Australia

Materials from Australia

Fox

An injured magpie and a one-eyed dog live happily together in the forest, until a jealous fox arrives to teach them what it means to be alone.

Black Juice

A collection of short stories.  As part of a public execution, a young boy forlornly helps to sing his sister down. A servant learns about grace and loyalty from a mistress who would rather dance with Gypsies than sit on her throne.  A terrifying encounter with a demonic angel gives a young man the strength he needs to break free of his oppressor.  On a bleak and dreary afternoon a gleeful shooting spree leads to tragedy for a desperate clown unable to escape his fate. Michael L Printz Honor Book Awards

Around the World in 80 Tales

This illustrated book takes readers on a journey across six continents, with entertaining folktales from eighty different storytelling traditions. An excellent introduction to foreign countries, these beautifully told stories are perfect for reading aloud and encouraging children to learn about different cultures and other parts of the world.

The Book of Lies

The newest boy at Mrs. Timmins’s Home for Orphans and Foundlings awakes at first light with no name and no memory. But a strange girl who hides among the shadows of the orphanage tells him that a mysterious wizard’s creation, the Book of Lies, holds the answers, and then gives him one clue: “Your name is Marcel.” With that knowledge, and the help of three new friends, Marcel begins a quest to find the truth about his real identity—a truth that is hidden in the Book of Lies. As Marcel learns more about his past, he realizes that truth can change at any moment and can be manipulated by anyone, and he begins to wonder if the old book’s so-called magical truth might be the greatest lie of all.

Magic’s Child

The people Reason Cansino loves most are all in danger. Reason’s mother, Sarafina, has disappeared from the mental hospital in Sydney with Reason’s evil grandfather, Jason Blake. Jay-Tee, the closest thing Reason has to a best friend, has used all of her magic and faces death at any moment. Only Reason can find the answers within her family’s magic to save everyone who matters most to her.

Little Fur: A Fox Called Sorrow

In a Fox Called Sorrow, the adventures continue for Little Fur, the half elf, half troll girl who heals animals in a magical grove in the heart of a big city. When Little Fur discovers that the Troll King is plotting against the earth spirit that binds all living things, she sets off on a new adventure with a set of unlikely companions: the faithful cat Ginger, a reluctant rat, a pair of ferrets, and a mysterious fox called Sorrow who believes their quest is doomed.

Dreamrider

Michael Terny is at his seventh school in four years and he knows that whatever he does, he will be ridiculed and pushed around. Michael is the fat kid. But Michael is also a lucid dreamer–he can recognize when he is dreaming and make the dream unfold exactly as he wants. Here he is safe and completely in control. Safe that is, until he finds the dream world and real world colliding, and a passage between the two promises more power than he has ever imagined. With the help of an unexpected friend at his new school, Michael plans how to use his power–to reward the good and wreak vengeance on the wicked.

The Big Little Book of Happy Sadness

George lived alone with his grandmother and an empty place where his mother and father should be. One Friday on his way home from school, George visited the animal shelter. There, in the very last cage, was Jeremy, a dog who looked as lost and as lonely as George. When Jeremy goes home to live with George and his grandmother, their whole lives change, and they learn that when it comes to love, it’s quality not quantity that counts.