Sbatbooks
Books to educate and entertain
‘A humorous and heartfelt story about one boy’s love of country and crabbing on the Yorke, and friendships that can make all the difference.’
Book extracts
Zac should have known better. After all, Grandpa’s warned him enough times, ‘Zac, keep your eyes on the water. Those blueys can sneak up on you. All those claws and pincers can make mincemeat of your toes!’
Zac watches the crab tub bump along the trail. Every self-respecting kid on the Yorke has a trolley to carry their crabs home. He’s got a red one with special slots on …
Zac sits with Tank on the porch, watching kids stream past his gate with poles and crab nets. He thinks of them stockpiling crabs on the jetty while he’s stuck here. Mum won’t let him out in the sun ’cause of the heatwave in South Australia.
Zac jabs the porch bell and shouts into the house, ‘Mum, you’re going to make us late again!’ Just once, he wished they could leave for Adelaide city on time for his checkup. On the road, he looks out the window. The Yorke is grain farming country …
Zac earns a ride to the jetty in Grandpa’s pickup truck. His hand twitches at the thought of dropping a crab net over the side. Crossing to the jetty, they pass under Big Bluey, a large metal crab that hangs on a wooden post at the entrance …
Zac tries hard to reach his target number. But by April end, autumn rain falls and crab season is officially over. He knows most will crawl out to deep water, sadly out of reach of his crab rake
Zac doesn’t want to get out of bed. But the myna bird outside his window won’t stop chirping, like the bird knows it’s the day of his school play. Stupid bird. And stupid school play.
When Zac was little he liked to hide in his bedroom closet or the crawl space under the house. The best spot was Grandpa’s big shed where he could climb into the back cabinets. And wait for someone to find him.
The thing that makes hospital life bearable is Jack. Jack has a knack of sneaking into his room when Mum isn’t around.
Jack is terrible at jokes but never stops trying, ‘So why did the sick kangaroo cross the road?’
Today a bunch of girl-volunteers barge into his room. They don’t even ask him first as they start to sing to him. He’s not in the mood for dumb songs! Zac suffers through their singing, and the annoying balloons they leave behind.
Hospital living is a different kind of living. No kid wants to be here so they try to make it fun with activities like arts and craft therapy on Tuesdays and music therapy on Fridays. Best of all is xbox therapy! Zac tells Mum that counts as therapy too. ‘What about schoolwork therapy?’ she counters.
Later, he tells Jack, ‘I don’t know any kid that ever got better doing schoolwork!’ Jack gifts him a yellow ‘L plate’ to hang on the back of his wheelchair. ‘You’re a learner driver like me.’ Jack uses his wheelchair some days too.
Zac starts to fart. And can’t stop. That’s the thing no one tells him about – the chemo farts! Jack says it’s the chemo cocktail mix in them. ‘It’s got nowhere to go so detonates out our butts like stink bomb gas.’ There’s always some kid offloading somewhere in the ward,