Something is happening. I can hear bullets going off, and people are running down towards the Eureka field...

In 1854 Rosa Aarons and her family travel from London to the goldfields of Ballarat. She makes new friends, learns to ride a horse and helps her family get by. Soon Rosa becomes caught up in one of the most dramatic events in Australian history: the Eureka Stockade. As the battle between the miners and the soldiers rages around her, Rosa's main concern is the safety of her beloved Papa.

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 Anzac biscuits. Anzac Biscuits delicately entwines the desolation of life on the front line with the tenderness of life on the home front.

An extraordinary depiction of all that Anzac Day means to us—in honour of the men and women who returned from war, and the sons, fathers, grandfathers and good mates who did not.

Christobel Mattingley, illus David Kennett. 32-pp hardcover. Middle/Upper Primary.

Ellis is losing track of time... Following her mother's marriage to a famous rock star, she moves to a crumbling old mansion in the wilds of Scotland. Far away from her friends and familiarity, waves of anxiety roll in and threaten to capsize her. But when she finds herself whisked back to the world of 1912, and meets lonely servant girl Flora, Ellis finally feels like she's home. But living in the past might not be as perfect as it seems... and is there more to hope for in the present than she first thought? A stunning new novel which transports the reader from remote Scotland to the top deck of the Titanic–from much-loved author Karen McCombie.

Definitive and highly entertaining biographies of artists for young readers. Author/artist Mike Venezia provides hilarious, cartoon-style illustrations to complement easy-to-read text and full-colour reproductions of the masters' artworks.

Mike Venezia. Two 32-pp, full-colour hardcovers. Primary.

A Newbery Honor Book in 2016. Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award (Middle School) in 2016 Featured on eighteen 'best of' lists and counting—including the Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly's 'Best Children's Books of the Year' An exceptionally moving story of triumph against all odds, set during World War II. Nine-year-old Ada has never left her one-room flat. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him. So begins a new adventure of Ada, and for Miss Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take in the two children. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan—and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to hold them together through wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother? This masterful work of historical fiction is equal parts adventure and a moving tale of family and identity–a classic in the making.

Definitive and highly entertaining biographies of artists for young readers. Author/artist Mike Venezia provides hilarious, cartoon-style illustrations to complement easy-to-read text and full-colour reproductions of the masters' artworks.

Two full-colour hardcovers, each 32 pp. Primary.

This breathtaking journey along the most important rivers in the world takes you from the Nile to the Amazon, the Mekong Delta to the Mississippi, the Murray to the Waikato.

Following our seas and rivers is a compelling way to tell the story of our planet. Tracking the life source of people, animals and the land itself also brings alive the myths and stories we weave around them.

Discover how a hippo runs over the riverbed instead of swimming. Find the river where people searched for the legendary Mokole Mbembe for centuries and learn how the submarine Boaty McBoatface got its name.

Follow the 1768 journey of James Cook’s H.M.S. Endeavour with his ship’s cook, the one-handed John Thompson, as story teller!
Through real recipes, events on board and the places the ship travelled on its way to the Pacific, the book tells multiple stories. Stories of social class, hierarchy and race; stories of explorers and the people of the land; the story of one of the world’s most famous explorers told through a fresh new lens.

And of course, it’s a book about food: from Pease Pudding to Goose Pie and Shark Steaks, here’s how a resourceful cook fed a shipful of hungry sailors on their extraordinary adventure.
This beautiful book is full of information drawn from extensive research alongside evocative illustrations, released in time for the 250th anniversary of the Endeavour’s journey.

Gavin Bishop. 40-pp hardcover.

The little-known story of Reg Saunders, the first Indigenous Australian
to become an officer in the Army, retold in an action-packed graphic-novel format!

Reg Saunders MBE (1920–90) not only survived the World War II battlefields in the Middle East, North Africa, Greece, Crete and New Guinea, but excelled as a military leader. He was recommended for officer training and, in 1944, returned to New Guinea as a platoon commander — the first Aboriginal Australian to serve as a commissioned officer.

Find out what happened during the war to transform this determined young man from country Victoria into a war hero — one who would go on to serve with distinction in the Korean War, and become a pioneering figure for Indigenous rights.                                                            

Slowly, the car made its way down the street to the cheers of the crowd. Something that looked like a small black bottle came sailing through the air, and landed close to the Archduke. He brushed it aside, and it then rolled into the road behind the car. Instants later came a terrific bang, the road exploded in a shower of dust and stones, and tiny sharp things went flying through the air like angry bees.

Louis Jullian and his older brother Thomas are on holiday in Sarajevo, enjoying the privileges of life in a diplomat’s family. But the peace is shattered as a bomb explodes and the heir to the Austrian Empire is assassinated in front of their eyes.

As Europe descends into war, Louis convinces his parents to let him go to the front as a war correspondent. Sent to northern France, Louis witnesses the war’s first battles and the beginning of trench warfare. His friends: from Australia, Britain, France, Austria, Russia–join the war effort too, with–and against–each other.   

Three extraordinary books from award-winning author/illustrator Rachel Tonkin. Young readers will be enchanted with the detail of life from so many decades ago.

Contains:

• Papa and the Olden Days
• What Was the War Like Grandma?
• To the Goldfields