The House That Jack Built

The familiar cumulative nursery rhyme is illustrated with scenes placing the characters in an Aotearoa, New Zealand, setting during the early 19th century.

Feeling Sorry For Celia

A #1 Bestseller in Australia and Book Sense 76 PickLife is pretty complicated for Elizabeth Clarry. Her best friend Celia keeps disappearing, her absent father suddenly reappears, and her communication with her mother consists entirely of wacky notes left on the fridge. On top of everything else, because her English teacher wants to rekindle the “Joy of the Envelope,” a Complete and Utter Stranger knows more about Elizabeth than anyone else. But Elizabeth is on the verge of some major changes. She may lose her best friend, find a wonderful new friend, kiss the sexiest guy alive, and run in a marathon. So much can happen in the time it takes to write a letter.

Rosie And Tortoise

Rosie can’t wait for her baby brother to be born. But when he does arrive, Bobby is the smallest, weakest little hare ever, and Rosie feels scared. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with him until the day Dad tells her a special story that helps her understand that Bobby is “slow and steady.” That night, she holds her baby brother for the first time and feels his heart beating against hers.

The Rabbits

Uses rabbits, a species introduced to Australia, to represent an allegory of the arrival of Europeans in Australia and the widespread environmental destruction caused by man throughout the continent. A sophisticated picture book. Suggested level: primary, intermediate.

Sun Mother Wakes The World

At the beginning of the world, it was dark and silent and nothing stirred anywhere, until a voice roused the sleeping Sun Mother in the sky, telling her it was time to wake up all the creatures of the earth. The indigenous people of Australia believe that their first ancestors created the world and its laws. They also believe that the world is still being created in a continual process they call The Dreamtime.

Nurse Lugton’s Curtain

An enchanted world, frozen in the pattern of a drawing-room curtain,waits patiently while Nurse Lugton sews. Then, as she falls asleep in the lamplight, the antelope nods to the zebra, and soon the elephant, the tiger, the ostrich, and all the other creatures awaken and begin to make their way toward a sparkling lake and a magical town.

Hunter

When fourteen-year-old Jordan and her younger brothers learn they’ll have to ride a rickety plane home for the holidays, they’re a little scared. But when it crashes on a wild and deserted peninsula in New Zealand, they are completely terrified.