Materials from Australia
Cameron and Ruben Wolfe come from a family clinging to the ragged edge of the working class. To make money, the boys hook up with a sleazy fight promoter who sees something marketable in the untrained brothers¹ vulnerability. But the Wolfe brothers are fighting for more than tips and pay-off money. It soon becomes a fight for identity, for dignity, and for each other.
Early one morning when the sun came out, Six woolly wombats went walkabout. This whimsical counting poem follows six brave little wombats on walkabout in the Australian outback. But the wilderness is bound to bring more excitement than an innocent counting game. Soon enough, the curious wombats learn to beware the hungry dingo! Aussie native Sophie Blackall’s delicious illustrations set adorable wombats in a lush world of golden wattles, billabongs, kookaburras, and gum nuts. With marvelous wordplay and irresistible read-aloud phrases, this ingenious text is sure to become a well-worn favorite. Accompanied by a short, simple glossary of Australian terms and wildlife.
These are the odd details of everyday suburban life that might forever go unnoticed, were they not finally brought to light by Shaun Tan. An exchange student who’s really an alien, a secret room that becomes the perfect place for a quick escape, a typical tale of grandfatherly exaggeration that is actually even more bizarre than he says… These are the odd details of everyday life that grow and take on an incredible life of their own in tales and illustrations.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume 3, Issue 2
She lives in the best suburb. She goes to the finest school. Her family is wealthy and powerful. She has everything money can buy. So why are there reporters outside her house? And why is her father telling lies on television? And why is the Premier talking about them in State Parliament? Something is wrong. Something is terribly wrong. Riveting and compulsively readable, John Marsden’s Checkers plunges us deep in the mind and world of a teenage girl whose life has spun completely out of control.
In this sequel to Misery Guts, the ever-cheerful Keith Shipley has reached Australia, but even halfway around the world, he frets over his parents’ happiness, hoping that making a fortune in the opal mines will save his family.
Some people face the world with confidence. They are popular, charismatic, incredibly successful and often beautiful. They achieve these things by sheer determination, talent and cosmetic surgery. They have big houses, big cars and big hair. They have gorgeous children who become even richer and more famous than they are, simply by breathing and being able to tie their own shoelaces. Norman and Brenda are nothing like these people.
A page-turning read about father-son relationships and the many ways of being a man. Eddie doesn’t want to be in school; he wants to work in the mines. But his dad won’t go down in the coal pits, and he won’t let his sons go either. Nothing much happens in the town of Burruga, except for fights at the pub. Then one Friday night a girl is found dead by the river, and every man in town comes under suspicion. Eddie is drawn into secrets and a bitter struggle for revenge.
It is 1946, a year after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and World War II is over. But the U.S. government has decided that further tests of atomic bombs must be conducted. Bikini Atoll is chosen for the testing site, so the people who have lived there for generations must be relocated for two years. Sixteen-year-old Sorry Rinamu believes the Americans are lying and that it will never be safe for his people to return. He must find a way to stop the first bomb before it is dropped . . . even if that means risking his own destruction. This chilling novel is based on the true story of atomic weapons testing at Bikini Atoll in the western Pacific Ocean. “A haunting, soundly researched work.”–Publishers Weekly
Once Cadel was going to take over the world. Now he’s stuck in foster care.