Born and raised in Wisconsin, Ali Novak is an awarding-winning author of contemporary young adult novels. She started writing her debut book, My Life with the Walter Boys, when she was only fifteen. Since then, her work has received more than 150 million reads online.
When she isn't writing, Novak enjoys traveling with her husband, Jared; binding fan fiction; and reading any type of fantasy novel she can get her hands on.
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The girls were delighted to host acclaimed Australian writer Claire Zorn to Bennies last term where she spoke to them about her life as a writer and where she get he writing inspiration from. Claire recently wrote about her visit to Bennies on her blog All The Kings Horses where she also attached 3 of our year 8 girls' book trailers for her book 'The sky so heavy'
Belittled Women
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Sharp and subversive, this delightfully messy YA rom-com offers a sly wink to the classic Little Women, as teenage Jo Porter rebels against living in the shadow of her literary namesake. Lit's about to hit the fan. Jo Porter has had enough Little Women to last a lifetime. As if being named after the sappiest family in literature wasn't sufficiently humiliating, Jo's mom, ahem Marmee, leveled up her Alcott obsession by turning their rambling old house into a sad-sack tourist attraction. Now Jo, along with her siblings, Meg and Bethamy (yes, that's two March sisters in one), spends all summer acting out sentimental moments at Little Women Live!, where she can feel her soul slowly dying. So when a famed photojournalist arrives to document the show, Jo seizes on the glimpse of another life: artsy, worldly, and fast-paced. It doesn't hurt that the reporter's teenage son is also eager to get up close and personal with Jo--to the annoyance of her best friend, aka the boy next door (who is definitely not called Laurie). All Jo wants is for someone to see the person behind the prickliness and pinafores. But when she gets a little too real about her frustration with the family biz, Jo will have to make peace with kitsch and kin before their livelihood suffers a fate worse than Beth.
The Noh Family
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When her friends gift her DNA ancestry test as a joke, high school senior Chloe Kang doesn't think much of trying it out. She doesn't believe anything will come of it -- she's an only child, her mother is an orphan, and her father died in Seoul before she was even born, and before her mother moved to Oklahoma. It's been just Chloe and her mum her whole life. But the DNA test reveals something Chloe never expected -- she's got a whole extended family from her father's side half a world away in Korea. Her father's family are owners of a famous high-end department store, and are among the richest families in Seoul. When they learn she exists, they are excited to meet her. Her mother has huge reservations, she hasn't had a great relationship with her husband's family, which is why she's kept them secret, but she can't stop Chloe from travelling to Seoul to spend two weeks getting to know the Noh family. Chloe is whisked into the lap of luxury, but something feels wrong. Chloe wants to shake it off -- she's busy enjoying the delights of Seoul with new friend Miso Dan, the daughter of one of her mother's grade school friends. And as an aspiring fashion designer, she's loving the couture clothes her department store owning family gives her access to. But soon Chloe will discover the reason why her mother never told her about her dad's family, and why the Nohs wanted her in Seoul in the first place. Could joining the Noh family be worse than having no family at all?
Boy Swallows Universe
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Brisbane, 1983: A lost father, a mute brother, a mum in jail, a heroin dealer for a stepfather and a notorious crim for a babysitter. It's not as if Eli's life isn't complicated enough already. He's just trying to follow his heart, learning what it takes to be a good man, but life just keeps throwing obstacles in the way - not least of which is Tytus Broz, legendary Brisbane drug dealer. But Eli's life is about to get a whole lot more serious. He's about to fall in love. And, oh yeah, he has to break into Boggo Road Gaol on Christmas Day, to save his mum.
Amelia Westlake
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Harriet Price has the perfect life: she's a prefect at Rosemead Grammar, she lives in a mansion, and her gorgeous girlfriend is a future prime minister. So when she decides to risk it all by helping bad girl Will Everhart expose the school's many ongoing issues, Harriet tells herself it's because she too is seeking justice. And definitely not because she finds Will oddly fascinating. Will Everhart can't stand posh people like Harriet, but even she has to admit Harriet's ideas are good - and they'll keep Will from being expelled. That's why she teams up with Harriet to create Amelia Westlake, a fake student who can take the credit for a series of provocative pranks at their school. But the further Will and Harriet's hoax goes, the harder it is for the girls to remember they're sworn enemies - and to keep Amelia Westlake's true identity hidden. As tensions burn throughout the school, how far will they go to keep Amelia Westlake - and their feelings for each other - a secret?
Four Eyes: a Graphic Novel
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Sixth grade isn't as great as Rex thought it would be. He's the only kid who hasn't had a growth spurt, and the bullies won't let him forget it. His closest friend is unreliable, at best. And there's a cute girl in his class who he can't stop thinking about. With so much going on, everything is a blur - including Rex's vision! So when he discovers that he needs glasses, and his family can only afford the ugliest pair in the store, any hope Rex had of fitting in goes completely out of focus.
In this true coming-of-age story, Rex has his sights set on surviving sixth grade, but now he's got to find a way to do it with glasses, no friends and a family that just doesn't get it!
Night of the Living Cat Vol. 1
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A new horror/comedy about adorable threats in a post-apocalyptic world! A virus spreads across the world, transforming all humankind into wild, slavering, furry beasts- cats, to be precise. Those few survivors who remain human take refuge in the dark corners of the earth as they fight back against the feline horde. Kunagi, a man with no memory of his past yet a deep knowledge of cats, struggles to hold on with only his wits and a will to survive. Yet the virus transmits merely through cuddles, and Kunagi finds kitties so hard to resist! Is his willpower strong enough to withstand this hair-raising cat-tastrophe?
Sapiens : a graphic history. Volume 1, The birth of humankind
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One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth.
