Laura Budd: Augustine's Lunch

By MARGIE THOMSON deputy books editor

Augustine (Gus to his dwindling number of friends) has a gift for cooking but it's not appreciated at his school, where first one bully and then most of Gus' own friends punish him cruelly for his apparent difference.

Gus also has problems with his older brother Luke, a gorgeous hunk of a surfer whom all the girls swoon over, even Trinity, the object of Gus' affections.

This is a funny, flavoursome and vomit-spattered account of being a teenage boy growing up in Sydney. Drunkenness, mateship, bullying, loutish sex - it sounds about as attractive as a teenager's smelly bedroom, yet this is an utterly charming book containing equal measures of poignancy and optimism. Gus is a cutey with a keen sense of what comprises decent behaviour. His enthusiasm for cooking will make your tummy rumble.

There are some big messages in here about people's capacity for change and, just when things are looking dire, Gus' teacher, Brother Nicholas, is on hand to effect some miracles.

Allen & Unwin

$15.95