AustLit

'From turning off the lights to eating less meat, there are many small changes we can make to help save our beautiful planet.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Whether we share a toy or include someone in a game, all acts of kindness – no matter how big or small – make the world a better place.

'Kindness is doing what you can, where you are, with what you have, and in Kindness Makes Us Strong, Sophie Beer introduces us to a bunch of cute kids doing just that.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Biz knows how to float. She has her people, her posse, her mom and the twins. She has Grace. And she has her dad, who tells her about the little kid she was, who loves her so hard, and who shouldn’t be here but is. So Biz doesn’t tell anyone anything. Not about her dark, runaway thoughts, not about kissing Grace or noticing Jasper, the new boy. And she doesn’t tell anyone about her dad. Because her dad died when she was seven. And Biz knows how to float, right there on the surface–normal okay regular fine.

'But after what happens on the beach–first in the ocean, and then in the sand–the tethers that hold Biz steady come undone. Dad disappears and, with him, all comfort. It might be easier, better, sweeter to float all the way away? Or maybe stay a little longer, find her father, bring him back to her. Or maybe–maybe maybe maybe–there’s a third way Biz just can’t see yet.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Whether you have two mums, two dads, one parent, or one of each, there's one thing that makes a family a family... and that's love.

'A book for EVERY family by dazzling illustrator Sophie Beer. ' (Publication summary)

'Once there was a boy who had to leave home ... and find another. In his bag he carried a book, a bottle and a blanket. In his teacup he held some earth from where he used to play. This is one boys story of leaving his homeland, surviving a long journey by sea ... and finding a safe, new place to call home.' (Publication summary)

'Nadine is a 'truly remarkable cow' who is afraid of absolutely nothing; or so she claims. She's a bit of a show-off, really, and when her friends take her up on her offer of a tour through the woods, Nadine is in her element. Then night falls, and when her friends leave and Nadine is left to explore a dark cave all on her own, suddenly she doesn't feel quite to brave after all.' (Publisher's blurb)

'When Nathanial and his mother move to the quiet, safe streets of Cheshunt, he immediately senses something wrong. Violent gangs patrol the streets, feral dogs roam at night, and the oppressive stench from the abattoir lingers over the school.

'Soon Nathanial learns that his presence is no accident. As he uncovers the dark secrets of Cheshunt's past, and event spiral desperately out of control, he and his new friends must confront phantoms from their past in the battle to stop the Gathering and its terrifying creator.'

Source: Publisher's blurb (Penguin website).

'Vacationing [...] in a cottage at an old homestead in rural Australia, Dee and Alex unravel a long-ago tragedy that resurfaces after Kenny discovers human bones on the banks of a precipitous gorge. Kenny, who normally behaves like a sweet, 240-pound three-year-old, begins to have bizarre episodes that Dee and Alex eventually realize are possession by Baily--a frighteningly angry escaped convict whose written denouncement of a man named Arnold (like their landlord) they find hidden under the cottage floor. It develops that several other people are also inhabited by spirits from the past, seeking retribution from one another--especially from the present-day Arnold's ancestor, who was responsible for a brutal massacre of aboriginal [sic] people in the gorge.'

Source: Kirkus Reviews (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/victor-kelleher-2/bailys-bones/). (Sighted: 25/07/2017)

The year is 2025. Hector leaves his underground community which has been isolated for over half a century. Above ground he meets Diana. She lives a very different life beside a mystical lake, with her mother and crippled father. Suspicious of each other's versions of history, it is only when they are forced to visit the place of Hector's birth that their dependence on each other becomes clear.

'Space Demons is a computer game with a difference - a prototype directly imported from Japan, and designed to lock four unlikely protagonists, Andrew Hayford, Elaine Taylor, Ben Challis and Mario Ferrone, in deadly combat with the sinister forces of its artificial intelligence. As the game draws them into its powerful ambit, Andrew, Elaine, Ben, and Mario must confront the darker sides of their own natures.' (Publication summary)