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Does My Head Look Big in This
Does My Head Look Big in This by Randa Abdel-Fattah
The slide opened and I heard a gentle, kind voice:
'What is your confession, my child?'
I was stuffed. The priest would declare me a heretic;
my parents would call me a traitor . . .
The priest asked me again: 'What is your confession, my child?'
'I'm Muslim,' I whispered.
Welcome to my world. I'm Amal Abdel-Hakim, a sixteen-year-old Australian-Palestinian-Muslim still getting to grips with my various identity hyphens.
It's hard enough to be cool as a teenager, but try wearing a veil on your head and getting in the 'bums up' position at lunchtime and you know you're in for a tough time.
Luckily my friends support me, although they've got a few troubles of their own. Simone, blonde and gorgeous, has got serious image issues, and Leila's really intelligent but her parents are more interested in her getting a marriage certificate than her high school certificate.
And I thought I had problems . . .
A story of being true to yourself, standing up for your beliefs and finding your own way.
Call Number: CPS 8A4
ISBN: 9780330421850
Publication Date: 2005
Being Bindy
Being Bindy by Alyssa Brugman
What happens when your worst friend, who used to be your best friend, threatens to become your sister?
I'd never sat on my own in the schoolyard before. Everywhere I looked I saw smirking faces, people whispering to each other, or whistling. Janey wouldn't even look at me. I overheard one of the others say, 'I don't know why you were ever friends with her,' to which she replied, I know. 'She's just so bleagh.'
That was the moment. It was officially TWDOML - The Worst Day of My Life.
Janey narrowed her eyes. 'Don't you understand anything? When adults Go Out, it's not like when we do it. Before too long they'll want to move in together and where will they live? What if they get married? We'll be sisters.'
Bindy faces some tough decisions, finding her own way among schoolmates, friends, ex-friends, boys and parents in this funny, searching novel from the author of Finding Grace and Walking Naked.
Call Number: CPS 8B7
ISBN: 9781741142181
Publication Date: 2004
View from 32nd Floor
View from the 32nd Floor by Emma Cameron
Something special has been gifted to you. Join your neighbours, Saturday, 6.00 pm, on the roof.
Living on the thirty-second floor of an apartment block, William has a clear view of the building opposite. He sees his neighbours eating ice-cream, watering potted palms, painting pictures ... or as shadows behind closed curtains. Shadows worry William. With his new friend Rebecca, and helped by lots of cake, a dictionary of names, tai chi, and banana-shaped sticky notes, he plans to tempt his lonely neighbours back into the world.
Call Number: CPS EB4
ISBN: 9781922077295
Publication Date: 2013
Matilda
Matilda by Roald Dahl
These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: you are not alone.
Matilda is a brilliant child with a magical mind.
But her parents have decided she's just a nuisance who wastes too much time on reading and stories.
And her headmistress Miss Trunchbull is a terrible bully, who thinks children are rotten and awful and should be locked up.
Now it's time for Matilda to find the power to change her story, and show them just how extraordinary children can be . . .
Call Number: CPS EB5
ISBN: 9780141326221
Publication Date: 2008
That's Why I Wrote this Song
That's Why I Wrote This Song by Susanne Gervay
From bestselling author, Susanne Gervay, comes a coming-of-age story about an all-girl rock band in search of love, life and independence. Girls, boys, music - great mix! And who hasn't dreamed of being in a rock band? And what could be better than hooking up with your besties and forming an all-girl band. that's what Pip, Irina, Karen and Angie did when they formed their band Not Perfect. these are four different girls lead very different lives, but when they come together and play, they are as one. these girls rock. Bestselling author Susanne Gervay wrote tHAt'S WHY I WROtE tHIS SONG, and her musician daughter tory wrote the lyrics. the book explores the lives of four very different teenage girls and their relationships with their fathers, boys and each other. All this is set around the music scene and the girls' passion for and involvement with it, from rock concerts, weekend music festivals and the girls' own band.
Call Number: CPS 8A9
ISBN: 9780207200861
Publication Date: 2007
The Book of Everything
The Book of Everything by Guus Kuijer
A small book about the big things in life that really matter. Shocking, funny, touching and ultimately hopeful, this is a rare gem of a story for all ages.
Thomas sees amazing things that no one else can see: tropical fish swimming in the canal, sparrows playing bright trumpets and frogs wriggling through the letterbox. When his father hits his mother, Thomas sees the angels cover their eyes and weep.
He writes it all down in The Book of Everything, including his wish: 'When I grow up, I'm going to be happy'. One of his biggest discoveries is that happiness begins with no longer being afraid.
