Junior fiction and New Historical Fiction - especially for girls

These new Junior Fiction Reads will be loved by kids and really can't be missed.

Bungawitta Emily Rodda & Craig Smith (Scholastic)

Bungawitta is the latest creation by Emily Rodda of Deltora Quest fame and this title is another great one.

The town of Bungawitta has been hit severely by the drought. The residents have left in droves so that it was "like Noah's Ark in reverse" ... until there were only 12 people left in town. The folks would gathered every morning at the general store to drink tea and to watch the morning news. One morning they decided that enough was enough, even if the rains came tomorrow they still needed money to help keep Bungawitta alive. And a festival would attract city tourists with money to spend. But can such a small band of enthusiast pout on a festival?

Our Australian Girl Series.

This is a fantastic new series. The books are un-put-downable. They are history, wonderfully written, about girls and the development of early Australia. Each of the four titles Meet Poppy, Meet Grace, Meet Letty, Meet Rose, are the first books and each character has four titles in the series telling their stories. Each title also has as sample chapter from the next title and a few pages of facts about the period of time that each character is in. Must reads that will make history real!

Our Australian Girl: Meet Poppy Gabrielle Wang (Penguin)

It is 1864 when we meet Poppy. She is a young Chinese Aboriginal girl, who lives on a Christian mission with her brother Augustus and other children. When she discovers a letter about her brother's removal to a new home in a room she was dusting in the Mission Office she immediately warns Augustus who flees that night. But poppy is also to be moved, so using the secret Her brother told her about a secret passage behind sacks in the Darkling Room Poppy to flee ... in search of her brother of freedom and a better life and the gold that will save them.

Our Australian Girl: Meet Grace Sofie Laguna
It's 1808 when we meet Grace who soon becomes a convict girl. She is living with her uncle in London. Her Uncle sends her daily to scour for anything that he can sell for money. She is barely fed and lonely. But Grace loves talking to the Fleet Street horses and so when one day, when she has hunger pangs after her uncle has drunk all the money from her latest find she takes an apple and then more from a grocer's cart fleeing on the back of horse. She is pursued and in a hopeless escape she is caught. What will happen to her? Will she be sent to prison and hanged ... or worse.

Other titles:
Meet Letty (1841) and Meet Rose (1900)
see the terrific website (http://ouraustraliangirl.com.au/) for lots more information and fun!

Classic Australian Picture Books

It is thrilling to see these new classic paperback editions out once again. These are titles that every Australian child should read and enjoy!

Waltzing Matilda Andrew Barton 'Banjo' Paterson & Desmond Digby (Angus&Robertson)
Waltzing Matilda is AB Paterson's classic poem about a swagman who steals a sheep, stuffing it into his 'tucker-bag', the squatter who raises the alarm and the police who chase the swagman. The swaggie, rather than be caught by the police, jumps into the billabong to escape - forever.
Beautiful illustrations accompany the verse.

The Man from Snowy River Andrew Barton 'Banjo' Paterson & Annette MacArthur-Onslow (Angus&Robertson)
Possibly our most famous poem by one of our most famous bush poets, a poem that has been made into a movie and TV series, and that forms Australia's early independent colonial identity.
It is the tale of valuable colt that escapes and is chased by many busies until a steep slope confronts the bushies, all of whom will no longer chase the colt, all except one who rides the slopes, captures the horse and collects the reward.

Also look out for:
Advance Australian Fair Peter Dodds McCormick (Angus&Robertson) which is delightfully illustrated by some of Australia’s greatest artists.
Click go the Shears illustrated by Robdert Ingpen

Beautiful Australian Classics.

Junior Fiction adventure

Terrific new Junior Fiction that are fun reads.

Hiro’s Quest #3 Shadow Stealers Tracey West & Craig Phillips (Scholastic)
This is the third title in the fast paced action packed adventure books that belong to the Hiro's Quest series which should be appealing to younger readers. There are comic style illustrations in every chapter that include text from story.
In this adventure Hiro has to find a cure for the mysterious illness that has inflicted his family. When Mr Sato who had trained Hiro and his friends to become Ninja since they were young can find no cure but suggests that the answer might lie with the Monks of the Dusk who reside in an ancient temple Hiro and his friends set off on a treacherous journey that involves shape-stealing cats and their evil controlling monk.

The Fixers #3 Curse of The Vampire Sean Williams & Nial O'Connor (Scholastic)
This is the third title in a fun junior fantasy series with highly appealing comic book style illustrations.
Ollie's is lost in a strange world for his world is just one of many. This time he lands in a world at the foot of a large ruin and it is raining. Ollie dives for shelter under a tree only to be confronted with another who has been thrown out of his village, another who has teeth as sharp as needles. When Ollie is caught in a net and Xander approaches, is he trying to free Ollie or do something much worse. And what of the villagers? Why have they thrown out Xander and can Ollie find his way home. Fast-paced and fun!
also look out for The Fixers #4 Invasion of The Freaks

The Goannas of No. 1 Martin Place Vicki Steggall (ABC Books)
This hardback book is set in Sydney at number one Martin Place, the site of the old General post Office, which many Sydney-siders will recognise.
Moreton is a goanna he and his parents are the last remaining goannas in the Sydney's Botanic Gardens. They are forced to leave their beautiful home in , when the humans decide to place a seat right at the place where the goannas like to lie, they decide they need to move somewhere that's high above the ground, away from all the humans. that place is the sun-filled room at the top of the clock tower at No. 1 Martin Place.
But nearby dwells the Pitt street cat who rules Martin Place and who has no intention of permitting the goannas residence. It is up to the goanna family and some very unlikely feathered and furred friends and a small human, to sort out the cat!