Middle Grade BOOKS
Running in circles
When crop circles appear in Tully, North Queensland, twelve-year-old Dell knows it’s a hoax. She’s a future climate scientist who believes in facts, not science fiction. But Dell’s estranged mum is an extraterrestrial fanatic. She blusters back into town armed with alien conspiracy theories and a dazzling smile.
If Dell can prove the crop circles are fake, surely her mum will hightail it out of Tully again, preferably before she causes Dell’s dad and three sisters further heartbreak. But as her mother’s claims grow more out of this world and alien fever takes over the country, Dell worries she’s fighting a lost cause. How can she convince anyone of the truth when they’re all so desperate to believe a lie?
Summer of shipwrecks
When Sid sets off on her annual summer holiday to the Shipwreck Coast, she's desperate for some familiarity after a year of unwanted change. Two weeks with best friend Lou, who she only gets to see when they go camping every year, is exactly what Sid needs. Mostly, she can't wait to continue their search for the millions of dollars' worth of riches that disappeared in a tragic shipwreck over a hundred years ago.
But Lou has brought along popular new school friend Hailey, who's more interested in boys than treasure hunting. So while Lou is busy chasing Hailey's approval, Sid is left scrambling to catch up, wondering when everything changed. Can Sid protect her heart from getting shipwrecked too?
Meet me at the moon tree
For Carina Sugden, nothing is more special than a moon tree – a tree grown from the seeds taken on the Apollo 14 mission into space. Her father taught her everything she knows about them. But he passed away before they found one together.
When Mum relocates the family to the Otway Ranges, Carina becomes determined to find a moon tree on her own. Like a scientist, she carefully searches the forest behind her new house. But after a mysterious encounter with a black cockatoo, Carina realises there’s magic in this forest. And if magic exists, anything is possible, like seeing her dad one last time…
A Reluctant witch’s guide to magic
Willa lives in a city squished between warring witch covens, forced to spend her days dodging wayward spells—from raining frogs to dancing chickens.
When she accidentally stops a spell midair and is accused of being a witch, she's certain it's a mistake. But it's not and Willa has one year to master her volatile magic. If she doesn’t, she’ll explode.
Her attempts to control her magic are interrupted when a rogue witch starts attacking the Ordinary Folk. What does the witch want and what does it have to do with Willa?
The boy, the wolf and the stars
Some say that long ago the sky was lit with Stars. Twelve-year-old Bo thinks they’re just myths and that nothing can stop the ravenous Shadow Creatures running rampant every night when it turns Dark. But after Bo’s guardian is attacked by a giant wolf straight from the legends, he tells Bo that a great evil has been awakened and that the only way to save the land from ruin is to return the Stars to the sky.
Bo—accompanied by a cheeky fox, a magical new friend and a grumpy bird-woman—sets off to find the three magic keys that will release the Stars. But they’re not the only ones chasing the lost Stars and all the while, an evil witch lurks in the shadows ...
Middle grade Books in translation
Russian
Czech
YOUNG ADULT BOOKS
The worst perfect moment
Tegan Masters is sixteen, dead and standing in the parking lot of the Marybelle Motor Lodge, the two-star motel where she spent the worst weekend of her life.
Zelda, an annoyingly cute teen angel, insists that Tegan is in Heaven, where every person inhabits an exact replica of their happiest memory on Earth. Stuck in the Marybelle forever? No thanks.
Luckily, Zelda’s boss agrees there’s something not right, sending Zelda and Tegan on a whirlwind tour through Tegan’s memories to determine her true 'perfect moment.' If either of them fail to prove their case, they face dire eternal consequences. If they succeed … they just might find their happily-ever-afterlife.
Tin heart
When Marlowe gets a heart transplant and a second chance at life, all she wants is to thank her donor’s family. Maybe then she can move on. Maybe then she’ll discover who she is if she’s no longer ‘The Dying Girl’.
But with a little brother who dresses like every day is Halloween, a vegan warrior for a mother and an all-out war with the hot butcher’s apprentice next door, Marlowe’s life is already pretty complicated. And her second chance is about to take an unexpected turn…
Frankie
Frankie Vega is angry. Just ask the guy whose nose she broke. Or the cop investigating the burglary she witnessed, or her cheating ex-boyfriend or her aunt who’s tired of giving second chances…
When a kid shows up claiming to be Frankie’s half brother, it opens the door to a past she doesn’t want to remember. And when that kid goes missing, the only person willing to help is an infuriating thief with secrets of his own.
Frankie’s search for the truth might change her life, or cost her everything.
Young adult Books in translation
Czech
French
Italian
German
Swedish
Short stories
Lace up your boots, pull on your guernsey and get ready to hit the field running with these Brownlow-worthy AFL short stories!
A collection of AFL-themed short stories written by some of Australia’s sportiest children’s authors.
A rich and unique collection of short fiction, poetry, illustration and song lyrics from Australia and beyond.
An encounter with a strange boy on a beach, a dog in space, a world of butterflies, a talking whale, two girls who take on the world, and a thousand silver ghosts … Like the pull of the tide, these stories and poems will draw you in and encourage you to explore.