Chookhouse Blues — Phil Kettle

Welcome to the Clancy of the Outback series.

Eleven-year-old Clancy has been thrust into life out woop-woop. These are the stories of his outback adventures at his uncle's sheep station, Overflow Station.

In this book, Dad decides to build a chook house with encouragement from Mum. Big Bill's ute is used to bring in the wood and corrugated iron and wire netting for the chookhouse. Dad and Clancy build it and ensure that the run is protected from foxes. Dad's chook house is a bit shakey. Dad and Clancy buy the chickens at the Farmers' Market. The trouble starts when a large fox gets into the chook yard and Clancy and Mum notice that the chooks are very big and growing very fast. Eventually Big Bill works out what's wrong but the annual school Christmas fete is a great success.

At the conclusion of this book there is an Outback Facts section which provides information about foxes and dingoes, there is a Les Murray poem, The Young Fox and the all-important, Outback Jokes section.