Walkabout

__Walkabout__ was about a boy named Peter and a girl named Mary. Their plane crashed in the middle of Australia when they were flying to see their uncle. They are about to die when they find an Aboriginal boy. The Aboriginal boy is black, naked, and speaks a different language. Peter learns some of his language and tells him that they need to find a village. The Aboriginal boy understands and agrees to lead them to the village a long ways away. Mary does not like the boy and stays as far away from him as she can. The Aboriginal boy teaches them to eat certain foods and start fires along the way. As they travel through the desert, Peter gets a bad cold and sneezes a lot. He recovers from the cold but gives it to the Aboriginal boy instead. The Aboriginal boy does his sacred dance to the spirits so his body will go to the gods. Mary finally goes by the boy when he is about ready to die. The Aboriginal boy dies in Mary's lap. Peter and Mary continue to try and find the village without the Aboriginal boy for help. They find a big lake and discover a house on the other side. People from an Aboriginal village see Peter and Mary and give them food and water. They tell them there is a house over the next hill. Peter and Mary find the house they have been looking for and live happily ever after.

I learned that Aboriginal people have to live alone. They have to split up from their families sometime in their lives. I also learned that they believe in spirits. If they are not buried up on high ground, the spirit will come and take their bodies. Another thing I learned is that they do not wear any clothes. They also know a lot about Australia's land and how to survive living in it. -Joey

I didn't really like this book. It was really descriptive and not very much action. It had some weird parts where I didn't understand what was going on. The one thing that was good was that it taught me a lot about the Aboriginal culture. - Joey

I learned that the Aboriginal people live a very different life. When they are teenagers they go on their walkabout. It is a six to eight month journey of total isolation to test their manhood. This filters all the week people out of the tribe to die. The Aborigines are a lot like Native Americans, they both know a lot about nature and can survive through almost anything. The Aborigines also show lots of kindness toward other people that they do not even know. - Tanner

I did not like this book. It always talked about how the kids learned about the Aboriginal way and there was no action. It was way too descriptive and has a boring plot. The one part that I liked was to see how the Aboriginal boys become men. - Tanner

I learned that in order to become men, the boys have to go on a walkabout for six months. The Aboriginal people also don't wear any clothes. They also believe that if they bury them on high ground then the spirits will not steal their spirits. The aboriginal people are kind to people that they meet. Most tribes would kill the people they find. - DeAndre

This book was decent. I thought it was was dumb how the boy died in the end. It didn't really have much action. The only good part was them almost starving but then finding food to live. - DeAndre