Materials from Australia
As his odd parents fight the regional environmental health officer about their dung-covered house and his melodramatic younger brother demands attention, fourteen-year-old Australian Seth Parrot simply seeks the muscular woman of his dreams.
Cat. Dog. Tall Tree. Thank goodness for that! A cat’s life is not all fun and games, or even all milk and mice. With very few words used to convey all kinds of action, Mike Dumbleton’s sparse yet descriptive text joins perfectly with Craig Smith’s whimsical illustrations. Cat will have young listeners on the edges of their seats, ready to join Cat…thank goodness for that!
Still far from their homeland after escaping slavery in the icebound land of Skandia, Will and Evanlyn’s plans to return to Araluen are spoiled when Evanlyn is taken captive by a Temujai warrior. Though still weakened by the warmweed’s toxic effects, Will employs his Ranger training to locate his friend, but an enemy scouting party has him fatally outnumbered. Will is certain death is close at hand, until Halt and Horace make a daring, last-minute rescue. The reunion is cut short, however, when Halt makes a horrifying discovery: Skandia’s borders have been breached by the entire Temujai army. And Araluen is next in their sights. If two kingdoms are to be saved, an unlikely union must be made.
Orphan Rossamünd Bookchild has been sworn into the Emperor’s service—his duty is to light the lamps along the Emperor’s highways and protect travelers from the ferocious bogles that live in the wild. But he’s found it no easier to fit in with the lamplighters than he did with the foundlings—always too small and too meek—and his loneliness continues no matter how hard he tries to succeed. But when a haughty young girl, a member of a suspiciously regarded society of all-women teratologists— monster hunters—is forced upon the lamplighters for training, Rossamünd is no longer the most despised soul around. As Rossamünd begins to make new friends in the dangerous world of the Half-Continent, he also seems to make more enemies, finding himself pushed toward a destiny that he could never have imagined.
High school senior Miguel’s life is turned upside down when he meets new girl Lainey, whose family has just moved from Australia. With her tumbled red-gold hair, her instant understanding of who he is, and her unusual dog—a real Australian dingo—she’s unforgettable. And, as he quickly learns, she is on the run from an ancient bargain made by her ancestors. There’s no question that Miguel will do whatever he can to help her—but what price will each of them have to pay? Dingo is quintessential Charles de Lint, set close to his beloved, invented city of Newford—a mixture of darkness and hope, humor and mystery, and the friendship within love.
Little Fur goes in search of her friend, Ginger the cat, who has vanished completely in this third book in the Little Fur quartet. The wise Sett Owl tells Little Fur that she must first discover who or what the Mystery of Wolves is. The only creature Little Fur finds who has heard of them is a mad prophet. He explains that the Mystery of Wolves is a mystic order of wolves who dwell in the high mountains to the east of the city. On an adventure that leads to more than just Ginger, Little Fur learns more about her long-gone father and mother and ultimately risks everything she loves to save the mysterious and dangerous humans who do not even know she exists.
There are three rules to the old painted, music box: Wind the box three times only. Never shut the box when the music is playing. Never move the box before the music stops. Leo wouldn’t dream of breaking these rules, but does his stubborn cousin Mimi listen? She winds the box four times — and suddenly the paintings on its side come to life and a powerful witch is released. Now its up to Leo and Mimi to stop the witch, if only they can find the key to the music box — and the magical world it controls.
With no family and little support from his only ally, Miss Radinski, Ben knows that he will have to venture onto the dangerous streets alone to face the woolvs that no one believes exist. The exact nature of the danger is not identified and so the book is open to many different interpretations. Uses invented spelling.
For a long time, fourteen-year-old Joseph has wondered about old Tom Leyton, his reclusive next-door neighbor. Gossip and rumors suggest that something terrible happened to Tom in the past. Then Joseph is asked to draw Tom for a school art project, and that means Joseph has the opportunity to uncover the truth about this man who passes his days tending silkworms and keeping dark secrets. As Joseph learns more and more about Tom’s world, he is forced to confront his own fears.
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.