'A quirky, delicious novel about a 14-year-old boy and his appetites ...
'Gus's life is getting out of hand. Muscle-bound Steve has started picking on him at school, his friends desert him, no one appreciates his gourmet lunches (except Brother Nicholas), and his older brother, Luke, insists on using Gus as a go-between for his romantic liaisons.
'When Luke sets his sights on the object of Gus's affection, the elegant, bulimic Trinity, things go completely out of control.
(...more)Untapped says of Night Gate:
Night Gate is the first in a planned trilogy by bestselling and much loved fantasy author Isobelle Carmody. It was followed by Winter Door, also in the Untapped Collection, but the third title has long remained unwritten. Will the inclusion of the first two books in the Untapped Collection inspire the author to complete the trilogy?
Explore the publication history of this work in the AustLit record, linked below.
A five-book series set in a distant time and a distant valley.
Untapped says of the first volume:
Set in a world where the climate has already changed, this is the first book in beloved author Jackie French’s Children of the Valley series.
All five books in this series are included in Untapped's digitisation project.
Explore the publication history of this work in the AustLit record, linked below.
'Mick is in year 8 at a high school on the edge of the city. When the new history teacher, Penny, casts him as the Artful Dodger in the production of Oliver, he's unsure of what everyone will think. His Nan, who he lives with, will come but what about his Dad, a long distance truck driver? Told from Mick's point of view in a straight narrative and through Penny's letters to a friend.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
(...more)'My name is Tessa. I am strong. I am brave. I do not cry. These are the only things I know for certain.
'I was found in the bush, ragged as a wild thing. I have no memory - not even of how I got the long, striping slashes across my back. They make me frightened of what I might remember.
'The policewoman, Connolly, found me a place in a boarding school and told me about her daughter, Cat, who went missing in the bush. I think there is a connection between Cat, me, and the strange things going on at this school.
(...more)'Cold Iron is set in a fairytale world---a kind of parallel Elizabethan period. It is based on the English fairytale Tattercoats (which is a kind of Cinderella story) and Shakespeare's beautiful play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. It enters the fairy kingdom of Titania and Oberon, and takes the reader into the vivid world of Elizabethan England. Tattercoats is the neglected, beautiful grand-daughter of the rich Baron of Fisher Forest, who is inconsolable because of his daughter's death in bearing Tattercoats.
(...more)'It's the middle of the thirteenth century in the little riverside village of Crundall. For 16-year-old orphan Jack Fisher, it's one of the best times of the year, for the Fair of St Thomas is in full swing, and this year, the most extraordinary creature ever captured is being displayed: a merman. Jack has come prepared to stare and goggle with the others, but there's something about this creature that affects Jack most strongly. Perhaps it is because he himself has been born with webbed toes on one foot, and knows full well how cruel people can be with their teasing.
(...more)First published in 1988, Answers to Brut was an honour book in the 1989 Children's Book Council of Australia Awards.
Untapped says:
Bestselling and much loved author Gillian Rubinstein’s cautionary tale about just what can happen when you borrow someone else’s dog.
Explore the publication history of this work in the AustLit record, linked below.
'The story of two boys' adventures while trying to find a dog called Brut. The novel raises questions about the nature of fear and intimidation and the possibility of confronting them without resorting to violence.'
Source: Publisher's blurb (Mammoth ed.).
(...more)'Life is difficult enough for Brenton. He can't get on with his parents, his younger brother is overtaking him in every way and now twelve-year-old Victoria must come and live with them too.
This turbulent, powerful novel follows Brenton as he loses himself in his beloved role playing games where the fantasy dangerously shadows real life'.
Source: author's website.
(...more)'Foxspell is a fable of shape-shifters and animal spirits, of teenage gangs and schoolyard friends and finding your place in the world—or worlds—all concentrated in a dense, vivid corner of the half-wild Adelaide hills. A Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Older Readers, Foxspell is a mysterious and unforgettable dream.
'Deserted by his father, Tod moves with his sisters and mother into his grandmother's house in the foothills of Adelaide, South Australia. He finds refuge in the hills and quarries, where he meets a fox spirit who teaches him to cross between the human and animal worlds.
(...more)'No-one has ever escaped from the Galax-Arena before. Now Project Genesis Five wants to know how Joella, Peter and Liane did it.On the run from the all-seeing, all-knowing Project, the girls find shelter at Terra-Farma, while Peter tries to survive in the outback. But Terra-Farma is not what it seems. Can Joelle escape again?'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
(...more)Commended at the Children's Book Council of Australia Awards for 1970.
Untapped says:
A gripping story about an accident that changes everyone’s lives by beloved children’s author Ivan Southall.
Explore the publication history of this work in the AustLit record, linked below.
An accident on a foggy Australian country road brings together the lives of five children and five adults.
The Kirkus Review in 1969 offered the following synopsis:
Four children alone in an isolated lakeside cabin on a cold, foggy night, the oldest, Max, an edgy fifteen, the youngest, David, infantile at nine; the sound of a crash, of repeated thuds from the hairpin road on which their parents should be returning . . . the situation is so portentous, its demands so exacting and conflicting, subsequent occurrences so compelling that one wishes Mr.
(...more)Untapped says:
The first book in internationally bestselling author Sean Williams’ Broken Land trilogy.
All three volumes in this trilogy are included in Untapped's digitisation project.
Explore the publication history of these works in the AustLit record, linked below.
'Niko and his family are trapped in Sarajevo during the Bosnian War. The siege lasts for three years and Niko's family struggle to find enough food and avoid the snipers whose targets are civilians in the streets.
'Niko and his friend Nadim take refuge from the bombing in the stairwell of their apartment building and together they find hope in the midst of a war they did not start but must try to survive.' (Publication summary)
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