Allen & Unwin 2001

131pp. pbk

1865085499

Gilbert peered into the darkness. "It must be the same cave," he said slowly. "It must go right underneath your house."

Echidna Mania is about Felix Spark. He has a band called Echidna with his friend Gilbert. When Felix is cleaning his dad's motorbike he finds out there is a cave under his house. His band practises there until suddenly his house sinks! 

His sister Astrid says she can fix anything, but will she be able to fix this?

This book is very funny. I especially like the footnotes, which are comments about what is happening in the story. I would recommend this book for ages 8-12 years.

Felix is cleaning his father's Harley Davidson (because he wants to get a ride to school on Monday) when his Aunty Beverly rings and asks to speak to him. (Aunty Beverly is not your normal aunt - when she starts talking, she never stops!)  After 45 minutes, Felix goes outside to find his father's motor bike gone! It has disappeared under the ground because Felix has forgotten to turn the hose off.

To make things interesting, Felix's sister Astrid is a 'fixologist' - she fixes things.  Since the age of three she has fixed things  - puzzles, her quilt (which she puts into colour categories) -even her brother's toes (with very interesting results.) Astrid now tries to fix her dad's Harley.

I think this book would suit readers from the age of 9 and up because of the way the chapters are set out.  They are set out in a very unusual way. They are very short so I found myself reading a lot more than I expected to. My rating for this book is 10 out of 10 because the illustrations added to it in a very simple way.

Emma. 11, Luddenham, NSW