This came about from compiling novels and short stories read during Primary school, and I learnt two things making this.
1) Many of these authors are Australian and the brand of bizarre seems to be (worryingly) consistent between them, and 2) the reason I've read these books is because most of these belong to the Scholastic Age of Australian education. Which now has me reflecting that 3) this is going to resonate intensely with a very specific demographic, but may well seem like genuine insanity to nearly everyone else.
If you've not had the pleasure of reading any of these works of Gleitzman, Griffiths, Jennings, Rodda or Thompson, please roulette wheel pick a novel and prepare for utter delighted confusion. All these books/series are excellent, but those were the Australian Primary school experience.
