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Works By

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25 1 y separately published work icon Our Chemical Hearts Krystal Sutherland , Melbourne : Penguin , 2016 9481130 2016 single work novel young adult romance

'John Hughes meets John Green in this irresistible story of first love, broken hearts and the golden seams that put them back together again.

'Henry Page has never been in love. He fancies himself a hopeless romantic, but the slo-mo, heart palpitating, can't-eat-can't-sleep kind of love that he's been hoping for just hasn't been in the cards for him – at least not yet. Instead, he's been happy to focus on his grades, on getting into an Ivy League college and finally becoming editor of his school newspaper. Then Grace Town walks into his first period class on the third Tuesday of senior year and he knows everything's about to change.

'Grace isn't who Henry pictured as his dream girl – she walks with a cane, wears oversized boys' clothes and rarely seems to shower. But when Grace and Henry are both chosen to edit the school paper, he quickly finds himself falling for her. It's obvious there's something broken about Grace, but it seems to make her even more beautiful to Henry and he wants nothing more than to help her put the pieces back together again. And yet, this isn't your average story of boy meets girl. Krystal Sutherland's brilliant debut is equal parts wit and heartbreak, a potent reminder of the bittersweet bliss that is first love.' (Publication summary)

6 4 y separately published work icon The Wrong Boy Suzy Zail , Newtown : Walker Books Australia , 2012 Z1932006 2012 single work novel young adult historical fiction

'The story of a Jewish girl sent to Auschwitz with her family. She falls in love with the wrong boy - the German son of the camp commander.

'Hanna is a talented pianist, and the protected second daughter of middle class Hungarian Jews. Relatively late in World War II the Budapest Jews were rounded up and sent to Auschwitz. Hanna and her mother and sister are separated from her father. Her mother becomes increasingly mentally ill until she too is taken away somewhere. Her sister Erika is slowly starving to death.

Hanna is quite a naive 15-year-old but when presented with the opportunity to play piano for the camp commander, she is desperate to be chosen. She goes each day under guard to the commander's house and stands waiting in case the commander should want some music.

Also living in the house is the commander's son, Karl. A handsome young man who seems completely disengaged from what is happening around him. Hanna hates him as he sits drawing in the music room. But the longer Hanna goes to the house, the more she realises there are other things going on. Secret things. Karl may not be the person she thinks he is. Before she knows it she has fallen in love with the wrong boy.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

4 3 y separately published work icon Alexander Altmann A10567 Suzy Zail , Newtown : Walker Books Australia , 2014 7071723 2014 single work children's fiction children's war literature

'Fourteen-year-old Alexander Altmann doesn't need to look at the number tattooed on his arm. A10567: he knows it by heart. He also knows that to survive Auschwitz, he has to toughen up. When he is given the job of breaking in the commander's new horse, their survival becomes intertwined. Alexander knows the animal is scared and damaged, but he must win its trust. If he fails, they will both be killed.'

Source: Publisher's blurb. 

7 15 y separately published work icon Finnikin of the Rock Melina Marchetta , Camberwell : Viking , 2008 Z1535148 2008 single work novel young adult fantasy 'At the age of nine, Finnikin is warned by the gods that he must sacrifice a pound of flesh in order to save the royal house of his homeland, Lumatere. He stands on the rock of three wonders with his friend Prince Balthazar and the prince's cousin, Lucian, and together they mix their blood. And Lumatere is safe: but then the unspeakable! The King and Queen and their children are slaughtered in the palace. And an imposter king takes the throne. And a curse is put on Lumatere, which traps those caught inside and forces thousands of others to roam the land as exiles, dying of fever and persecution in foreign camps. But ten years later Finnikin is led to another rock to meet the young novice, Evanjalin. A girl plagued by dark dreams, who holds the key to their return to the land of light...' (Source: Book Jacket)
2 13 y separately published work icon A Cage of Butterflies Brian Caswell , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1992 Z331829 1992 single work novel young adult science fiction A scientist imprisons some highly gifted children, hoping to exploit their telepathic abilities, but lives are endangered when a drug company sponsor demands faster results from the project.
2 9 y separately published work icon Princes Sonya Hartnett , Ringwood : Viking , 1997 Z493532 1997 single work novel young adult Ravel felt a shifty stab of panic. Indigo had an inquisitive new hobby. He'd taken to chopping things into pieces and this was not, Ravel felt, quite sane. More than that, it was rank with menace. Ravel wavered: "Indigo,'he whispered,' what are you doing?" In a dilapidated mansion overrun by rats, Ravel and Indigo Kesby have gone to war. In this house, there's no such thing as brotherly love. (Source: Trove)
4 5 y separately published work icon The Quicksand Pony Alison Lester , St Leonards : Allen and Unwin , 1997 Z829053 1997 single work children's fiction children's adventure Biddy has to abandon her pony Bella when she becomes trapped in quicksand, but somehow the pony escapes and Biddy's subsequent search for Bella leads her to an exciting discovery.
5 43 y separately published work icon Sleeping Dogs Sonya Hartnett , Ringwood : Viking , 1995 Z238800 1995 single work novel young adult (taught in 8 units) The misanthropic, sadistic father of five children, ages 12 to 25, Griffin Willow runs a trailer park on his dilapidated farm in rural Australia. Isolated from all outside influences, even the neighboring small town, the Willow family has created its own oppressive, sheltered, and decaying world. Despite abuse from their father and a silent, withdrawn mother, all five children live at home and help run the trailer park. Twenty-three-year-old Michelle and her younger brother Jordan have found solace in an incestuous relationship, which they carefully conceal from their parents. When Bow Fox, an itinerant artist, comes to stay at the park, their 15-year-old brother, Oliver, accidently reveals their secret. So begins an agonizing, irreversible progression of violence and betrayal. (Source: Trove)
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