‘The great thing about explorers is that they go wherever they like and do whatever they want, no matter how stupid. They don’t listen to anybody.’

The Really Nearly Deadly Canoe Ride recently hit shelves and it’s another corker from David Metzenthen featuring two of the funniest, coolest, kookiest characters around – Shiny and Pod. It’s the follow-up to the super-dooper Really Really High Diving Tower and The Really Really Epic Mini-Bike Ride, all part of the ‘Aussie Chomps’ series.

Here you can get the inside stuff on the story from the author himself. And, for a chance to WIN your very own copy of the book, just leave a comment telling us your favourite adventure book ever and check back soon to see if you’ve won. The winner will be announced next week!

Dave, what happens in this instalment of the Really series?

Shiny and Pod are given a Canadian canoe, which they paddle down a creek which turns into a river which leads out onto the bay… where there are ships. Of course, they encounter many dangerous and sometimes disgusting things – which tests their seamanship to the limit – although they really have very little skill in paddling, but stacks of enthusiasm for the adventure.

What made you write another book featuring these characters?

I like the boys! I really like their take on the world …They are explorers, and they are slightly crazy … I like their language, I like their terrible suburb, I like the way things go wrong for them.

As a kid, did you go on lots of crazy adventures?

I did go on a few … I used to ride my bike from the city to the bush when I was about twelve… I used to hitch-hike… (God forbid!) I used to play with spears, knives, bows and arrows, sling shots, cracker guns, air rifles etc. I really liked being outside and totally unsupervised.

Sockby, where the stories are set, isn’t the most beautiful town in literary history. Where is it based on?

I just took the worst of many suburbs, and combined these into a place that offers scope for adventure… an industrial estate, a defunct railway line, a dirty creek – choice areas for Shiny and Pod to get out and about… The name comes from the suburb my wife, Fiona, grew up in… Sockburn, in Christchurch, in New Zealand. 

Can you imagine any future Shiny and Pod adventures?

I do have another idea. It involves a method of tranport that is both unusual and has the potential to be extremely dangerous. But I will not reveal it, as no one’s really written about it yet … If people keep reading the Shiny and Pod books, I will try and keep writing them, because I dream of adventures every day! So, get out there – but no hitch-hiking, and never point a spear gun at anyone, and that probably includes fish. 

Hope you enjoy Shiny and Pod’s latest adventure. And don’t forget to leave a comment on your fave adventure book for your chance to win.

Tristan.

www.tristanbancksflow.blogspot.com

Hi

I’m Tristan Bancks, author of the Mac Slater and Nit Boy series’. I’m always on the lookout for incredible reads for boys and, over the next three months, I’m going to be guest-blogging at least twice a week here at Boys, Blokes, Books and Bytes. I’d love you to get in on the conversation and share your thoughts on amazing boys’ books, too.

To kick things off, I’ve asked a handful of Australia’s favourite children’s writers to give their tip on the best book for boys ever. And here they are:

James Roy: The Machine Gunners (by Robert Westall)

David Metzenthen: The Really Nearly Deadly Canoe Ride (by David Metzenethen)

Pat Flynn: Holes by Louis Sachar and Ishmael and the Return of the Dugongs (by Gerard Michael Bauer)

Nick Place: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (by Douglas Adams)

And my tip? My Side of the Mountain (by Jean Craighead George)

What’s your tip on the best boys’ book ever?

Tristan.