Cirrus@Austlit

'The Tea and Sugar train only came once a week on a Thursday. But the special Christmas train only came once a year. Today was Sunday. Four more days without sugar. Four more days until the Christmas train. Please, please be on time. Please don't be late. Join Kathleen in the outback as she eagerly awaits the Christmas Tea and Sugar train. Will she meet Father Christmas? Will she receive a Christmas gift from him? A delightful, heart-warming story from the National Library of Australia that will intrigue, captivate and introduce readers to a slice of the past. Wonderful sensitive illustrations, including a beautiful double fold-out image showing the shops inside all the carriages.

'For 81 years, from 1915 to 1996, the Tea and Sugar Train travelled from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie once a week. It serviced the settlements along the Nullarbor Plain, a 1050-long rail link. It was a lifeline. There were no shops or services in these settlements. The train carried everything they needed: household goods, groceries, fruit and vegetables, a butcher's van, banking facilities and at one time even a theatrette car for showing films.The biggest excitement for the children was the first Thursday of December every year, when Father Christmas travelled the line. He distributed gifts to all the children on the way, including those of railway workers, those in isolated communities, and station kids.' (Publication summary)

'Audrey is bigger than she was yesterday. Now she needs a bigger house. So she tells her dad to build her one.

'At the top of a tree.

'It is an ideal house. It has a bathtub for snorkeling, a place to drink tea, and somewhere to hide the dirty cups.

'The house is perfect in every way.

'Except for one thing …

'This is a gently humorous story that explores the clash between a quest for independence and the longing for security. Emerging author Jenny Hughes is once again paired with internationally acclaimed illustrator Jonathan Bentley to create a picture book of outstanding warmth, sensitivity and insight.' (Publication summary)

''Thank Trevor, he didn't see me.'

'Meet Jesse James Jones. He's an eleven-year-old boy tackling big problems in life, especially being the new kid in school. Luckily, Jesse can confide in his friend Trevor. Problem is, Trevor is a poster of Jesus on his bedroom wall.

'Meet Hunter Riley. Hunter is the school bully and loves calling Jesse anything but his own name. With Hunter's catch phrase 'Ha!' and his mean words echoing through the grounds of their peaceful school, something or someone has to give.

'But will it be Jesse? Or is Hunter more than he seems?

'An inspiring and funny story about the little things that help to make everyone's world a better place.' (Publisher's blurb)