Anna and Jamie are inseparable, the brother and sister team who face the world, their family and school together. Their love for each other is bigger than anything else they know and stronger than any ordinary bond.
Denise (Dennie to her family and friends) is having a really tough time. With her mum acting super weird, her boyfriend being a total jerk and her Year Eleven results withheld, she doesn't even have her best friend Kat to turn to. Kat has problems of her own. How can Dennie cope with the stress?
Seeking shelter in a Parisian cafe from a sudden rainstorm, John Patterner meets the exotic Sabiha and his carefully mapped life changes forever.
FORMAT:
paperback
SUITABLE AGES:
15 to 18
PUBLISHED:
2012
PUBLISHER:
Allen & Unwin
ISBN:
9781742378862
GENRE:
realism
CATEGORY:
Novel
THEMES:
Australians in France
Tunisians in France
Human relations
Award winners
Love
Paris (France)
Migrants
AWARDS:
Christina Stead Prize for Fiction 2011, Miles Franklin Literary Award shortlist 2010, The Age Book of the Year 2010
Shelley, Mary Francis, Pauline reteller
Frankenstein
2010
9780237541057
TITLE:
Frankenstein
AUTHOR:
Shelley, Mary Francis, Pauline reteller
This is the chilling story of a scientist, Frankenstein, who succeeds in creating a fearful monster, only to find that the monster holds a terrible power over him and the people he loves.
SUITABLE AGES:
11 to 14
PUBLISHED:
2010
PUBLISHER:
Evans
ISBN:
9780237541057
SERIES:
Essential classics
GENRE:
horror
CATEGORY:
Graphic novel
THEMES:
Easy to read
Monsters
Good and evil
Scientists
Wolfson, Jill
Cold hands, warm heart
2011
9781406325416
TITLE:
Cold hands, warm heart
AUTHOR:
Wolfson, Jill
Recommendation:
Recommended
Dani is a 15 year old who has had more doctor's appointments and hospital visits than she cares to remember. She was born with her heart on the wrong side of her body and is waiting for an organ donor. 14 year old Amanda is a top gymnast in perfect health who suffers an accident at a meet. Their lives are about to become entwined.
This book has Amy, Dan and their friends in New York. The instructions have them after an ancient document but meanwhile one of their other friends has discovered the mole in their organisation is actually a close friend of them all.
This is the story of Laura who travels for years before returning to work for a travel-book publisher and Ravi who flees Sri Lanka after a tragedy.
SUITABLE AGES:
15 to 18
PUBLISHED:
2012
PUBLISHER:
Allen & Unwin
ISBN:
9781743311004
GENRE:
historical
CATEGORY:
Novel
THEMES:
Voyages and travels
Travel
Sri Lanka
Refugees
Asia
AWARDS:
Indie Awards shortlist 2013, Prime Minister's Literary Award, Miles Franklin Literary Award 2013, West Australian Premier's Book Awards 2013, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, NSW Premier's Literary Awards
Jake is amused when his friends and those about him fall into the trap of talking about nothing else but Junior Cooks. He studiously ignores the conversations about the program, but when his teacher brings it up in class as a topic of discussion, he knows he cannot hold out.
When Colt and his mother, a veterinarian, go to the Lost World Circus to see an elephant, the last elephant in the world, they must take action when the animal is bitten by the dreaded ghost-rat, the reason for all animals in the world dying.
All the animals belonged to the Bush Book Club. They loved to read and would meet in their club house tree and discuss and swap books. But Bilby didn't like to read. He couldn't sit still long enough to get through a book and why read when he could do handstands and skip and hop? What will it take to get Bilby to read a book?
Henry V, the tale of a new king wanting to retake the land in France he feels he is entitled to by divine right, is a masterful tale of power and its use, as Henry rebuffs overtures from the King of France, wanting to test himself in his new role.
'The ice dragon breathed death into the world; death and quiet and cold. But Adara was not afraid. She was a winter child, and the ice dragon was her secret.'
Southwest Britain, AD 43. For the people of Caer Cad, 'skin' is their belief, their greeting, their ancestors, their land. Ailia does not have skin. Abandoned at birth, she serves the Tribequeen of her township.
