Murphy


Samuel Beckett - 1938
    The novel recounts the hilarious but tragic life of Murphy in London as he attempts to establish a home and to amass sufficient fortune for his intended bride to join him.

The Testament of Gideon Mack


James Robertson - 2006
    For Gideon Mack, faithless minister, unfaithful husband and troubled soul, the existence of God, let alone the Devil, is no more credible than that of ghosts or fairies. Until the day he falls into a gorge and is rescued by someone who might just be Satan himself.Mack's testament - a compelling blend of memoir, legend, history, and, quite probably, madness - recounts one man's emotional crisis, disappearance, resurrection and death. It also transports you into an utterly mesmerising exploration of the very nature of belief.

A Valediction Forbidding Mourning


John Donne - 2012
    This wonderful work starts with "As virtuous men pass mildly away" and ends with "And makes me end where I begun."

Things a Map Won't Show You: Stories from Australia & Beyond


Susan La MarcaTara June Winch - 2012
    An unforgettable collection of short fiction, poetry and comic art from Australia and beyond...

The Wild Duck / Hedda Gabler


Henrik Ibsen - 1977
    In Michael Meyer's fluent, idiomatic translations, The Wild Duck and Hedda Gabler stand as masterpieces of naturalist drama.

Hamlet


Neil Babra - 2008
    The original No Fear series made Shakespeare’s plays much easier to read, but these dynamic visual adaptations are impossible to put down. Each of the titles is illustrated in its own unique style, but all are distinctively offbeat, slightly funky, and appealing to teen readers. Each book will feature:

Sorta Like a Rock Star


Matthew Quick - 2010
    Ever since her mom's boyfriend kicked them out, Amber, her mom, and her totally loyal dog, Bobby Big Boy (aka Thrice B) have been camped out in the back of Hello Yellow (the school bus her mom drives). Still, Amber, the self-proclaimed princess of hope and girl of unyielding optimism, refuses to sweat the bad stuff. But when a fatal tragedy threatens Amber's optimism—and her way of life, can Amber continue to be the rock star of hope? With an oddball cast of characters, and a heartwarming, inspiring story, this novel unveils a beautifully beaten-up world of laughs, loyalty, and hard-earned hope.

Beneath a Summer Sky


A.R. Perry - 2020
    What should be an exciting reunion goes downhill fast when it seems as if he is irritated by my very presence. Talk about awkward.All I can say is, for the time being, we’re both content with avoiding each other. That is until Shane reverts to his overprotective ways and almost gets me kicked out. Now, it’s either spend every waking moment together or go home to my overbearing mother.I’ll take option one, please.Armed with nothing but annoyance and determination, I strive to finish out the summer and figure out exactly what went down two years ago. After all, it’s not as if I had anything to do with the bro break up…right?This is a dual POV YA romance. Please be aware that there is cursing and teenage bad decisions. Recommend for those 16 and older.

