Lockie Leonard, scumbuster

Children's Literature - Bruce Adelson

This Australian novel packs plenty of surprises. Full of well-developed characters, quirky Australian lingo, like "gremmie" and "surf rat," and an endearing story of a successful struggle against a toxic polluter, the book has much to recommend it. The main characters, Lockie Leonard, surfer par excellence whose father is a police sergeant, and Geoff Eggleston, known as "the Egg," a heavy metal music devotee, are a seemingly unlikely pair. Yet, they somehow band together to fight against the town's main employer who is also turning the local harbor into a sewage pit. The author's descriptions of their exploits are both endearing and amusing as the boys fight polluters and local opprobrium while also weathering Lockie's break-up with his first love and his abortive fling with a surfer girl. Young readers may have initial difficulty trying to decipher the Australian slang liberally scattered throughout this lively tale but they may also enjoy the challenge. Lockie and the Egg will likely inspire many requests for this title.

Library Journal

Gr 5-9-An adolescent surfer and his "Metal Head" friend set out to clean up their polluted Australian harbor. These unlikely friends and even more unlikely heroes will win readers over with their big-hearted actions and their hilarious repartee. (June) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Gr 5-9Readers in search of a sincere bit of fun should not miss this fast-paced, slightly whacked-out sequel to Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo (Little, Brown, 1992). From the punning first chapter title, Lockie Leonard, Bloomin Stupido to the climactic Operation Constipation, this likable and enthusiastic Australian-surfer protagonist will entertain readers. Lockie, now 13, breaks his personal surfer code of ethics by developing a friendship with Geoff (aka Egg), a bogan, or metal head. Egg defends his appreciation of heavy metal music, suggesting that it is more voidage than drasticality which means that it is more about getting numb than it is about suicide. They embark on an ecological crusade to expose the corruption and industrial irresponsibility that are destroying the quality of the water and of life in their harbor town. Lockie also falls instantly and hilariously in love with Dot, an Elle McPherson look-alike surfer. In quick succession, she blows him out of the water with her technique; obliterates his self-respect when he finds out shes only 11-years-old; and, after a mind-blowing but chaste first kiss, dumps him. Vicki Streeton, Lockies love interest from the first book also makes a couple of strategic appearances. Short chapters and physical humor should appeal to reluctant but capable readers. Diverse adult characters add interest. Like Phyllis Reynolds Naylors Alice, Lockie has legs that can carry Winton through as many future episodes as he cares to detail. Heres hoping there will be plenty more.Joel Shoemaker, Southeast Jr. High School, Iowa City, IA Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

In this sequel to Lockie Leonard, Human Torpedo (1992), Winton continues to chronicle the tempestuous life of 13-year-old Lockie, Australian surfer kid and lover. Lockie keeps falling in love, this time with a girl who's a better surfer than he is, and who, to his embarrassment, is 11. He is responsible when his unlikely new best friend and minister's son, Egg, gets into metal music and all-black clothing. The ostensible plot involves Lockie and Egg's attempts to prod their indifferent town into cleaning up the nauseating pollution in their harbor. That easily won environmental battle is the only part of the book that doesn't work, but Winton's quirky characterizations fuel the real thrust of the book: laugh-out-loud scenes as Lockie struggles with being 13. Winton knows surfing, understands adolescence, and exhibits great comic pacing; he's a flat-out good writer, and this is a flat-out funny book. (Fiction. 8-13)