Cirrus@Austlit

'Wilder Country was first encountered in Mark Smith's debut post-Apocalyptic novel,  The Road to Winter (2016). It is the hinterland of fictitious Angowrie, a coastal town in southern Australia where snow falls on the ranges in winter. After a pandemic had ravaged the country and left small pockets of survivors to fend for themselves, the morals of a civilised community have crumbled.' (Introduction)

'The Fifth Room is an absorbing YA mystery thriller, the mystery centred on the fifth room in a secretive medical research centre that is housed in a remote underground bunker in Denmark. Who, if anyone, is in that room and what is going on behind its door?' (Introduction)

'Free Diving must surely be the first Australian picture book about the long past practice of pearl diving. Magabala Books deserves a commendation for illuminating this little known industry in Australia's history.' (Introduction)

'In her first self-authored picture book since her writing debut in Ivy Loves to Give (2009), illustrator Freya Blackwood has the measure of her early childhood readership. Here, in The Great Rabbit Chase, she presents a simple circular take in which the reader is at one with the cumulating group of characters moving lineally through the pages in pursuit of their goal - an escaped pet rabbit. The format is a classic staple of literature for infants and always delights with its page turning surprises; Blackwood has served the genre well.' (Introduction)

'Pamela Allen should be declared a 'national treasure'. It is almost forty years since her first picture book Mr Archimides' Bath was published to much acclaim. Since then very few Australian and New Zealand children would not have experienced the delight of her picture books. The magic continues, as invitingly and as assured as ever with book number forty-eight: A Bag and A Bird. Just a glance at it's cover with that characteristic high definition pen and wash art sharply focused against white space would have young familiar readers enthusiastically identify it as a Pamela Allen book.' (Introduction)