Lately, I have come across two beautiful little novels, both with a magical, mystical atmosphere, and both set in Australia. The Naming of Tishkin Silk Glenda Millard, with artwork by Caroline Magerl (Phoenix Yard Books) Griffin Silk is an uncommon little boy, and it becomes quite obvious to him as he soon as he starts school and …
Morris Gleitzman(Puffin) Grace is an ordinary little girl, but she does not live an ordinary life. Born within a fundamentalist Christian community, she is sheltered from the rest of Australian society, unable to interact with “sinners”, and forced to follow harsh, chauvinistic rules. But Grace still has fun in her life, mainly thanks to her much-loved …
John Marsden(Quercus) When seventeen year-old Ellie Linton decides to “go bush” with her school friends for a final adventure before going back to school and leaves her home town of Wirrawee behind, she can’t know that she is also leaving life as she knows it behind. While the seven friends are having fun in an isolated idyllic spot …
Sue Purkisswith illustrations by James de la Rue(Walker Books) Emily does not want to move to Australia and leave behind England and her beloved grandmother. So it is reluctantly that she comes aboard the famous SS Great Britain, which is docked in Liverpool, ready for the long journey to half-way round the world. But her assumptions …
