When Mum Went Funny

It's war-time and Dad's away, so Mum has to run the farm. Sometimes the stress of it all gives her funny ideas, in this hilarious tale by a much-loved, award-winning junior fiction author . 'You wait till Constable Cuff hears about this . We're going to tell everybody in the district you sold your children for sixpence.' In When Mum Went Funny , the cry of mothers everywhere is heard loud and clear. Ideas like trying to sell off the children, making nail soup and sleeping out in a haystack to catch whoever's 'bandicooting' the potatoes. When Mum gets that look in her eye, the children go on high alert. They watch Kate, to see how worried they should be, because Kate, the eldest, is an even match for her Mother. Their frequent battles of wit and will-power keeps everyone entertained. In spite of Mum's tricks and grumbles, she never loses control; the children know they can rely on her, even as they try to frustrate her at every turn. Mum's mischievous tugging at the rug... The second book in the hilarious and outrageous 'Aunt Effie' series for junior readers. Aunt Effie, dressed in her green canvas invalid's pyjamas, hibernates all winter, leaving her 26 resourceful nieces and nephews to deal with snowstorm and flood, ravening monsters, a barnful of hungry animals and a wild ark-ride over the Vast Untrodden Ureweras. Among the comic cast of cousins are Daisy, whose primness puckers the mouth, Alwyn, who echoes and 'backwardises' the most emphatic statements, and Jack, a junior version of Jack-the-deer-culler Lasenby. There's a horse who acts as a dubiously qualified doctor, a gander who causes the ark to roll, and cows with insomnia - snoring in tune. With his trademark embellishments and wonderful blend of humour, excitement and wacky fun, award-winning writer Jack Lasenby has created another story of mayhem and delight. Dad Has To Go To Work, So You Go Down To See Mr Bluenose; There's Always Something To Do There. He Tells You Stories While You Give Him A Hand To Sort Apples, Feed The Pigs, Teach Horse How To Push The Wheelbarrow, And Terrify Boys Who Plan To Raid The Apple Trees. On The Way Home, You Look For Empty Bottles And Sell Them For Boiled Lollies To Mr Bryce At The Store. He Pays You More Boiled Lollies For Telling Him Stories About How Mr Bluenose Got His Name, How He Rode A Whale To London, And Was So Seasick For So Long In The Crow's Nest That He Ran Away From Sea To Waharoa And Planted His Orchard. And Then There's Always Freddy Jones And The Other Kids To Scare With Stories About Vampires, Moreporks, And The White Woman Of Waharoa Who Has A Face As Smooth As An Egga Captivating And Amusing; A Rich, Fun-filled Summer Through A Child's Eye. Aunt Effie is restless. She and her twenty-six nieces and nephews are off again in the scow Margery Daw on a treasure hunt across the pirate-infested waterways of the Hauraki Gulf and The Waikato. However, boat and crew become marvellously the scow is converted into a travelling cowshed for cross-country travel; a hot-pool swim makes the little ones go bendy; the race between Banana Bob's Model T Ford and Uncle Chris's Stanley Steamer is fraught with high-jinks and skulduggery.Meanwhile back in Auckland, One Tree Hill has sprung a leak and Rangitoto Island is sinking, while the Prime Minister gambles away the nation's taxes in the Casino Tower. In this third Aunt Effie travelogue, Jack Lasenby creates another glorious, crazy kaleidoscope of time, place and circumstance. Aunt Effie is restless. She and her 26 nieces and nephews are off again in the scow Margery Daw on a treasure hunt across the pirate-infested waterways of the Hauraki Gulf and The Waikato. Meanwhile back in Auckland One Tree Hill has sprung a leak and Rangitoto Island is sinking while the Prime Minister gambles away the nation's taxes in the Casino Tower. Suggested level: primary, intermediate Aunt Effie has six gigantic pig dogs, twenty six nieces and nephews and a never-ending supply of stories. She also has the ability to transport her nieces and nephews into her stories, which include logging kauri in the Coromandel, building a scow to transport the logs, and fighting off pirates in the Hauraki Gulf. Suggested level: intermediate, junior secondary. In this story Aunt Effie dressed in her green canvas invalid's pyjamas, hibernates all winter, leaving her 26 resourceful nieces and nephews to deal with snowstorm and flood, ravening monsters, a barnful of hungry animals and a wild ark-ride over the vast untrodden Ureweras. Suggested level: intermediate, junior secondary. A young girl befriends Mr Bluenose and he in turn tells her some fairly fantastic stories - how he got his name, how he ate a fisherman and various other imaginative tales. Set in Waharoa during the Depression era. Suggested level: intermediate, junior secondary