The Day the Bridge Fell (Rhiza Shorts) - Softcover

Vass, Coral

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1761112791 ISBN 13: 9781761112799

Verlag: Rhiza Edge, 2025

Inhaltsangabe

Ray Johnston and his best friend Tom, nearing the end of their first year in high school in Melbourne's 

vibrant inner-western suburbs, develop a fascination with Melbourne's new West Gate Bridge. After 

school, they regularly go to the bustling construction site to talk to the workers and collect mementos 

from the debris. 

To Ray and the community, the bridge symbolizes more than a mere transportation link from the 

western suburbs to Melbourne's central business district. It represents progress, superiority, and power, filling Ray with immense pride as his father, Doug Johnston, serves as the lead rigger, and his neighbor, George 

Demetriou, works as an ironworker.  

One fateful day, Ray stumbles upon a conversation between a bridge engineer and a foreman. They 

express serious concern about a buckle in the bridge and discuss plans to loosen the bridge’s bolts the 

following day. 

Tormented by this secret, Ray confides in Tom and ultimately decides to share his fears with his 

father. But his father tells him to keep quiet about it. Although Ray fears for his father’s and George’s 

safety, he agrees.  

The next day, shortly before noon, Ray is in his class at school when he hears piercing sirens wailing. 

He sprints toward the bridge, only to find a scene of utter devastation and chaos. Driven by 

desperation, he joins the courageous team of workers, relentlessly searching for his father amidst the 

wreckage—fighting against time to save lives.  

Hours pass like an eternity as Ray, with his torn and dirt-streaked shirt, abandons his identity as a 

schoolboy. And then, a glimmer of hope—the unimaginable happens—Ray finds his father alive and 

well. 

As months pass, Ray is haunted by the bridge as it hooks his fragmented heart, and he refuses to pass 

it on his way to Tom’s house. Although he feels somewhat older since the accident, it’s not until Ray 

learns the biggest lesson of all—to forgive himself—that he is finally free.  

And just like the weathered, stressed and damaged pieces of glass he loves to collect, Ray begins to 

notice they too can be reshaped and strengthened into something new, ultimately reflecting a new 

perspective and a new way of looking at the world.   

On the cusp of adulthood, the two young friends face their own individual rites of passage as they 

wrestle with tragedy, justice, and a loss of innocence, which will not only define them but change 

their lives forever. 

 

Reading age of 12+, Interest age 14+ Rhiza Shorts are teen novellas for reluctant readers. 

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Coral Vass is an award-winning Australian children’s author. She has always loved telling stories and has been writing books for fifteen years. With numerous best-sellers, Coral’s awards include the 2018 Speech Pathology Awards for Best Book for Language and Literacy Development—Indigenous Children, the 2019 CBCA Book of the Year Eve Pownall Award and the 2021 Caleb Picture Book of the Year Award. She has also been shortlisted for the REAL Awards, voted by the children of Australia. Coral’s books have appeared on StoryBox Library and ABC’s Playschool. She is an ambassador for Reading Out of Poverty and is passionate about giving all children an equal opportunity to read.  

Von der hinteren Coverseite

Ray Johnston overhears a conversation about a fault in the new West Gate Bridge and a plan to loosen

its bolts. He confides in his father, who works on the site, but is told to keep quiet about it.

Ray is devastated when he hears sirens coming from the worksite. He runs there only to see that the

bridge has collapsed, taking several workers with it. 

Is his father one of them? Will Ray find his dad or is it already too late?

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Rhiza Edge
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2025
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1761112791
• ISBN 13: 9781761112799
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 128
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar