Children’s
The following titles are organised alphabetically by author.
For more information on any of the following authors or titles, please contact us via email or on (02) 9319 7199.
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TRISTAN BANCKS
Title: Mac Slater, Coolhunter (Book 1)
Publication: Random House, 2008
Genre: Children’s fiction, ages 10 and up
Mac’s just crashed the latest prototype of his flying bike in front of practically the whole school. So when the creators of Coolhunters approach him and tell him he’s an Innovator, Mac thinks they’re crazy. I mean, Mac lives in an old bus with his hippie mum. He doesn’t have a TV, let alone a mobile. But Tony and Speed say he’s so uncool he’s, like, cool.
They offer Mac a trial. He’ll vlog all the cool stuff coming out of King’s Bay for a week. If he wins he’ll travel the world, uncovering stuff he loves and reporting it via Coolhunters, a massive online space dedicated to the coolest things on earth.
But hunting cool ain’t easy. Mac’s opponent, Cat DeVrees, wants the gig real bad and she’ll do just about anything to get it …
Title: Mac Slater – I Heart NY
Publication: Random House, 2009
Genre: Children’s fiction, ages 10 and up
Mac and his best friend, Paul, are on a Coolhunt in New York City when they come across The Hive — a group of innovative kids creating video games, transport and sneakers that are way more cutting edge than anything on the market.
Mac’s bosses, Speed and Tony, flip out. They’re desperate for Mac to spill the beans to the world on this vein of cool he’s tapped into, but the kids at The Hive are determined to remain undiscovered.
Mac is forced to decide whether to sell out his Innovator friends and become a hero to Coolhunters subscribers or risk losing the greatest job in the world.
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KATHERINE BATTERSBY
Title: Squish Rabbit
Publication: Viking US and UQP 2011
Genre: Picture book (suitable for animation)
SQUISH RABBIT is a delightfully whimsical story about a small rabbit with a big heart. Simple, clear text is accompanied by clean, appealing and unambiguous illustrations that will delight very small children as well as their grown-up readers. It is ideal for early reading as well as for reading to children up to the age of five.
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AARON BLABEY
Title: Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley
Publication: Penguin, 2007
Genre: Picture book (suitable for animation)
- Kids Own Aust Literature Award (KOALA) -Picture Book Honour Book – 2009
- Children’s Peace Lit Award (PEACE) Short-listed – 2009 NSW Premier’s Literary
- Awards - Patricia Wrightson Award Short-listed – 2008
- Crichton Award for Child. Book Illust. Winner – 2008
- CBCA Book of the Year – Early Childhood Winner – 2008
Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley are the best of friends. But they are different in almost every way . . .
Pearl likes solving mysteries and moves rather fast in the world
Charlie likes taking baths and watching his garden grow.
So how can Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsely be such goods friends?
A delightfully uplifting tale about self-belief, courage – and above all – the power of friendship.
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GERRY BOBSIEN
Title: Surfache
Publication: Walker Books, 2009
Genre: Young adult fiction
Ella’s world is turned upside down when she moves interstate, leaving behind her best friend, boyfriend and dance school. While her sister Creaky adapts to their new life in the surf-obsessed city, ballet dancer Ella is miserable. But Ella soon discovers that she has a natural talent for surfing and the city’s obsession is contagious. It’s called SURF ACHE.
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ANNE BROOKSBANK
Title: Father’s Day
Publication: Penguin 2011
Genre: Young adult fiction
Sam is in his first year of high school and has been saving his paper-round money for months to buy the one thing he yearns for – a boat. Suddenly his bank balance is doubled by an unknown person. But who is it? As Sam investigates he watches in dismay as his family life is turned upside down; and he is forced to make a decision that will change everything.
From the author of Mother’s Day comes a story about a boy who finds strength and conviction in a confusing adult world.
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PIP HARRY
Title: I’ll Tell You Mine
Publication: UQP, 2012
Genre: Young adult fiction
Kate has a big secret – big enough to get her kicked out of home and into boarding school. Big enough to make her feel as though nothing’s ever going to be right again. Angry and confused, and dressing like a Goth to boot, Kate’s transition from day girl to boarder is hardly easy – until she meets Maddy. But not even best friends can be trusted.
