Publisher's synopsis

Together Five Times Dizzy and Dancing in the Anzac Deli tell the tale of Mareka and the Wilson kids, who live in an ordinary inner-city neighborhood but find themselves caught up in a haunted house and the mysterious Munga, it sometimes seems as if Smith Street is the most exciting place in Australia.

Awards

  • Winner 1983 New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards Special Children’s Book Award
  • Highly Commended 1983 CBCA Children’s Book of the Year: Older Readers
  • Honorary Diploma 1983 International Board on Books for Young People
  • Winner 1987 AWGIE Awards for Best Adaptation, Children’s Television Drama (Five Times Dizzy television mini–series)
  • Honorary Diploma 1985 International Board on Books for Young People

Historical context when the title was published

Five Times Dizzy was first published in 1982, and would have been considered a contemporary novel at that time: drawing on the inner-city life of a recently migrated family from Greece. It was possibly one of the first children’s books that dealt with multiculturalism. Today this title can be explored in a historical context, as well as a cultural context, with young readers.