‘Kick-Ass’ Tyler

‘Kick-Ass’ Tyler by Clancy Tucker (Clancy Tucker Publishing)

PB RRP $15.00 plus $3.00 postage in Australia

EBook $3.00 via Clancy’s blog

ISBN 9780646940571

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Another fantastic piece of work by Clancy Tucker, ‘Kick-Ass’ Tyler is Book 1 in a series about a gutsy fourteen year-old girl called Sam Tyler. She is smart in mind and mouth, but is still grieving for her father who was killed two years ago. This grief won’t allow her to accept Max, who has filled her dad’s place.

When her school mate Zoran is kidnapped and held to ransom, Sam’s life changes drastically. Sam now needs Max’s help. Her investigation into the missing boy’s life gives her a sense of purpose. It fires her up. The kidnapping gives birth to a new relationship between Sam and Max. The shift in Sam’s character is brilliantly built up.

Together with her friends Neve, Tina and Jason, Sam creates a committee to help the police find Zoran. This leads to their community being brought together by the school children to keep the search alive and vivid in people’s minds, and find the missing boy. The group also discover inside themselves hidden strengths that give meaning to their life.

Never one to shirk the hard issues, Clancy Tucker has again addressed powerful themes.  The main one here is missing children. It is tied to threads on teen suicide, bullying and its lasting effects, domestic violence, grief and loss.

This story is fast-paced and full of mystery and as always, comes with strong messages full of optimism and hope. It is aimed at the 8-80 year age group and I can’t wait for Book 2!

Mister Rainbow

Mister Rainbow by Clancy Tucker (Clancy Tucker Publishing)

PB RRP $15.00 plus $3.00 postage ($6.00 for overseas post) E-book $3.00

ISBN 9780646938943

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Multi-talented Clancy Tucker’s second novella calls attention to environmental polluting, issues facing return soldiers specifically those of the Vietnam War, and the bonds of friendship. These three themes are strung cleverly together to form an adventure story with a fishing background. Clancy, a vigorous champion of disregarded causes, again presents points of importance through a strong narrative.

Dead fish have been found floating in the river and the EPA is collecting samples of the water. Toby and Maddie are fishing partners and this is cause for concern as they have just lost a friend to what the locals are calling Mill Flu.

Toby is smart and resourceful; curious and an adventurer. There are places that are out-of-bounds to the two children because they hold dangers. Toby is careful but is challenged by limitations. On one of their fishing trips they venture into a forbidden area with traumatic results.

Johan Bolt is an old loner. Few people know anything about him as he lives in an old shack close to the river with minimal material possessions. It is to him that Toby runs for help when Maddie falls into the river and Bolt saves her life. They keep this happening a secret, but Maddie becomes seriously ill as a repercussion of ingesting polluted water.

A string of events brings the three characters together after Toby finds Bolt unconscious behind the shack, and with quick thinking, saves the old man’s life. He discovers secrets about Bolt that have been kept for years and that leave him ‘gob smacked’. His ingenious mind is always turning up new and sensible ideas. This, combined with his discovery about Bolt, will change all their lives for the better.

A terrific read that skips along quickly. It will suit reluctant readers, mostly boys, and others from 8-80 as the chapters are compact and the story fast-paced, intense and full of action. All Clancy Tucker’s books can be purchased via his daily Blog. :http://clancytucker.blogspot.com.au/ or through Morris Publishing Australia http://www.morrispublishingaustralia.com/ All the photographs on covers and within the books are taken by Clancy Tucker.

KY!

KY! By Clancy Tucker (Clancy Tucker Publishing)

PB RRP $25.00 (including postage)

EBook $3.99

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com.au/s?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Clancy%20Tucker&search-alias=digital-text
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=CLANCY+TUCKER
ISBN 9780646932262

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Rida is caught between two cultures. She is the only Muslim girl at her school, and she wears glasses and a hijab. She also loves books so is classed as a nerd by her peers. This mixture leaves her open to ridicule, emotional and physical bullying, which she is afraid to report. It also sees her isolated from the rest of the students.

Then she meets Ky, a Cambodian refugee who also loves books. At last Rida has a friend.

On a day when her two tormentors are pursuing her, she runs into a house where an old man is tending his garden. This rose garden becomes a haven; somewhere she can hide from the bullies, read and feel safe until she can get home. The man will also play a significant role in Rida’s future.

It seems she’s always running – to get away from bullies, to get to safety, or to reach home. When Mr Conan the sports master asks her to run in the inter school sports, she accepts. She learns that Ky has leukaemia and is seriously ill.

Rida has tried to fit in at school; not be so nerdy. She stops reading during recess, becomes a part-timer in not wearing her hijab during school hours. If she wins the race, will people like her more? Or will that be one more reason to dislike her?

Inspired by Ky’s presence and despite her grave illness, Rida wins the 400 metres and the relay wearing her hijab. Their school gets the trophy, and all the differences that were obstacles disappear. She is now one of them and the school’s hero with respect and acceptance.

