Loyalty

Midnight

Guy Haydon raised and trained Midnight from the time she was a foal. The two had such a strong bond that when World War I broke out, Lieutenant Haydon slipped away from the frontlines of Gallipoli on an Egypt-bound ship to reunite with his horse. There, in the city of Beersheba, on October 31, 1917, two regiments of the Australian Light Horse Brigade took part in one of the last great cavalry charges in history. Among the first to leap the enemy trenches was Lieutenant Guy Haydon, riding Midnight—who succumbed to a bullet that might have otherwise killed her rider

Beneath

“She plunged beneath the surface, her eyes blind in the murky, green water: dived again and again until she couldn’t take another breath. There was no trace. Freya was gone.” Jess has heard the rumours, old folk tales of creatures that live beneath the water: dangerous shapeshifters with a taste for human children. She’s dismissed them as crazy stories — until her best friend is stolen and Jess discovers all the legends are true Trying to rescue her friend, she meets one of them — a kelpie — but he turns out to be nothing like she imagined. Caught between two worlds, between kelpies and humans, and between mysterious Finn and brave Magnus, Jess must chose between what she’s always known and what lies beneath. Gill Arbuthnott creates an enthralling world of love and revenge, divided loyalties and imminent danger in this brilliant fantasy novel for young teens set in 16th century Scotland.

Dear Flyary

In his flyary (diary), Frazzle records all the quirks and noises of his new spaceship, which also signal the inevitable: breakdown on the flyway (highway). Rather than trade it in for another model, Frazzle just replaces the engine. A clever invented alien vocabulary and superfluous diary format pad what is otherwise a thin plot about loyalty. Alien-filled retro illustrations are engaging.

Little Devils

Robert J. Blake shines a light on a little-known animal.Burnie, Winnie and Big Stanley are three Tasmanian devil pups growing up in the wild. Along with their mother, they make one happy family. Since the pups are still so small, Mum does all the hunting. But one night, Mum doesnt come home and the pups are getting hungry . . . and worried. They need food, but more importantly, they need Mum. Big Stanley is the first to leave the den. Then Burnie. And finally Winnie. Together they set out with one goal in mind: find Mum.

Sita’s Ramayana

This version of The Ramayana is told from the perspective of Sita, the queen. After she, her husband Rama and his brother are exiled from their kingdom, Sita is captured by the proud and arrogant king Ravana and imprisoned in a garden across the ocean. Ravana never stops trying to convince Sita to be his wife, but she steadfastly refuses his advances. Eventually Rama comes to her rescue with the help of the monkey Hanuman and his army. But Rama feels he can’t trust Sita again. He forces Sita to undergo an ordeal by fire to prove herself to be true and pure. She is shocked and in grief and anger does so. She emerges unscathed and they return home to their kingdom as king and queen. However, suspicion haunts their relationship, and Sita once more finds herself in the forest, but this time she is pregnant. She has twins and continues to live in the forest with them.