Steel Pelicans
Des Hunt
HarperCollins
Pub. 2012

February 1, 2022

Steel Pelicans by Des Hunt is a thrilling book about three high school boys, Dean, Afi, and Pete (Pelly for short).

This book is written from Pelly’s view. The story begins in Australia, in an isolated area with a tunnel. Dean and Pelly are trying to add others into their group, the Steel Pelicans while testing out a new explosion. The group finds the tunnel and a disgusting dead rat to blow up, but something happens and Pelly almost gets blown up with it!

Pete is a shy boy who was born in New Zealand but moved to Australia almost instantly. His best friend is Dean but Pelly is really like a sidekick. After the bomb stunt with the rat, his parents ship him back to New Zealand where he goes to a posh school and meets Afi.

Dean is a fierce leader of the Steel Pelicans and loves a challenge to prove he’s right. Dean is determined, stubborn, and doesn’t like to be told what to do. He always likes to have the last say and doesn’t like to lose against anyone. He and Pelly like to make fireworks and bombs while in Australia, the only problem… it’s illegal, but that doesn’t stop him.

Afi meets Pete at Franklin High, a school in New Zealand. Afi is a big kid and very smart; he is pretty shy in class but can get very competitive with friends.

This group faces a lot of challenges like friendship trouble and jealousy, the big move to NZ, a school that doesn’t like Australians, a smuggling operation, where they meet a whole family of not so friendly people, and a few failed plans to exploit it. They face it all with courage and determination. But will they prevail?

I enjoyed how Steel Pelicans is written really clearly and it made it super easy for me to visualise the scenes. The storyline is equally easy to follow and it leads you to a great life with three high school boys and their awesome group, Steel Pelicans. In the beginning, you are captured with an amazing explosion and humour.

If Des Hunt’s aim was to create a thrilling story of mischief and friends then he achieved it. The book showed many different people, some smart, some tough but overall this book is amazing.

Finally, I’d like to recommend this book to young readers though I know some older kids will enjoy it as well but really to anyone who wants to join the Steel Pelicans.

• Sana Sharma is 12 and lives in Hamilton.