The Gruesome Truth
Bernard Gallate
Hodder Hotshots 2003

Young readers’ series like Puffin’s Aussie Bites and Hodder’s Hotshots are producing some great Australian stories.  These two new releases from Hotshots have a lot of fun, disasters, some embarrassing truths and a few lessons along the way. 

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ABC announcer Richard Glover claims that he has “one tidy kid and one messy kid” in his family, and The Dirt Experiment is based on them.  Amanda’s mum is tidy and her dad is not, so they do an experiment to settle the issue.  They split their house exactly in two (including one kid each!) and live the way they think is right.

Mum’s side (with son Jesse) is sparkling clean and smells of disinfectant.  Dad’s side is soon a compost heap of dirty dishes, grubby clothes and “horizontal filing” – if you leave things on the floor, you’ll know where to find them later!

Weeks pass as neither parent gives in. Amanda grows smellier, Jesse is desperate to sniff some dirty socks, Dad mixes pancake batter with his drill, and Mum dresses in plastic bags to keep everything clean.

This is a very funny story about stubborn people and family rules.  Amanda and Jesse are caught in the Battle of the Piggies and the Cleans and it is all horribly and hilariously real.  Any parents and kids who have argued over the housework should have a good hard look at The Dirt Experiment and themselves!

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How does a little exaggeration become a bit of a lie, and then a disastrous mistake? Very, very easily, as The Gruesome Truth shows.  When Leo claims to have the world’s biggest hailstone at home in his freezer, he has to produce the evidence at school.  Desperate twists of the truth soon involve weevil cakes, his sister’s goldfish (its bowl and its clone) and major newspaper coverage. 

The message is clear throughout – two wrongs don’t make a right – but it is both funny and embarrassing watching Leo try so many ways to wriggle out of trouble, just to get himself further in.

While the adult assumption that all children’s books must have a “good” teaching message can be rather frustrating for their readers (look how popular Andy Griffiths’ and Paul Jennings’ books are!), The Gruesome Truth manages to make its message very entertaining.

Review by David Beagley

© 2004 David Beagley