Don't Pat the Wombat! - Elizabeth Honey - Hardcover - 1 AMER ED

Two Things Two things happened the month before school camp: Jonah suddenly arrived in our class, and Mum gave me her old camera for my birthday. Jonah was there on a Monday morning, sitting in the back with a blank look on his face. He wasn't shy, but he wasn't smiley want-to-be-my-friend either. He wore a black hat with a brim. Not a school hat or a Crocodile Dundee hat. Like this: and daggy overalls with lots of pockets, and a daggy dark purple jacket. Miss Cappelli made a little mime to him to take his hat off. He put it on the desk in front of him. "We've got a new member in our class. Stand up, Jonah. Jonah comes from up near Tubbut." He stood looking out the window. "Tubbut's up in the northeast, near...what's it near, Jonah?" He shrugged. "It's not near anything." "Azza, will you stop making that Velcro noise with your shoe. Jonah's come from a little school to our big school. Welcome to 5/6C, Jonah. I guess you're feeling a bit strange, but we're a friendly lot. You'll certainly get to know everyone at camp." We stared at him, but he didn't look at anybody or anything. He stood as if his mother was trying on him some new clothes that he couldn't care less about. Or as if he was trapped in an invisible force field. Beth the Good, whose dad works in the post office, whispered, "In the Bible, Jonah got swallowed by a whale!" "Where's his whale?" sniggered Tommo loudly. "I'd like you to make Jonah welcome," says Miss Cappelli, glaring at Tommo. So we give Jonah a clap like we always do to show our appreciation, or welcome, or any stupid thing. He wasn't the sort of person to clap. Anyway, the clap bounced off Jonah like rain off a tin roof. "Pete and Tak, could you show Jonah around at lunchtime, please?" Then we got on with our work. At lunchtime, Pete says to Jonah, "I'll show you where the toilets are." "No, it's okay, I'll go with them," says Jonah, pointing to us. And that's how he came to be a Coconut. Now I'll tell you about the camera. It doesn't sound like much, getting your mum's old camera for your birthday, but it's a Pentax. This is a big deal, even if it has a dint in the viewfinder where Mum dropped it. She bought a new camera and had the old camera repaired. You should see some of the black-and-white photos she took with it. There's one in our kitchen of our old dog leaping down from a fence. It's fantastic! Mum showed me how to take photos. If you let in too much light, the photo is all white. Not enough light, and the photo is black. And you have to get it in focus, otherwise the photo looks like you took it through a shower curtain. "I'm taking my camera to school camp," I said. Mum looked a bit unsure. "It's a good camera, you know." "I'll look after it." Then she decided it was worth the risk. "I'd love to see some photos of camp. I'll give you a roll of film." "Black-and-white?" "If that's what you want." "I do." Friends? So Jonah attached himself to us, although he didn't seem to need anybody. I think he thought it was the easiest thing to do. He was so quiet, and we were so "us." "Why did you leave your farm?" Nicko asked. "We had to." "Why?" "Bad luck." "Like, your dad lost all your money at the casino?" "No. We didn't sell the bullocks at the right time, then it didn't rain. The prices dropped, and we ran out of feed." "That's a great heap of bad luck!" said Wormz. "What happened to the bullocks?" "We trucked them to my uncle's farm and sold our farm." "Gee...that must havHoney, Elizabeth is the author of 'Don't Pat the Wombat! - Elizabeth Honey - Hardcover - 1 AMER ED' with ISBN 9780375805783 and ISBN 0375805788.