The whole business with Kiffo and the Pitbull, by Barry Jonsberg

Barry Jonsberg is an Australian author and this is his first novel. It’s the story of Calma Harrison, a 15 year old girl gifted in English, and her friend Kiffo, a red-headed troublemaker who she describes as smelling ‘like a fish that you forgot was in the fridge’, and whose mind ‘is as shallow as a gob of spit in a drained swimming pool … as intellectually challenging as a meeting of English teachers’. Kiffo takes the credit for getting rid of their English teacher by provoking her into attacking him. Unfortunately she is replaced by the ‘Pitbull’, a strict teacher called Miss Payne who is built like a Russian shot-put champion and whose facial expression is that of a dog eating a wasp. The Pitbull sets out to tame the class, especially Kiffo, resulting in an at times hilarious adventure. But there is more to this story than a battle between teacher and students. It is the story of Kiffo and Calma’s friendship, and Calma’s relationship with her mother. It is funny, moving, thought-provoking and wise. A great story and I am looking forward to reading the sequel, ‘It’s not all about you, Calma’.