Pirate: The Barking Kookaburra by Adrian Plitzco

Pirate: The Barking Kookaburra by Adrian Plitzco
Dramatised narration by Anne Phelan, David Tredinnick, Francis Greenslade and others

When I was sick as a young child, I listened to a story about a little badger called Frances on a cassette player that made desperate sounds of a tape about to break if you didn��t turn it off at the end. Russell Hoban��s simple stories about Frances, her little sister Gloria and parents, were charming and amusing, and I listened to them endlessly as an asthmatic kid prone to illness, even over the vibrating hum of my Maxi Myst nebuliser.

Like those stories, Pirate: The Barking Kookaburra is an engaging tale about a group of animals who have lots to gently teach little children while entertaining them.

Pirate is a baby kookaburra who can��t remember how he got into the backyard of a group of dogs (Ajax, Stelze and Hoover) and a cat (Buddha). However, he��s rapidly befriended by this kindly bunch that tries to teach him all a little kookaburra needs to know, including laughing. But they only succeed in getting him to bark!

While loved by his new family, Pirate feels out of place among the other kid kookaburras, who bully him; and he has no idea that kookaburras are supposed to eat snakes, such as the sneaky Tiger, with whom he just wants to play. However, one day Pirate��s differences become his strengths, and he finds the courage within that comes only from a crisis.

This is a very Australian audiobook from the author of Lancelot the One-armed Kangaroo (also an audiobook), complete with sounds of the bush, big Australian accents, and characters who say ���bloody��. Sections of the story are punctuated leisurely by pleasant bush-folk music.

At two-and-a-half hours, Pirate: The Barking Kookaburra may be challenging for youngsters usually parked next to a colourful DVD when parents need a bit of peace. But for children aged 5 to 10 who like to read or be read to, this adventure story would be great for long drives or sick days in bed.

Pirate: The Barking Kookaburra is also available at smashwords.com as a free ebook.