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BELINDA JEFFREY
Title: Brown Skin Blue
Publication: University of Queensland Press, 2009
Genre: Young adult fiction
My mum’s skin is white, my skin is brown and I have a blue birthmark.
Two secrets rule my life. One is something I need to know and the other is something I need to forget. They won’t let me go.
Some people say you can’t death roll with a beast that has already survived a million years and live to tell the story. Or can you?
‘A compelling story, powerfully told.’ Nick Earls
‘Belinda Jeffrey’s first novel Brown Skin Blue for young adult readers is a tale chosen by many in the book industry as one to watch.’ The Courier-Mail
Title: Big River Little Fish
Publication: University of Queensland Press, 2010
Genre: Young adult fiction
2011 Queensland Premier’s Literary Award for Young Adult Book: Shortlisted
2011 Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature: Shortlisted
From the moment Tom Downs was born backwards – the moment of his mother’s death – time has held him the wrong way round, like he’s caught inside a fractured story.
But the thing about Tom’s town flooding, and the thing that takes him by suprise is not what Old Mother Murray takes away, but who she brings back.
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AIMEE SAID
Title: Finding Freia Lockhart
Publication: Walker Books 2010
Genre: Young adult fiction
Freia Lockhart just wants to fit in at school but her best friend Kate is determined to get in with the popular Bs: Belinda, Bethanee and Brianna. Even Freia knows when she hangs out with the Bs she fits in like a turkey in a flock of flamingos. Kate convinces Freia to audition for the school play so they can ‘all hang out together’ and meet all the cute guys. Predictably, Freia misses out on a chorus role and instead is assigned to production lighting, with rumoured bad boy Daniel. Freia soon learns first impressions aren’t always correct and when Daniel needs a friend, she risks her reputation and place among the Bs to support him. The most surprising development is the group of friends she ends up spending her time with. On opening night there’s not a B in sight.
Title: Little Sister
Publication: Walker Books 2011
Genre: Young adult fiction
Al Miller is counting down the days until her over-achieving older sister Larrie finishes Year Twelve and leaves Whitlam High School for ever. Then, Al is certain, people will finally see her as more than just “Larrie’s little sister”. But when a rumour about Larrie spreads around school, Al finds herself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Who’s behind the rumour? And will it kill Al’s chances with school hunk, Josh Turner?
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ADRIAN STIRLING
Title: Broken Glass – OPTIONED
Title: The Comet Box
Publication: Penguin 2011
Genre: Children’s/young adult fiction
It’s 1986 and Halley’s Comet is hurtling towards Earth. Everyone is talking about what the comet will bring - wishes could be granted, people might go mad, great disasters could happen…
When Andrew is asked to write down his greatest wish for the Comet Box, he can think of only one thing – that his runaway sister Amelia will finally come home. As the comet draws nearer he begins to learn the reasons why she left in the first place and the more he learns, the more he wants to forget.
When Amelia is captured and brought home she reveals a shocking secret that makes Andrew’s once safe world begin to unravel. As the comet arrives, Andrew must choose whether to be blind to the mistakes of the people around him or to side with his sister as she tears his family apart.
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PENNY TANGEY
Title: Loving Richard Feynman
Publication: UQP 2009
Genre: Young adult fiction
Richard Feynman was a Nobel prize–winning physicist. Catherine is a science-loving 15-year-old.
Richard helped build the atom bomb. Catherine’s just trying to survive school.
When your life is falling apart around you, is talking to a dead physicist normal?
Catherine thinks so, but it isn’t until her life begins unravelling that she learns who she can really trust.
Title: Clara in Washington
Publication: UQP 2011
Genre: Young adult fiction
Living in Washington D.C. is meant to be all politics, glamour and great conversations.
But what do you do when you don’t have the words to join in, or the knowledge to ride the subway, or you’re scared someone will mug you and a million other disasters could be just around the corner?
For Clara, joining her mother on a three-month stint in Washington is her end-of-school adventure and a chance to be someone else other than the studious geek she’s always been. Although, starting an adventure is hard to do when you won’t leave the house.
But Clara didn’t count on meeting Campbell and his anarchist group and she didn’t count on her new discoveries threatening to unravel all her plans. Will she still be the same after Washington?
From CBCA shortlisted author, Penny Tangey, comes a moving – and funny – coming-of-age story set in Washington, D.C.
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