literacy, the result is pure magic.

Very funny, must-read-aloud yarn for junior readers about the fantastical adventures of a talking horse and a boy looking for his mother. Billy wakes one morning to find his mother gone and the house in control of a strange woman burning the porridge. According to Billy, his father has gone all lackadaisical. So it’s Old Smoko, a well-spoken Clydesdale farm-horse, who takes Billy to school each day and teaches him to read. Together Billy and Old Smoko go in search of Billy’s real mum under the Kaimai Ranges, out the back of Waharoa. They meet a queen disguised as the Rawleighs Man, cannibal eels and man-eating Captain Cookers, but even they cannot prevail against a boy and his horse, especially when they have both read the mythology section of the School Journal. Billy learns the secret of Mount Te Aroha, hears the ancient Maori story of Snow White, and sees how Auckland got its electricity. He goes pig hunting, plays footy, discovers roast pork and apple sauce sandwiches – and falls in love with the blue eyes of Harrietta.Written by one of New Zealand's wittiest and most original and delightfully anarchic storytellers fior children, this book is guaranteed to make the world a better place for those who believe in the value of friendship.

The third, crazy, Spike Milliganesque story in the hilarious Aunt Effie series for junior readers.Aunt Effie is restless. She and her 26 nieces and nephews are off again in the scow Margery Daw on a treasure hunt across the pirate-infested waterways of the Hauraki Gulf and The Waikato. However boat and crew become marvellously sidetracked: the scow is converted into a travelling cowshed for cross-country travel; a hot-pool swim makes the little ones go bendy; the race between Banana Bob's Model T Ford and Uncle Chris's Stanley Steamer is fraught with high-jinks and skulduggery. Meanwhile back in Auckland, One Tree Hill has sprung a leak and Rangitoto Island is sinking while the Prime Minister gambles away the nation's taxes in the Casino Tower.In this third Aunt Effie travelogue, Jack Lasenby creates another glorious, crazy kaleidoscope of time, place and circumstance.

A charming novel for young readers by an award-winning writer, based on a young boy's summer in the countryside and the characters - real and imagined - that he meets. Dad has to go to work, so you go down to see Mr Bluenose; there's always something to do there. He tells you stories while you give him a hand to sort apples, feed the pigs, teach Horse how to push the wheelbarrow, and terrify boys who plan to raid the apple trees. On the way home, you look for empty bottles and sell them for boiled lollies to Mr Bryce at the store. He pays you more boiled lollies for telling him stories about how Mr Bluenose got his name, how he rode a whale to London, and was so seasick for so long in the crow's nest that he ran away from sea to Waharoa and planted his orchard. And then there's always Freddy Jones and the other kids to scare with stories about vampires, moreporks, and the White Woman of Waharoa who has a face as smooth as an egg. Think Spike Milligan meets Roald Dhhal, this is the captivating and amusing, rich and fun-filled story of a country summer, seen through a child's eye and created by a master story-teller.

It is the summer of 1952 in New Zealand. Ruth is nearly thirteen, and she is running away from home; away from her stepfather who keeps trying to touch her, and from her mother, who doesn't seem to notice what is going on. She has no plan in her head the morning she leaves, except that she is heading for the lake where they used to spend their holidays before Dad died, the lake where she was happy. It's a long journey into the bush, and more lonely than Ruth could ever have imagined. But she is determined to survive in the wilderness; she learns the ancient Maori names of the trees from an old botany book and becomes a skilled hunter. Eventually she is befriended by Tommy, an old drifter who lives in a hollow tree-house and passes on his bush-wisdom to her. When Tommy dies, Ruth decides to return to civilization. After two years in the wild she is ready to confront her family and start over on her own terms. Set against a dramatic outdoor background, this absorbing novel presents the story of a young girl's remarkable voyage of self-discovery.