Call Number: CPS 8A7
ISBN: 9781741147513
Publication Date: 2006
When Heaven Fell
When Heaven Fell by Carolyn Marsden
Every day nine-year-old Binh sells fruit and sodas to the girls whose families can afford to send them to school, and every night she returns to her one-room home to share a simple meal with her family. Everything changes, however, when her grandmother tells Binh she had a daughter during the war, a child who was sent away to America as a little girl. Now Di Hai -- Binh’s aunt, a teacher -- is coming to visit, and Binh can’t help but wonder what luxurious gifts she will bring.
Yet when Di Hai arrives, there are so many confusing things about her: she’s taller than the men, she’s not married, and her presents are mere trinkets that could have come from Third Aunt’s tourist shop! Still, Binh secretly hopes Di Hai will take her to live in America. Can her aunt live up to her expectations? Carolyn Marsden tells Binh’s story with warmth and sensitivity as she ushers readers into the life and dreams of a young Vietnamese girl.
Call Number: CPS 8A1
ISBN: 9780763643812
Publication Date: 2009
The Binna Binna Man
The Binna Binna Man by Meme McDonald and Boori Prior
The powerful story of an Aboriginal teenage boy who is caught between the attractions of city life and the ways of his people. After a terrifying encounter with the Binna Binna man he knows what he must do in order to be true to himself.
BOORI MONTY PRYOR: AUSTRALIA'S CHILDREN'S LAUREATE 2012-13
'The Binna Binna man is a big fulla and he stinks like a goat. He can be good and heal you, but if you poke fun at him then you can get into big trouble, like die.'
In Binna Binna country you should watch where you go, even on a night when life is so stuffed up that nothing matters any more. You go wandering too far and you might come face to face with your worst nightmare - the Binna Binna man.
Filled with laughter and affection, this is the powerful story of a boy who is learning that if you forget where you come from you get weak. That to stay strong you must listen to the old people with your eyes and your ears - and your heart. A companion to My Girragundji.
Call Number: CPS EB6
ISBN: 9781865080710
Publication Date: 1999
Ties that Bind, Ties that Break
Ties that Bind, Ties that Break by Lensey Namioka
Third Sister in the Tao family, Ailin has watched her two older sisters go through the painful process of having their feet bound. In China in 1911, all the women of good families follow this ancient tradition. But Ailin loves to run away from her governess and play games with her male cousins. Knowing she will never run again once her feet are bound, Ailin rebels and refuses to follow this torturous tradition.
As a result, however, the family of her intended husband breaks their marriage agreement. And as she enters adolescence, Ailin finds that her family is no longer willing to support her. Chinese society leaves few options for a single woman of good family, but with a bold conviction and an indomitable spirit, Ailin is determined to forge her own destiny. Her story is a tribute to all those women whose courage created new options for the generations who came after them.
Call Number: CPS EA6
ISBN: 9780141317151
Publication Date: 2003
Finding Isabella
Finding Isabella by Alison Robertson
Stacey is facing her parent's divorce, boyfriend problems and girlfriend issues. But research for a school assignment into the life of her great-great-great-great grandmother allows her to work through her problems and discover some interesting skeletons in the family closet.
Call Number: CPS 8B2
ISBN: 9781869436728
Publication Date: 2005
Ten Things I have about Me
Ten Things I Hate about Me by Randa Abdel-Fattah
Jamie wants to be the real thing. From the roots of her dyed blonde hair...
There are a lot of things Jamie hates about her life: her dark hair, her dad's Stone Age Charter of Curfew Rights, her real name - Jamilah Towfeek.
For the past three years Jamie has hidden her Lebanese background from everyone at school. It's only with her email friend John that she can really be herself. But now things are getting complicated: the most popular boy in school is interested in her, but there's no way he would be if he knew the truth. Then there's Timothy, the school loner, who for some reason Jamie just can't stop thinking about. As for John, he seems to have a pretty big secret of his own...
To top it all off, Jamie's school formal is coming up. The only way she'll be allowed to attend is by revealing her true identity. Will she risk it all? And does she know who she is... Jamie or Jamilah?
Call Number: CPS 8A6
ISBN: 9780330422741
Publication Date: 2006
Finding Grace
Finding Grace by Alyssa Brugman
Told by sassy 18-year-old Rachel, this is a suspenseful, compassionate, yet laugh-out-loud funny story about looking after a woman with brain damage - and about tasting love, finding grace and getting a life.
Rachel has just left school and she knows everything. Well, maybe not quite everything. Then she meets the mysterious Mr Preston, who gives her a live-in job looking after Grace - Grace with the lovely house, the grasping sisters, the feral neighbours and the spooky box full of unfinished business; Grace who never speaks. Who is Grace? How do the pieces of her world fit together? And what will it all mean for Rachel?
Told from Rachel's gloriously eccentric perspective, this is an intriguing, compassionate, unexpectedly funny story about tasting love, finding grace and getting a life.
