The Little Refugee


Anh Do - 2011
    This is the inspiring result.Anh nearly didn't make it to Australia. His entire family came close to losing their lives as they escaped from war-torn Vietnam in an overcrowded boat. Anh’s life in Australia also started off badly as he was a small boy who didn’t speak English. But he never stopped smiling and went on to achieve his dreams.The Little Refugee is illustrated by Bruce Whatley, who created the beloved illustrations in Jackie French’s Diary Of A Wombat.Anh is donating his book royalties to charity.

Brother Eagle, Sister Sky


Chief Seattle - 1991
    He believed that all life on earth, and the earth itself, is sacred. A moving and compelling plea for an end to man's destruction of nature.

Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist


Jess Keating - 2017
    At the time, sharks were seen as mindless killing machines, but Eugenie knew better and set out to prove it. Despite many obstacles in her path, Eugenie was able to study the creatures she loved so much. From her many discoveries to the shark-related myths she dispelled, Eugenie's wide scientific contributions led to the well-earned nickname "Shark Lady."

Wild Berries


Julie Flett - 2013
    Meet ant, spider, and fox in a beautiful woodland landscape, the ancestral home of author and illustrator Julie Flett. This book is written in both English and Cree, in particular the n-dialect, also known as Swampy Cree from the Cumberland House area. Wild Berries is also available in the n-dialect Cree, from the Cross Lake, Norway House area, published by Simply Read Books.

The Illustrated Compendium of Amazing Animal Facts


Maja Säfström - 2016
    Did you know that an octopus has three hearts? Or that ostriches can't walk backward? These and many more fascinating and surprising facts about the animal kingdom (Bees never sleep! Starfish don't have brains!) are illustrated with whimsical detail in this charming collection.

The Cat Who Wanted To Be A Princess: A Children's Book About Manners, Empathy, and Kindness (Perfect For Princess And Cat Lovers)


Sonica Ellis - 2021
    But what does being a princess really mean? With wise advice from her Gramma ringing in her ears, Sophia learns to stay true to her values, treat others with fairness and to find ways to make the world a better place.Will standing tall and using good manners make Sophia a real princess? A perfect read for little ones to learn that they don’t need to be like others to be special!

Rabbit's Snow Dance


James Bruchac - 2012
    He knows a dance, using a traditional Iroquois drum and song, to make it snow--even in springtime! The other animals of the forest don't want early snow, but Rabbit doesn't listen to them. Instead, he sings and dances until more and more snow falls. But how much snow is too much, and will Rabbit know when to stop?This stylish and oh-so-funny story is a modern take on a traditional Native American fable from master storytellers Joseph and James Bruchac.

All My Friends Are Dead


Avery Monsen - 2010
    In other words, perfect." - The Huffington PostAn amusing and captivating tale that's a delightful primer for laughing at the inevitable: If you're a dinosaur, all of your friends are dead. If you're a pirate, all of your friends have scurvy. If you're a tree, all of your friends are end tables. Each page of this laugh-out-loud, illustrated humor book showcases the downside of being everything from a clown to a cassette tape to a zombie. Cute and dark all at once, this hilarious children's book for adults teaches valuable lessons about life.From the sock whose only friends have gone missing to the houseplant whose friends are being slowly killed by irresponsible plant owners (like you), All My Friends Are Dead presents hilariously entertaining stories about life and existential predicaments.The simple yet effective imagery, the personification of inanimate objects, and short, hilarious quips come together to create an amusing adventure through each character's unique grievance and wide-eyed dilemmas.Written by Avery Monsen, an actor, artist, and writer and Jory John, a writer, editor, and journalist. They are friends, and neither is dead. Yet.All My Friends Are Dead is both the saddest funny book and the funniest sad book you'll ever read.Children's book written for adults Displayed in an accessible cartoon form

The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon


Jacqueline Davies - 2004
     If there was one thing James loved to do more than anything else, it was to be in the great outdoors watching his beloved feathered friends. In the fall of 1804, he was determined to find out if the birds nesting near his Pennsylvania home would really return the following spring. Through careful observation, James laid the foundation for all that we know about migration patterns today. Capturing the early passion of this bird-obsessed young man as well as the meticulous study and scientific methods behind his research, this lively, gorgeously illustrated biography will leave young readers listening intently for the call of birds large and small near their own home.

