Boomer coming-of-age novels. I shouldn't laugh.

This was sort of an Australian "Swallows and Amazons" with a bit of defiance about the outdoorsy tough lifestyle, some vaccilating between extreme sexism and tentative feminism and some casual racism thrown in. It's the sort of book where a long-dead mystery is conveniently solved when they accidentally meet a 4th-gen decendant of the character they are investigating who happens to have the character's diary in his pocket. The annoyingly toxic boy supposedly has learned a lesson but conveniently escapes having to apologise and the possum injured in the mini-bushfire he started decides to become tame.

Look it's no stupider than Trixie Belden and if I stumbled upon it when I was eight I would have loved, treasured and often reread it. But LOL