Cirrus@Austlit

'After their family encounters terrible hardship in rural China, siblings Fu and Pei must draw on all their resilience and courage as they embark on a dangerous journey towards a better life. A compelling and poignant children's novel from the CBCA award-winning author of Tiger Daughter.

'What if you were forced to set sail for a country that didn't want you, to meet a father you couldn't remember?

'Thirteen-year-old Fu, his younger sister, Pei, and their mother live in a small rural community in Southern China that is already enduring famine conditions when it is collectivised as part of Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward campaign that ultimately led to economic disaster, widespread famine and millions of deaths.

'After tragedy strikes, and threatened with separation, Fu and Pei set out on a perilous journey across countries and oceans to find their father, who left for Australia almost a decade earlier. With nothing to guide them but a photograph and some letters in a language they cannot read, they must draw on all their courage and tenacity just to survive - and perhaps forge a better life for themselves.

'An unforgettable story of family, resilience and the complex Asian-Australian experience from the esteemed author of Tiger Daughter, winner of the CBCA Book of the year for Older Readers.' (Publication summary)

'The powerful new novel from master storyteller Katrina Nannestad.

'I don't want to remember the truck, or the night I was taken, or the family I left behind. I am not a sad Polish girl. I am a good and happy German girl.

'I am. I am. I am.

'It's the Second World War and Himmler's Lebensborn Program is in full flight when eight-year-old Zofia Ulinski is kidnapped by the Germans. She has blonde hair and blue eyes, just like the other Polish children taken from their families and robbed of their names, their language, their heritage.

'But when Zofia is adopted into a wealthy and loving German family, it is easier, it is safer to bury her past, deep down, so everything is forgotten. Until the Polish boy arrives.

'And the past comes back to haunt her.' (Publication summary)

'When Clio’s town in Bronze Age Crete is threatened by seafaring raiders, she faces the greatest sacrifice of all. Can Clio, her herd of horses and a new young friend find a way to change their destinies?

'When a raiders’ ship appears off the coast, the goddess demands a higher price than ever before to save the town – and Clio’s grandmother creates a sacred statue to save Clio’s life.

'But Clio is torn between the demands of guarding the statue and caring for her beloved horses. Disabled in an accident, she must try to put aside her own grief at no longer being able to ride – and in the process, save a friend’s life and stop a war.

'Rippling with emotion and drama, war and resistance, fear and determination, this novel is a brilliant companion to the highly acclaimed Dragonfly Song and Swallow’s Dance, and another thrilling adventure and survival story from the multi-award-winning author of Nim’s Island, Wendy Orr.' (Publication summary)

'Sometimes it's good to be wild.

'Sometimes you have to be wild.

'When the Russian Army marches into East Prussia at the end of the war, the Wolf family must flee. Liesl, Otto and their baby sister Mia find themselves lost and alone, in a blizzard, in the middle of a war zone. Liesl has promised Mama that she will keep her brother and sister safe.

'But sometimes, to survive, you have to do bad things. Dangerous things. Wild things.

'Sometimes to survive, you must become a wolf.' (Publication summary)