Riddle Gully Runaway

The youth was picking his way through the meadow toward the graveyard. As he walked, his neck jerked, chook-like, and with each step, his left foot gave a quick waggle before it planted on the ground.

They stared at him swinging his arms, bobbing his head, waggling his foot. Will leaned closer to Pollo. ‘Is he … dancing?’

‘I do believe he is,’ said Pollo, ‘in his own special thief-like way.’

Click here for a 4-minute reading from Riddle Gully Runaway.

Mayor Bullock’s nephew, the hip-hop-crazy 16-year-old Benson Bragg, has been suspended from school in the city. When he arrives in Riddle Gully and things start disappearing, overeager newshound Pollo di Nozi points her finger his way. Benson skips town, hitching a ride on a sheep truck.

When Pollo and best mate Will Hopkins realise who the real culprit is, they set off to track down Benson – with Pollo’s rambunctious sheep, Shorn Connery, in tow. Meanwhile, Benson has found a job at a coastal abattoir and is living rough. He looks like sliding into real strife when he capitulates to a dare from his workmates, set for later that night. Can Pollo and Will find Benson before it’s too late and convince him he’s not the hopeless ‘scumbag’ he’s come to believe himself to be?

Riddle Gully Runaway is an upbeat adventure story for middle-primary to lower-secondary readers that will be enjoyed by both boys and girls. With a light, humorous touch, it explores issues of self-perception, self-acceptance, resilience and forgiveness – especially of oneself.