Call Number: CPS 8A4
ISBN: 9781865084534
Publication Date: 2006
Crow Country
Crow Country by Kate Constable
When Sadie moves back to her mother's home town in country Victoria, she finds herself drawn to the dried-up lake where eerie carved standing stones have recently been revealed. The wheeling crows seem to speak to her about an old wrong she must set right, and she finds herself catapulted back to a time just after World War I. Three young men have just returned from the war: Sadie's grandfather who runs the local shop, the local landowner, and Jimmy Raven, an Indigenous stockman who works on the landowner's farm. Sadie discovers that Jimmy was killed under mysterious circumstances and that her grandfather helped cover it up. Back in her own time, Sadie befriends Walter, a boy from Mildura who may have a connection to Jimmy. Can Sadie and Walter work through the mystery and prevent a similar tragedy happening in their own time?
Call Number: CPS EA6
ISBN: 9781742373959
Publication Date: 2012
Pieces of Sky
Pieces of Sky by Trinity Doyle
A strong atmospheric novel about Lucy, a sixteen-year-old competitive swimmer in a coastal town who is grappling with a fear of water after the untimely death of her surfer brother.
Lucy's life was going as smoothly as any teenager's could. She was the state backstroke champion, and swimming obsessed. She lived with her parents and her brother, Cam, in the small coastal town she'd known all her life. She had friends, she had goals - she had a life.
Now Cam is dead, her parents might as well be - and Lucy can't bear to get back in the pool. All she has to look forward to now is a big pile of going-nowhere.
Drawn to Steffi, the wild ex-best-friend who reminds her of her artist brother, and music-obsessed Evan, the new boy in town, Lucy starts asking questions. Why did Cam die? Was it an accident or suicide? But as Lucy hunts for answers she discovers much more than she expects. About Cam. About her family. About herself.
A soaring, uplifting novel about love and loss from an exciting new voice.
Call Number: CPS 8B2
ISBN: 9781760112486
Publication Date: 2015
Girl Underground
Girl Underground by Morris Gleitzman
Bridget wants a quiet life. Including, if possible, keeping her parents out of prison.
Then a boy called Menzies makes her an offer she can't refuse, and they set off on a job of their own.
It's a desperate, daring plan - to rescue two kids, Jamal and Bibi, from a desert detention centre.
Can Bridget and Menzies pull off their very first jail break, or will they end up behind bars too?
Sometimes, to help a friend, you have to dig deep.
With its themes of friendship, perseverance and the power of standing up for what's right, Girl Underground is a must-read for anyone who loved Boy Overboard and wants to continue following Jamal and Bibi's journey through the eyes of all new, but every bit as endearing, characters.
Call Number: CPS 8A2
ISBN: 9780143300465
Publication Date: 2004
Allie McGregor's true colours
Allie McGregor's true colours by Sue Lawson
Allie McGregor's list of problems is longer than movie credits. House renovations have forced Allie to share her room with mouse-loving little sister, Sarah. Her dad, Will, calls Allie 'The Hormonal One' during his popular radio program. Her brother, Riley, is just plain gross. Her best friend Lou is fighting with Allie's new friend, Romy. Oh, and Allie's mum has cancer.
Call Number: CPS 8A9
ISBN: 9781876372996
Publication Date: 2006
So Much to Tell You
So Much to Tell You by John Marsden
'I don't know what I'm doing here. Well, I do really I have been sent here to learn to talk again. Sent here because my mother can't stand my silent presence at home. Sent here because of my face 'She watches; she dreams. She sees more than they realise. She has worries and fears, hopes and desires. She is troubled; she is angry. Above all, she is lonely. She may be someone you know. She may be you. In SO MUCH TO TELL YOU she tells her story - with humour and insight, with sensitivity and strength, with painful honesty. You will never forget her.
Call Number: CPS 8B3
ISBN: 9780850919417
Publication Date: 2002
Njunjul the Sun
Njunjul the Sun by Meme McDonald and Boori Prior
A 16-year-old Aboriginal boy leaves his family and home for the big city, and as he struggles to make sense of his experience he realises that he must have the knowledge of his own people and culture in order to know who he is, and to find his direction.
BOORI MONTY PRYOR: AUSTRALIA'S CHILDREN'S LAUREATE 2012-13
'I'm heading out on m'own, down the highway to the big city. Going south. I lost my taste for knowing the old ways. I'm wanting what's new. What's exciting, what's out there on the other side of town. That's what got me on this bus. I gotta get out, see. This is my chance. My chance to do something.'
