She lives in the best suburb. She goes to the finest school. Her family is wealthy and powerful. She has everything money can buy. So why are there reporters outside her house? And why is her father telling lies on television? And why is the Premier talking about them in State Parliament? Something is wrong. Something is terribly wrong. Riveting and compulsively readable, John Marsden's Checkers plunges us deep in the mind and world of a teenage girl whose life has spun completely out of c...

"… well worth reading and the reader gains some insight into the social life of crewmen at sea and on land." -National Maritime Historical Society Sunk by a U-boat, Attacked by Kamikazes tells the story of one man's experiences during the years 1939 to 1947. Aged sixteen when the war broke out, Joseph Marsden worked casual shiftwork on the Liverpool docks. Lucky to survive an air raid on the night of 4 May 1941, he lost two members of his family before the Liverpool blitz came to an end. O...

One of the greatest medieval warriors Harald Sigurdsson, nicknamed Hardrada (Harold the Ruthless or hard ruler) fell in battle in an attempt to snatch the crown of England. The spectacular and heroic career which ended at Stamford Bridge in Yorkshire on 25 September 1066 had taken Harald from Norway to Russia and Constantinople and saw him gain a kingdom by force and determination rather than right or inheritance. He was one of the most feared rulers in Europe and was firs...

Galloglas were mercenary warriors from the Hebrides and West Highlands who settled in Ireland in the later 13th century and achieved an extraordinary prominence on Irish battlefields throughout the three hundred years following. Fighting as heavy infantry - highly-disciplined, mail-armoured and wielding their characteristic weapon of the long-staved war-axe - they were the decisive military component in the Gaelic Irish resurgence of the 14th century and represented the cutting-edge of res...

Through most of eight hundred years, Somerled of Argyll has been variously denounced as an intractable rebel against his rightful king and esteemed as the honoured ancestor of the later medieval Lord of the Isles, but he can be recognised now as a much more complex figure of major prominence in twelfth-century Scotland and of truly landmark significance in the long history of the Gael. In this book individual chapters investigate his emergence in the forefront of the Gaelic-Norse aristocra...

'Compulsively readable' New York TimesSomewhere out there Ellie and her friends are hiding.Their country has been invaded. Everyone they know has been captured. Their world has changed overnight.They've got no weapons - except courage.They've got no help - except themselves.They've got nothing - except friendship.How strong could you be, if the world was full of peop...

A riveting story of courage, hope and extraordinary adventure."You will hardly read a more fascinating account of a convict's voyage to Australia" Australian Book ReviewThirteen-year-old Barnaby Fletch is a bag-and-bones orphan in London in the late 1700s.Barnaby lives on his wits and ill-gotten gains, on streets seething with the press of the throng and shadowed by sinister figures. Life is a precarious business.Wh...

'The rabbits came many grandparents ago.They built houses, made roads, had children.They cut down trees.A whole continent of rabbits...'THE RABBITS offers a rich and immensely valuable perspective on the effect of man on his environment. Visually loaded and told with a passion for truth and understanding, THE RABBITS aims to promote cultural awareness and a sense of caring for the natural world.

John Marsden is not just one of Australia's most successful writers of all time; he's also one of our best teachers of writing."Highly recommended" Sun Herald"The most exciting, interesting and useful book on the teaching of writing" Australian English TeacherThe ultimate "get off your bum and do it" book, Everything I Know About Writing will motivate anyone to write. It's...

When Ellie and six of her friends return home from a camping trip deep in the bush, they find things hideously wrong -- their families gone, houses empty and abandoned, pets and stock dead. Gradually they begin to comprehend that their country has been invaded and everyone in the town has been taken prisoner. As the horrible reality of the situation becomes evident they have to make a life-and-death decision: to run back into the bush and hide, to give themselves up to be with their famili...

"Australia's king of young adult fiction" The AustralianJames reads by his open bedroom window at night. Other lives and other worlds beckon. One of these worlds is conjured by old Mr Woodford, a physicist who looks more like an accountant and who constructs a strange black box.One day when James slips into the laboratory, he makes a dreadful discovery and learns to master a great power.Who is the little boy in Mexico who scratches pictures of aero...

"Australia's king of young adult fiction" The AustralianShe has parents, a brother, friends and a dog. Sometimes the dog seems like the only one she can trust.Her life is about to fall apart.The dog is Checkers.The book is unforgettable.Fans of Veronica Roth, Suzanne Collins and John Flanagan will love John Marsden.