All of us together by Bill Condon

About Kids Books, 2016. ISBN 9780994642806
(Age: 10+) Recommended. Depression (1930's). Australian history. Family. With Dad leaving home to go on the road to look for work, twelve year old Daniel is the man of the house, charged with looking out for his mother and two sisters, Adelaide and Lydia. It is The Depression in Australia and Daniel's father, like many other men, has lost his job and so must search for work away from home. Sending any money he gets back to his family, the budget is never enough, and this book gives a clear idea of what it must have been like for struggling families at this time in Australia's history. Daniel is influenced by his friend Bede, and must make some momentous decisions about his behaviour, particularly after the family is given some sad news about their absent father. Without television, mobile phones and cars, the family will seem quite alien to our middle primary people, but they will learn a great deal from the setting in this book, and follow the family's story with interest.
About Kids Books is a new publishing company set up by Di Bates committed to producing quality books for the age group from middle to upper primary, always a difficult age age to satisfy, and it is pleasing to see solid well written stories offered by this new company, a neat counterpoint to the plethora of poo and bum books seen in bookshops.
Fran Knight