Skeeta Anderson woke up one summer morning to find that his bum was gone.

Tim Winton has written many award winning books, but none quite like this.

To be honest, I didn’t know what to make of this book when I saw the title. However, I was won over from the very first line.

As the story takes shape, we find that not only Skeeta, but everyone in the small town of Bugalugs have lost their bums in the night.

Total Bummer!

Mick Misery, Skeeta’s best mate, was enjoying not having a bum, because his mum was a real smacker. Smacking was her hobby. She walloped Mick for being early, she whacked him for being late. But with nothing at the back of him, Mick’s mum kept swinging and missing.

But for everyone else in the town, having no bum was a real nuisance. Because, as any sensible person knows, a bum gives you balance. The footy team were useless, the netballers got depressed and you couldn’t be school marble champ without balance.

Smarty Bum

So, Skeeta Anderson set out to find who took the town’s bums. He uses his detective skills, and the help of the local police chief, to find the culprit and win back everyone’s bum.

One of my favourite parts of the book is when everyone comes to claim their bums back. Big people take little peachy bottoms, bald people take hairy bums and Mick Misery takes a big meaty one.

Funny Bums

This is a fantastically funny story for early readers. It’s around 65 pages with illustrations from Stephen Michael King, whose distinctive illustrating style is perfect for this.

I love the way Stephen Michael King put it when he was asked to illustrate the book.
He thought to himself, Wow, Tim Winton. Oceans, moody environments, whales.
The voice on the other side of the phone said, ‘It’s a book about bums.’
‘Bums?’
‘Yes, bums.’

It has an easy to follow story structure where everything falls into place for the reader. But most of all, this is a funny, funny book that will appeal to all ages and all levels of reading.

This is one of my all time favourites!

Details

Title: The Bugalugs Bum Thief
Author: Tim Winton
Illustrator: Stephen Michael King
Publisher: Penguin Group Australia, 2003