First two books in The Phoenix files series, Arrival and Contact, come together in this dramatic start to the end of the world. Luke, Jordan and Peter, are soon puzzling over the weird message they receive on USB drives that something called Tabitha will destroy the outside world in 100 days.
When Wendy cannot sleep, her parents decide to take her to see Grandpa Walter. She has never visited his house before, and cannot help but notice that his suit is the same design as his garden. When she climbs the stairs she notices the rose wallpaper, and when she looks closely at one of the roses, finds she can smell it.
Was it the chocolate pudding? : a story for little kids about divorce
2006
159147308X
TITLE:
Was it the chocolate pudding? : a story for little kids about divorce
AUTHOR:
Levins, Sandra
Readers learn about divorce, and receive age-appropriate explanations of what is happening regarding such issues as single-family homes and joint custody. (Publisher)
SUITABLE AGES:
5 to 7
PUBLISHED:
2006
PUBLISHER:
Magination
ISBN:
159147308X
GENRE:
issues
CATEGORY:
Picture book
THEMES:
Children of divorced parents
Guilt
Divorce
Whitman, Sylvia
Milk of birds
2014
9781442446830
TITLE:
Milk of birds
AUTHOR:
Whitman, Sylvia
SUITABLE AGES:
to 18
PUBLISHED:
2014
PUBLISHER:
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
ISBN:
9781442446830
GENRE:
issues
CATEGORY:
Novel
THEMES:
Friendship
Letters
Genocide
Darfur (Sudan)
Refugees
Ivanoff, George
Emergency echo
2015
9780857988782
TITLE:
Emergency echo
AUTHOR:
Ivanoff, George
Recommendation:
Recommended
Alice and Ben live in Mount Magnet, six hours away from Perth on the Great Northern Highway. When twelve year old Alice doubles over in pain whilst playing a friendly game of cricket with her friend Ben, she doesn't think anything is wrong.
Made by hand by Billy's mother, Ollie is a special toy, 'a toy who will matter.' He becomes Billy's best friend,. When Ollie is toynapped, Billy must rescue his beloved favorite from Zozo's subterranean lair in the old Carnival Place.
An intriguing and fascinating account of the family and social history of a Hungarian family who demonstrated the most amazing resilience and survival through torrid periods of European history.
In the fork of a tree a young koala wakes. He goes to his mother, wanting to get back into the safety of her pouch but she repels him. He is abruptly turned out into the world and must now learn to survive on his own.
SUITABLE AGES:
5 to 10
PUBLISHED:
2017
PUBLISHER:
Walker Books Australia
ISBN:
9781925126396
SERIES:
Nature storybooks
GENRE:
animal
CATEGORY:
Picture book
THEMES:
Koalas
Animals - Australia
Factual picture book
Environment
Habitats
AWARDS:
Eve Pownall Book of the Year Award Honour Book 2018
The carrots that grow in Crackenhopper Field are the fattest and crispiest around and Jasper Rabbit cannot resist pulling some to eat each time he passes by.
SUITABLE AGES:
8 to 10
PUBLISHED:
2012
PUBLISHER:
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
ISBN:
9781442402973
SERIES:
Tiger Moth
GENRE:
humour
CATEGORY:
Graphic novel
THEMES:
Carrots
Rabbits
Vegetables
Read aloud
AWARDS:
Caldecott Medal honor book 2013, American Library Association Notable Books for Children 2013
D'Anthes, Sha'an
Zoom
2017
9780734417633
TITLE:
Zoom
AUTHOR:
D'Anthes, Sha'an
Recommendation:
Highly recommended
Scout is a young inventor, explorer and dreamer. Each day he thinks about things and builds his space ship, ready to be launched in his back yard. In space he visits each of the planets in our Solar System in turn, naming them and showing some of their details.
Seventeen-year-old Eve isn't looking for trouble - she's too busy looking over her shoulder. The robot gladiator she spent months building has been reduced to a smoking wreck, she's on the local gangster's wanted list, and the only thing keeping her grandpa alive is the money she just lost to the bookies.
