Helena Ridelberg Helena Ridelberg i(A144367 works by)
Born: Established: 1957 ;
Gender: Female
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Works By

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6 y separately published work icon Blue Flower Sonya Hartnett , Gabriel Evans (illustrator), Melbourne : Penguin , 2021 23485139 2021 single work picture book children's

'A gentle exploration of a child’s realisation that it is her individual differences and creativity that make her special, with stunning illustrations by the talented Gabriel Evans that delicately and sensitively convey the child’s emotional journey.

'A young child describes her qualms about going to school and how hard she finds asking the teacher for help, how she feels shy about making friends, not being funny or a fast runner. But through her love of art, a conversation with her mother and her observations about nature she comes to see that being different might not be a bad thing after all.

'I lay down and put my nose in the grass. The grass was dotted with yellow flowers, but blue ones grew there too. I rolled over and looked at the trees and the clouds, and thought about things for a while.

'‘Not all clouds are white,’ I said, and Piccolo looked at me.

'‘Not all trees are tall. Not all birds are brown. Not all cats are tabby like you, Piccolo. Some are black. Some are orange. Some are calico.’

'Piccolo swished his stripy tail. I plucked a flower and showed it to him. ‘This flower isn’t yellow, but it isn’t wrong. It is what it’s supposed to be. No one would want it to be yellow. Everyone would say it’s lovely just the way it is.’

'A beautifully told story about being happy in yourself for who you are from one of Australia's finest writers.' (Publication summary)
4 21 y separately published work icon The Children of the King Sonya Hartnett , Camberwell : Penguin , 2012 Z1836171 2012 single work children's fiction children's 'Three children have been sent to live in the countryside, safe from the war in London. When they find two boys hiding in a castle, the past and future come together to make an extraordinary adventure.

A hauntingly beautiful story from one of Australia's most acclaimed writers for adults and children.' (Publisher's blurb)
4 13 y separately published work icon Golden Boys Sonya Hartnett , Melbourne : Penguin , 2014 7190850 2014 single work novel young adult

'Sonya Hartnett's third novel for adults is perfectly formed and utterly compelling, an unflinching and disquieting work from one of Australia's finest writers.

'Colt Jenson and his younger brother Bastian live in a world of shiny, new things – skateboards, slot cars, train sets and even the latest BMX. Their affluent father, Rex, has made sure that they'll be the envy of the new, working-class suburb they've moved to. But underneath the surface of the perfect family, is there something unsettling about the Jensons? To the local kids, Rex becomes a kind of hero, but Colt senses there's something in his father that could destroy their fragile new lives.' (Publication summary)
5 22 y separately published work icon This Is How M. J. Hyland , Melbourne : Text Publishing , 2009 Z1601693 2009 single work novel

This Is How tells the story of Patrick Oxtoby, an outsider longing to fit in. When his fiancé Sarah breaks off their engagement, Patrick leaves home and moves to a boarding house in a seaside village a few hours away. In spite of his hopes for a new and better life, Patrick struggles to make friends or make the right impression. He can't shake the feeling that his new acquaintances are conspiring against him, further fracturing his fragile personality and prompting him to take a course of action that alters the course of his life. (Publisher's blurb)
7 26 y separately published work icon Butterfly Sonya Hartnett , Camberwell : Hamish Hamilton , 2009 Z1554853 2009 single work novel young adult (taught in 5 units)

'Here is Plum Coyle, on the threshold of adolescence, striving to be new. Her fourteenth birthday is approaching: her old life and her old body will fall away, and she will become graceful, powerful, at ease. The strength in the objects she stores in a briefcase under her bed - a crystal lamb, a yoyo, an antique watch, a penny - will make sure of it.

'Over the next couple of weeks, Plum's life will change. Her beautiful neighbour Maureen will begin to show her how she might fly. The older brothers she adores - the charismatic Justin, the enigmatic Cydar - will court catastrophe in worlds that she barely knows exist. And her friends - her worst enemies - will tease and test, smelling weakness. They will try to lead her on and take her down.

'Who ever forgets what happens when you're fourteen?' (Publisher's blurb)
7 25 y separately published work icon Thursday's Child Sonya Hartnett , Ringwood New York (City) : Penguin , 2000 Z540722 2000 single work novel young adult (taught in 1 units) The creature held a great bundle of something tied up in a rag. For a moment we stared, not recognising him, but who else could it have been, who else but wandering Tin. We saw his naked limbs, his waxy skin, his discoloured hair, his hooking razor-sharp nails. He raised lashy eyes to us and we saw a face on its way to another world. Da murmured, "Jesus." Through the long years of the Great Depression, Harper Flute watches with a child's clear eyes her family's struggle to survive in a hot and impoverished landscape. As life on the surface grows harsher, her brother Tin escapes ever deeper into a subterranean world of darkness and troubling secrets, until his memory becomes a myth barely whispered around the countryside. (Source: Trove)
2 1 y separately published work icon Sadie and Ratz Sonya Hartnett , Ann James (illustrator), Camberwell : Puffin , 2008 Z1515517 2008 single work picture book children's This is a story about sibling rivalry features a child whose hands take on their own personalities. Sadie and Ratz, as she calls them, act seemingly independently to chastise her annoying little brother. When Baby Boy breaks a valuable clock and blames it on his sister, Sadie and Ratz seek justice. (Source: Trove)
5 27 y separately published work icon The Ghost's Child Sonya Hartnett , Camberwell : Penguin , 2007 Z1402459 2007 single work novel young adult fantasy (taught in 6 units)

'Maddy yearns for her life to be mystifying, to be as magical as a fairy story. And then one day, on the beach, she meets the strangest young man she has ever seen.

'The Ghost's Child is an enchanting fable about the worth of life, and the power of love.' (Publisher's blurb)
4 9 y separately published work icon The Devil Latch Sonya Hartnett , ( trans. Else B. Robinson with title Djaevelens discipel ) Copenhagen : Gyldendal , 1997 Z13032 1997 single work novel young adult He draws her close, envelops her as if with wings. She does not resist him or the kisses over her face when he tilts her chin up, she lets him, exposing the flesh of her throat. When she goes home that day she will wear the marks of the devil, the clinging smell of oil, the bruising of her neck. (Source: Trove)
2 11 y separately published work icon Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf Sonya Hartnett , Ringwood : Viking , 1999 Z166544 1999 single work novel young adult In a dying country town lives a young man fighting the future, a young man fighting the past, and a long-lost animal that can teach them both the art of survival. 'The animal swerved into the bracken, its smooth long tail slipping away. Satchel listened a minute for any sign of it but it was gone ... He wondered what its name had been, who had owned it, what hard history had left it alone here, at the foot of the hanging volcano.' (Source: Trove)
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