Goat Boy
Peter McFarlane

Puffin Books 2001

143p pbk $14.95

ISBN: 0-14-130952-0

This is a great book! It is about a boy called Martin, who has autism, and is obsessed with goats. But one day he, Howie (a scientist who studies goats), Jack (Howie’s son), Gabby (Jack’s friend), and Toshiko (Gabby’s billet) go to the Gammons (a rocky, deserty place in South Australia). But then, Martin gets lost…

This book is for 10-15 years. This is an easy book to read, but still captures you so you want to keep reading it. If you like realistic, funny books, then this is the book for you.

John,  aged 11, Canberra, ACT

Brief Synopsis: It’s a story about how an autistic boy with a fascination for wild goats has difficulty relating to his peers and yet, because of a shared adventure, both the boy and his peers develop a better understanding of each other.

Main Characters: Martin (Goat Boy), Howie, Jack, Gabby, Matt and Toshiko.

Appeal to its intended audience: My initial reaction to this book was of a negative nature, due largely to the unappealing book cover artwork.  As a 13-year-old female, I found the story line to be less appealing than the artwork.  I found the characters to be juvenile, contrary to references in the text, which described them as teenagers.  I thought their behaviour and speech was more like that of 9 year old.  It was largely due to the childishness of the characters that made me resist any level of empathy.  If the book were to be printed in bigger, bolder text, additional cartoon drawings added and references to ‘teenagers’ deleted, then this book would be far more appropriate for upper primary readers not high school ones.

Quality of story line:      Much of the story line moved slowly even somewhat tediously.  There was little if any action sequences or animated dialogue until the closing chapters of the book.  Mr McFarlane has quite successfully given a believable and accurate portrait of an autistic child and he is to be commended for that.  However, because he has been so meticulous about portraying the difficulties of developing a relationship for the autistic, his book is a rather dry and uninspired account.

Readability of the book: Goat Boy was quite readable but not riveting.  The reader’s entertainment would not come from the story line and not from the appeal of the characters.  Rather, it is the light-hearted banter exchanged between the main characters that ad life to the story.

Personal response including a recommendation to other readers: I would not recommend this book to my peers, who like myself would find very little to relate to.  If, perhaps, the reader were acquainted with someone suffering from autism, this book would undoubtedly take on a much greater significance.  I’d give it a 1 and a half star rating out of 5.

Rylie, aged 13, Canberra, ACT