Stories of the Wild West Gang
$15.00
Description
Title: Stories of the Wild West Gang
Author: Joy Cowley
Illustrations: Trevor Pye
Publisher: Gecko Press, Wellington, 2011
Format: Paperback
Condition: Very Good
Description:
Mum said she nearly died. That wasn’t true. But it was a shock for her. She and her sister didn’t get along, and here was Auntie Rosie West, Uncle Leo West and the five West children moving into the next street.
Michael’s cousins are everything he’s not allowed to be at home — noisy, crazy, and very, very messy. Wherever the Wild West Gang goes, adventure is not far behind. And it’s the sort of adventure you don’t want your parents to know about.
These are ten stories about Michael and the West family: wise-boy Royce, always looking for an easy dollar; Miranda; Auntie Rosie, whose affection arrives disguised as insults; irascible Grandadda West, whose love of whiskey cost him his foot. They are self-contained enough to dip in and out of, and continuous enough to read straight through. The NZ Listener called it “Classic Cowley.” Kate De Goldi called it “funny, really funny.” The US Library Journal said it had “the nostalgic feel of a minimally adult-supervised childhood.”
Joy Cowley has written over 600 children’s books and is a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. She was shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2018. The Wild West Gang stories were originally published as individual HarperCollins NZ chapter books from 1998; this Gecko Press omnibus gathered all ten together in 2011.
Why We Stock It:
Children’s adventure with recognisably NZ family dynamics — noisy, warm, improvisational, and full of the kind of fun that parents technically disapprove of. Joy Cowley at her most readable.
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