Weird School

Weird School

Weird School

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weird School

Damian Callinan

Adele K Thomas

Puffin, 2021

256pp., pbk., RRP $A14.99

9781760893446

Welcome to Wally Park Primary, the Weirdest School in Australia!

Some people think that all schools are the same. They might have different uniforms, slogans and emblems but in the end, there isn’t much difference between them … THESE PEOPLE ARE WRONG! They have not been to Wally Park PS.  A normal day at Wally Park would be the weirdest day in any other school’s history. There’s an annual Extreme Walkathon that is not for the faint-hearted, a talking Naughty Tree and an Out-of-Bounds Area you might truly never return from and the meanest (and most vain) principal in Australia.

In fact Wally Park has been classified as a Weird School and while every Weird School is unique in its own way with peculiar features or have unusual rules or offer strange subjects, Wally Park is distinguished by having many of these and thus is classified a Class A Weird School.

With this introduction the reader is invited to sign the school’s Visitors’ Book and explore all the reasons that the school has its title. Using a variety of textual techniques, illustrations and short-stand-alone chapters that are loosely linked by a likeable cast of characters who will resonate with the reader, independent readers will enjoy reading this book and feel blessed that their family does not live in the catchment area for Wally Park – although in these days of seemingly endless lockdown, there will be those who would be grateful for any school experience right now.

There are teachers’ notes and a Q&A with the author but overall this is just an entertaining read – which is what it’s all about really.

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