Ned Kelly’s Secret: From Boy to Bushranger (Sophie Masson, Scholastic)

Hugo Mars, our brash young narrator, and his father, a principled researcher for author Jules Verne, live a privileged life in Paris in the late 1800s. In search of stories for his employer, father and son travel to the goldfields of Australia, where they hear tales of the Quinns and the Kellys, a close-knit family in trouble with the law, who may harbour the notorious bushranger Jack Power. By chance, Hugo meets a 15-year-old boy named Ned Kelly. From the very first pages, Sophie Masson demonstrates why she is such a favourite among younger readers. Masson jerks the reader into the action by opening with Hugo and his father being robbed by the notorious Power. Masson is particularly good at delivering fresh, unusual characters, set against a vivid Australian landscape. This is a thoroughly entertaining book which adds to the popular image of Ned Kelly as a ‘knight in shining armour’, and young readers aged 12-plus should lap it up.

Rebecca Butterworth is a freelance writer and book reviewer living in Melbourne

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Category: Reviews