Australia

Materials from Australia

Little Devils

Robert J. Blake shines a light on a little-known animal.Burnie, Winnie and Big Stanley are three Tasmanian devil pups growing up in the wild. Along with their mother, they make one happy family. Since the pups are still so small, Mum does all the hunting. But one night, Mum doesnt come home and the pups are getting hungry . . . and worried. They need food, but more importantly, they need Mum. Big Stanley is the first to leave the den. Then Burnie. And finally Winnie. Together they set out with one goal in mind: find Mum.

I Am Thomas

The author of “Mahtab’s Story” and the author of “The Island “team up to bring young readers another powerful social justice-related work–an inspiring, thought-provoking picture book about finding one’s way in the world “”You must do as you’re told.”””” “”Let the army make you a man.”””” “”Your country needs your vote.”” As the voices in his life crowd in on him, Thomas looks for another way, refusing to conform to the expectations and demands of family and community. A loner, Thomas refuses to feel lonely, an inspiring choice in this masterful tale of questioning authority and resisting oppression. Powerful illustrations and a spare text make a parable of Thomas’s journey, which reflects the courage we all need to find our passion and be ourselves.

See the review at WOW Review, Volume 4, Issue 2

The Project

It begins with a book, the most boring book in the world, a book so boring no one could ever read it—the perfect place to hide a dangerous secret.

When best friends Luke and Tommy volunteer to help move books from their library’s basement to higher ground during a quick rising flood, they discover the only surviving copy of the most boring book in the world: Leonardo’s River, lost for over 100 years. The book is connected to Leonardo da Vinci and is worth millions, so they return that night to steal it. After they steal it from the library, dark forces are soon on their tail. Luke and Tommy must unlock the mystery first, but with their pursuers closing in, the clock is ticking down to the final hour.

Brotherband Chronicles: The Outcasts

They are outcasts. Hal, Stig, and the others – they are the boys the others want no part of. Skandians, as any reader of Ranger’s Apprentice could tell you, are known for their size and strength. Not these boys. Yet that doesn’t mean they don’t have skills. And courage – which they will need every ounce of to do battle at sea against the other bands, the Wolves and the Sharks, in the ultimate race. The icy waters make for a treacherous playing field especially when not everyone thinks of it as playing.

City of Lies

Goldie Roth is a trained thief and a skilled liar. Along with her friend Toadspit, she’s supposed to be one of the Keepers of the mysterious Museum of Dunt. But although she desperately wants to be a Keeper, she will not leave her sick parents to do so. But when Toadspit’s sister Bonnie is stolen, he and Goldie are forced to follow the child-stealers to the neighboring City of Spoke. Along the way, Toadspit too is captured, and Goldie is caught up in the Festival of Lies, where every word she says means something else and no one can be trusted. There, Goldie discovers some dangerous secrets-secrets that the child-stealers will kill to protect. She will need all her skills as a thief and a liar if she is to survive and save her friends.

Flyaway

If they saved the swan together, could she then save her friend?In a heartbeat, in a wingbeat, it happens. Isla’s father falls. They’re racing across the fields, following the swans flying in to winter at the lake like they do every year, when something goes wrong. And before she can even catch her breath, they’re in the back of an ambulance, she’s holding his hand.At the hospital, upset and scared, Isla meets Harry. Unlike the boys at school, he doesn’t laugh when she tells him about her love of birds. He listens. But what is he doing there?As Isla struggles with her father’s frailty and the new feelings she has for Harry, she’s determined to help the only way she knows how. Outside the hospital windows, Isla watches a lone whooper swan struggling to fly. If only she could save the lost bird, would that somehow heal her dad, and cure Harry, and make everything good again?

Empire of Ruins

While on an assignment in Queensland, Australia, to discover the truth behind a powerful weapon known as the God Face, Modo, a teenaged, shape-changing hunchback living in Victorian London, battles the evil machinations of the Clockwork Guild and makes an astounding discovery–one that hinges on Modo’s true appearance.