But in the city you can feel like you don't exist any more. You can't always see the sun when it comes up, or lie down safe when it sets. Your mind can go crazy, crammed with everyone else's thoughts, so you can't hear your voice on the inside. An outstandingly honest, original, eye-opening story about a young man daring to step out into a complex world. Njunjul the Sun will make you laugh, even as it grips your heart.
Njunjul the Sun completes the trilogy, begun with My Girragundji and The Binna Binna Man, charting the journey of self-discovery of a young Aboriginal boy as he learns to draw strength from his traditional heritage and to find a way of living in contemporary Australia. The boy is now a young man of sixteen, and he leaves his community in Queensland to live in Sydney. Njunjul the Sun develops the innovative combination of text, photographs and illustrations that was established in My Girragundji.
Call Number: CPS EA6
ISBN: 9781865086415
Publication Date: 2002
Barrumbi Kids
The Barrumbi Kids by Leonie Norrington
Dale and Tomias are best mates. They live at Long Hole community. The kids struggle with school, the trials of growing up, and parental expectations. Life itself is full of danger - from wild bushfires, crocodile-infested rivers and the thick bubbling ooze of the blood pit. As a back drop to the children’s stories there is the land itself - a magnificent landscape of fire and floodplain, unbearable heat and towering storms.
The Barrumbi Kids is a funny unforgettable novel that brilliantly captures the paradoxes of life in the rural Australia with honesty and humour.
Call Number: CPS EA6
ISBN: 9781862914964
Publication Date: 2002
Aliki Says
Aliki Says by Irini Savvides
A powerful novel about family secrets and forgetting, from the award-winning author of Willow Tree and Olive.
Aliki syas, 'Jump!' and everyone says, 'How high?'
Aliki and her cousin Liza are best friends, but sometimes Liza wishes Aliki didn't always get all of the attention. Liza is on her way to Greece to collect their grandmother and bring her back to Australia to live. But the dark secret their
grandmother carries with her threatens to tear their world apart.
As the girls prepare for their final year of high school, the summer brings with it a sea of unanswered questions. Questions that will affect the rest of their lives . . .
Call Number: CPS 8B9
ISBN: 9781741662061
Publication Date: 2006
Nona and Me
Nona & Me by Clare Atkins
They are also best friends. It doesn't matter that Rosie is white and Nona is Aboriginal- their family connections tie them together for life.
Born just five days apart in a remote corner of the Northern Territory, the girls are inseparable, until Nona moves away at the age of nine. By the time she returns, they're in Year 10 and things have changed. Rosie has lost interest in the community, preferring to hang out in the nearby mining town, where she goes to school with the glamorous Selena, and Selena's gorgeous older brother Nick.
When a political announcement highlights divisions between the Aboriginal community and the mining town, Rosie is put in a difficult position- will she be forced to choose between her first love and her oldest friend?
Call Number: CPS 8B2
ISBN: 9781863956895
Publication Date: 2014
Faking Sweet
Faking Sweet by J. C. Burke
Best friends and betrayal. It's all part of surviving year nine . . . Holly might be new, but she already knows who to watch out for- Jess Flynn, the most popular girl in year nine. Holly's best friend back in Melbourne, Calypso, says Jess is a liar, a shoplifter and a boyfriend-stealer. Calypso wants revenge for her ex-friend's betrayal, and Holly's only too happy to oblige. But it's not proving easy to follow Calypso's plan and catch Jess out. And then there's the fact that as Holly gets to know her, Jess isn't fitting the terrible picture Calypso has painted of her.
Call Number: CPS 8A5
ISBN: 9781741661934
Publication Date: 2006
Danny Champion of the World
Danny Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
Danny thinks his dad is the most marvellous and exciting father a boy could wish for. Life is happy and peaceful in their gipsy caravan, until one day Danny discovers his dad has been breaking the law. What's more, soon Danny has to join his father as they attempt to pull off a daring and devilish plot against horrible, red-faced Mr Victor Hazell.
Call Number: CPS EB5
ISBN: 9780141326177
Publication Date: 2008
Parvana
Parvana by Deborah Ellis
Eleven-year-old Parvana lives with her family in one room of a bombed-out apartment in war-torn Afghanistan during the Taliban era of the late 1990s.When soldiers burst into her home and drag her father off to prison, it becomes Parvana's responsibility to be the breadwinner for her family.
But in a city where girls and women are denied an education and forbidden to leave the home without a male family member, Parvana needs to find a way to make a living in the marketplace of Kabul. Dressed as a boy, Parvana must gather all her courage and resilience and risk her life every day to make ends meet in the dangerous and volatile city.
A powerful and riveting novel about loyalty, resistance, survival, family and friendship in the face of overwhelming fear and oppression.
