| Boofheads | |
What have the Boofs been up to since September?
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| Boofheads was launched in September at an event hosted by the wonderful Kate Colley in her Bloomin’ Books children’s book shop in Caringbah (Sydney). | |
Attended by friends, family, fellow writers and current and ex students of De La Salle College, Caringbah, it was a special evening. |
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The book was launched by editor and author, Sue Whiting http://www.suewhiting.com/ and the real Kieran Donnelly (Year 11 student) read a chapter from the novel. |
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Boofheads is a story about three seventeen year-old mates who have been friends since pre-school but whose friendship begins to change when they go into Year Eleven. Eventually they have to make a decision whether to accept the changes and reassess the nature of friendship, or cut their losses and run. |
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Where did the idea come from? |
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| By then I was working as a Year Coordinator at De La Salle College, Caringbah in Sydney’s south. At that time my path crossed that of three particular boys who were ALWAYS in trouble. They became my best customers that year and also, for some crazy reason, three of the best kids I’ve ever taught. |
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| Like Paddy and his little mates, they always seemed pretty tight.
Teaching is a funny profession at times. Ex students will remember me from years back but often I won’t remember them straight away. Weirdly enough, this can be especially true of the kids whom I admired when they were at school because they tried hard to treat people with respect. Sometimes I’ve got to ask their names before I can place them.
Remembering the rogues is usually not a problem for me. When they leave, they seem to grab a sunlounge by my memory pool and show their faces every now and then to order drinks. |
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| The last time three such rogues did, I wrote Boofheads. | |
Who were those guys? |
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Why did you write Boofheads? |
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Are you happy with the result? |
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Extract from Boofheads 1. Change tiptoed into our lives with her eyes down, like a shy chick coming late to class. We checked her out as you do and found nothing there worth bothering about. Too many other hot girls were standing in line and Casey, Ed and I had our hands full. If we’d deemed her worthy of a second glance we might have noticed the ruthless determination in her eyes. We may even have asked what she had planned for us, but we ignored her and that was our biggest mistake. Not that she cared. She just went right on doing her thing. We didn’t even see it coming, especially not on the day that Ed stood over me, his tanned shoulders blocking out the light. “You played like a girl out there, Tommo.” He scowled. I eyed him steadily. Don’t break the stare. Never break the stare. Casey joined him. Between them they had my escape route covered. “Didn’t he, Casey? Didn’t he play like a chick?” Casey moved in closer. “Yeah,” he taunted, his towel hovering above my bare thigh. I knew what he was about to do and so did Ed. As Casey held the towel taut with both hands, Ed lunged at me, pinning me down. In an instant, a flash of white cotton snapped at my flesh, stinging viciousl. I struggled hard against Ed as Casey raised his hands again. “Like a big.” Swipe. “Fat .” Swipe. “Chick!” He poised himself for another attack but I managed to break free in time to catch the towel before it landed. “Well you’d be the expert on big fat chicks, Casey. How many kilos did your girlfriend pile on last week?” I hissed, yanking the towel from his grip as I stood up. “Lena’s not fat,” he protested. “Face it, mate,” I shoved him out my way. “We’re talking bush pig.” “It’s comfort eating,” Ed said. “Going out with Casey’s depressing her.” “You’re supposed to be on my side right now, Ed,” Casey reminded him. “The Edster takes no sides,” Ed announced… |
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For more about Boofheads check out: |
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HSC Additional Reading Material Boofheads has been placed on the recommended additional reading material list for the NSW HSC English topic, Belonging. It is featured in the Fiction Focus Curriculum Materials published by the WA Department of Education. On line resources and teachers note will be released shortly by Walker Books, Australia http://www.walkerbooks.com.au/ It’s been nominated for a couple of awards and competitions so tune into the News section for updates of these. The novel has received many pleasing reviews. Online book store, Booktopia (http://www.booktopia.com.au/) said: |
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For further reviews of Boofheads check out these sites: http://www.thereadingstack.com/ http://persnicketysnark.blogspot.com/2009/02/boofheads-mo-johnson.html |
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