Childish by Morris Gleitzman

Arkie’s opening thoughts are of the new sensory delights he’s rapidly come to appreciate at the local Chinese takeaway - owned by his new best friend’s family.  Arkie is a self-reliant 11 yr old country kid living temporarily with his Nan while his parents try to sell their drought-stricken farm. But chaos greets him when ordering dinner for he and Nan.

Dot’s badly injured on the restaurant delivery bike and while Mr & Mrs Chen and Phyllis race to the hospital, Mr Liu the cook, holds the fort. Arkie helps by going to retrieve the bike.  Morris Gleitzmann uses Dot’s traffic accident in Chapter 1 to introduce us to the narrator and so many of the characters in the book.  

While Mr Liu prepares Nan and Arkie’s order, Arkie notices a dangerous flaw in the local roads including one near the crumpled bike. He will learn that challenging his local government and several other departments is a convoluted bureaucratic barrier.  How will they stop being childish, and share responsibility to coordinate repairs to unsafe roads that endanger the community?   The hopeless lack of interoperability means several attempts at advocacy but his whole school is behind Arkie, Dot and the Chen’s.

The timeless and particularly Australian themes are as prolific as our giggles when unpacking any Gleitzman’s book – each one capable of sustaining meaty classroom discussions. Childish is no different as Gleitzman weaves an amusing yet plausible narrative based on the premise that kids can fix anything – a hook which has dominated children’s books for centuries. Arkie and Dot have the determination and growth mindset to tackle any problem step-by- step and see it through, proving that children are often not childish or in fact the only childish characters.

Teacher’s notes are available. 152p.

Themes: Citizenship, Friendship, Resilience, Problem Solving, School, Responsibility, Cooperation, Multiculturalism.

Deborah Robins