Book picks similar to
Pip and Houdini by J.C. Jones


australian-author
middle-primary-fiction
read-aloud
children-s_lit

Brindabella


Ursula Dubosarsky - 2018
    Then, on one winter morning, a gunshot amongst the trees changes everything.When Pender rescues Brindabella from the pouch of her murdered mother, an unusual friendship blossoms between the lonely boy and the orphaned joey. But Brindabella is no ordinary kangaroo. And though Pender has saved her life, the untameable wildness of the bush--and freedom--call to her...Lyrical and unforgettable, 'Brindabella' explores the brutal beauty of the Australian bush.

The Chosen Seven


Gill D. Anderson - 2019
    His sociopathic tendencies coupled with his political views make him a very dangerous man indeed. Farzad wants the world to sit up and take notice of him and randomly selects six bystanders to hold hostage at a city restaurant.JACOB BROWN is a fitness fanatic who finds himself at the centre of a bizarre situation when he arrives at his favourite restaurant to pick up a takeaway for dinner.JAGRITI GOSHAL is a young unassuming Indian waitress working at Alessandro’s Cucina.REGINA TERRY is a fearless Afro-American woman in Australia on a business visa who unexpectedly finds herself embroiled in a crazy siege with a madman.LEVI HAINES and BILL WALKER are colleagues having a business dinner at the restaurant. Bill is Levi’s sleazy boss with unethical intentions and Levi is dining with him against her will.PAUL TOWNSEND is a local electrician who happens to drop off a quote at Alessandro’s Cucina at the same time Farzad descends on the restaurant to begin taking hostages.Follow the roller coaster ride of emotions as these strangers find themselves embroiled in a terrifying siege orchestrated by a madman. The authorities scramble to put together a definitive plan of action to contain the situation quickly. But not everyone will come out alive ...

Birrung the Secret Friend


Jackie French - 2015
    What is his secret about Birrung, the Indigenous girl who was adopted by the colony's first clergyman, Richard Johnson?First book of the Secret History series.

Framed! A Young Boy's Fight to Survive in the Wild Australian Bush


M.E. Skeel - 2017
    He lives rough on the streets of Sydney until his father is pardoned. Together, they begin a new life and open a butcher shop. Richard’s job is to bring in beasts for slaughter. At 15 he is framed for stealing cattle and sentenced to hang. He escapes into the vast and dangerous Australian wilderness and has to survive or die with only his indomitable will to help him. How he eventually triumphs and succeeds in life is a “ripping good yarn”.

Battle Scars


Stuart O'Grady - 2014
    But ‘Mr Indestructible’ – who had become the first Australian to win the Rock of Roubaix earlier that year – got back on his bike.By 2013 Stuart O’Grady had competed in 17 Tours; secured Olympic and Commonwealth Games medals; been named Australian Cyclist of the Year, and Australian Male Road Cyclist of the Year; won the inaugural Tour Down Under; and earned an Order of Australia Medal in recognition of his contribution to the sport. But then came the worst time of his life, when he announced his retirement after such an impressive cycling career and revealed that he had used the performance enhancing drug EPO before the 1998 Tour de France – a Tour marred by widespread doping.In this up-front and honest autobiography Stuey reveals all. This is his story: as candid and down-to-earth as the man himself.

Truly Tan


Jen Storer - 2008
    She′s funny. She′s lively. She has the mind of a Great Detective ...Dear DiaryIt′s official. Our whole family has moved to the country. The pets are disturbed and restless. My sisters are disturbed and restless -- although that′s normal. What is not normal is a cursed fox and a haunted clubhouse. That is definitely unnormal.At least the country people now have an expert in their midst. Someone with a cool head and a sharp eye. Someone who can solve intriguing mysteries and knows how to keep detailed Secret Spy Files.Really, it′s lucky I came along when I did.TrulyTanAges:8--12

The Quicksand Pony


Alison Lester - 1997
    'You can't leave her! The tide's coming in. She'll drown!' But the pony is trapped and Biddy is forced to go on without her. The next day the only signs of Bella area hoofprints in the sand...with small footprints and the paw marks of a dog. Who has rescued Bella? Who could be so small and be alone on this remote beach? Biddy's search takes her into wild secret country where she discovers the truth about a mysterious disappearance that happened many years ago. Alison Lester's picture books are loved by families around the world. In this gripping adventure story, set in the Australian bush she knows so well, she comes into her own as a writer and a born storyteller.

