Bad Ned : A really bad story by Dean Lahn

Bad Ned is such fun because my Grade 5 students and I explore the life of the infamous Australian bushranger Ned Kelly in great depth each year. This means I can really appreciate all the little historical inclusions in this story.

This is not a serious book - it is a romp through the life of Ned using a young boy (coincidentally also called Ned) as a copy-cat to the real Ned.

We see little Ned stealing cupcake, making trouble with the garden hose and the washing line and constructing armor firstly from a set of cardboard boxes but later from a disused water tank.

My favourite part of this book comes when young Ned quotes from the famous Jerilderie letter "Take this you big, ugly, fat-necked, wombat-headed, big bellied, magpies-legged troppers."

Here is a review with more detail.  You might also enjoy Meet Ned Kelly by Janeen Brian, The Oath of Bad Brown Bill by Stephen Axelsen, Wicked Rose by Sally Farrell Odgers and Bossyboots by David Cox.  Sadly some of the books I have listed here will be out of print but you should find them easily in an Australian school library.