The day I was history by Jackie French

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National Museum of Australia Press, 2007 (Making Tracks series)
(8+) When Auntie Fee and Uncle Damien take Sam to the museum, they are most surprised when Sam tells them the story of the Canberra bushfires. Seeing a burnt hub cap, with the charred remains of a tyre still attached, recalled for Sam the most terrifying time of his life, when the fires near Canberra suddenly turned towards the city. Dragging the reader into a story is Jackie French's specialty and this is no exception. The smell, heat and drama of the fire permeate the whole story, making the reader very aware of the danger the city and its inhabitants were experiencing in 2003.

This series (Making Tracks) from the Australian Museum in Canberra has at its heart the sharing of artifacts in the museum with a wider audience. Each of the authors has taken an artifact which has some resonance with them and written a short story about it for younger readers, and so we have a series of about 15 books, set firmly in the past, with an engaging young character.
Fran Knight

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