One rule for Jack by Sally Morgan and Ezekiel Kwaymullina

Ill. by Craig Smith. Omnibus, 2014. ISBN 9781742990330.
(Age: 7+) Recommended. Aboriginal themes. Family life. When Jack wants to slide out of jobs to do around the home, he has one rule, 'do it badly'. When showering in the morning, he turns on the tap, wets his hair, then walks out with a towel around his waist. He thinks that he has tricked his Mum into believing he has had a shower.
On Saturday, he wants to go to Thommo's house, but Mum gets him to do a chore first. Sweeping the leaves from the verandah is easy when you break the boom handle, but then Mum gives him the dustpan and brush. The reader will start to get an inkling that perhaps Mum is not being fooled as easily as Jack thinks. Again Mum asks him to mop the floor, but instead he puts the mop head into the toilet. When he must later unblock the toilet, the lesson is driven home.
Gran comes over with cakes and joins the fun of making him aware of doing things correctly. Then when Dad comes home, he gives his son the smelliest job yet and he wangles a way around it, just like other times, but this time, his Dad and uncle have him cornered.
With wonderful illustrations by Craig Smith, the story of Jack getting his just deserts is very funny, and will intrigue readers.
Fran Knight