AUNT EFFIE’S ARK Jack Lasenby, Longacre Press, Dunedin, New Zealand, 2003, 173 pages, paperback, $16.95. ISBN 1-877135-84-4.
Aunt Effie’s Ark, the second in Jack Lasenby’s series about his indomitable aunt, follows on smoothly from Aunt Effie. As the ink-wells freeze and the snow builds up, Effie hibernates, leaving her 26 nieces and nephews to fight off the wolves, bears and man-eating rhinoceroses which sneak down from the Vast Untrodden Ureweras. When disaster strikes, their well-stocked barn serves as a fully-rigged ark, giving New Zealand’s best fabulist a chance to demonstrate his skill at spinning outrageous whoppers. This funny epic introduces the Underground Correspondence School and has guest appearances by Barry Crump, a talking horse and three of Effie’s former husbands. David Elliot’s pictures are gems.
Trevor Agnew
First published in The Press, Christchurch, New Zealand on March 6th 2004
Aunt Effie’s Ark, the second in Jack Lasenby’s series about his indomitable aunt, follows on smoothly from Aunt Effie. As the ink-wells freeze and the snow builds up, Effie hibernates, leaving her 26 nieces and nephews to fight off the wolves, bears and man-eating rhinoceroses which sneak down from the Vast Untrodden Ureweras. When disaster strikes, their well-stocked barn serves as a fully-rigged ark, giving New Zealand’s best fabulist a chance to demonstrate his skill at spinning outrageous whoppers. This funny epic introduces the Underground Correspondence School and has guest appearances by Barry Crump, a talking horse and three of Effie’s former husbands. David Elliot’s pictures are gems.
Trevor Agnew
First published in The Press, Christchurch, New Zealand on March 6th 2004
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