AustLit

'Since the sudden death of his younger sister, Evie, sixteen-year-old Munro Maddux has been having flashbacks and anger-management issues. He has a constant ache in his right hand. And there's a taunting, barking, biting voice he calls "the Coyote." Munro knows a six-month student exchange will not be the stuff of teenage dreams, but in Brisbane he intends to move beyond his troubled past. It is there, at an assisted living residence called Fair Go Community Village, that Munro discovers the Coyote can be silenced.

'Munro volunteers as a "Living Partner" and gets to know the team of residents he is assigned to. The burden Munro carries, however, is not so easily cast aside. When one of the team makes the decision to leave, the Coyote gets a new life. When a second resident is taken away, the specter of trauma and death looms larger than ever.

'Will Munro learn how to silence the voice? Or will the Coyote ultimately triumph?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'This road trip will have earth-shattering consequences . . .

'Twins Justine and Perry are about to embark on the road trip of a lifetime in the Pacific Northwest.

'It's been a year since they watched their dad lose his battle with cancer. Now, at only nineteen, Justine is the sole carer for her disabled brother. But with Perry having been accepted into an assisted-living residence, their reliance on each other is set to shift. Before they go their separate ways, they're seeking to create the perfect memory.

'For Perry, the trip is a glorious celebration of his favourite things: mythical sea monsters, Jackie Chan movies and the study of earthquakes.

'For Justine, it's a chance to reconcile the decision to ‘free' her twin, to see who she is without her boyfriend, Marc – and to offer their mother the chance to atone for past wrongs.

'But the instability that has shaped their lives will not subside, and the seismic event that Perry forewarned threatens to reduce their worlds to rubble . . . ' (Publication summary)

Ex-basketball professional, Sean Watson, is appointed to coach students from non-English speaking backgrounds at a new school. The Milpera school encourages students to develop language skills in order to be able to attend mainstream schools. Sean establishes dialogue with the students around the plight of refugees in Australia, love and loss, puberty, language and cultural differences, and leads the team to compete in the Pepsi Cup Challenge for basketball.