Books with author Jack Lasenby

Old Drumble is no ordinary sheep dog. As his master, Andy the Drover, tells it - he'd had some pretty amazing adventures. Like the time he persuaded a frightened mob of sheep to cross a flooded river ... on a tightrope. Or the time he had to get Old Nosy, Andy's horse, out of a tree. Each week over one long hot summer, a small boy is amazed by the stories Andy has to tell about his four - footed mate, the smartest, cunningest, cleverest sheep dog there ever was ... Winner of the NZ Post Children's & Young Adults Book Awards 2009 - Junior Fiction.

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' rage, away from the deserts of the north, toward the southern lands. This is Ishs 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.

It's the 1930s Depression, and Maggie's growing up without a mother in the little Waikato dairying township of Waharoa. Maggie has to make do with her father's friends, neighbours, and an old biddy who should know better but can't help herself. 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.

It's the 1930s. Our storyteller is crook in bed trying to get over a long sickness and wanting to go back to school, when Uncle Trev arrives to let Mum go out and do the shopping. Uncle Trev tells one story after another about the animals out on his farm, and about his neighbor Gotta Henry. He also goes through Mum's cupboards and helps himself to all her gingersnaps and cake. If you think Mum should be grateful to get out of the house, she's not. When she comes home, she chases Uncle Trev and his dog, Old Tip, with her broom and threatens what she'll do to 'that man' next time he comes in.