Middle school: Going bush by James Patterson and Martin Chatterton

Random House Australia, 2016. ISBN 9780143781219
Upper Primary and Lower Secondary students will enjoy the light hearted humour of the latest book in the Middle School series, Going bush featuring Rafe Khatchadorian. The many cartoon style illustrations add to the fun.
Rafe's talent for art wins him the opportunity to join other young artists on a two week long Cultural Campout in outback Australia, sponsored by a mining company.
Rafe, who is supposedly much wiser and more mature than he was in previous episodes, has a love of slang expressions and a neverending supply of wise-cracks, such as 'Fair's a hair colour, little sis'.
A master of the hyperbole and the understatement, Rafe bumbles his way from one hilarious situation to another, even encountering a giant crocodile in the middle of a very dark night. This is not the only strange discovery he and his fellow campers make; there is definitely something fishy about the motives of the sponsoring mining company and the artist, Brushes McGarrity, appointed to lead their camping adventure.
Can Rafe foil the evil intentions of Brushes and his co-conspirators without creating too many embarrassing moments for himself?
Thelma Harvey