The Adventures of Jellybean

Bill Condon & Dianne Bates

UQP, 2018

176pp., pbk., RRP $A14.95

978070226000

If you’re over mowing the lawn and raking up the clippings, what is the best solution?  Get a goat, of course!

  

After much persuasion and many promises to their parents, best friends Rory and Trang get a goat. which they call Jellybean because of the brown splotches on  its white coat.  And so begins a raft of fun and adventures as Jellybean does its goat thing and Rory and Trang have to cope, as they have promised.  From keeping the neighbours awake the first night and having to learn to milk her, to making goat milk soap for the school fete fundraiser, this is a story that will keep newly independent readers absorbed from start to finish.

There are laughs and losses, a friendship is tested and formed when Jellybean delivers a huge surprise!

This is a feel-good family story that was sparked by Di Bates’s memories of a childhood growing up on a goat farm that is an excellent class read-aloud or bedtime story. Its characters are everyday kids that readers will relate to and while having a goat in the city might be beyond their means, they will still enjoy the fun and the luck of those who are able to have such a pet.

Loved it.

Teachers notes written by a practising teacher librarian in context with the Australian English  curriculum are available.