This author, who grew up on the land, explores future environmental challenges, particularly as they relate to food security, in her work. Her children's novels often unfold against the backdrop of the Australian landscape, examining themes of survival and adaptation. Through engaging narratives, she brings the importance of ecological sustainability and responsibility to young readers. Her style is described as adventurous and thought-provoking.
Set in a future Australia, a time when there are no bees and children are employed to scramble through the fruit trees with feather wands. Peony wants to be a bee, a hand pollinator: she's a year too young and when you're only 9, it's hard to get everyone around you to go along with your plan. A compelling novel for middle grade readers.
A wonderful children's novel by two stellar writers featuring Shelby and Phoenix, living 100 years apart yet unexpectedly joined across time - and each make the discovery of a lifetime that has the potential to upend their worlds.We've been told over and over we're the generation that waits for the world to recover. We endure the heat. We endure the storms, the wrecking floods, the long droughts, the days of smoke as fire burns, coz this is what the honoured earth does when she's trying to recover.Shelby and her best friend Davy live quiet low-tech lives in a closed community that is made up of exactly three hundred and fifty kind, ethical people living on exactly seven hundred hectares.When they climb through a hole in the perimeter fence to venture into the surrounding jungle, what they find is more astonishing than anything they could have imagined.And when Shelby realises the terrible danger that is unfolding, it will take all of her daring and determination to ensure the past does not repeat itself.Intriguing, absorbing and spine-tinglingly good, The Raven's Song is a brilliant novel by two esteemed writers at the height of their powers.
Trapped in a starving city, Ella and Emery must escape upcountry, to find Emery's mum. They harness up their dogsled and set off on a terrifying journey across a barren landscape. Environmentally-themed action-packed adventure! New Zealand Children's Book of the Year; shortlisted Australian Book of the Year; nominated for the Carnegie Medal.
In a climate changed world, this adventure with sinkholes, crocodiles, sharks, pirates, floating cities, vertical farms and a mystery to solve poses the question of how we will all live 'afterwards'. Will kindness and a sense of community win over selfish greed to preserve our planet - and humanity?
Gweep is a tiny alien with big plans and it's up to Tim to explain to him that he is far too small to take over one human let alone the whole world.
Bastienne Scull is nearly 12 years old and lives a simple life as an apprentice to the Witnesser of Miracles in a small village mostly populated by women and girls. Basti knows that miracle-hunting is a lot like mystery-solving, and her little world is full of wonder and intrigue and unexpected adventure. A supremely enjoyable middle grade novel from the multi award-winning, bestselling author of How to Bee, The Dog Runner and The Raven's Song. That's what my photos are. Little moments. All the good moments, the kind moments, the moments of care and love that, if you add them all together, make a life sweet. Bastienne Scull is a young orphan who lives with the local Witnesser of Miracles, Lodyma Darsey, who investigates 'miraculous events' and spins them into stories she tells at the night markets. After Lodyma's husband and elder son died of a sickness that continues to sweep the land, she sent her teenage son Osmin into the hills to live with the mountain men. That was ten years ago, and Lodyma doesn't know if he's alive or dead. And she's taken Bastienne as an apprentice to fill the void of her lost family. One day, two young boys arrive in town asking Lodyma to go on a mysterious mission to a monastery. And when Lodyma and Bastienne arrive, what they discover will change their lives. A wonderful novel, full of hope, courage, resilience and family.