Cirrus@Austlit

'Rob Braden is an ordinary schoolboy in a typical high school. Then Livy crashes her way into his peaceful life. Livy is the She of the story. Livy starts to annoy Rob, first in a small way, but then things become serious.

'She challenges Rob to a dare, which he reluctantly undertakes. Then they both discover that the object of the dare is far from innocent.

'In fact it’s part of a cunning criminal conspiracy. And there are people who are less than pleased at the way things have turned out.

She is a fast-paced thriller with just a hint of comedy.' (Publication summary)

'Just then came: crump, CRUMP, CRUMP! Three bombs in quick succession, coming frighteningly close. With each explosion, the ground shook. Dust and chips fell from the ceiling. Everyone in the shelter gasped at the same time. Vinnie held his breath, waiting for the fourth bomb, but it didn't come.

'When Vinnie is sent away from the bombs in London, he has no idea what awaits him. All he has left of his old life is his harmonica. On the train, Vinnie meets fierce Kathleen, sweet Joey and gangly Dobbs. The evacuee children find themselves thrown together in the country town of Netterfold, which seems beautiful and peaceful - until they meet the locals.

'There is a war raging across Europe, but Vinnie and his friends soon find they have their own war to fight as they face up to terrifying teachers, bad billets, and hostile neighbourhood kids who set out to make their lives as 'vaccies' miserable. And when things start to go missing, they discover that there are mysteries lurking in Netterfold's shadows, just waiting to be solved...

'Through music and friendship, can Vinnie make peace and finally find a place where he belongs?'  (Publication summary)

'I'm in it good and proper, worse than sweeping out the tallest, muckiest chimney. But I learnt there are two sorts of kindness. One of them's nice to look at for a time, but it's rotten inside. The other one's true and honest, like the kind Helen gives.'

'Chimney sweep Ben escapes from a tyrannical boss, but his brave new life turns nasty and dangerous.

'Helen wants nothing more than to stay on the family farm in rural England. Then a devastating change strips her of everything she knows and loves.

'Amid their struggles, Helen and Ben leave England, bound for Australia. But before they even catch sight of their new land, they face a menace far worse than anything they met in the old country.

'A thriller set in the harsh 1830's by bestselling author David McRobbie.' (Publication summary)

'Teenager Fergus McPhail (and his irrationally optimistic alter-ego), stumbles from crisis to crisis mostly of his own making. The stories cover a year in his life, showcasing Fergus at home with his erratic family, at school among friends, at play and sometimes, just sometimes, having a win in the steeplechase of adolescence.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 23/5/2014)

'Fergus McPhail and his family have just moved from Brisbane to Melbourne, and this is the story of Fergus's life in this turbulent first year of readjustment. ' (Libraries Australia record).

Eugénie Sandler, tracing the mysteries of her own past (such as her missing birth certificate and her unwitting possession of a false passport), finds that she is the lost heir to the decaying kingdom of Versovia, currently a Soviet-style dictatorship. She and her school friend Warwick find themselves dodging mysterious Versovians and murderous, corrupt police officers, while trying to find Eugénie's missing private-investigator father, Ray.

The program harks back to the genre of Ruritanian romances: swashbuckling adventure stories set in fictional Central or Eastern European countries (such as Anthony Hope's Ruritania), centering on the aristocracy or royalty, and usually culminating in the restoration of a lost heir. Although the popularity of pure Ruritanian romances declined after the nineteenth century, aspects of their form were transplanted into speculative fiction, particularly the sub-genres of alternate histories and fantasies of manners. In this instance, script-writer David McRobbie transplants the Ruritanian romance to late-twentieth-century Australia, and further filters it through the contemporary concern of the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

For McRobbie, Eugénie Sandler, PI followed his first children's television program, The Wayne Manifesto (1996-1997) and was followed in turn by Fergus McPhail (2004).

Australian Screen offers some content from episode two of Eugénie Sandler, PI online: http://aso.gov.au/titles/tv/eugenie-sandler-pi-episode-two/clip1/?nojs=. (Sighted: 17/2/2012)

Wayne boasts that he can cook, and Charlene finally meets Rupert.

The Wayne Manifesto takes us into the world of twelve-year-old Wayne Wilson, showing us the world as Wayne would like it to be and the world as it really is. When his family move to their new home, Wayne wants nothing more than to fit in and keep out of the way of the school bully. He befriends the laid-back Squocka, the self-reliant Violet, and the young, energetic Rosie, and takes on his new life with enormous optimism.

The program has a strong magic-realism component in Wayne's active imagination and the way in which he uses this to manipulate the viewer's sense of his reality.

'Strange things have been happening at Joe and Harry's new home, Rosemary Cottage. Things disappearing, strangers arriving in the night and the police asking a lot of questions. Joe is sure that it all has something to do with Sam, the mysterious girl who lives at nearby Pitcaithly Farm.

'Could it all be just some joke she is playing, or is it something much more dangerous? Somehow Joe thinks that he is going to find out - whether he wants to or not . . .' (Publication summary)