Nips XI
Author: Ruth Starke
Format: 224 pp book
ISBN: 0734401132 SCIS No: 1017676
Publisher: Lothian Books 2000
Audience: Student resource
Price: $15.99
If white boys can't jump, can Asian kids play cricket? Lan's fed up with being called a nip. He wants to be a true-blue Aussie. What better way than by playing the greatest Anglo game of all? Lan gathers a team together and defiantly gives it a name: Nips XI. Now all they have to do is get some equipment, find a coach, get themselves a sponsor and learn the rules of the game. Then it`s time to challenge the best cricket team in the district.
A funny, empowering story of cricket and curry, spinners and leggies, Nips XI is about overcoming cultural barriers, in sport and in life.
Nips XI Ruth Starke Pack of four copies, or available as part of the Reading Enriches Learning - Identity collection of 4 titles
A novel offering a reflection on cultural and social integration in a charming story addressing identity.
Bowled over by multiculture
ADELAIDE author Ruth Starke takes a refreshing look at multiculturalism in her latest book, NIPS XI.
North Illaba Primary School’s dozy principal is setting in train the hackneyed Multicultural Week with its “ethnic” food and dancing. Mr Drummond delights in celebrating ethnic diversity, but the ethnically diverse, like Lan Nguyen, are tired of having their differences emphasised and want to celebrate their Australian identity.
Solid research, a bit of luck and the kindness of a few strangers – none of if beyond the bounds of credibility – results in NIPS XI, a beginner cricket team made up of wogs, nips and Pakis, and an audacious challenge to the local ultra-Anglo boys college with its history of a century of cricketing success.
The outcome is predictable, but not – thanks as much to their mothers’ cooking and the wiles of their resurrected ex-Australian XI coach as to the team’s commitment and energy – a foregone conclusion. Starke has assembled a memorable cast of characters, child and adult; her book is well shaped and fluently written, and if she teeters on the edge of the saccharine with her climactic play-up-and-play-the-game morality (and there’s been a bit of a rash of state school heroes outdoing the devious private-school types in the sportsmanship stakes lately,) she manages not to fall right in. She also does a very nice line in deadpan skip humor, but that may well appeal more to adults than to the designated age group.
At any rate, adults should read this novel, especially those in the multiculture and English as second language business.
Reviewed by: KATHARINE ENGLAND
* Reproduced with Permission.
Bookophile Newsletter
Another book about interracial relationships in Australia is Ruth Starke’s NIPS XI (Lothian Books 224pp pb ISBN 0 7344 0223 2), a witty, good natured sports novel with a family and school setting that acknowledges the complexities of ethnic diversity in Australia.
Lan groans when his school principal announces plans for the annual Multicultural Day. He hates it because it makes him feel different and he is no good at traditional Vietnamese dances in any case! When he is trapped into coming up with an alternative Lan decides to create a school cricket team which, in a clever, ironical twist, he calls ‘the Nips’ as it consists mostly of Asians together with a boy from El Salvador and one Italian. Lan is dogged in pursuit of his aim and his good-heartedness attracts help, the most useful form an old man, Spinner McGinty, who had played for Australia.
When the NIPS do get to play they show newcomers all, the true spirit of sportsmanship.
This is very much about people – ‘anglos’ and ‘ethnics’ - changing their views and thereby creating a situation where everyone wins through new experiences and friendships.
* Reproduced with Permission.