The Girl, the Dog and the Writer in Rome


Katrina Nannestad - 2017
    She's a shy and unusual child. Together, they're travelling the world, one book a time.'QUITE SIMPLY THE BEST SORT OF READING PLEASURE FROM THE FIRST PAGE TO THE LAST'- Raven's Parlour Bookstore For the first ten years of Freja's life, she and her mother Clementine have roamed the Arctic in search of zoological wonders. Happy, content, together. Freja and Clem. Clem and Freja.But now, everything is changing, and Clementine must send Freja away to live with her old friend Tobias, a bestselling crime writer and, quite possibly, the most absent-minded man on earth. Tobias isn't used to life with a child, and Freja isn't used to people at all, but together they'll stumble into an Italian adventure so big that it will change things forever ...Award-winning Australian author Katrina Nannestad returns with a delicious new series about family, friendship and finding yourself.Ages: 8+

The Insider: The scoops, the scandals and the serious business within the Canberra bubble


Christopher Pyne - 2021
    

How to Be Australian


Ashley Kalagian Blunt - 2020
    After all,Australia’s just Canada with more sunshine and strange animals, right?But they soon discover things aren’t so simple. Steve struggles to settle and Ashley fears he will come to regret both the move and the marriage – especially after she loses her wedding rings on Bondi Beach. Baffled, homesick and increasingly anxious (in a land renowned for ‘no worries’), she is preparing to return to Canada when Steve shockingly announces that he wants to stay in Australia. Forever.For the sake of her marriage and her happiness, Ashley must find an Australia she can belong to: she decides to travel the country, learn its history, decode its cultural quirks and connect with as many residents as she can meet. How to Be Australian is a remarkable memoir, at once familiar and faraway, that shines a fresh, funny and fascinating light onto the country we think we know.

Thirst


Lizzie Wilcock - 2015
    On her way to her sixth foster home, a crash leaves her stranded in the outback with only a backpack, a bottle of water and a stained picture of the mother she hasn't seen in years.This is her chance to escape her old life.There's only one thing in her way ... eight-year-old Solomon.

Back to Blue Gum Flat


Tea Cooper - 2015
    When the corporate rug is pulled from under her Maddison Markham heads back home – back to Blue Gum Flat. It won’t be for long, just time to regroup and get her life back on track. But Blue Gum Flat is not the sleepy little town she remembers from her childhood. New people, new attitudes and even a coffee machine. Cameron Dean has every intention of making his dream of a rural life a reality and when Maddison arrives in town it seems his stars have finally aligned. But he hasn’t considered the impact their relationship will have on his son and after the mistakes he has made family comes first.

Penguin Bloom


Chris Kunz - 2021
    But you can't. And that's what happened to us.Penguin Bloom tells the true story of Sam Bloom, a young mother whose world is turned upside down after a near-fatal accident leaves her unable to walk. Sam's husband, her three young boys and her mother are struggling to adjust to their new situation when an unlikely ally enters their world in the form of an injured baby magpie they name Penguin. The bird's arrival is a welcome distraction for the Bloom family, eventually making a profound difference in the family's life.

Worm Story


Morris Gleitzman - 2004
    But now he's had enough. He's going where no microbe has gone before. To the end of the known world, where the sludge gods dwell. To discover if he truly is a microbe. Or maybe a worm? Or possibly just a noodle that can talk? After an epic journey, Wilton and his new friend Algy find their way back home, and discover that the true key to saving each other, their world and their 'janet' lies not with the sludge gods, but with themselves.

Eliza Vanda's Button Box: Cbca's Notable Younger Reader's Book 2022


Emily Rodda - 2021
    Buttons three, attend to me!Take me where I want to be!No one saw Eliza Vanda arrive in Tidgy Bay that rainy winter afternoon. The sign advertising 'Cabins for Rent' was almost hidden by a pile of builder's rubble, but Eliza Vanda didn't seem at all put out by the mess.'This is a nice little pocket, ' she said. 'It should suit us very well.'Life hasn't been much fun for Milly Dynes lately. There seem to be problems everywhere she looks. She's always loved her home in Tidgy Bay, but at the moment she wishes she was somewhere -anywhere - else.Then Eliza Vanda turns up-and magic comes with her ...A sparkling new fantasy adventure from multi-award-winning author Emily Rodda.AWARDS FOR HIS NAME WAS WALTER: Winner - 2019 Prime Minister's Literary Awards (Children's Literature)Winner - 2019 Australian Book Design Awards (Children's Fiction Book)Winner - 2019 CBCA Book of the Year Awards (Younger Readers)Shortlisted - 2019 Davitt Awards (Children's)Shortlisted - 2019 QLD Literary Awards (Griffith University Children's Book Award)Shortlisted - 2018 Aurealis Awards (Best Young Adult Novel)PRAISE FOR HIS NAME WAS WALTER: 'Another magnificent book from Emily Rodda' - Readings'guaranteed to capture the imaginations of 8+ mystery lovers' - Better Reading