Cirrus@Austlit

'When you least expect it something surprising will spring out and shock you. Like when you study your dead bug shelf and there’s a live huntsman spider sitting on it. Or when your sausage dog turns up on a secret mission…‘It’s Gloria,’ I say. You can feel the shock hover over the fort like a sulphur gas cloud over a volcano.

'Gloria the talkative eclectus parrot is missing from the animal sanctuary, and Anna the massive ‘not an anaconda’ Australian scrub python has vanished from her enclosure at the library. Have they escaped? Or were they stolen?

'When Andy and the Sugarcane Kids hear about an illegal native-animal trade, they know they have to investigate—and fast! Gloria and Anna are not only much-loved residents of their small coastal town in far north Queensland, but they also have very particular care needs—their lives could be in danger!

'Andy, Eli, Harvey and the twins, Bernie and Fletch, along with Andy’s trusty sausage dog Washington, have their eyes on a prime suspect: the Hench, the fierce, mean new canteen lady who is behaving very strangely. Can the Sugarcane Kids follow the clues to discover what is going on? Will they find Gloria and Anna in time? And what unexpected dangers lie in wait for them? Find out in this exciting new Sugarcane Kids adventure.' (Publication summary)

'Willow jumps on the Ferris Wheel and is intrigued to see a boy surrounded by moths.

'As they travel high above the fairground he tells her the reason why the moths love him so much: he was raised by moths.

'Wonderfully fantastical and thought-provoking with stunning illustrations, Raised by Moths is quite unlike anything you've read before.' (Publication summary)

'Bernie mutters to me. ‘No way. Who’d go into the mangroves at night?’
I swallow. Not me. Not into Sebastian land. No one would head into crocodile heartland in the middle of a dark night. No one, unless they had a very good reason.

'Andy and his best friend Eli live in a small coastal town in far north Queensland.
When Eli’s cousin Jacob is arrested for a jewellery theft, Andy and Eli both know he is innocent.

'The police have evidence. But something is not right, and Andy and Eli need to work out what, and fast or Jacob will end up in jail.

'So, with the help of twins Bernice and Fletcher (AKA Bernie and Fletch) and Andy’s trusty sausage dog, Washington, they set out to hunt for clues to what really happened. The trail points to a mysterious red-bottomed boat rumoured to be hidden deep in the mangroves.

'Does it hold the evidence they need to prove Jacob’s innocence?

'Can they find it without getting lost forever?

'And how will they outwit Sebastian, the legendary gigantic saltwater crocodile?

'Charlie Archbold’s action-packed new middle-grade adventure is a fun story of sleuthing, courageous deeds, the triumph of good over evil – and the power of friendship.' (Publication summary)

'After Earth was destroyed by climate change and overpopulation, private corporations colonised new planets. On one such planet, Galbraith, the fertility of its citizens is tightly controlled. But at what cost?

'When Scarlet Bergen leaves her childhood home to be trained at the Arcadia Institute, harnessing her psychic Solitaire talents, it feels like the beginning of her future. But on the Institute steps, her father whispers a life-changing secret about the past. Her mother, a geneticist who disappeared when Scarlet was ten, had enemies …

'Scarlet vows to discover the truth about her mother – and is joined in her mission by fellow cadets with their own family secrets and special talents: tech-savvy Rumi, a tenacious truthhunter, and Dylan, the aloof classmate who can literally read her mind. Together, they’ll uncover a planet-wide conspiracy … and discover that there’s little the Galbraith Executives won’t do to get what they want.

'But the three of them will also find out there's very little the Galbraith Executives will stop at to get what they want.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Sometimes I feel like I'm neither one thing nor another. I live in the Mallee but I don't like the desert. I live on a farm but I get hay fever and I'm scared of goats. I like school but my best mates don't. I'm stuck between stuff. It's like I'm not meant to be here but I am.

'Sandy Douglas knows that life at fifteen is hard, but it's even harder when your mother died a year ago and nothing's gone right since. His brother Red, on the other hand, is eighteen now and working the farm. He's amped up on rage and always looking for a fight. And then there's their dad Tom. He does his best, but - really - he doesn't have a clue.

'As Sandy and Red deal with girls, dirt biking, footy and friendship, both boys have to work out who they want to be, without their mum around. The Mallee, where they live, may seem like the middle of nowhere, but it turns out this is going to be one hell of a year.' (Publication summary)