I felt bad going into this because I caught myself thinking, 'What if Paul can't sustain a novel-length story? What if short stories are his pace, and he runs out of steam?'

Dear past Lauren: you're an idiot.

This is a cracking read, with the usual great Jennings humour and creepiness and relatability. I initially thought that with the gang and the dare it would be 'A Good Tip For Ghosts' the extended dance remix. Again, past Lauren is an idiot. Nobody should listen to her. There's way more to this book than that.

The author's note at the end was a nice little bonus: 'I didn't make [character spoiler] an Aboriginal man because it is not my right to tell that story.' After talking with Ambelin Kwaymullina at last year's Continuum, the importance of Aboriginal culture and storytelling, down to who has the right to use which parts of language, has been on my mind and I appreciate Paul's respect of that. ( )

This story covers a very short period in the young life of Hedley Hopkins. It is a tale told with great humour and compassion and acknowledges the need in us all to belong in this world and make sense of our own place in it.

The story opens in 1956, Hedley is a recently arrived English migrant living with his parents and younger sister Kate. Though, in many ways, his family is very like the Australian families that surround them, there are subtle differences that set Hedley apart. He is lonely, and at this point ready to take risks and go against his better judgement in order to fit in. Hedley’s state of distress over his situation leads him to ask for, and then accept, a dare from a gang of boys at his school. The successful completion of this dare will earn him a tacit acceptance and a place within the school hierarchy. The dare is to remove the skull from an opened grave in the sand dunes and bring it to Ian Douglas, the leader of the gang.

Completing this task is a solid thread that drives the action in the story. This sits alongside the other concerns of Hedley’s existence – his changing body and relationships at school and at home. Hedley’s interaction with Mr Hooper and the students from the Billabong Home for Retarded Boys, his hateful teacher Mr Tinker, his relationship with his parents and his sister and his difficulty in getting accurate, helpful information about his body all interconnect to create a story, and a character, that encourage empathy from the reader.

This is a fast paced, entertaining read about the many threads which make up one’s life. Simultaneously, it is a thoughtful exploration of strong emotions and difficult issues handled with a deft humorous touch.

An english boy, trying to impress a gang at his school, does a dare and robs a grave. The skull he steals eventually gets returned. The book is a fast paced and interesting. ( )