The Return of a Champion

Blue #3

by George Man, Felicity Matthews (Editor)

Blue is a four-part children’s series that follows the life of a little girl called Sandra, who meets a truly special Australian cattle dog that she names Blue. They grow up together, dealing with both tragedy and triumph, becoming famous for their heroic adventures in Outback Australia and across Europe. The story continues with book three, "The Return of a Champion". The Return of a Champion by George Man Sandra and her beloved Australian cattle dog, Blue, have grown up together, facing both tragedy and glory. They'd met in the Australian Outback and had returned to her homeland of Holland for a few years, when they got the surprising news that her father had to go back to work at the research station, Mitchell, in Outback Australia. When they were last in Mitchell, Sandra was with Blue every second of the day because she could attend the School of the Air. Now that she was in high school, she had to go to boarding school in Sydney and would be far away from everyone she knew and loved. Sandra and Blue missed each other greatly and looked forward to the school holidays when they were, once again, inseparable. Sandra would always be number one to Blue, but while she was away, Blue found a precious companion in Honey, a little female cattle dog who was almost fully blind. Blue took it upon himself to care for the little dog and soon they became a happy family with four gorgeous puppies! Of course, Sandra was over the moon. Over the years, Sandra successfully completed high school, while Blue remained the hero of the Outback town of Mitchell. Once again, it was time to make a life-changing decision. Sandra was offered the opportunity of a lifetime to study art at Sorbonne University in Paris. And so, Sandra and Blue, with their new companion, Honey, packed their bags again and were headed off to France.

133 pages, Paperback

Published February 1, 2019

About the author

George Man is a Dutch-Australian author who has published four books in the Blue series, including Blue, Sandra and Blue, The Return of a Champion and The Triumphant Three. George originally set out to write an autobiography, but soon realised that he simply couldn't face the task: having dealt with both triumph and tragedy throughout his colourful life. One night, Blue brought himself to life in George's imagination, and the rest is history! While the Blue series is made for children, it is loved and appreciated by the young and old and is a treasure to animal lovers of all ages.

George Man was born in Indonesia and spent time as a young child in a Japanese concentration camp during World War II. His family later moved to Holland, where he spent his formative years and studied tropical and subtropical agriculture at college.


George's first job was as a plantation assistant in Papua New Guinea, and he was soon promoted to plantation manager. After sixteen months of living there alone, his French fiancée, Joëlze, came over, and they worked together on plantations for five years. They went on to have two beautiful children: a daughter, Sabina, and one son, George.


After being employed by a mining company and an insurance company, George worked nineteen years for Caltex Oil in different parts of Australia and Papua New Guinea, where he managed many different roles in marketing, auditing, IT, training and strategic operations. During that time, he was involved with Dutch clubs, the New South Wales Federation of Dutch Societies and, with the help of his family, was President of The New South Wales Holland Festival on four occasions, which was an annual event at the Fairfield Show Ground in Sydney, Australia, that attracted crowds of up to 50,000 people.

In November 1988, George and Joëlze were host to Queen Beatrix and Prins Klaus of the Netherlands at a special festival. During that time, they had lunches with the royal guests at Parliament House in Canberra and state offices in Sydney.

From 1992-1999, George, his wife and children managed two successful service stations. After that they retired to the country town of Gunnedah, New South Wales--first in a beautiful house and later in a retirement unit. Sadly, George and his wife are no strangers to tragedy, as they lost both their daughter and daughter-in-law in the 2000s.

In his retirement, George plays golf and continues to write short stories. He is currently working on a bundle of Christmas books and a few other ideas are in the pipeline.

Reviews

[Web · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Return of a Champion is the the third book in the children's series called Blue, by George Man.

Sandra has grown into a mature young lady and Blue is still by her side. Sandra's father is taking another job at the research station in Outback Australia and Sandra and Blue are excited to return to their spiritual home, Down Under.

Things are a bit diferent this time. Sandra has to go to boarding school in Sydney, so her and Blue are separated, except for in the school holidays. They both, however, make a new little friend in a visually imparied Australian cattle dog pup called Honey. Honey and Blue become very close and even start a cute little family.

Sandra is soon doing her HSC and thinking about life after school. She is given an amazing opportunity to move to France and live in a chateau with Blue, while she studies art at Sorbonne University. She decided to take up this offer, but first, there is more work to do in the outback.

In summer, as is common in Australia, they are threatened by dangerous bushfires. And it's in this setting that Blue shows the true champion he is once again: saving lives of his loved ones.

Before they know it, it's time to move to France. Both Sandra and Blue are devastated at the thought of leaving Honey behind, but her family and friends arrange one last suprirse before they leave ...