Collection: Junior Fiction - Premier's Reading Challenge

Answers many of the questions the author receives from children on writing, including where she gets her ideas, how she learned to draw, and how many books she can write in one day.

During World War I, Australian and New Zealand soldiers on the front were sent Christmas care packages in a tin billy. The Anzac Billy is the heartwarming story of a little boy packing a billy with all his fathers favourite things, added to by mum and grandma, even though he realises there is no ...

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...