Kid (Peter Carnavas, UQP)

Award-winning author Peter Carnavas is something of a master of timeless children’s novels full of heart and gentle lessons about life, family, grief and love. This most recent addition to his bibliography, Kid, is no different. Kid is a young goat who lives with a flock of hens on an idyllic farm at the foot of a mountain. When he was a newborn, his parents disappeared in pursuit of a fox, leaving Kid to be raised by a chicken, Audrey, who feeds him fanciful stories about his parents’ adventures on the mountain. As he grows, his safe but small world begins to chafe, and Kid dreams of leaving the farm to find his family at the mountain’s peak. But Ma, the disapproving Maremma sheepdog who rules the farm, enforces Farm Law: no creature who leaves the farm may return, no matter what. Despite the threat of exile, Kid – along with Audrey and his pig friend, Harriet – leaves the comforts of the farm for the unknown of the wild. With short chapters, endearing pencil illustrations, and a pacy narrative, Kid is an enjoyable junior fiction novel in the vein of Babe and Charlotte’s Web but with a distinctly Australian flavour. With themes of independence, courage, friendship, and found families, it will appeal to readers aged 6 and over – particularly those who love animals – and is perfect for reading aloud.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Lian Hingee is the digital marketing manager at Readings. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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