AustLit

'There's never a good time to be orphaned - or abandoned ... especially when you are twelve years old, and it's the Great Depression.

'In 1928, Shakespearean actors, the McAllisters, are forced to leave their daughter Adversity at the Emu Swamp Children's Home.

They fully intend to return, but things don't go according to plan.

'Then, to make matters worse, Scrimshaw, a villainous theatrical agent, hears the talented Addie sing. He plots to use her in his next money-making venture, but when he turns up at Emu Swamp to collect his prize, Scrimshaw finds she's run away.

'Together with Macbeth, her Shakespeare-quoting cockatiel, Addie is about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Ella would rather draw dragons than work on her mapping project. When she finds an old globe, Ella sets off on an adventure that will change her mind about geography forever.' (Publication summary)

'Ali Berber is a young merchant, keen to impress the King of Alhambra with the amazing flavour his salt brings to food. The king is impressed – until Ali’s forty grains of salt disappear. Now, instead of being rewarded, Ali is in danger of being beheaded! Can he solve the mystery of the disappearing salt before it is too late?' (Publication summary)

'Princess Belle stepped forward and curtsied to the royal guests.

'The king said, "This is my daughter, Princess Belle."

'The King of Danzania held out his hand. Forgetting she was wearing a clown trick ring, Belle shook his hand.

'A zing of electricity buzzed from the ring...' (Publication summary)

'Eight-year-old Charlie loves chillies – the hotter the better. Her family refuses to touch them, but fortunately, she lives in the town that hosts the Flaming Hot Chilli Competition. With the help of her potted Habanero chilli, Charlie aims to win the hotly-contested competition. Her rival plans otherwise and the Habanero is the target.' (Publication summary)

Author's synopsis: 'Two tales interweave through this novel, set in the dinosaur triangle of western Queensland. We follow the fate of a small ornithopod trying to survive as a plant-eater in a land of carnivores, through its fight for life to its ultimate death in the claws of a terrifying flesh eating theropod. Twelve-year-old Ellie Honeywell regards herself as an amateur palaeontologist. She's more familiar with ancient fossils than teenage boys. When Tom Hart, the son of Museum palaeontologists, invites her to a fossil dig near Winton, she thinks her fossil-finding fantasies have come true. But why did Tom have to invite his friend Peta along as well? She's 14, gorgeous, sophisticated and totally unbearable. So a camping trip to the Lark Quarry Dinosaur Stampede is a welcome relief for Ellie. But three men illegally mining for valuable opal fossils are at work in the area and they're not about to let some camping kids jeopardise their plans to escape undetected with their treasure. If the two girls are to outwit and survive these ruthless criminals they need to become allies. In a dramatic conclusion Ellie's discovery of the fossilized femur of the small ornithopod neatly ties the two narratives together, producing a satisfying conclusion to this adventure-packed novel.'