Collection: Junior Fiction - Premier's Reading Challenge

Rachel is in the kitchen, warm and safe. Her father is in the trenches, cold and afraid. When Rachel makes biscuits for her father, she adds the love, warmth and hope that he needs. This is a touching story of a family torn apart by war but brought together through the powerful simplicity of Anza...

It was 1914 when Sister Alice Ross-King left Australia for the war. Nursing was her passion, all she had ever wanted to do. But Alice couldn't have imagined what she would see. She served four long years and was brave, humble and endlessly compassionate. Using extracts from Alice's actual diaries...

This story is based on the true story of Freda, a dalmatian and the dog mascot of the NZ Rifles during World War 1. It's a simple story about the reality of war, hardship, friendship and love.

Inspired by the story of two soldiers who planted two trees on their farm before they headed to the Great War, the story of the Anzac Tree is one that looks at the lives of those left behind in times of war.

"Apollo the Powerful Owl decides to change his diet, but then his tummy growls and he feels sick and weak. Wilfred the Wise Old Owl gives him some sensible advice. When Apollo takes that advice, something wonderful happens. The magnificent Powerful Owl - Australia's largest owl - is now a threate...

Oscar Dunleavy, who used to make the world's most perfect apple tarts, is missing, presumed dead. No-one seems too surprised, except for Meg, his best friend, and his little brother Stevie. Surrounded by grief and confusion, Meg and Stevie are determined to find out what happened to Oscar, and to...

Once upon an orange evening, tiger-striped with blackened trees, a pig sat upon a dam bank, fondly reminiscing. Against a rural Australian setting of drought and bushfire, a little pig called Applesauce learns that Christmas comes form the heart.

Arianwyn has fluffed her witch's assessment. Awarded the dull bronze disc of an apprentice - to the glee of her arch-rival, mean girl Gimma - she's sent to protect the remote, dreary town of Lull. But her new life is far from boring. Turns out Gimma is the pompous mayor's favourite niece - and wo...

Bastienne Scull is a young orphan who lives with the local Witnesser of Miracles, Lodyma Darsey, who investigates 'miraculous events' and spins them into stories she tells at the night markets. After Lodyma's husband and oldest son died of a sickness that continues to sweep the land, she sent her...

April and Esme Underhill have never collected a tooth before. Mum and Dad always do it. But tonight it's their turn. So, equipped with a bag, a coin and a mobile phone, the sisters head for Daniel Dangerfield's house, and a very unusual first tooth visit.

Arabella is a very happy only child living a perfectly pleasant life. Until she gets a baby brother who utterly upsets everything! So Arabella erases Avery with her magic pencil. Problem solved. She’s sure her life will go back to being perfect now … won’t it?

Archie Green receives a mysterious present on his birthday. Deep within an ancient wooden box is an old book, written in a language he doesn't recognise. With the book comes a Special Instruction - Return the book to the Museum of Magical Miscellany.

Archie’s Letter tells a story of an ordinary man who went off to fight in World War II. His experiences included the Burma Railway, where he was under the command of Australian war hero, Weary Dunlop. Archie’s Letter also tells how he dealt with his wartime experiences; how, at the age of 91, he ...

When Archie is given a scrapbook for his tenth birthday in 1914, he chronicles the next four years of his life using documents, artifacts, and comic strips.

"Hen is counting the days until her eggs hatch. But one night a wild storm scatters them far and wide. The other animals start searching high and low. But are they all Hen's eggs?" -- Back cover.

The car trip to Grandma's house is taking forever. 'Are We There Yet?' explores the amazing possibilities of imagination on a long, boring car journey, as time slows down so much that it starts going backwards. Featuring dinosaurs, ancient Egyptians, knights and pirates, this is one amazing journ...

Tells the story through 8-year-old Gace's eyes, of her family's three month journey around Australia.

Small Panda has lost his bottom. It was there when he went to sleep but now it has disappeared. He searches high and low, and finds stripy bums, pink butts, feathery derrieres. 'Are you my bottom?' he asks, but none of these bottoms are his. Finally, he spots a furry bum which just has to be his ...

A mother bird sat on her egg. She flew away to get her baby food. When the baby bird hatched, he couldn't find his mother and decided to go looking for her.

Life isn't easy for Margaret. She's moved away from her childhood home, she's starting a new school, finding new friends - and she's convinced she's not normal. For a start she hasn't got a clue whether she wants to be Jewish like her father or Christian like her mother. Everyone else seems reall...