Call Number: CPS 8A5
ISBN: 9781865086941
Publication Date: 2002
Two Hands Together
Two Hands Together by Diana Kidd
When the Rileys move in next door, Lily and Ella become the best of friends. But Lily can't understand why her Dad doesn't like the Rileys. Why doesn't he want them to go over there? Why is he being so horrible and mean? Does something big have to happen to change his mind?
Call Number: CPS 8A8
ISBN: 9780141307480
Publication Date: 2000
Saving Francesca
Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
Francesca is at the beginning of her second term in Year Eleven at an all boy's school that has just started accepting girls. She still misses her old friends, and, to make things worse, her mother has had a breakdown and can barely move from her bed.
But Francesca had not counted on the fierce loyalty of her new friends, or falling in love, or finding that it's within her power to bring her family back together.
Call Number: CPS 8A8
ISBN: 9780670040452
Publication Date: 2003
Killer Mackenzie
Killer Mackenzie by Eve Martyn
It's a blazing Australian summer and London-based Alex is on her unenthusiastic way to Glenlea Farm at Sturts Creek to spend three months with Cameron, the father she hasn't seen for years, and a stepmother she's never met. And the stepmother is disgustingly pregnant. (At her age. Gross!)
After a teeth-rattling, spine-cracking, head-bumping journey, Alix discovers real farm life is nothing like a Disney movie. Her father is a cold-blooded chook murderer, there's no air-conditioning, the roosters are feral, and the spiders are on steroids!
Slowly, though, Alex begins to undertand what being a Mackenzie is all about...
Call Number: CPS 8B8
ISBN: 9780734410269
Publication Date: 2007
The Orchard
The Orchard by Drusilla Modjeska
The winner of the Australian Booksellers' Award, a novel in which notions and memories and fiction and reality float together as an octogenarian narrates the legend of the silver hands to a woman in her twenties, who in turn passes on a tale to a man who claims it as his own.
Call Number: CPS 9A3
ISBN: 9780330356558
Publication Date: 1995
Wonder
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
'My name is August. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.'
Auggie wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things - eating ice cream, playing on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside. But ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids aren't stared at wherever they go.
Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?
Call Number: CPS 8A3
ISBN: 9780552565974
Publication Date: 2013
Refugee
Refugee by Alam Sunderland
Fleeing persecution in Afghanistan, Ali Ismail eventually finds himself held in a detention centre in the South Australian outback. For twelve months he endures hardship and despair while he waits to find out whether he will be allowed to stay in Australia. Includes historical note about asylum seekers in Australia.
Call Number: CPS EA5
ISBN: 9781741696165
Publication Date: 2010
Does My Head Look Big in This by
The slide opened and I heard a gentle, kind voice:
'What is your confession, my child?'
I was stuffed. The priest would declare me a heretic;
my parents would call me a traitor . . .
The priest asked me again: 'What is your confession, my child?'
'I'm Muslim,' I whispered.
Welcome to my world. I'm Amal Abdel-Hakim, a sixteen-year-old Australian-Palestinian-Muslim still getting to grips with my various identity hyphens.
It's hard enough to be cool as a teenager, but try wearing a veil on your head and getting in the 'bums up' position at lunchtime and you know you're in for a tough time.
Luckily my friends support me, although they've got a few troubles of their own. Simone, blonde and gorgeous, has got serious image issues, and Leila's really intelligent but her parents are more interested in her getting a marriage certificate than her high school certificate.
And I thought I had problems . . .
A story of being true to yourself, standing up for your beliefs and finding your own way.
Being Bindy by
What happens when your worst friend, who used to be your best friend, threatens to become your sister?
I'd never sat on my own in the schoolyard before. Everywhere I looked I saw smirking faces, people whispering to each other, or whistling. Janey wouldn't even look at me. I overheard one of the others say, 'I don't know why you were ever friends with her,' to which she replied, I know. 'She's just so bleagh.'
That was the moment. It was officially TWDOML - The Worst Day of My Life.
Janey narrowed her eyes. 'Don't you understand anything? When adults Go Out, it's not like when we do it. Before too long they'll want to move in together and where will they live? What if they get married? We'll be sisters.'
Bindy faces some tough decisions, finding her own way among schoolmates, friends, ex-friends, boys and parents in this funny, searching novel from the author of Finding Grace and Walking Naked.
View from the 32nd Floor by
Something special has been gifted to you. Join your neighbours, Saturday, 6.00 pm, on the roof.
Living on the thirty-second floor of an apartment block, William has a clear view of the building opposite. He sees his neighbours eating ice-cream, watering potted palms, painting pictures ... or as shadows behind closed curtains. Shadows worry William. With his new friend Rebecca, and helped by lots of cake, a dictionary of names, tai chi, and banana-shaped sticky notes, he plans to tempt his lonely neighbours back into the world.
Matilda by
These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: you are not alone.