Yet today there is only one--homo sapiens. What happened to the others? And what may happen to us?
Historian Yuval Harari tells the story of humankind's creation and evolution, exploring the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be human. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens challenges us to reconsider accepted beliefs, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and view specific events within the context of larger ideas.
The autobiography of Malcolm X
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Compelling, controversial, angry, startling - one of the fundamental books of the Twentieth Century Civil Rights Movement
They called him the 'angriest black man in America' . . .
Celebrated and vilified the world over for his courageous but bitter fight to gain for millions of black men and women the equality and respect denied them by their white neighbours, Malcolm X inspired as many people in the United States as he caused to fear him.
His remarkable autobiography, completed just before his murder in 1965, ranges from Omaha and Michigan to Harlem and Mecca, and tells of a young, disenfranchised man whose descent into drug addition, robbery and prison was only reversed by his belief in the rights struggle for black America, and his conversion to the Nation of Islam.
Not only is this an enormously important record of the Civil Rights Movement in America, but also the scintillating story of a man who refused to allow anyone to tell him who or what he was.
Biographic: Austen
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Many people know that Jane Austen (1775-1817) was one of the greatest literary voices in history, celebrated by critics and the public alike, who wrote Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. What, perhaps, they don't know is that she was one of eight children of a clergyman; that all of her novels were originally published anonymously, with one simply authored "By a Lady," and that she once accepted a marriage proposal, but changed her mind the following day. This handbook to her life and work presents; an array of irresistible facts and figures converted into infographics to reveal the author behind the words.
A Cargo of Women
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New edition of the bestselling history that traces the chequered story of 100 women transported together in 1829 to Sydney. Includes new information on the women and treatment of convicts, and new illustrations.
The Museum of Broken Things
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A humorous, beautifully observed YA novel about overcoming grief amid the vulnerability of high school relationships.
I didn't always live here. Not so long ago I was living in a thriving metropolis with more than one coffee shop on each block and four full bars of reception. I went to Heathmont High School, home to one thousand students, two best friends, a deeply average orchestra, and one cursed statue. Well, allegedly.
Reece still isn't used to living in the small beachside town of Hamilton- she misses her old school, her old friends and her old life. She can't go back and she can't move forward- nothing feels right anymore. Not that she's trying very hard-she hasn't even unpacked yet, and the only new friend she's made is a middle-aged barista.
But when Reece inherits a strange artefact that belonged to her beloved grandmother, she begins to unravel a mystery that might change the way she feels about everything around her, including her charismatic classmate Gideon...
A lively, witty novel about letting go of the past and finding your place in the world, The Museum of Broken Things introduces a dazzling new voice in contemporary fiction.
The Last to Die
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What started as a game turns into something much darker in this fast-paced YA thriller with a plot to die for, perfect for fans of Natasha Preston and Hannah Jayne Harper Jacobs and her friends are just looking for some fun when they decide to start breaking into one another's houses. It's enough to give them a rush, and it's pretty harmless since they all promise not to take anything that can't be replaced. But when they target the home of a classmate, it crosses a line, and one of the group turns up dead. Harper needs to figure out what's happening fast...or else she might be next. Gripping and ominous The Last to Die is perfect for readers looking for- unputdownable teen thrillers dark young adult mystery books high-stakes plot and moody setting dynamic, pitch-perfect writing
Begone the Raggedy Witches
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When witches kidnap her dad, Mup is swept up in a wild tide of magic that carries her to another world. Can she reunite her family and find her way back? On the night that Aunty dies, the raggedy witches come for Mup's family. Pale, cold, and relentless, the witches will do anything for the tyrannical queen who has outlawed most magic and enforces her laws with terror and cruelty -- and who happens to be Mup's grandmother. When witches carry off her dad, Mup and her mam leave the mundane world to rescue him. But everything is odd in the strange, glittering Witches Borough, even Mam. Even Mup herself. In a world of rhyming crows, talking cats, and golden forests, it's all Mup can do to keep her wits about her. And even if she can save her dad, Mup's not sure if anything will ever be the same again. First in a new trilogy by Irish author Celine Kiernan, this tale of family and forbidden magic charts a fresh path through the landscape of beloved fantasy tradition -- and promises to bewitch any reader in search of stories to love.
Out of My Mind
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Eleven-year-old Melody is not like most people. She can't walk. She can't talk. She can't write. All because she has cerebral palsy. But she also has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She's the smartest kid in her whole school, but NO ONE knows it. Most people—her teachers, her doctors, her classmates—dismiss her as mentally challenged because she can't tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by her disability. And she's determined to let everyone know it…somehow.
Out of My Heart
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Melody, the huge-hearted heroine of Out of My Mind, is now a year older and a year braver. But not as brave as she wants to be, as she's terrified of horses. Even though she loves horses -- loves loves loves them -- —from afar. Not one to be thwarted, Melody decides summer camp, one with horseback riding, should be her next challenge. Except, are there even riding camps for differently-abled kids? Ones that would welcome a kid with cerebral palsy? She's going to find out.
Out of My Dreams
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When Melody saves an elderly back-in-the-day actress's life, the woman is so grateful--and impressed by Melody--that she nominates Melody to be a US spokesperson at an international symposium for kids with different abilities. To Melody's utter shock and delight, she and two friends of her choice are chosen to participate--and this year's symposium is in England! Melody finally gets to fly on an airplane, and even the airline's somewhat clumsy handling of her wheelchair can't dampen her excitement to be in London. There, Melody meets kids from all over the world who are rallying for greater accessibility and more thoughtful planning on how to make the world more equal for every kid, no matter the unusual challenges they face. As Melody's time to speak approaches, she hopes she can find a way to make every word count and make an impact.