Don't Call Me Ishmael!


Michael Gerard Bauer - 2006
    It's time I faced up to the truth. I'm fourteen years old and I have Ishmael Leseur's Syndrome. There is no cure. And there is no instant cure to not fitting in. But that won't stop Ishmael and his intrepid band of misfits from taking on bullies, bugs, babes, the Beatles, debating, and the great white whale in the toughest, the weirdest, the most embarrassingly awful...and the best year of their lives.

Rules of Summer


Shaun Tan - 2013
    Each spread tells of an event and the lesson learned. By turns, these events become darker and more sinister as the boys push their games further and further.

Revolting Rhymers: Competition Winners


Tom Fletcher - 2017
    We were inundated with thousands of disgusterous entries! To discover our winners, we waded through burps, farts and rotten eggs; bogies, vile stew and goo to find the funniest and most revolting specimens. This eBook contains the crème de la phlegm-hand picked by children's author, songwriter and McFly frontman, Tom Fletcher, and Wales's Children's Poet Laureate, Anni Llyn.A huge thank you to our revolting partners Puffin Books, the National Literacy Trust, Literature Wales, Magic Light, and the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre for all their help and support!

We Are Wolves


Katrina Nannestad - 2020
    Liesl, Otto and their baby sister Mia find themselves lost and alone, in a blizzard, in the middle of a war zone. Liesl has promised Mama that she will keep her brother and sister safe.But sometimes, to survive, you have to do bad things. Dangerous things. Wild things.Sometimes to survive, you must become a wolf.

Odd Girl In


Jo Whittemore - 2011
    When the Evins siblings play a prank that goes just a tad too far (resulting in setting a neighbor's sofa--and hair--on fire), their dad decides it's time for some tough love. He signs them up for an after-school program called Champs!, which guarantees that it will turn any kid into a well-rounded success. Alex, Parker and Nick all must pass the course together, or else it's off to St. Ignacius private school (aka St. Ignasty). At Champs!, Alex encounters more than a few nemeses, including the Champs! coach, Sharon Success, mom of Alex's classmate, the totally perfect and totally annoying Emily Gold, and the ultra-competitive Chloe Stroupe. After weeks of intense classes, the Evins sibilings are soon faced with the Champs! Championship, a test of teamwork, leadership, and responsibility. Alex and her brothers are determined to win. But when an earlier misstep threatens all their hard work, Alex finds herself scrambling to make things right. Can the "evil Evins" actually pass this course in one piece? Or are they destined for an epic fail?

Below


Meg McKinlay - 2011
    . . . Mystery, compelling characters, and an abandoned town beneath a lake make for a must-read adventure.On the day Cassie was born, they drowned her town. The mayor flipped a lever and everyone cheered as Old Lower Grange was submerged beneath five thousand swimming pools’ worth of water. Now, twelve years later, Cassie feels drawn to the manmade lake and the mysteries it hides — and she’s not the only one. Her classmate Liam, who wears oversized swim trunks to cover the scars on his legs, joins Cassie in her daily swims across the off-limits side of the lake. As the summer heats up, the water drops lower and lower, offering them glimpses of the ghostly town and uncovering secrets one prominent town figure seems anxious to keep submerged. But like a swimmer who ventures too far from shore, Cassie realizes she can’t turn back. Can she bring their suspicions to light before it’s too late — and does she dare?

Ten Doors Down: the story of an extraordinary adoption reunion


Robert Tickner - 2020
    Born in 1951, he had a happy childhood — raised by his loving adoptive parents, Bert and Gwen Tickner, in the small seaside town of Forster, New South Wales. He grew up to be a cheerful and confident young man with a fierce sense of social justice, and the desire and stamina to make political change. Serving in the Hawke and Keating governments, he held the portfolio of minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs. Among other achievements while in government, he was responsible for initiating the reconciliation process with Indigenous Australians, and he was instrumental in instigating the national inquiry into the stolen generations.During his time on the front bench, Robert’s son was born, and it was his deep sense of connection to this child that moved him at last to turn his attention to the question of his own birth. Although he had some sense of the potentially life-changing course that lay ahead of him, he could not have anticipated learning of the exceptional nature of the woman who had brought him into the world, the deep scars that his forced adoption had left on her, and the astonishing series of coincidences that had already linked their lives. And this was only the first half of a story that was to lead to a reunion with his birth father and siblings.This deeply moving memoir is a testament to the significance of all forms of family in shaping us — and to the potential for love to heal great harm.

Sun on the Stubble


Colin Thiele - 1961
    Then there are the local arguments, that all seem to flare up around complicated bits of machinery, like water pumps and cars. All they really need is a little help from Bruno to sort everything out...This is the first of four books that inspired the television series Sun on the Stubble.

The Black Dog Gang


Robert Newton - 2007
    We'd gone only a few yards when a voice sounded off to our left. 'What 'ave we 'ere, then?' it said. We turned our heads and say Bluey Lonnegan lifting himself up off a sandstone wall. 'You're lookin' at the Black Dog Gang,' said Mickey. 'No doubt ya heard a us?' The gang was Mickey's idea. We'd heard the rumours – rats were coming in off the ships and spreading disease. Then the government started offering tuppence a rat, so we decided to get stuck in. But we hadn't counted on someone getting sick. Or on Mickey's dad finding his rats chaining Mickey up. And what happened next . . . well, it would change things forever . . .

The Simple Things


Bill Condon - 2014
    He wants to turn around and go home but his mum says they have to stay until Lola's birthday - three whole weeks away! Will Stephen be able to last that long? Will Aunty Lola?A book for readers young and old.

The Monks of Appalling Dreadfulness


John Connolly - 2020
    

Exit Through the Gift Shop


Maryam Master - 2021
    As if dying of cancer at the age of 12.5 isn't bad enough, she still has to endure daily insults from her nemesis, Alyssa (Queen Mean) Anderson.Ana's on a wild roller-coaster of life and death, kindness and cruelty, ordinary and extraordinary.And she's got a few things to do before she exits . . .Praise for Exit Through the Gift Shop:'Maryam is a brilliantly funny writer for kids. I have asked her to adapt my own books for the stage and she did a magnificent job every time. This original story of hers is an absolute joy.' - David Walliams

Nathalia Buttface and the Most Embarrassing Dad in the World


Nigel Smith - 2014
    He went and married Mum, didn't he? Mum's last name was De Montfort. Thanks to Dad she wasn't Nathalia De Montfort. She was Nathalia Bumole. "It's pronounced Bew-mow-lay," Dad would tell her patiently, time and again. "If anyone says differently, the joke's on them." But as Nathalia knows only too well, the joke will not be on them. It will be on her. Massively. If Nathalia can just keep The Most Embarrassing Dad In The World away from her new school, then maybe he won't ruin everything this time. Maybe.

Wombat Stew


Marcia K. Vaughan - 1984
    A dingo intent on making wombat stew receives cooking suggestions from the other animals, unaware that they are protecting their fellow creature.

The F Team


Rawah Arja - 2020
    When the team is formed, Tariq learns there’s a major catch – half of the team is made up of white boys from Cronulla, aka enemy territory – and he must compete with their strongest player for captaincy of the team.At school Tariq thinks he has life all figured out until he falls for a new girl called Jamila, who challenges everything he thought he knew. At home, his outspoken ways have brought him into conflict with his family. Now, with complications on all fronts, he has to dig deep to control his anger, and find what it takes to be a leader.In confronting and often hilarious situations, Tariq’s relationships with his extended Lebanese family and his friends are tested like never before, and he comes to learn that his choices can have serious consequences.