Book picks similar to
Ruben by Bruce Whatley


picture-books
australian
picture-book
dystopian

How to Bee


Bren MacDibble - 2017
    In a world where real bees are extinct, the quickest, bravest kids climb the fruit trees and pollinate the flowers by hand.Will Peony's grit and quick thinking be enough to keep her safe?A story about family, loyalty, kindness and bravery, set against an all-too possible future where climate change has forever changed the way we live.

Tales from the Inner City


Shaun Tan - 2008
    And when the reader comes to the artwork, it's like walking into an amazing room, and then throwing open a curtain to see a brilliant scene that makes you understand and appreciate everything you've encountered in a deeper way.

Water


Geoff Havel - 2010
    Keep away from strangers. Don't stay at home alone. And never, ever go into the water. All she wants is to be like everyone else. But when a mysterious stranger comes to the door, Tully discovers the horrifying secret her father has been trying to protect her from...Ages 10+.

Ice Breaker


Lian Tanner - 2013
    The berg came closer. That's when she saw him. Laid out on the ice like a dead fish, with a scattering of snow covering his face. A boy, where there should have been nothing but the memory of winter. A frozen boy.'Twelve-year-old Petrel is an outcast, the lowest of the low on the Oyster, an ancient icebreaker that has been following the same course for three hundred years. In that time, the ship's crew has forgotten its original purpose and broken into three warring tribes. Everyone has a tribe except Petrel, whose parents committed such a terrible crime that they were thrown overboard, and their daughter ostracised.But Petrel is a survivor. She lives in the dark corners of the ship, speaking to no one except two large grey rats, Mister Smoke and Missus Slink. Then a boy is discovered, frozen on an iceberg, and Petrel saves him, hoping he'll be her friend. What she doesn't know is that for the last three hundred years, the Oyster has been guarding a secret. A secret that could change the world. A secret that the boy has been sent to destroy, along with the ship and everyone on it...

A Single Stone


Meg McKinlay - 2015
    No work is more important.Jena is the leader of the line—strong, respected, reliable. And—as all girls must be—she is small; years of training have seen to that. It is not always easy but it is the way of things. And so a girl must wrap her limbs, lie still, deny herself a second bowl of stew. Or a first.But what happens when one tiny discovery makes Jena question the world she knows? What happens when moving a single stone changes everything?

The City of Ember


Jeanne DuPrau - 2003
    It worked…but now the storerooms are almost out of food, crops are blighted, corruption is spreading through the city and worst of all—the lights are failing. Soon Ember could be engulfed by darkness…But when two children, Lina and Doon, discover fragments of an ancient parchment, they begin to wonder if there could be a way out of Ember. Can they decipher the words from long ago and find a new future for everyone? Will the people of Ember listen to them?

Future Girl


Asphyxia - 2020
    But when peak oil hits and Melbourne lurches towards environmental catastrophe, Piper has more important things to worry about, such as how to get food. When she meets Marley, a CODA (child of Deaf adult), a door opens into a new world - where Deafness is something to celebrate rather than hide, and where resilience is created through growing your own food rather than it being delivered on a truck. As she dives into learning Auslan, sign language that is exquisitely beautiful and expressive, Piper finds herself falling hard for Marley. But Marley, who has grown up in the Deaf community yet is not Deaf, is struggling to find his place in the hearing world. How can they be together?

Beautiful Blue World


Suzanne LaFleur - 2016
    For twelve-year-old Mathilde, it means food shortages, feuding neighbors, and bombings. Even so, as long as she and her best friend, Megs, are together, they'll be all right.But the army is recruiting children, and paying families well for their service. If Megs takes the test, Mathilde knows she will pass. Megs hopes the army is the way to save her family. Mathilde fears it might separate them forever.A reimagining of war, where even kindness can be a weapon, and children have the power to see what adults cannot.

The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf


Ambelin Kwaymullina - 2012
    Boomers will breach the walls. Skychangers will send lightning to strike you all down from above, and Rumblers will open the earth to swallow you up from below. . . . And when that day comes, Justin Connor, think of me.”Ashala Wolf has been captured by Chief Administrator Neville Rose. A man who is intent on destroying Ashala’s Tribe — the runaway Illegals hiding in the Firstwood. Injured and vulnerable and with her Sleepwalker ability blocked, Ashala is forced to succumb to the machine that will pull secrets from her mind. And right beside her is Justin Connor, her betrayer, watching her every move. Will the Tribe survive the interrogation of Ashala Wolf?

Dinotopia: The World Beneath


James Gurney - 1995
    They have only begun to adjust to this remarkable civilization before heading off on separate quests. Will takes to the sky as the pilot of a giant pterosaur known as a skybax, while Arthur leads an excavation deep underground to discover the origins of the world beneath Dinotopia. Little does either of them know of the dangers they are about to face ...

Bird & Sugar Boy


Sofie Laguna - 2006
    I live with my dad who has a big tattoo that says Live to Ride. He is so strong he can lift up a car, but he can't tell me what he's thinking. Maybe he's thinking about my mother who shot through.Sugar Boy is my best friend. We hang around down at the river, in the bush tunnel, or beside the railway tracks riding our bikes fast enough to beat the train. There's only two of us, but we're the whole team.I don't know what would happen if I didn't have Sugar Boy . . .

Evermore


Isobelle Carmody - 2015
    Growing up under the watchful eye of her stern but beloved nanny, Pilar, with the loving companionship of the bakers' son Quiet and the strange, enigmatic boy Enzo, Rose pursues two quests. One is to discover the origins of Evermore and the other is to understand the mysterious tragic death of her mother, a beautiful and gifted storyteller who began as a prisoner of the King before winning his heart and being made Queen of Evermore. What Rose does not know is that the two quests are linked, and only by learning the truth about the past will she find the means and the courage to walk the difficult and dangerous path that will lead to the redemption of Evermore and a future where love and hope are possible.

The Electric Kingdom


David ArnoldDavid Arnold - 2021
    Among the survivors are eighteen-year-old Nico and her dog, on a voyage devised by Nico's father to find a mythical portal; a young artist named Kit, raised in an old abandoned cinema; and the enigmatic Deliverer, who lives Life after Life in an attempt to put the world back together. As swarms of infected Flies roam the earth, these few survivors navigate the woods of post-apocalyptic New England, meeting others along the way, each on their own quest to find life and love in a world gone dark. The Electric Kingdom is a sweeping exploration of art, storytelling, eternal life, and above all, a testament to the notion that even in an exterminated world, one person might find beauty in another.

Everywhere, Everything, Everyone


Katy Warner - 2019
    Perfect for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale and Z for Zachariah.Even though she lives on the wrong side of town, 16-year-old Santee believes her world is like ours: that running late for curfew will only get you grounded, and that the government tries to keep its good citizens safe and secure. Until one night, everything changes.On her way home from school, Santee takes a detour to the outskirts of town with a boy that she likes – and then finds herself stranded overnight when his car breaks down. When she’s finally able to get a lift towards home the next morning, Santee discovers that everything has changed. A 'safety border' – a wall – has gone up around her part of town, imprisoning her family and trapping her on the outside...With its subtle familiarity and a tender, defiant teen romance at its core, Katy Warner’s powerful debut novel is about the importance of hope and standing up for what you believe in.From small cracks, big cracks grow.

Inheritance


Carole Wilkinson - 2018
    Left to her own devices, Nic searches for clues about her mother – who died the day Nic was born. But what Nic discovers is so much more than she could have imagined. A dark and shocking secret that haunts the land and the people who live there.