Kids into books - Destination Disaster

This weeks title: Destination Disaster

Author: Fleur Beale

Publisher: Shortland Publications $8.95

Age Group: 9-12 years

My father died climbing a mountain when I was three. I don't remember him, but I think he must've been a lot like Pa - big and tall and powerful and good at all the things Pa likes.

So those are the facts and here's the story of what happened to Pa and me last summer, during my first year at secondary school.


It was the hottest summer for about a million years. The weather had been wet, windy, and cold most of the spring, and the day summer started, it suddenly turned hot and sunny and stayed that way. Our classrooms were like barbecues. I dragged myself home from school one day to find Mum at home, chucking things into a suitcase.

I flopped down on her bedroom floor. "Water!" I gasped.

She stepped over me. "Hi, Jem. Pack your gear. You're going to have to stay with Pa and Gran for a week. There's a huge emergency, and I have to go to Brisbane."

"I'll come, too," I said, finding the energy to sit up. There was surfing there, and I could probably just hang out on the beach all day.

Dreamer! Mum didn't even bother to respond to that suggestion. Of course, I started to argue, but I could tell right from the start that I wasn't going to win this one.

"Oh! I nearly forgot," Mum said. "Pa's going to take you fishing."

"I don't want to go fishing."