Materials from Oceania
At the age of seven, children in eighteenth-century Britain were tried in court like adults. For crimes such as picking pockets or stealing clothes, they could be sentenced to death by hanging or transported to the then-perilous and isolated colonies of Australia. Life in the colonies was often as difficult and dangerous as the poverty from which many of the convicts came, but the dreaded sentence of transportation could also present opportunities.
In this stunning idea book, acclaimed author and illustrator Sandra Morris shares her love for the flora and fauna of her native New Zealand and encourages budding scientists to record their own discoveries in creative ways, no matter where they live.
Cartwheel moves to a new country with her auntie, and everything is strange: the animals, the plants even the wind. An old blanket gives Cartwheel comfort when she’s sad, and a new blanket just might change her world.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume 8, Issue 3
This book has been included in WOW’s Kids Taking Action Booklist. For our current list, visit our Boolist page under Resources in the green navigation bar.
Nim is a modern-day Robinson Crusoe and is not afraid when her scientist dad sails off to study plankton for three days, leaving her alone on their island. Kids will love Nim’s zany adventures as she helps out her dad and diverts would-be tourists.
Determined to recover the Adomal and to prevent the pirate Zavac from doing more damage, Hal and his brotherband crew persue Zavac to the lawless fortress of Ragusa where, if Hal is to succeed, he will have to go beyond his brotherband training and face the pirate one-on-one in a fight to the finish.
Hero, a girl who does not speak, begins to do odd-jobs for her enigmatic neighbor, Miss Credence, whose house holds a shocking secret, at the same time that Hero’s sister returns home with an abandoned boy and another secret.
Calwyn, a young priestess of ice magic, or chantment, joins with other chanters who have different magical skills to fight a sorcerer who wants to claim all powers for his own. Calvin knows nothing about the world beyond the Wall. She’s never seen the golden stone of the city of Kalysons or the wide waters of the Bay of Sardi. She knows only the rounds of her life a a novice ice priestess in Antaris, tending her bees, singing her chantments, and dreaming.
A clever little dog christens himself “Sad” when his humans fail to give him a name. Although they feed him and wash him, they don’t appreciate his many gifts, like his love of singing (“stop that yapping!”). When the people move away and leave Sad behind, Sad is heartbroken. But then a new family with a young boy arrives at Sad’s house in a big truck. Although Sad is initially frightened, it soon becomes clear that the boy is just the right person to make a dog’s life complete with playtime, treats, and a brand-new name: Lucky.
For years, the Kingdom of Araluen has prospered, with the evil lord Morgarath safely behind the impassable mountains. For years, its people have felt secure. but the scheming hand of the dark lord has not been idle, on a special mission for the rangers, will and his friend Horace, an apprentice knight, travel to a neighboring village and discover the unsettling truth: all the villagers have either been slain or captured.
While gathered together for the Christmas holiday, a large New Zealand family and their various guests and hangers-on find their lives suddenly invaded by three fascinating but rather sinister brothers and by New Year nothing is the same again.