When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually right on the beat - but real life is a little harder to manage. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And she hasn't mustered the courage to tell her friends she's bisexual, not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.
Let's take a walk down High Street and discover the variety of jobs that grown-ups do. We will pop into each building to see what they wear, what tools they use and what they make and do.
Ava would like nothing more than to tell her family she loves them, particularly her big sister, Nic. But Ava has Rett syndrome - she can't talk, can't nod her head, can't even point at a communication card.
SUITABLE AGES:
10 to 14 15
PUBLISHED:
2018
PUBLISHER:
University of Queensland Press
ISBN:
9780702260278
GENRE:
issues
CATEGORY:
Novel
THEMES:
Adolescents
Communication
Disabled
Communication disorders
Disability
Rett Syndrome
Class text suggestion
AWARDS:
Younger Readers Book of the Year Award Notable Books 2019
Trapped inside the sinister estate where the past and present intertwine, Poppy, Marcus, Dash, Dylan, and Azumi gradually discover that the secrets they each hold are more sinister than the house's ghosts.
SUITABLE AGES:
10 to 12
PUBLISHED:
2017
PUBLISHER:
Scholastic Inc.
ISBN:
9780545925518
SERIES:
Shadow house ; 2
GENRE:
horror
CATEGORY:
Novel
THEMES:
Orphans and orphanages
Ghosts
Secrecy
McCartney, Tania
Mamie
2018
9781460755860
TITLE:
Mamie
AUTHOR:
McCartney, Tania
Recommendation:
Highly recommended
This c harming, warm-hearted look at May Gibbs and how she developed her ideas of the gumnut babies will endear itself to younger readers.
The story of a father and his son who live by themselves in a cosy cabin in the woods. But, one day they are separated out in the beautifully falling snow. The boy is lost and falls asleep. When he wakes up he is surrounded by blinking eyes, a rabbit, a fox, an owl and all manner of other creatures have surrounded him!
At the end of Shadow and Bone, Alina and Mal had escaped across the sea after almost destroying the Darkling in the Unsea. Now they are on the run from everything they know, including the oldest and most powerful Grisha and his unbeatable army.
SUITABLE AGES:
15 to 18
SIMILAR AUTHORS:
Tomi Adeyemi, Kesio Lupo, Sarah J. Maas, Maggie Stiefwater, Sabaa Tahir, Shelby Mahurin
The book examines how the discoveries in space have been translated back into everyday objects on Earth. It is full of amazing facts about everyday innovations, from drills and dustbusters to bike helmets, that have been inspired by space travel and includes sections on the people who brought them to us.
Twelve-year-old Christopher Nichols and his family live on a new planet, Perses, as colonists of Melming Mining's Great Mission to save the earth. When Landers, as the attackers are called, obliterate the colony to steal the metal and raw ore, Christopher and a small group of survivors are forced into the maze of mining tunnels below the surface of Perses.
SUITABLE AGES:
11 to 14
PUBLISHED:
2016
PUBLISHER:
Margaret K. McElderry Books
ISBN:
9781481440400
SERIES:
MiNRS ; 1
GENRE:
Science fiction
CATEGORY:
Novel
THEMES:
Planets
Colonisation
Mines and mineral resources
Survival
Colonies
Mining
Minerals (Mineralogy)
Abela, Deborah Illus. Crosby-Fairall, Marjorie
Bear in space
2020
9781760651510
TITLE:
Bear in space
AUTHOR:
Abela, Deborah Illus. Crosby-Fairall, Marjorie
Recommendation:
Highly recommended
Bear is different. When he dreams of going into space, the other bears laugh. But Bear has plans to change his world, one space adventure at a time. In space he feels at home, but also alone, until something extraordinary happens.
SUITABLE AGES:
5 to 7
PUBLISHED:
2020
PUBLISHER:
Walker Books Australia
ISBN:
9781760651510
CATEGORY:
Picture book
THEMES:
Bears
Self-esteem
Space - Exploration
Bullying
Self-confidence
Space exploration
Friendahip
AWARDS:
Early Childhood Book of the Year Award Notable Books 2021
