Book picks similar to
Wicked! by Paul Jennings


childrens
childhood
fiction
australian

The Fairy Realm


Emily Rodda - 2002
    When Jessie finds the invisible door to the Fairy Realm, she enters a magical world full of elves, fairies, storytelling furrybears, fearsome griffins and unicorns.Jessie, the feisty, likeable young heroine, is an ordinary girl whose seemingly ordinary grandmother is actually a fairy queen.This collection has everything: adventure, danger, humour, great story-telling, a likeable heroine, and the small problems at home and school that are common to all children.

Deadly!


Morris Gleitzman - 2000
    At around the same time Sprocket wakes up naked on a deserted mountainside and realises that he has lost his memory. Both kids set out on journeys to find the people they belong to, little knowing that they will soon join forces and embark, with the baby, on the deadliest quest of their lives. Morris Gleitzman writes Amy's story and Paul Jennings Sprocket's, with each of them contributing alternate chapters.

Hazel Green


Odo Hirsch - 1999
    So she decides to rally the children of the Moody Building to build a float for the parade. But things go awry when she is accused of stealing a recipe from her favorite baker and giving it to his rival. At the same time, the children ban her from participating in the parade because she tried to convince them that their float would topple. But with the help of her friend Yakov, a.k.a. "The Yak," Hazel proves her innocence and leads the children to glory on Frogg Day. From Odo Hirsch, an internationally best-selling author, and in the spirit of Harriet the Spy and Anastasia Krupnik, comes this spunky, unforgettable, irresistible character: Hazel Green. "Sometimes you really are terrible, Hazel." Good, thought Hazel Green. Everyone should be terrible sometimes.

Staying Alive in Year Five


John Marsden - 1990
    Scott and his friends are simply staying alive in year 5 until their surprising new teacher, Mr Murlin, comes along.Boring textbooks go into the bin, eating chocolate in class becomes compulsory and suddenly it's OK to be weird.But Mr Murlin is not popular with everyone...

Pure Dead Magic


Debi Gliori - 2001
    Signor Luciano Strega-Borgia has been kidnapped. Signora Baci Strega-Borgia is struggling with her spells at the Advanced Witchcraft Institute.Titus and Pandora don’t like their suspiciously cheerful and fearless new nanny. Baby Damp has been accidentally shrunk, e-mailed, and lost on the World Wide Web. And to top it off, there’s a gangster in a bunny suit lurking about. . . .This seriously over-the-top, gothic romp is sure to have readers clamoring for the next Strega-Borgia adventure.From the Hardcover edition.

The Beasts of Clawstone Castle


Eva Ibbotson - 2005
    But times are hard at Clawstone, as the fancier castle down the road attracts all the tourist traffic. Determined to save the castle and the herd, Madlyn and Rollo audition a cast of ghosts to add some thrills to the Clawstone tours, and soon visitors are pouring through the gates. But just when things are looking up, the ghosts and children find themselves facing a great mystery, and some very sinister enemies. Will Madlyn, Rollo, and their ghostly friends find a way to save the day?

Just Crazy!


Andy Griffiths - 2000
    Answer yes or no: Do you bounce so high on your bed that you hit your head on the ceiling? Do you ever look in the mirror and see a maniac staring back at you? Do you like to read stories about kittens, puppies and ponies getting mashed and pulverised? Do you sometimes get the urge to take your clothes off and cover yourself in mud? Do you often waste your time taking crazy tests like this one? Score by giving one point for each 'yes' answer. If you score 3-5, you are completely crazy. You will love this book. If you score 1-2, you are not completely crazy, but you're not far from it. You will love this book. If you score 0, you are so crazy you don't even realise you're crazy. You will love this book.

The Wish List


Eoin Colfer - 2000
    Now, in a beautifully written novel that is already breaking records in his native Ireland, Colfer introduces readers to a lovable but troubled heroine, who has been given the opportunity for a special kind of redemption. Meg Finn is in trouble-unearthly trouble. Cast out of her home by her stepfather after her mother's death, Meg is a wanderer, a troublemaker. But after her latest stunt, finding a place to sleep is the least of her worries. Belch, her partner in crime, has gotten her involved in the attempted robbery of an elderly man, Lowrie McCall. And things go horribly wrong. After an accidental explosion, Meg's spirit is flung into limbo, and a race begins between the demonic and the divine to win her soul. Irreverent, hilarious, and touchingly hopeful, The Wish List takes readers on a journey of second chances, where joy is found in the most unexpected places.

Playing Beatie Bow


Ruth Park - 1980
    Distraught over her parents' separation, Abigail follows a strange child called Beatie Bow and time slips back a hundred years where she becomes involved with an Australian shopkeeper's family.

Groosham Grange


Anthony Horowitz - 1988
    New pupils are made to sign their names in blood; the French teacher disappears every full moon; and the assistant headmaster keeps something very chilling in his room.

Blue Fin


Colin Thiele - 1969
    He's thin and long-faced, like the fish he's named after. At school he's no good at sport and, at home, his father scorns him. Snook joins his father and fellow crewmen on a tuna-fishing expedition, when disaster strikes. It is up to Snook to save himself and his father from a desperate situation.

Hatching Magic


Ann Downer-Hazell - 2003
    Kobold, Gideon's wizard rival, wants nothing more than to get his hands on Wycca. In a desperate attempt to rescue Wycca from Kovold's evil clutches, Gideon follows her through the magic hole...and finds himself transported from thirteenth-century England to the terryfyingly modern world of Boston, Massachusetts, in the twenty-first century.Soon Theodora's involved with a chocohlic baby wyvern, a mysterious wyvern playing card, a couple of desperate wizards -- and the summer vacation of her life!

Un Lun Dun


China Miéville - 2007
    . . and some of its lost and broken people, too–including Brokkenbroll, boss of the broken umbrellas; Obaday Fing, a tailor whose head is an enormous pin-cushion, and an empty milk carton called Curdle. Un Lun Dun is a place where words are alive, a jungle lurks behind the door of an ordinary house, carnivorous giraffes stalk the streets, and a dark cloud dreams of burning the world. It is a city awaiting its hero, whose coming was prophesied long ago, set down for all time in the pages of a talking book. When twelve-year-old Zanna and her friend Deeba find a secret entrance leading out of London and into this strange city, it seems that the ancient prophecy is coming true at last. But then things begin to go shockingly wrong.

Hating Alison Ashley


Robin Klein - 1984
    But then Alison Ashley shows up, and right from the start, seems to threaten Erica's position. Can these classmates ever see past their difficulties and find friendship?

The Magic Pudding


Norman Lindsay - 1918
    The adventures of those splendid fellows Bunyip Bluegum, Bill Barnacle and Sam Sawnoff, the penguin bold, and of course their amazing, everlasting and very cantankerous Puddin'.