Cirrus@Austlit

'Life is a thrilling adventure.

'Our children get only rare glimpses of the possibilities.

'To roam, to dare, to fail ... these are the rights of children.

'John Marsden, the award-winning, bestselling author of the Tomorrow series, has spent his life educating kids and teenagers. He is passionate about the need to prepare them in all ways for the demands of adulthood.

'As the founder and principal of two schools - Candlebark and Alice Miller - John has put his theories to the test and seen the empowering results of his methods.

'Take Risks is the compelling memoir of a revered author and educator, and a forthright discussion on teaching, parenting and society as a whole.' (Publication summary)

'From the award-winning and bestselling author of the Tomorrow series.

'When I hear parents say 'I want my children to enjoy their childhood; there'll be time when they're older to learn about those things', I hear the voices of those who are scared of the vastness of the universe. These adults have a view of childhood as some kind of discrete interval, rather than just a few years from the continuum of life. How fortunate that the spirit, courage and curiosity of many young people remain largely undefeated by such adults.

'John Marsden has spent his adult life engaging with young minds - through both his award-winning, internationally bestselling young adult fiction and his work as one of Australia's most esteemed and experienced educators. As the founder and principal of two schools, John is at the coalface of education and daily witness to the inevitable and yet still mysterious process of growing up.

'Now, in this astonishing, insightful and hugely ambitious manifesto, John pulls together all he has learned from over thirty years' experience working with and writing for young people. He shares his insights into everything - from the role of schools and the importance of education, to problem parents and problem children, and the conundrum of what it means to grow up and be 'happy' in the 21st century.' (Publication summary)

'My name, then, is Barnaby Fletch. To the best of my knowledge I have no middle name and cannot say of whom I am the son, or of whom my father's father's father was the son. Alas, my origins are shrouded in mystery.

'Thirteen-year-old Barnaby Fletch is a bag-and-bones orphan in London in the late 1700s.

'Barnaby lives on his wits and ill-gotten gains, on streets seething with the press of the throng and shadowed by sinister figures. Life is a precarious business.

'When he hears of a paradise on the other side of the world - a place called Botany Bay - he decides to commit a crime and get himself transported to a new life, a better life.

'To succeed, he must survive the trials of Newgate Prison, the stinking hull of a prison ship and the unknown terrors of a journey across the world.

'And Botany Bay is far from the paradise Barnaby has imagined. When his past and present suddenly collide, he is soon fleeing for his life - once again.

'A riveting story of courage, hope and extraordinary adventure.' (Publication summary)

'You move into the most boring street in the most boring town in Australia. Tarrawagga is a hole. Its only ambition is to be a crater, and it has every chance of getting there. The last thing you expect is to have action all around you, dangerous strangers in the backyard, and bullets flying past your ears. At your new school, everyone thinks you're the biggest loser in Grade 6. Little do they know. When they realise the truth, teachers and students alike are in for the shock of their lives. '(Publisher's blurb)

'Hamlet's father has just died. By the time they've filled in the grave his mother has remarried. Hamlet suspects foul play, and it's troubling his spirit. Or maybe he was always troubled. Ophelia is in love with him. His best friend Horatio can't work him out. Then, on a cold, still night, Hamlet meets the ghost of his father...' (Publisher's blurb)

It is a time of profound change for Ellie Linton. Enemies are everywhere. Some come crawling over the hills, others drive in and knock on the front door. Sometimes her friends are there and sometimes they are not. Ellie fights every inch of the way. But when courage and imagination are not enough, when she is trapped and helpless, Ellie must face the end of life as she knows it, standing alone, sustained only by her own strength. (Source: Trove)