The Summer of Kicks

Starrphyre is your average sensitive-meets-dorky 16-year-old, with a tragic hippy name thanks to his parents – a live-to-air radio sex therapist mum and a bass player dad from a one-hit-wonder 80s metal band.

All Starrphyre wants is one date with his dream girl, Candace McAllister. Or at least a meaningful conversation. But how can he get her to notice him when she's the leading lady of every other high-school guys' fantasies?

For Starrphyre, starting a band seems like the natural solution, but when your bandmates have the combined musical ability of a gang of armless monkeys, you really need a backup plan.

For a long time, Dave Hackett had a yearning to write romance from a teenage guy's point-of-view. -Growing up, my dad worked night shift, so during the week I was the only guy in a house full of girls, and I wanted to tell a story from that perspective. Being surrounded by my older sisters and their friends definitely had its advantages. Like teaching me how to be a good boyfriend. This information was gold, and at times it felt like all the guys my age were fumbling about trying to assemble some curious flat pack monstrosity, and I was the only one with the instructions. Funnily enough, I still didn't have a girlfriend or any idea of how to go about finding one,' he says.

Dave found writing The Summer of Kicks a fabulous gift because he became reacquainted with his teenage-self. -In this fictional world I had the luxury of maybe getting sixteen right. But for Starrphyre there's no do over. No revisit. This is his first and only crack at it.'

With a high-speed school musical, an internet scandal, an abusive meatheaded roommate and a pair of shoes that cause more trouble than they're worth ... could this be Starrphyre Jones' perfect summer?

The Summer of Kicks is a hilarious, heartfelt and vivacious novel; one that promises to take teenagers on a glorious adventure through uncharted waters.

Dave Hackett is currently seen each week on Channel Eleven's Toasted TV and Channel Seven's It's Academic. Dave's many other television appearances include Saturday Disney, ABC's Creature Features, Totally Wild, Good Morning Australia, a shark-infested TEXTA TV commercial, and dozens of appearances as Live Cartoonist on Network Ten's cheeZ tv.

Dave has presented to over 150,000 children in schools and libraries, and his vibrant personality ensures that he's always a popular speaker at numerous teacher/librarian conferences and literature festivals across the country.

Dave has written six instructional cartooning books and is also the creator of the UFO – Unavoidable Family Outing novel series (all 3 books included in the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge); Sumo Granny Smackdown; Norman Enormous; and Hamilton's Handstand; and recently co-created The Bum Book.

The Summer of Kicks
UQP
Author: Dave Hackett
ISBN: 9780702253362
RRP: $19.95