Maintain the Mischief (The Selwood Boys, #4)

By Tony Wilson, Adam Selwood, Troy Selwood and 2 more

Four future AFL stars under one roof!?

Go back to where it all began with The Selwood Boys ...

In the Selwood house, someone's always up to no good!

One minute it's the twins, Troy and Adam, pulling pranks and making mischief ...

Next second it's Joel and his sneaky, cheeky antics.

And little Scott just does his best (or make that his worst!) to keep up with the others.

With four boys under one roof, there's madness and mayhem every day -- and footy of course!

A prank-filled visit to the Selwoods' country cousins lands the boys in trouble with Mum ... But will the boys maintain the mischief? And who will save the day on the footy field?

PRAISE FOR THE SELWOOD BOYS: BATTLE ROYALE
'the perfect suggestion for readers of Specky Magee ... a fantastic tale for all young readers, aged seven and up, with a love for the game.' Books+Publishing, Four stars

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Australia
• Release date: Jun 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781460707142

Tony Wilson

Tony Wilson is a much-loved Australian children's book author and one-time Hawthorn draftee. His books include Harry Highpants, The Princess and the Packet of Frozen Peas, Stuff Happens: Jack, Emo the Emu and The Cow Tripped Over the Moon, which was an Honour Book in the 2016 Children's Book Council of Australia Awards. Tony lives in Melbourne.  

Book preview

Hi! We’re the Selwood Boys!

We can’t wait for you to read the latest book in our series, written by bestselling kids’ author Tony Wilson.

These books are all about our childhood, growing up in Bendigo, Victoria. With four footy-mad boys in one house, you can probably imagine the things we used to get up to!

In these stories, Tony has taken inspiration from all the funny things that happened to us as kids, and then he’s added even more!

We’ve loved making these books with Tony and we hope you love reading them.

Troy, Adam, Joel and Scott

THE SELWOOD BOYS

COLLECT THEM ALL!

OUT NOW!

Book 1 – Battle Royale

Book 2 – The Miracle Goal

Book 3 – Hit the Road

Book 4 – Maintain the Mischief

DEDICATION

For Mum and Dad

— Troy, Adam, Joel and Scott

To thirteen cousins under thirteen:

Paddy, Polly, Ned, Barney, Georgie, Susie,

Greta, Harry, Jack, Max, Abby, Joe and Alice

— Tony Wilson

CONTENTS

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

About the Selwoods

About the Author

Copyright

APRIL 1998

‘Okay, your turn, Joel. Truth or dare?’ The Selwoods’ older cousin Justin stared at Joel.

‘Truth,’ Joel said.

The Selwood boys and their cousins groaned. ‘Oh come on, Joel, you always choose truth!’

Joel shrugged. He did always choose truth, but only because the older boys’ dares had become so terrifying. Last time they’d visited their cousins’ farm in Raywood, Joel had picked dare, and going down a shearing chute grappling a sheep had given him splinters in his bum.

‘Okay, if it means for sure Geelong wins the premiership this year, would you …’ Justin gazed around the woolshed, searching for something disgusting. He fixed on a wooden pen containing two merino sheep still waiting to be sheared.

‘Would you … kiss a sheep on the mouth?’

Adam and Troy whooped with laughter and slapped Justin on the back. Justin was sixteen and already tall like a grown-up. He was quiet but funny, and able to make or fix anything around the farm. The four brothers looked up to him in every way.

Joel shrugged, wanting to play it cool. ‘Yeah, of course I would.’

‘Yuck,’ said Scott.

‘Gross!’ squealed their cousin Monique, who was nearly fourteen, just like the twins. Cousin Sophie giggled too. She was nine, the same age as Joel, and played footy as well as any of the boys in her grade. She screwed up her nose. ‘Ewwww!’

Joel kept playing it straight. ‘Yeah, I reckon I’d rather kiss a ewe, Soph, but if it meant a Cats flag, I’d even risk the horns and pucker up for a ram.’

Justin laughed hard at this, which made Joel happy. The twins and Scott joined in, too.

‘Okay, go kiss a sheep, then,’ Troy said. ‘I dare you. There are two pretty ones over there.’

‘My turn’s over,’ said Joel. ‘I chose truth.’

‘Well, the Cats might not win the premiership, then!’ Adam said. ‘And it’ll be your fault.’

‘What, for not kissing a sheep?’ Joel replied.

Adam tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, as if to say, It’ll be on your head.

Joel really would do almost anything for a Cats flag. It was his number-two daydream — Cats captain Barry Stoneham stepping up to receive the premiership cup. Joel closed his eyes and imagined it for about the millionth time. His number-one daydream was that one day he’d be a part of a Cats premiership.

Joel actually would kiss a sheep if it meant that would come true.

It was Monique’s turn next and she chose dare.

‘Dare you to cut off a bit of your hair with the shears,’ said Adam.

Monique didn’t even blink. She was born and bred on a working farm and had loads of courage. She had shoulder-length dark hair, and ten seconds after the dare, she had one lock less.

Everyone cheered.

Scott chose dare, too. ‘Cover yourself completely with that big fleece over there,’ said Justin.

A freshly shorn, untreated, brown-white fleece was draped over the wool table. Flies buzzed around it.

Joel could see Scott was nervous as he got close to it, but knew his little brother would eventually do it. Scott was like that — always proving himself against the big kids, never wanting to be left behind. He shooed the flies and used all his eight-year-old might to lift the fleece. Then he slipped under it until he was totally covered by a very smelly, very hot sheep doona. The flies resettled on it.

‘Yaaay!’ they all roared. ‘Go, Scooter!’

The twins chose truth, and both got the same question. Who was their crush?

‘Haven’t got one,’ said Troy.

‘Me neither,’ said Adam.

Joel didn’t think either of them was being very truthful. Last week, Adam had blushed bright red when Joel had caught him buying a can of soft drink for Laura Arthur at the Harley Street milk bar. And Troy was having really long ‘homework conversations’ on the phone with some mystery study mate. On Wednesday, Joel had