"Did you ever try to do what you thought was the right thing, but ended up getting into big trouble? I did. It was on the night of the riot."

‘Snow’ Goodison works in Wanganui as an errand boy for German pork butcher, Mr Schmidt. In May 1915, the passenger liner Lusitania is sunk off the coast of Ireland by a German submarine. Shocked by this horror, a group of Wanganui citizens lead a patriotic march to Mr Schmidt’s shop. It is attacked and looted. Snow was seen outside the shop during the trouble and is accused of being involved in the riot. Would he do such a thing?

Based on an actual event, NIGHT OF THE RIOT is the riveting junior fiction story of a 14-year old boy learning about his place in the world and standing up for what he thinks is right.

Review from NZ Book Council 'The School Library' e-news:

'This delightful novel follows James ‘Snow’ Goodison from his childhood on a farm to his defining coming of age moment in the Wanganui anti-German riots of 1915. Snow becomes a shop assistant for a German butcher, and this relationship allows him to grow as a person. He learns some hard truths about the world when the shop is looted by rioters caught up in patriotic madness.

The text scatters a range of carefully selected details to breathe life and context to the story, such as a tour by the Australian Rugby team and the introduction of the first Ford Model T cars to the town. These details will immerse the younger reader without suffocating them. This is a novel with a historical setting, rather than a historical novel, and the characters remain central.

The earnest, upbeat tone of the text will hook young readers in. Reluctant readers will really enjoy reading this as the pages and chapters fly by in a whimsical blur. I have no doubt that anybody reading the opening will go on to read the entire text.'

Reviewer: Ian Stewart

Position: HOD English, St Peter’s College, Palmerston North

Author Matt Elliott has written more than a dozen books for readers of all ages. His best-selling collaboration with illustrator Chris Slane - 'Nice Day for a War: adventures of a Kiwi soldier in WWI' – was the 2012 NZ Post Children’s Book Awards Book of the Year, winner of the LIANZA Elsie Locke Medal and a Storylines Notable Book. Two educational stories - Grandad’s Hat and When Grandma Came to Stay - were written for the charity Alzheimer’s Research UK and produced as audiobooks read by BBC radio personality Edith Bowman. He lives on Auckland’s North Shore with his wife and young son.