Oceania

Materials from Oceania

Checkers

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.

Getting The Girl

Cameron Wolfe is a loser. He knows it. He’s the quiet one, not a soccer star like his brother Steve or a charming fighter with a new girl every week like his brother Rube. Cam would give anything to be near one of those girls, to love her and treat her right. He especially likes Rube’s latest, Octavia, with her brilliant ideas and bright green eyes. But what woman like that would want a loser like him? Maybe Octavia would, Cam discovers. Maybe he’d even have something to say. And those maybes change everything: winning, loving, losing, the Wolfe brothers, and Cameron himself.

The Magic Hat

One fine day, from out of town–and without any warning at all–a magic hat appears in the sky. It tumbles and bounces through the air and makes magic wherever it lands. Everyone is delighted as, one by one, the townspeople are transformed into giant playful animals. And then a wizard arrives.

Cold Skin

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.

Dangerous Spaces

Flora has always known that her house is haunted. But things have taken a sinister turn since her orphaned cousin Anthea moved in. Frightening scenes are played out in the night–and in the girls’ dreams. Although they don’t get along, the two must work together to escape their nightmares–before they get trapped forever.

Thursday’s Child

A stunningly original voice in young adult fiction. Harper Flute believes that her younger brother Tin, with his uncanny ability to dig, was born to burrow. While their family struggles to survive in a desolate landscape during the Great Depression, the silent and elusive little Tin – “born on a Thursday and so fated to his wanderings” – begins to escape underground, tunneling beneath their tiny shanty. As time passes and fate deals the family an especially cruel hand, Harper’s parents withdraw emotionally, and her siblings bravely try to fill the void, while Tin becomes a wild thing, leaving them further and further behind. With exquisite prose, richly drawn characters, and a touch of magical realism, Sonya Hartnett tells a breathtakingly original coming-of-age story through the clear eyes of an observant child. It’s a loving and unsentimental portrait of family loyalty in the face of poverty and heartbreak, entwined with a surreal vision of the enigmatic Tin – disappearing into a mysterious labyrinth that reaches unimaginably far, yet remains hauntingly near.

Jumpman Rule #2: Don’t Even Think About It (Jumpman Rule)

No sooner is their first date over than Jules and Gen find themselves back at work after a JumpMan comes looking for them to tell them of their friend’s involvement with Quincy Carter One and their plans to change the history of the world.