This poignant and inspiring novella, Clancy Tucker’s first short novel, uses the backstory and generous dialogue as a gateway into awareness about the lives of refugees. The reasons they embark on treacherous journeys to reach a safe country and a possible future without fear and threat of death are told through the children’s voice and experiences. It also focuses on the endless possibilities for children’s lives, no matter what their origins, to be turned around when opportunity is made available to them.

Other themes, and there are many in this excellent story, cover cancer in children, hope, kindness and love, family unity, and how people are more than their external appearance or specific beliefs.

A Drover’s Blanket

 A Drover’s Blanket by Clancy Tucker (Clancy Tucker Publishing)

PB RRP $35.00 including P&H (overseas postage additional) E-book $3.00

ISBN 9780646922713

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

This is the brilliant sequel to the wonderful historical fiction book Gunnedah Hero. A Drover’s Blanket begins with fifteen year old Gunnie at Wiralee Station with his uncle Wirra Danson. After reading the historical documents left to him in his grandfather’s will, Gunnie’s attitude to life changes completely. He knows now that he belongs at Wiralee which has been in his family since 1848. Gunnie’s dream of publishing the historical documents in book form is finally realized.

The neglected Swenson Station, Molly’s old home, is up for auction.  Attending a clearing sale there teaches Gunnie more about his great-great-grandfather Smokey and his love in life, Molly Jane Swenson. He also meets Artie, Molly’s brother who was born after she left home after being battered by her father and ostracised by her family, to join Smokey at Wiralee. Gunnie finds a journal written by Molly in 1910, in a pile of books untouched for years, and makes a deal with the hard, cruel, and unscrupulous Brett Swenson. Gunnie tries to buy the old horse Molly Jane, a direct descendant of Molly’s horse Dusty for Wirra, to keep the line going.

But things start going wrong from the time Gunnie arrives at the farm. Wiralee, the new foal is stolen. Jenni, Gunnie’s best friend, is returning home when her plane goes down. The portrait of The Wiralee Queen is taken from the farm house along with Molly’s journals.

Then, Wirra is diagnosed with a stomach tumour just when he has found a woman to love. Gunnie thinks his presence has brought this on. There are decisions to make and courage is needed. But does Gunnie have what it takes? Who stole Molly’s picture and journal? And will the Aboriginal workers find Jenni?

The story is told in a switching sequence between Wiralee Station – Present Day, and the entries from Molly’s journals, which reveal Molly’s point of view, emotions, love for Smokey, and her back story. We can feel the deep love Smokey and Molly shared; how the drought destroyed her father (along with many other farmers) causing him to sink into deep depression and become a cruel and violent person. We also view the type of family the Dansons were: strong, loving, family oriented, philanthropic, and with an unbreakable bond with the land and its Indigenous owners.

Clancy Tucker has used the diary entries to present historical events which inspire and educate. There is reference to the massacre of Aboriginals in Coniston, 1928; the Wave Hill walk-off, and finally, Wattie Creek. These milestones in Australian Indigenous history are beautifully knitted into the story in a stirring and emotional way. They became starting points for further research about our Australian outback pioneering forebears. This is an excellent series to challenge the mind of young readers of the 8-80 age groups and send them resourcing the history of our early pioneers, whose strength, resilience and humanity inspires.

Magic Billy is the next book in the series, but there will be several exciting individual titles by Clancy Tucker available before that is released.

Available as paperback and e Book via Clancy’s blog: http://www.clancytucker.blogspot.com.au/p/books.html and Morris Publishing Australia:

http://www.morrispublishingaustralia.com/a-drovers-blanket.html

Pa Joe’s Place

Pa Joe’s Place by Clancy Tucker (Clancy Tucker Publishing)

PB RRP $25.00 plus postage E-Book $2.99

ISBN 9780646572208

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Boo is a Thai girl, the youngest of seven children and seven years old. Extremely bright, courageous, optimistic and mature in her outlook, she always sees the best in every person and situation. Accepting of her circumstances, she obediently leaves her family, home, best friend and dying father, and sets out on a journey over 1,000 kilometres to Songkhla in the south, to be cared for and educated by Jesuit priest Pa Joe along with his other 155 orphans.

She finds another father, a new family and friends, and the opportunity to become something wonderful and experiences the greatest adventure of her life, which includes helping survivors of a train wreck, catching criminals, and meeting strangers whose lives she touches in significant ways.

This deeply moving story is inspired by and dedicated to real people: Boo Nawigamune, and Father Joe Carey who for 50 years, against great odds and with the help of many compassionate and generous people, cared for children he found on the streets of Thailand.  

Clancy Tucker has mapped out a superb social, cultural, and geographical picture of Thailand, and used it as background to his story. Tucker’s intimate knowledge of the country and the people gives an added richness and realism to every page of a story filled with inspiration and love.