Onion Tears by
This is the story of young Nam-Huong who escaped from Vietnam but lost her grandfather on the long terrible voyage to Australia. She has many reasons to cry but finds it hard to release her pent-up grief as she struggles to understand a different culture. This simple tale of refugees and the trauma they face is a valuable text for classroom discussion.
The Blitz by
Edie and her little brother, Tom, are evacuated to rural Wales during the Blitz on London. Many parents sent their children to live in a safer place when German bombs rained down on the major cities of England during World War II. For Edie and Tom it is not a happy solution. Edie struggles to mother and protect Tom in harsh countryside with an austere family and an unfriendly school community.
Into that forest by
From one of Australia's foremost literary talents, this is an unforgettable and heartbreaking story about two young girls living in the wild with Tasmanian Tigers. Me name be Hannah O'Brien and I be seventy-six years old. Me first thing is an apology - me language is bad cos I lost it and had to learn it again. But here's me story and I be glad to tell it before I hop the twig. So begins this extraordinary novel, which will transport you to Australia's wild frontier and stay in your mind long after you've finished reading.
Through my eyes: Zafir by
Zafir has a comfortable life in Homs, Syria, until his father, a doctor, is arrested for helping a protester who was campaigning for revolution. While his mother heads to Damascus to try to find out where his father is being held, Zafir stays with his grandmother - until her house is bombed. With his father in prison, his mother absent, his grandmother ill and not a friend left in the city, Zafir must stay with his Uncle Ghazi. But that too becomes dangerous as the city becomes more and more besieged. Will Zafir survive long enough to be reunited with his parents?
When the lyrebird calls by
When Madeleine is shipped off to stay with her eccentric grandmother for the holidays, she expects the usual: politics, early-morning yoga, extreme health food, and lots of hard work. Instead, Madeleine tumbles back in time to 1900, where the wealthy Williamson family takes her into their home, Lyrebird Muse. At a time when young girls have no power and no voice, set against a backdrop of the struggles for emancipation, federation and Aboriginal rights, Madeleine must find a way to fit in with the Williamson family's four sisters - beautiful, cold Bea; clever, awkward Gert; adventurous, rebellious Charlie; and darling baby Imo - as she searches desperately for a way home. Meanwhile, the Williamson girls' enchanting German cousin, Elfriede, arrives on the scene on a heavenly wave of smoke and cinnamon, and threatens to shatter everything.
The Girl Who Came Home: a novel of the Titanic by
Ireland, 1912, fourteen members of a small village set sail on RMS Titanic, hoping to find a better life in America. For seventeen-year-old Maggie Murphy, the journey is bittersweet. Though her future lies in an unknown new place, her heart remains in Ireland with Seamus, the sweetheart she left behind. When disaster strikes, Maggie is one of the few passengers in steerage to survive. Waking up alone in a New York hospital, she vows never to speak of the terror and panic of that fateful night again. Chicago, 1982, Adrift after the death of her father, Grace Butler struggles to decide what comes next. When her great-grandmother Maggie shares the painful secret about Titanic that she's harboured for almost a lifetime, the revelation gives Grace new direction, and leads both her and Maggie to unexpected reunions with those they thought lost long ago.
Act of Faith by
In 1960 England, Isabella is forced to flee her home when her father's strong opinions lead to take a stand against the army. She takes refuge in Amsterdam with an elderly printer, who is brave enough to print topics which stir religious intolerance. This results in a dangerous journey to help him escape certain death for his books.
At the sign of the sugared plum by
It is 1665 and Hannah has come from the country to assist her sister in sweet making at the Sugared Plum sweet shop. The plague has also come to London so Hannah's life is now full of dangers as well as the sights and sounds of the crowded city.
India Dark by
A strong and vivid novel based on the fascinating true story of a group of young Australian performers - children aged from seven to seventeen - who toured Asia and India early in the twentieth century before mounting a strike against their manager and precipitating a sensational court case. 'Daisy opened her mouth and lies flew out. Her face so pink and white, her lips so plump and sweet, her lies so vile. I had to cover my ears. I shut my eyes, wanting to block out the courtroom, to neither see nor hear the evil: but Tilly grabbed my arm and twisted the skin on my wrist in a Chinese burn. 'Poesy Swift,' she whispered, her breath hot against my neck, 'open your eyes, and take that look off your face. We will never get home if you ruin everything.' Madras 1910: a troupe of child performers are stranded, having staged a strike against their manager. Their fate now depends on the outcome of a court case, and an alliance with gentlemen of the British Raj. Based on a true story, INDIA DARK recreates shifting friendships and loyalties and the clash of innocence versus experience against the backdrop of India's seductive mysteries.
The Time-Traveling Fashionista and Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile by
Walk, talk, and dress like an Egyptian. When Louise Lambert tries on a lavender Grecian gown during a visit to the mysterious Traveling Fashionista Vintage Sale, she feels a familiar tug and falls back in time, arriving at the dusty base of an enormous pyramid. She has landed in ancient Egypt...or has she? It turns out that Louise is on the legendary Old Hollywood film set of Cleopatra , but her time there is short-lived. Rummaging through the wardrobe tent, Louise gets her hands on a pearl necklace that dates back to 51 BC, and she suddenly finds herself whisked away once more, this time to the ancient city of Alexandria, Egypt. Gold and jewels shimmer in the Egyptian sunlight, but poisonous snakes and dangerous enemies also roam the palace halls. Louise quickly learns that life as a handmaiden to Queen Cleopatra is much more treacherous--and fashionable--than she ever could have imagined.
Chinese Cinderella: the mystery of the Song Dynasty painting by
Following a fall at the river town of Feng Jie, Chinese Cinderella is taken to hospital. There she sees a copy of an ancient painting, Along the River at Qing Ming. As she lapses in and out of consciousness, she is haunted by vivid dreams that seem strange, yet somehow familiar. A tale emerges, of friendship, wealth and poverty, eunuchs and an Emperor who loved art, as Chinese Cinderella recalls a life lived eight hundred years ago during the Song Dynasty.
Pagan's Crusade by
In the first adventure of the ‘Pagan Chronicles’, sixteen-year-old Pagan is assigned to work for Lord Roland de Bram, a Templar knight, in medieval Jerusalem. Set against a background of mounting tension as the Infidel army closes in on the city, Pagan’s Crusade traces the growing friendship between the knight and his orphaned squire.
Pagan's Daughter by
The fifth book in the Pagan Chronicles. At 16, Babylonne is desperate. She's been starved and beaten, she's endured six bloody sieges, and now her aunt wants her to marry a crazy old man who thinks he's a giant olive.