Naked Bunyip Dancing Read online

all the audience stand and cheer

  and clap –

  some even whistle –

  and even though I’m only the host

  I feel that a little bit,

  just a tiny bit,

  of all the applause is for me

  and the job I’ve done.

  Michael and the

  first prize

  Everything is perfect,

  as we take our final bows.

  We all join hands,

  and bow, time and time again.

  The Principal wanders onstage

  clapping, smiling

  and shaking hands

  with Mr C and Ms Park.

  Miss Libradore

  keeps right on playing the piano

  like she’s never going to stop.

  All the families stand and cheer.

  It’s the best night of our lives

  until

  the Principal announces

  that the raffle will be drawn

  by Billy

  as a reward

  for the most interesting costume.

  And the first prize is…

  I can see Billy’s dad

  searching for the twenty tickets

  he’s stuffed in his pockets.

  As Billy reaches in to draw the winning ticket

  (and nearly pokes the Principal in the eye

  with his mohawk),

  I whisper the bad news to Mr Carey.

  I keep saying,

  ‘Sorry, sir.

  It’s for charity.

  I’ll do detention

  every lunchtime

  for the rest of the year…’

  Mr Carey touches his ponytail,

  goes a lighter shade of white,

  then sighs,

  and says,

  ‘For charity, Michael.

  For charity…

  And it will grow back.

  I hope.’

  The Principal asks

  Mr Jonesforthwalton

  a question

  Mr J-F, can you tell Mr Carey

  he’s wanted on the phone?

  Yes. But I don’t think he’ll fit, dear.

  Also by Steven Herrick

  For younger readers

  The place where planes take off

  My life, my love, my lasagne

  Poetry, to the rescue

  The spangled drongo – winner of the Patricia Wrightson

  Prize in the 2000 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards

  Love poems and leg-spinners

  Tom Jones saves the world – shortlisted in the 2003

  Children’s Book Council of Australia awards

  Do-wrong Ron – shortlisted in the 2004 CBC awards

  For older readers

  Love, ghosts and nose hair – shortlisted in the 1997 CBC awards and the NSW Premier’s Literary awards

  A place like this – shortlisted in the 1999 CBC awards, the NSW Premier’s Literary awards, and commended in the 1998 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award

  The simple gift – shortlisted in the 2001 CBC awards and the NSW Premier’s Literary awards

  By the river – shortlisted in the 2005 CBC awards and winner of the Ethel Turner Prize in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards

  About the author

  Steven Herrick was born in Brisbane, the youngest of seven children. At school, his favourite subject was soccer, and he dreamed of football glory while he worked at various jobs, including fruit picking. Now, he’s a full time writer and performs in many schools each year. He loves talking to students and their teachers about stories, poetry, soccer and even golf. Naked Bunyip Dancing began as a sequel to Love poems and leg spinners but Steven loved the characters so much he expanded the story of their year in Class 6 into a verse novel.

  Steven lives in the Blue Mountains with his wife and sons.

  www.acay.com.au/~sherrick

  Do-wrong Ron

  Ron always does the wrong things at the wrong time, or the right things at the wrong time, or the wrong things at the right time…until he finds Charlie, the guinea pig who looks like an oversized rat, and they meet Isabelle, who is waiting for something, anything, to happen.When Ron plans a musical welcome for Isabelle’s nana, anything just might happen…A funny, touching story about a do-wrong boy whose heart is in the right place.

  Honour Book, 2004 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year awards for younger readers

  By the River

  Life for Harry means swimming in Pearce Swamp, eating chunks of watermelon with his brother and his dad, surviving schoolyard battles, and racing through butterflies in Cowpers Paddock. In his town there’s Linda, who brings him the sweetest-ever orange cake, and Johnny, whose lightning fists draw blood in a blur, and there’s a mystery that Harry needs to solve before he can find his way out…An intense story about feeling the undercurrents, finding solid ground and knowing when to jump.

  Shortlisted, 2005 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year awards for older readers Winner, 2005 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature