Jimmy Branthwaite and his mum have moved to a new house. It all seems quite rushed and strange but there are tiny hints in the text that something is wrong with the way dad treats mum. Perhaps Jimmy and his mum have run away?
In the car Mrs Jessop tells Jimmy to put his head down low and stay quiet. Mum is curled up on the back seat too. Mum has a sore arm.
"Mum says 1991's going to be a better year for us. ... Mrs J says we're not allowed a torch ... the moon is a crescent shape, same as the tip of Mum's nails, when they're not all polished how Dad wants them."
"It's a good thing Dad has a new job. ... Dad reckons the cops had it all wrong when they said he'd had one drink too many to drive the truck. ... I'm happy we'll have fun now he's busy (far away with a new job)."
"She's prettier without her make-up on. With Dad not being here, she can be just how she wants for a change. Same for me too. I'm lighter when he's not around."
Then Dad finds them! After a very abusive scene he leaves so Mum and Jimmy quickly pack a few things, things they can carry, and they head off to catch a bus. This time they land in Mungo Creek. Surely they will be safe here. Mum gets a job in the local grocery store but they decide it might be best to change their name to Baxter - and so now we have Jimmy Baxter.
The new school is hard. Thank goodness the teacher Miss Anna Smith is wonderful but when the bullies become too violent and mum won't get out of bed Jimmy decides to leave school and get a job or two so at least they can have something to eat. At this point adult readers will need to suspend disbelief that no one questions why Jimmy is not at school and how just how Jimmy gets various jobs including one in a pub when he is way too young and also you might ask why the shop owner doesn't ask many questions when mum no longer comes to work in his shop.
Out in the countryside Jimmy meets a reclusive man named Mac who offers food, wisdom and friendship. Mac is deeply grieving the loss of his beautiful wife. Jimmy also makes friends with a girl from his class called Debbie and the two of them work on a project about Ned Kelly. Debbie is such a good friend to Jimmy. Things are hard but at least Jimmy and mum are safe until late one night there is a dreadful accident out near Mac's shanty. Has dad found them again?
Some of the vocabulary in this book might be confusing for readers outside Australia. There is a good list in the back of the book which made me happy but here are a few words from the first couple of chapters:
- bonnet - car hood
- yakking - talking
- crikey - wow! or that was unexpected
- lorikeets - colourful native birds
- stoked - pleased, happy
- ripper - that's good
I do like the cover and many of the tings coming out of Jimmy's head are found in the story so this might be something to share with a class for a book talk - students could predict the significance of each object - tin foil, wattle, an LP record, a pencil, eggs and yellow Cadillac.
This is a new book from Penguin Random House (Puffin Books) due for publication in July 2023. I am fairly sure this book will appear on the CBCA 2024 Younger Readers award Notables list. This book is almost my last Advance Reader copy from Beachside Bookshop - I have LOVED reading all the new releases over the last 5 years. I will desperately miss this opportunity.
If you enjoy books with a very Australian setting and flavour you will enjoy Being Jimmy Baxter. The writing style is very similar to Morris Gleitzman's early books with his main boy character depicted as a naive protagonist in books like Two Weeks with the Queen; Too small to Fail; and Boy Overboard. There is actually an endorsement on the cover of my copy from Morris Gleitzman himself. Companion reads:
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