The Ghost and the Bounty Hunter: William Buckley, John Batman and the Theft of Kulin Country


Adam Courtenay - 2020
    A few months later, the local Aboriginal people found the six-foot-five former soldier near death. Believing he was a lost kinsman returned from the dead, they took him in, and for thirty-two years Buckley lived as a Wadawurrung man, learning his adopted tribe's language, skills and methods to survive.The outside world finally caught up with Buckley in 1835, after John Batman, a bounty hunter from Van Diemen's Land, arrived in the area, seeking to acquire and control the perfect pastureland around the bay. What happened next saw the Wadawurrung betrayed and Buckley eventually broken. The theft of Kulin country would end in the birth of a city. The frontier wars had begun.By the bestselling author of The Ship That Never Was, The Ghost and the Bounty Hunter is a fascinating and poignant true story from Australian colonial history.

Australian Heist


James Phelps - 2018
    On June 15, 1862 a gang of bushrangers pulled off the largest gold robbery in Australia's history atEugowra Rocks. The gang escaped with bank notes and 77kg of gold, worth about $10 million today. It remains Australia's largest gold robbery. The story of how Ben Hall, Frank Gardiner, John O'Mealley, John Gilbert, Harry Manns, Alex Fordyce, John Bow and Dan Charters - planned and executed the robbery and what happened to all that gold is the stuff of a brilliant, modern, exciting crime book. This is Australian history on the very best crime-writing steroids from Australia's number one true crime writer.

Heads and Tails


John Canty - 2017
    Leveraging the natural and universal fascination that children have with animals, the book utilises hints and recognition to build a sense of anticipation on each page, that is resolved on the following page when the identity of the animal is discovered. Young readers are engaged in the process of deduction by drawing on visual prompts and clues such as where an animal may live, what the animal may look like and sounds the animal makes. The effect is that each page presents an engaging yet accessible mini mystery for the child to solve. Accordingly, the young reader's inevitable participation in the process of discovery is ensures the book's enjoyment.

Deep Time Dreaming: Uncovering Ancient Australia


Billy Griffiths - 2018
    Equipped with a historian’s inquiring mind, he embarks on a journey through time, seeking to understand the extraordinary deep history of the Australian continent.Deep Time Dreaming is the passionate product of that journey. In this original, important book, Griffiths investigates a twin revolution: the reassertion of Aboriginal identity in the second half of the twentieth century, and the simultaneous uncovering of the traces of ancient Australia by pioneering archaeologists.Deep Time Dreaming is about a slow shift in national consciousness. It explores what it means to live in a place of great antiquity, with its complex questions of ownership and identity. It brings to life the deep time dreaming that has changed the way many Australians relate to their continent and its enduring, dynamic human history.When John Mulvaney began his fieldwork in January 1956, it was widely believed that the first Australians had arrived on this continent only a few thousand years earlier. In the decades since, Australian history has been pushed back into the dizzying expanse of deep time. The human presence here has been revealed to be more ancient than that of Europe, and the Australian landscape, far from being terra nullius, is now recognised to be cultural as much as natural, imprinted with stories and law and shaped by the hands and firesticks of thousands of generations of Indigenous men and women. The New World has become the Old …

Karl, Get Out of the Garden!: Carolus Linnaeus and the Naming of Everything


Anita Sanchez - 2017
    Despite his intelligence--and his mother's scoldings--he was a poor student, preferring to be outdoors with his beloved plants and bugs. As he grew up, Karl's love of nature led him to take on a seemingly impossible task: to give a scientific name to every living thing on earth. The result was the Linnaean system--the basis for the classification system used by biologists around the world today. Backyard sciences are brought to life in beautiful color.Back matter includes more information about Linnaeus and scientific classification, a classification chart, a time line, source notes, resources for young readers, and a bibliography.*it's a tomato!A handsome introductory book on Linnaeus and his work -- Booklist, starred review A good introduction to a man in a class by himself -- Kirkus ReviewsLends significant humanity to the naturalist -- Publisher's WeeklyThe biographical approach to a knotty scientific subject makes this a valuable addition to STEM and biography collections -- School Library Journal

Murder at Myall Creek


Mark Tedeschi - 2016
    The trial created an enormous amount of controversy because it was almost unknown for Europeans to be charged with the murder of Aborigines. It would become the most serious trial of mass murder in Australia’s history. The trial’s prosecutor was the Attorney General of New South Wales, John Hubert Plunkett. It proved to be Plunkett’s greatest test, as it pitted his forensic brilliance and his belief in equality before the law against the combined forces of the free settlers, the squatters, the military, the emancipists, the newspapers, and even the convict population. From the bestselling author of Kidnapped and Eugenia, Murder at Myall Creek follows the journey of the man who who arguably achieved more for modern-day civil rights in Australia than anyone else before or since.