Clancy of the Outback

Welcome to the Clancy of the Outback series. Eleven-year old Clancy, has been thrust into life out woop-woop. These are his stories of his outback adventures at his uncle’s sheep station, Overflow Station. These chapter books were developed for 7-10 year old independent readers, who are starting on their first chapter books. They are high interest, easy language level. They were created by Phil Kettle, children's author and Bob Andersen, schools literacy publisher, to provide real Australian outback stories and adventures. These stories come to life through the illustrations of award-winning Shane McGowan. Season 2 recently published! Season 1 teacher notes here Season 2 teachers notes here

Roadkill Rescue $12.95

Welcome to the Clancy of the Outback series. Eleven-year-old Clancy has been thrust into life out woop-woop. These are the stories of his outback adventures at his uncle’s sheep station, Overflow Station. In this book, the school bus runs over a mother kangaroo outside the gate to Overflow Station and Clancy and Little Bill find a joey in the pouch. Eventually the whole family become involved in looking after the joey. The story becomes more complicated when Big Bill announces a kangaroo cull. Clancy and Little Bill decide to mount a campaign to save the local wildlife which coincides with Little Bill declaring herself vegan. Nevertheless, the campaign goes on and is a huge success. At the conclusion of this book the Outback facts provides information about native wildlife. There is the DH Lawrence poem Kangaroo and the all-important, Outback Jokes section. Download the teacher notes here

Exploding Dunny $12.95

Welcome to the Clancy of the Outback series. Eleven-year-old Clancy has been thrust into life out woop-woop. These are the stories of his outback adventures at his uncle's sheep station, Overflow Station. In 'Exploding Dunny', the shearers return to Overflow Station with a new cook. Everything was going well, until the cook served an extra hot curry one night. You can imagine - or maybe you'd better not - what happened to the shearers' toilet a few hours later! Clancy tries his best to help but it sort of misfires ... At the conclusion of this book there is an Outback Facts section about shearing in Australia and includes some recipes to make. There is a Bob Pacey poem, 'The Shearers Cook', and the all-important, Outback Jokes section.

Paddock Bomb $12.95

Welcome to the Clancy of the Outback series. Eleven-year-old Clancy has been thrust into life out woop-woop. These are the stories of his outback adventures at his uncle's sheep station, Overflow Station. In this book, Dad's old car has to be taken off the road, so Little Bill decides it could be Clancy's 'paddock bomb'. Meaning he was going to drive it around the farm. Meaning Little Bill was going to teach Clancy to drive. She makes Clancy sit in a baby booster seat so Clancy could see over the steering wheel, and that was just the start of his humiliation! At the conclusion of this book there is an Outback Facts section which provides information on all the car acronyms you will hear, there a poem about the paddock bombs as favourite cars, and the all-important, Outback Jokes section.

Feral Frenzy $12.95

Welcome to the Clancy of the Outback series. Eleven-year-old Clancy has been thrust into life out woop-woop. These are the stories of his outback adventures at his uncle's sheep station, Overflow Station. In 'Feral Frenzy', Mum is still trying to work out how to do her thing on Overflow Station and the whole family continues to have a lot to learn about country life. But who would have thought that feral pigs would get into Mum's precious veggie garden? Clancy thought it was pretty exciting at the time but now it is an issue they need to fix pronto. At the conclusion of this book there is an Outback Facts section which discusses feral animals in Australia, there is an A.B. 'Banjo' Paterson poem, 'Brumby's Run', and the all-important, Outback Jokes section.

Horse Play $12.95

Welcome to the Clancy of the Outback series. Eleven-year-old Clancy has been thrust into life out woop-woop. These are the stories of his outback adventures at his uncle's sheep station, Overflow Station. In this book, Little Bill's insists on turning Clancy into a country boy teaching him how to ride a horse. How hard can that be? Little Bill turns up on a humungous bay horse and Clancy begins to wonder if he has bitten off more than he can chew. In the end Clancy gets a tiny, mean-looking Shetland pony to learn to ride on. Just getting onto it was hard enough, but in the end, that pony and Clancy save the day! At the conclusion of this book there is an Outback Facts section which provides information about Australian horses, there is a A.B. 'Banjo' Paterson poem, The Man from Snowy River and the all-important, Outback Jokes section.

