What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
This topic is about
Tyro
SOLVED: Children's/YA
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SOLVED. YA Fiction. Kid hired by Mining company and put through initiations. Published in Australia, required reading in high school. Cover: sandy, yellow. Published before 2003. [s]
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Because this group is so huge, we will close threads that don't adhere to this requirement.
Please add more plot details to your topic header from what you've already written.
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Contemporary or historical fiction? What are his parents' jobs?
Do you remember if it was gold mining or opal mining or something else?
Think it was oil mining. Like in Australia we have "mining town" areas. think he worked on an oil rig. mining was definitely the wrong word now I'm thinking of it. good question.I can't remember whether it was based on a true story. So not sure, was contemporary in the fact that it was set in the "present era".
No idea parents jobs because from what I remember the book starts when he joins the company. The entire book is set in the workplace from what I remember. A lot of people move to small towns to work in some kind of natural resource acquisition, so the parents likely weren't anywhere nearby probably. I can't remember to be honest.
Dang, I just did a bunch of searches for "oil" and still came up with nada.I'm sure it's out there! This sounds familiar to me, like I've come across it before. Do you remember if there was any sexual violence, or did it just have a rapey vibe?
I think they covered him with oil once, stripped him, maybe. But I don't think there was rape - as it was given to us as reading material for school pre-year 10 so not totally graphic probably.I can't remember if it was a bestseller or not. It's so hard to look for an older book that you struggle to remember if it was not "mainstream popular" in some way -.-.
This is overall what the book centred around: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-0...
Where he was I think was chosen because it separated him outside of normal life, like a rig or mine is far away from a normal city. The focus was less on the place but the bullying itself - but the setting allowed the types of hazing initiations to occur.
Probably not, but just to rule it out: Fight Against Albatross Two. It was an award winner, which makes it more likely to be on a reading list, but the plot details don't really match. There's a 14 year old boy named Link who joins up on an oil rig, but it sounds like the majority of the book is about the oil spill that threatens the ecology of the region, rather than bullying.
Holes by Louis Sachar?
I definitely had to read this in school in Australia, but it's not really mining. But there is digging involved?
So the main character was starting a full time job, so must have been at least "school leaver age" (by kid i meant, under the age of 25) - I think Holes is about young kids in a detention camp right? And not really related to employment :).The book focused, as I said before, around "bad" initiations into a workplace :).
From what I am reading about Fight Against Albatross Two, it looks like it is about pollution as its focus. Not about initiations yea.
What I really need is this: "If anyone has a website which can search a list of books by Published Country and limited by year of release than I could use that. I cant seem to find websites which you can lock to published country."
It mus exist somewhere, this kind of search on a website somewhere. But yea... I couldn't find one in my searches.
The closest thing I know of is WorldCat... and it's dreadful. A keyword of "Australia" will bring up content, titles AND place of publishing. (Honestly, that website could be awesome with some proper programming...). :pBookFinder.com is amazing, though... have a field for "Publisher", so could chuck Oz in that and see if it works. And a keyword - but not sure you can get away without a title/author..
Not sure that would perform any better than WorldCat, ultimately, though. You can try the same 'publisher' input there...
OpenLibrary does have a 'place' field in its advanced search, but sadly at present it's really, really weak on the antipodean and non-North American book data front.
This might be helpful..? Extant publishers only, though, I'd guess.
https://booksfromaustralia.com/publis...
If you've got any entrepeneurially inclined developer friends, there's definitely room for some innovation! ;)
Capn wrote: "The closest thing I know of is WorldCat... and it's dreadful. A keyword of "Australia" will bring up content, titles AND place of publishing. (Honestly, that website could be awesome with some proper programming...). :p"It seems to me Worldcat had gotten worse in the last year or so. You used to be able to narrow your search by fiction/nonfiction, juvenile/non-juvenile, etc., and there used to be categories you could search amongst for books (e.g. the much-maligned "juvenile human sacrifice" category) that I'm not seeing anymore.
SamSpayedPI wrote: "Capn wrote: "The closest thing I know of is WorldCat... and it's dreadful. A keyword of "Australia" will bring up content, titles AND place of publishing. (Honestly, that website could be awesome w..."Oh it's not your imagination!!! They changed almost everything, and asked for my feedback.
Boy howdy did I give it to them. XD
The redesigned Worldcat is inferior and glitchy!It will not remember my filters from one page to the next. I have to redo the search box every freaking time. So annoying.
That said, using "Australia" or "Sydney" as keywords along with other words has proved useful for me. Unfortunately, I've just about exhausted Worldcat for this search.
https://www.worldcat.org/advancedsearch
Mod
Agreed. On the Worldcat.org search results page, try clicking the "advanced search" icon to the right of the search icon (magnifying glass), at the top -- it looks like 2 vertical lines with a small circle on each line.
Thanks, Kris! Yes, I've been doing that when I get to each new page of results. Otherwise it will add back in everything I had previously filtered out.
Rainbowheart wrote: "Thanks, Kris! Yes, I've been doing that when I get to each new page of results. Otherwise it will add back in everything I had previously filtered out."What really cheeses me is if you get ONE hit, and it auto-directs to that book, but it's not the one you want. So you tick "retain filters" and then either press back or the advanced search icon and.... it's all gone. >:(
Thank you for mentioning that tip, Kris. Like Rainbowheart, I've been having a lot of trouble with losing my applied filters by going to the next page. But why does the new design have to suck so bad? I read somewhere that the current trend in web design is to design for mobile first. Bleahgh.
I agree with Laura that Tyro is most likely it. I don't know how she found it, but I found it by looking through previous winners (and commended) of the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award for Older Readers
Mod
"Andrew Kinnear has dreamt of becoming a ship's engineer and traveling the world. But as his apprenticeship at Dalrossan Dockyard begins, he quickly realizes there is much more to his dream than he's bargained for. There are unwritten rules in his new workplace that he will break at his peril - a fearsome pecking order, and strange rites of initiation... Who are his allies, and who are his enemies? In sorting this out, Andrew can only watch in horror as the situation gets worse – much worse."
I agree. Listening to the audio clip on audible. Talking about boiler suits, does ring a bell. Thanks, ill get it and see how it goes.Much appreciated everyone!
Ky wrote: "Thank you for mentioning that tip, Kris. Like Rainbowheart, I've been having a lot of trouble with losing my applied filters by going to the next page. But why does the new design have to suck so b..."Thanks a ton mate, you are a gem :hugs:
What's the Name of That Book???
Books mentioned in this topic
Tyro (other topics)Tyro (other topics)
Holes (other topics)
Fight Against Albatross Two (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
David McRobbie (other topics)Louis Sachar (other topics)
Details of the book:
Genre: Fiction
Year: Pre-2003
Country: I believe it was published in Australia.
Title: The title had four letters I believe (something like troy, scar, etc). If anyone has a website which can search a list of books by Published Country and limited by year of release than I could use that. I cant seem to find websites which you can lock to published country.
Cover: Think it had a sandy looking cover - yellowy.
Plot Details:
The book was set I believe in a mining company, the kid was put through initiations when getting the job. Was a bit rough from what I remember, the initiations the other guys put him through were rough. My memory recollects a "rapey" vibe. Book left an imprint on me and I can't find it.
This book was required reading for at least my NSW high school in 2002 or 2003 (year 8 or 9 for me). I am unable to find the book details for those years listed on the government website. Can find year 10 school certificate reading lists easy as pie, but I can't seem to find year 8/9 listed possibly because there is no formal test or each school can make their own choice rather than the lists being organised by the state government like in year 10.