Cirrus@Austlit

'Eliza wasn't at the bus stop that morning. The bus drove right on past and all Eliza's friends peered out to see where she'd gone. It was a mystery. A scandal. Eliza's disappearance was the hottest trending topic online. People knew something was up, but what?

'Nobody knew she was with me, Montgomery Ferguson, the lowest of the low. So it was that I first got to hang out with Eliza Robertson, the hottest girl in school with a heart of sheer contempt.

'I couldn't have been happier.

'On his fifteenth birthday, Monty is at rock bottom. Ignored by his parents, bullied at school, and with a brain that's prone to going walkabout, he's all by himself. Until he meets the black dog for the first time.

'It's just like any other dog, except that only Monty can see it. And it talks. And Monty's not sure whether it's a friend - or a foe. But the black dog gets him talking to pretty, popular Eliza Robertson for the first time. It takes him to places he's never been. And eventually it will take him, and the people around him, to the very edge.

'The Hounded is a book about depression and working out who you really are, from one of Australia's most prolific children's television writers.' (Publication summary)

'When fifteen year-old Zac goes camping on Mako Island, he has no idea his every move is being monitored by real-life mermaids Sirena, Nixie and Lyla, whose job it is to ward off trespassers. When he comes into contact with the magical waters of the Moon Pool on the night of a full moon, Zac is given a taste of Mako's powers, waking the next day to discover he has been granted fin-like feet and the power to control water…causing all sorts of trouble for Sirena, Nixie and Lyla.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 10/1/2014)