Book review - Children Of The Rush Series - By James Russell.

Book Review – Children of the Rush series, by James Russell.

$22.00 excluding postage, also available as an audio book for $8.00

Purchase here - https://dragonbrothersbooks.com/

The Children of the Rush Trilogy by kiwi author James Russell is set in Gabriels Gully in 1861 (and later in Hokitika in book 3) and features three brave, gritty and captivating characters in Michael, Atarangi and later Siu who we meet in book 2 and 3. Woven into this series is cultural diversity, history and use of te reo māori, and Russell does an amazing job helping the reader to imagine the hardships of the goldfields and both the desperation and elation of the time.

Michael, Atarangi and Sui are firm friends, each with special talents. They face danger, greed and evil – but do they prevail? You’ll have to read to find out!

Reading this book and thinking of the character traits reminded me of this quote by Bob Marley, “You don’t know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have”

This series has been published in a dyslexia friendly format, with off white pages, sans serif font and large line spacing. Each book is also available as an audio book. I would recommend it for year 5 and older. My son is year 8 and he loved the books, as did I, I couldn’t put them down.

It would make a great gripping series for a teacher to read aloud to their class or listen to. Each book has interesting supporting information in the back, fascinating facts and fun activities.

I highly recommend hiding away and devouring this series!

Philippa Christie

March 2025