Matilda is a brilliant child with a magical mind.
But her parents have decided she's just a nuisance who wastes too much time on reading and stories.
And her headmistress Miss Trunchbull is a terrible bully, who thinks children are rotten and awful and should be locked up.
Now it's time for Matilda to find the power to change her story, and show them just how extraordinary children can be . . .
That's Why I Wrote This Song by
From bestselling author, Susanne Gervay, comes a coming-of-age story about an all-girl rock band in search of love, life and independence. Girls, boys, music - great mix! And who hasn't dreamed of being in a rock band? And what could be better than hooking up with your besties and forming an all-girl band. that's what Pip, Irina, Karen and Angie did when they formed their band Not Perfect. these are four different girls lead very different lives, but when they come together and play, they are as one. these girls rock. Bestselling author Susanne Gervay wrote tHAt'S WHY I WROtE tHIS SONG, and her musician daughter tory wrote the lyrics. the book explores the lives of four very different teenage girls and their relationships with their fathers, boys and each other. All this is set around the music scene and the girls' passion for and involvement with it, from rock concerts, weekend music festivals and the girls' own band.
The Book of Everything by
A small book about the big things in life that really matter. Shocking, funny, touching and ultimately hopeful, this is a rare gem of a story for all ages.
Thomas sees amazing things that no one else can see: tropical fish swimming in the canal, sparrows playing bright trumpets and frogs wriggling through the letterbox. When his father hits his mother, Thomas sees the angels cover their eyes and weep.
He writes it all down in The Book of Everything, including his wish: 'When I grow up, I'm going to be happy'. One of his biggest discoveries is that happiness begins with no longer being afraid.
When Heaven Fell by
Every day nine-year-old Binh sells fruit and sodas to the girls whose families can afford to send them to school, and every night she returns to her one-room home to share a simple meal with her family. Everything changes, however, when her grandmother tells Binh she had a daughter during the war, a child who was sent away to America as a little girl. Now Di Hai -- Binh’s aunt, a teacher -- is coming to visit, and Binh can’t help but wonder what luxurious gifts she will bring.
Yet when Di Hai arrives, there are so many confusing things about her: she’s taller than the men, she’s not married, and her presents are mere trinkets that could have come from Third Aunt’s tourist shop! Still, Binh secretly hopes Di Hai will take her to live in America. Can her aunt live up to her expectations? Carolyn Marsden tells Binh’s story with warmth and sensitivity as she ushers readers into the life and dreams of a young Vietnamese girl.
The Binna Binna Man by
The powerful story of an Aboriginal teenage boy who is caught between the attractions of city life and the ways of his people. After a terrifying encounter with the Binna Binna man he knows what he must do in order to be true to himself.
BOORI MONTY PRYOR: AUSTRALIA'S CHILDREN'S LAUREATE 2012-13
'The Binna Binna man is a big fulla and he stinks like a goat. He can be good and heal you, but if you poke fun at him then you can get into big trouble, like die.'
In Binna Binna country you should watch where you go, even on a night when life is so stuffed up that nothing matters any more. You go wandering too far and you might come face to face with your worst nightmare - the Binna Binna man.
Filled with laughter and affection, this is the powerful story of a boy who is learning that if you forget where you come from you get weak. That to stay strong you must listen to the old people with your eyes and your ears - and your heart. A companion to My Girragundji.
Ties that Bind, Ties that Break by
Third Sister in the Tao family, Ailin has watched her two older sisters go through the painful process of having their feet bound. In China in 1911, all the women of good families follow this ancient tradition. But Ailin loves to run away from her governess and play games with her male cousins. Knowing she will never run again once her feet are bound, Ailin rebels and refuses to follow this torturous tradition.
As a result, however, the family of her intended husband breaks their marriage agreement. And as she enters adolescence, Ailin finds that her family is no longer willing to support her. Chinese society leaves few options for a single woman of good family, but with a bold conviction and an indomitable spirit, Ailin is determined to forge her own destiny. Her story is a tribute to all those women whose courage created new options for the generations who came after them.
Finding Isabella by
Stacey is facing her parent's divorce, boyfriend problems and girlfriend issues. But research for a school assignment into the life of her great-great-great-great grandmother allows her to work through her problems and discover some interesting skeletons in the family closet.
Ten Things I Hate about Me by
Jamie wants to be the real thing. From the roots of her dyed blonde hair...
There are a lot of things Jamie hates about her life: her dark hair, her dad's Stone Age Charter of Curfew Rights, her real name - Jamilah Towfeek.
For the past three years Jamie has hidden her Lebanese background from everyone at school. It's only with her email friend John that she can really be herself. But now things are getting complicated: the most popular boy in school is interested in her, but there's no way he would be if he knew the truth. Then there's Timothy, the school loner, who for some reason Jamie just can't stop thinking about. As for John, he seems to have a pretty big secret of his own...
