Crime Time
by Sue Bursztynski
Ford St Publishing (2009)
ISBN: 9781876462765
$16.95
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Reviewed by Sally Morgan, Oct 2009
This collection of true Australian crime stories for young people brings together incidents from the 1600’s to today. Interspersed amongst the stories are interesting, often little-known facts about bad guys (and girls) from across the country. The stories are generally short and to-the-point with enough gory detail but not too gruesome.
Being some decades away of being classed as a young person, I found that the information in the stories was interesting but not quite enough to ever grab me completely. I would really have like to get more of the in-depth information behind the stories though it might be enough for younger readers.
That said, I’m not quite sure what age-group this book was aimed at. Given what today’s young people can see on TV and even read in novels, teenagers might find this book a bit light on detail. There is, however, a bit too much information for the book to be comfortably aimed at pre-teens.
It could be used as a light reference for school assignments on bushrangers and convicts given that it has references to both that I found interesting but for me it’s not a book that I would read again.