Shearing Time $12.95

Welcome to the Clancy of the Outback series. Eleven-year-old Clancy has been thrust into life out woop-woop. These are the stories of his outback adventures at his uncle’s sheep station, Overflow Station. In this book, Big Bill decides to bring the shearing forward and Mum and Little Bill and Clancy clean the shearers’ quarters. Big Bill is keen to see if Mum will do the cooking for the gang but in the end a cook arrives with the shearers. Little Bill shows Clancy how to throw a fleece and then the rain arrives which means that the whole shearing process must stop. The cook has had enough. When shearing resumes some weeks later Mum does the cooking and it’s a great success. At the conclusion of this book there is the Outback Jokes section, a traditional rhyme ‘Lime Juice Tub” and a glossary of shearing terms. Download the teacher notes here

Chookshed Blues $12.95

Welcome to the Clancy of the Outback series. Eleven-year-old Clancy has been thrust into life out woop-woop. These are the stories of his outback adventures at his uncle’s sheep station, Overflow Station. In this book, Dad decides to build a chook house with encouragement from Mum. Big Bill’s ute is used to bring in the wood and corrugated iron and wire netting for the chookhouse. Dad and Clancy build it and ensure that the run is protected from foxes. Dad’s chook house is a bit shakey. Dad and Clancy buy the chickens at the Farmers’ Market. The trouble starts when a large fox gets into the chook yard and Clancy and Mum notice that the chooks are very big and growing very fast. Eventually Big Bill works out what’s wrong but the annual school Christmas fete is a great success. At the conclusion of this book there is an Outback Facts section which provides information about foxes and dingoes, there is a Les Murray poem, The Young Fox and the all-important, Outback Jokes section. Download the teacher notes here

City Slicker $12.95

Welcome to the Clancy of the Outback series. Eleven-year-old Clancy has been thrust into life out woop-woop. These are the stories of his outback adventures at his uncle’s sheep station, Overflow Station. In this book, we are introduced Brutus and Butters Clancy and Little Bill’s dogs. Clancy has a lot to learn, and Little Bill makes sure he begins to understand the rules of country living. She takes Clancy for a tour of the property in the old ute and when they are a distance away from the homestead, she lets Clancy take control of the vehicle. The result is disastrous when Clancy mistakes the accelerator for the brake. The ute is undriveable and so they must walk back to the homestead. Clancy is exhausted and goes to bed straight after dinner. He has a nightmare about being a racing car driver. At the conclusion of this book there is an Outback Facts section on the Darling River, a Henry Lawson type poem about Clancy of the Overflow and a page of Outback Jokes. Download the teacher notes here

Cheesy Business $12.95

Join Clancy and Little Billy on a cheesy adventure. Mum decides to set up a new business on the Overflow. Big Bill calls it ‘diversification’. But getting a pregnant cow and making cheese proves to be much more than curds and whey. After much trial and tribulation, and with the help of our two heroes, Mum’s cheese is a great success – it’s even ‘gouda nuff to eat’!

Houseboat Hazards $12.95

Join Clancy and Little Bill on this fishy adventure. When Mum’s sister, Aunty Joan, visits from the big smoke with her two children the scene is set for a competition between the city slickers and Little Bill and Clancy. But when Dad organises a houseboat for a day out on the river, disaster strikes. Could it be the ghost of Uncle Buck at work?

Flood Fears $12.95

Join Clancy and Little Billy on a wet adventure. Big Bill arrives as usual in a cloud of dust but it might be the last dust the Overflow sees for a long time. He has no time for small talk as he demonstrates the height to where the Darling River flooded in 1973. A tropical cyclone has dumped a huge amount of water in Queensland and it is working its way down the vast Murray-Darling river system. What will it mean for the Overflow and for the campers on the river bank?

Festival Fun $12.95

Join Clancy and Little Billy on a musicial adventure. The mayor of Chance, the ubiquitous Mel Bell, decides that this small town on the bank of the Darling needs a cultural event. To ‘liven up’ the town. The townsfolk decide to have a music festival, Miss Aphrodite organises the school kids to perform and the whole population of the Overflow gets involved. There is a lot of singing and practising on new instruments – some, like the lagerphone – created in Dad’s shed. The music leans towards country but with a good smattering of corny old ballads.