To top it all off, Jamie's school formal is coming up. The only way she'll be allowed to attend is by revealing her true identity. Will she risk it all? And does she know who she is... Jamie or Jamilah?
Finding Grace by
Told by sassy 18-year-old Rachel, this is a suspenseful, compassionate, yet laugh-out-loud funny story about looking after a woman with brain damage - and about tasting love, finding grace and getting a life.
Rachel has just left school and she knows everything. Well, maybe not quite everything. Then she meets the mysterious Mr Preston, who gives her a live-in job looking after Grace - Grace with the lovely house, the grasping sisters, the feral neighbours and the spooky box full of unfinished business; Grace who never speaks. Who is Grace? How do the pieces of her world fit together? And what will it all mean for Rachel?
Told from Rachel's gloriously eccentric perspective, this is an intriguing, compassionate, unexpectedly funny story about tasting love, finding grace and getting a life.
Crow Country by
When Sadie moves back to her mother's home town in country Victoria, she finds herself drawn to the dried-up lake where eerie carved standing stones have recently been revealed. The wheeling crows seem to speak to her about an old wrong she must set right, and she finds herself catapulted back to a time just after World War I. Three young men have just returned from the war: Sadie's grandfather who runs the local shop, the local landowner, and Jimmy Raven, an Indigenous stockman who works on the landowner's farm. Sadie discovers that Jimmy was killed under mysterious circumstances and that her grandfather helped cover it up. Back in her own time, Sadie befriends Walter, a boy from Mildura who may have a connection to Jimmy. Can Sadie and Walter work through the mystery and prevent a similar tragedy happening in their own time?
Pieces of Sky by
A strong atmospheric novel about Lucy, a sixteen-year-old competitive swimmer in a coastal town who is grappling with a fear of water after the untimely death of her surfer brother.
Lucy's life was going as smoothly as any teenager's could. She was the state backstroke champion, and swimming obsessed. She lived with her parents and her brother, Cam, in the small coastal town she'd known all her life. She had friends, she had goals - she had a life.
Now Cam is dead, her parents might as well be - and Lucy can't bear to get back in the pool. All she has to look forward to now is a big pile of going-nowhere.
Drawn to Steffi, the wild ex-best-friend who reminds her of her artist brother, and music-obsessed Evan, the new boy in town, Lucy starts asking questions. Why did Cam die? Was it an accident or suicide? But as Lucy hunts for answers she discovers much more than she expects. About Cam. About her family. About herself.
A soaring, uplifting novel about love and loss from an exciting new voice.
Girl Underground by
Bridget wants a quiet life. Including, if possible, keeping her parents out of prison.
Then a boy called Menzies makes her an offer she can't refuse, and they set off on a job of their own.
It's a desperate, daring plan - to rescue two kids, Jamal and Bibi, from a desert detention centre.
Can Bridget and Menzies pull off their very first jail break, or will they end up behind bars too?
Sometimes, to help a friend, you have to dig deep.
With its themes of friendship, perseverance and the power of standing up for what's right, Girl Underground is a must-read for anyone who loved Boy Overboard and wants to continue following Jamal and Bibi's journey through the eyes of all new, but every bit as endearing, characters.
Allie McGregor's true colours by
Allie McGregor's list of problems is longer than movie credits. House renovations have forced Allie to share her room with mouse-loving little sister, Sarah. Her dad, Will, calls Allie 'The Hormonal One' during his popular radio program. Her brother, Riley, is just plain gross. Her best friend Lou is fighting with Allie's new friend, Romy. Oh, and Allie's mum has cancer.
So Much to Tell You by
'I don't know what I'm doing here. Well, I do really I have been sent here to learn to talk again. Sent here because my mother can't stand my silent presence at home. Sent here because of my face 'She watches; she dreams. She sees more than they realise. She has worries and fears, hopes and desires. She is troubled; she is angry. Above all, she is lonely. She may be someone you know. She may be you. In SO MUCH TO TELL YOU she tells her story - with humour and insight, with sensitivity and strength, with painful honesty. You will never forget her.
The Barrumbi Kids by
Dale and Tomias are best mates. They live at Long Hole community. The kids struggle with school, the trials of growing up, and parental expectations. Life itself is full of danger - from wild bushfires, crocodile-infested rivers and the thick bubbling ooze of the blood pit. As a back drop to the children’s stories there is the land itself - a magnificent landscape of fire and floodplain, unbearable heat and towering storms.
The Barrumbi Kids is a funny unforgettable novel that brilliantly captures the paradoxes of life in the rural Australia with honesty and humour.
Aliki Says by
A powerful novel about family secrets and forgetting, from the award-winning author of Willow Tree and Olive.