Drama Geek


S.M. Dritschilo - 2013
    Katie O'Connell does--a Wish List actually. Because she longs to be someone new, the kind of girl you take notice of and remember. Someone who isn't just a part of the background. Unfortunately, Katie has no idea how to make that happen, but her outspoken best friend does: a Junior Year Wish List of goals, starting with earning a role in the senior play, and bookish Katie reluctantly agrees. Now she has barely ten months to meet all five goals that will transform her from a bookworm to a butterfly. Wish List in hand, Katie draws her motley crew of dramatic friends closer for support to launch her Junior Year with a fresh (somewhat anxious) attitude. Until the boy who was her first childhood friend, the boy who disappeared right before her tenth birthday, shows up on the first day of school pulling her quiet life into an emotional tailspin. His reappearance will start Katie's junior year with more questions than answers. Why did he leave? Where has he been all this time? Can friendships last after a seven-year break? Is achieving her Wish List possible now? Most importantly, will he be the one to make Wish Number Five a reality?Author's NoteFeminism is about equality and the freedom of choice. The choice to: wear makeup or not, to wear loose fitting clothes or tight fitting clothes or not give a damn about my clothes at all, to like boys or girls or both or neither. It’s about women having choices based on equality of the sexes. There’s no wrong way or right way to be a woman. Just like men, women can care about their appearance or not care, women can be thin or curvy, short or tall, women can be smart or ignorant, women have the freedom to be whatever type of human they want to be at every stage of their life.High school is the next step in a teenager’s life that allows them the time to explore those choices in greater detail just like college, or trade school, or their first paying job, or their fifth, or their 20th will. High school students are dealing with real life adult issues but with little autonomy—stress of home life, relationships, figuring out who we are, what we want to do, who we want to be, how we’ll change, how we deal with change, our sexual identity. High school is all about self-discovery, and, unfortunately, having to do it all weighed down by society’s pre-conceived notions and subjective judgments about our choices and the tiny cramped boxes they think we belong in.If you think it will make you happy, try being a drama geek, try being a cheerleader, student government, a mathlete, an athlete, a bookworm, a scientist, a journalist, a singer, a dancer, an artist, or an observer of life. Dress up, dress down, dress comfy…just be safe and be happy.Please, please, please don’t let anyone tell you who or what you should be, or how you should act, but also please listen to advice from others that's given respectfully with the hope that your path will be a little less bumpy than theirs was. Be and do what makes you happy, dip your toes into the waters of our beautiful diverse world, or cannonball in and explore every nook and cranny you want to until you find the perfect fit, and don’t be afraid if you outgrow what fits and want to try something new. That’s the beauty of life, we don’t have to be stagnant. We have the freedom to change.Katie wanted to explore and try something new, be someone different for a while to see how it fit, but she never lost her true self, she was-and always will be-a book-loving artist devoted to her family and friends.

Black Diggers


Tom Wright - 2015
    Patriotic young men all over the world lined up to join the fight - including hundreds of Indigenous Australians.Shunned and downtrodden in their own country - and in fact banned by their own government from serving in the military - Aboriginal men stepped up to enlist. Undaunted, these bold souls took up arms to defend the free world in its time of greatest need. For them, facing the horror of war on a Gallipoli beach was an escape from the shackles of racism at home, at a time when Aboriginal people stood by, segregated, unable to vote, unable to act as their children were ripped from them. When the survivors came back from the war, there was no heroes’ welcome – just a shrug, and a return to drudgery and oppression.Black Diggers is the story of these men - a story of honour and sacrifice that has been covered up and almost forgotten.

Weed Your Brain, Grow Your Testimony


John Bytheway - 2008
    He also shows that in order to grow the things we want, we have to weed out the things we don't. Using humor, scriptural examples, and quotations from leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Brother Bytheway gives a workable plan for weeding our brain and growing our testimony.

Woman and Scarecrow


Marina Carr - 2006
    What was life? What was love? What else could have been? Full of mordant, bitter humour, this is a passionate threnody from one of Ireland's leading playwrights.Woman and Scarecrow premieres at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in June 2006.

Find Me


Olwen Wymark - 1980
    Later, she was committed to Broadmoor "from where she may not be discharged without permission of the Home Secretary." Using a technique of multiple characterization, Find Me seeks to investigate in depth the personality of the young girl - to 'find her' - and at the same time studies the effects of her behavior on those around her.

Someday


Drew Hayden Taylor - 1993
    The story in Someday, though told through fictional characters and full of Taylor's distinctive wit and humour, is based on the real-life tragedies suffered by many Native Canadian families.Anne Wabung's daughter was taken away by children's aid workers when the girl was only a toddler. It is Christmastime 35 years later, and Anne's yearning to see her now-grown daughter is stronger than ever.When the family is finally reunited, however, the dreams of neither women are fulfilled.The setting for the play is a fictional Ojibway community, but could be any reserve in Canada, where thousands of Native children were removed from their families in what is known among Native people as the "scoop-up" of the 1950s and 1960s. Somedayis an entertaining, humourous, and spirited play that packs an intense emotional wallop.Reviews: "One of the 50 Essential Canadian Plays"-- Toronto Star

Unfriended


Rachel Vail - 2014
    Everyone seems so nice, so kind to one another. But all is not as it seems with her new friends, and soon she's caught in a maelstrom of lies, misunderstandings, accusations and counter-accusations, all happening very publicly in the relentless, hyperconnected social media world from which there is no escape.Six eighth-graders, four girls and two boys, struggle to understand and process their fractured glimples into one another's lives as they find new ways to disconnect, but also to connect, in Rachel Vail's richest and most searching book.