Aliki syas, 'Jump!' and everyone says, 'How high?'
Aliki and her cousin Liza are best friends, but sometimes Liza wishes Aliki didn't always get all of the attention. Liza is on her way to Greece to collect their grandmother and bring her back to Australia to live. But the dark secret their
grandmother carries with her threatens to tear their world apart.
As the girls prepare for their final year of high school, the summer brings with it a sea of unanswered questions. Questions that will affect the rest of their lives . . .
Nona & Me by
They are also best friends. It doesn't matter that Rosie is white and Nona is Aboriginal- their family connections tie them together for life.
Born just five days apart in a remote corner of the Northern Territory, the girls are inseparable, until Nona moves away at the age of nine. By the time she returns, they're in Year 10 and things have changed. Rosie has lost interest in the community, preferring to hang out in the nearby mining town, where she goes to school with the glamorous Selena, and Selena's gorgeous older brother Nick.
When a political announcement highlights divisions between the Aboriginal community and the mining town, Rosie is put in a difficult position- will she be forced to choose between her first love and her oldest friend?
Faking Sweet by
Best friends and betrayal. It's all part of surviving year nine . . . Holly might be new, but she already knows who to watch out for- Jess Flynn, the most popular girl in year nine. Holly's best friend back in Melbourne, Calypso, says Jess is a liar, a shoplifter and a boyfriend-stealer. Calypso wants revenge for her ex-friend's betrayal, and Holly's only too happy to oblige. But it's not proving easy to follow Calypso's plan and catch Jess out. And then there's the fact that as Holly gets to know her, Jess isn't fitting the terrible picture Calypso has painted of her.
Danny Champion of the World by
Danny thinks his dad is the most marvellous and exciting father a boy could wish for. Life is happy and peaceful in their gipsy caravan, until one day Danny discovers his dad has been breaking the law. What's more, soon Danny has to join his father as they attempt to pull off a daring and devilish plot against horrible, red-faced Mr Victor Hazell.
Parvana by
Eleven-year-old Parvana lives with her family in one room of a bombed-out apartment in war-torn Afghanistan during the Taliban era of the late 1990s.When soldiers burst into her home and drag her father off to prison, it becomes Parvana's responsibility to be the breadwinner for her family.
But in a city where girls and women are denied an education and forbidden to leave the home without a male family member, Parvana needs to find a way to make a living in the marketplace of Kabul. Dressed as a boy, Parvana must gather all her courage and resilience and risk her life every day to make ends meet in the dangerous and volatile city.
A powerful and riveting novel about loyalty, resistance, survival, family and friendship in the face of overwhelming fear and oppression.
Two Hands Together by
When the Rileys move in next door, Lily and Ella become the best of friends. But Lily can't understand why her Dad doesn't like the Rileys. Why doesn't he want them to go over there? Why is he being so horrible and mean? Does something big have to happen to change his mind?
Saving Francesca by
Francesca is at the beginning of her second term in Year Eleven at an all boy's school that has just started accepting girls. She still misses her old friends, and, to make things worse, her mother has had a breakdown and can barely move from her bed.
But Francesca had not counted on the fierce loyalty of her new friends, or falling in love, or finding that it's within her power to bring her family back together.
Killer Mackenzie by
It's a blazing Australian summer and London-based Alex is on her unenthusiastic way to Glenlea Farm at Sturts Creek to spend three months with Cameron, the father she hasn't seen for years, and a stepmother she's never met. And the stepmother is disgustingly pregnant. (At her age. Gross!)
After a teeth-rattling, spine-cracking, head-bumping journey, Alix discovers real farm life is nothing like a Disney movie. Her father is a cold-blooded chook murderer, there's no air-conditioning, the roosters are feral, and the spiders are on steroids!
Slowly, though, Alex begins to undertand what being a Mackenzie is all about...
The Orchard by
The winner of the Australian Booksellers' Award, a novel in which notions and memories and fiction and reality float together as an octogenarian narrates the legend of the silver hands to a woman in her twenties, who in turn passes on a tale to a man who claims it as his own.
Wonder by
'My name is August. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.'
Auggie wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things - eating ice cream, playing on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside. But ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. Ordinary kids aren't stared at wherever they go.
Born with a terrible facial abnormality, Auggie has been home-schooled by his parents his whole life. Now, for the first time, he's being sent to a real school - and he's dreading it. All he wants is to be accepted - but can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, underneath it all?
Refugee by
Fleeing persecution in Afghanistan, Ali Ismail eventually finds himself held in a detention centre in the South Australian outback. For twelve months he endures hardship and despair while he waits to find out whether he will be allowed to stay in Australia. Includes historical note about asylum seekers in Australia.