HSC TEXTSJOURNEYS

LIBRARY

BOOKS

Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Call Number: F TWA

ISBN: 0439099404

Publication Date: 1876 (This Ed. 1999)

An imaginative and mischievous boy named Tom Sawyer lives with his Aunt Polly and his half-brother, Sid, in the Mississippi River town of St. Petersburg, Missouri. Tom and his friend Huck Finn witness the murder of young Dr. Robinson by the Native-American “half-breed” Injun Joe. Tom, Huck, and Tom’s friend Joe Harper run away to an island to become pirates. While frolicking around and enjoying their newfound freedom, the boys become aware that the community is sounding the river for their bodies. They return home and keep an eye on Injun Joe and the gold he stole. Tom takes Huck to a cave and they find the box of gold, the proceeds of which are invested for them.

Feeling the Heat by Pat Lowe

Call Number: SF LOW

ISBN: 0141309024

Publication Date: 2002

This book follows the story of a young man in his early twenties named Matthew Scott who returns back to the remote town of Kimberly the place where he lived as a child, but was then forced to move to Perth as his farther (a former prison officer) was transferred. Matthew had always loved Kimberly and had made a promise that he would return as soon as he could. There a many indigenous people living in Kimberly as

the land in and surrounding it has a dreamtime relation to the aboriginals

Forest by Sonya Hartnett

Call Number: F HAR

ISBN: 0670899208

Publication Date: 2001

Kian, a cossetted suburban cat, is snatched from his comforts and dumped in the bush along with two kittens, Cally and Jem. The greatest threat to their survival are other cats, ferals who fiercely guard their territories. Kian survives some unnerving and vicious encounters but is unswerving in his desire to make the long journey home to his territory even though it is apparent his owner is dead and that there will be no welcome from the cruel man who has taken over the house.

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Call Number: SF STE

ISBN: 9780140292923

Publication Date: 1939 (This Ed. 1992)

Set against the background of Dust Bowl Oklahoma and Californian migrant life, it tells of the Joad family, who, like thousands of others, are forced to travel west in search of the promised land. Their story is one of false hopes, thwarted desires, and broken dreams, yet out of their suffering Steinbeck created a drama that is intensely human, yet majestic in its scale and moral vision; an eloquent tribute to the endurance and dignity of the human spirit.

Hitch Hiker’s guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Call Number: F ADA

ISBN: 0330437992

Publication Date: 1979 (This Ed. 2005)

Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide and a galaxy-full of fellow travellers.

Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt

Call Number: SF VOL

ISBN: 0007119216

Publication Date: 2001

On Saturday morning, 13-year-old Dicey Tillerman sits in the car at the shopping mall with her younger sister and two brothers. Momma had said, "You be good." Then she walked away. They wait for a day and a night, but Momma never comes back. Finally, Dicey decides the children should go to Bridgeport, Connecticut where Aunt Cilla lives. Maybe Momma is waiting for them there. But they don't have enough money to take the bus. Determined to keep the family together, Dicey sets off on foot with her siblings

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Call Number: SF BRO

ISBN: 1853260207

Publication Date: 1992

Jane Eyre follows the emotions and experiences of eponymous Jane Eyre, her growth to adulthood, and her love for Mr. Rochester, the byronic master of Thornfield Hall. The novel contains elements of social criticism, with a strong sense of morality at its core, but is nonetheless a novel many consider ahead of its time given the individualistic character of Jane and the novel's exploration of sexuality, religion, and proto-feminism.

Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson

Call Number: F IBB

ISBN: 033039715X

Publication Date: 2001

Maia, an orphan, can't wait to reach her distant relatives a thousand miles up the Amazon. She imagines a loving family with whom she will share great adventures. Instead, she finds two spiteful cousins who see the jungle as the enemy and refuse to go outdoors.

But the wonders of the rainforest more than make up for the hideous Carters. And when Maia meets a mysterious boy who lives alone on the wild river shores, she begins a spectacular journey to the heart of an extraordinary new world.

Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson

Call Number: F STE

ISBN: 1851497080

Publication Date: 1999 (this edition)

After his father dies, David Balfour is told to go to his uncle for his inheritance. But the uncle has no intention of letting the riches go - so he plots to kill Balfour, ultimately arranging for him to be kidnapped as a slave bound for the American colonies. Balfour's future looks bleak - until he witnesses a shipwreck and befriends the lone survivor, a rugged Highlander named Alan Breck Stewart. Together, they plan their rebellion - and the fight back home to claim Balfour's inheritance.

20 000 Leagues under the Sea by Jules Verne

Call Number: F VER

ISBN: 0751370738

Publication Date: 1870 (This Ed. 1998)

A mysterious sea monster, theorized by some to be a giant narwhal, is sighted by ships of several nations; an ocean liner is also damaged by the creature. The United States government finally assembles an expedition to track down and destroy the menace. Professor Pierre Aronnax, a noted French marine biologist and narrator of the story, master harpoonist Ned Land, and Aronnax's faithful assistant Conseil join the expedition.

Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn

Call Number: SF HEA

ISBN: 0733615651

Publication Date: 2002

The youth Takeo has been brought up in a remote mountain village among the Hidden, a reclusive and spiritual people who have taught him only the ways of peace. But unbeknownst to him, his father was a celebrated assassin and a member of the Tribe, an ancient network of families with extraordinary, preternatural skills. When Takeo's village is pillaged, he is rescued and adopted by the mysterious Lord Otori Shigeru. Under the tutelage of Shigeru, he learns that he too possesses the skills of the Tribe. And, with this knowledge, he embarks on a journey that will lead him across the famed nightingale floor—and to his own unimaginable destiny...

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Call Number: F CAR

ISBN: 0831766948

Publication Date: 1871 (This Ed. 1995)

While delighting children with a heroine who represents their own thoughts and feelings about growing up, the tale is appreciated by adults as a gentle satire on education, politics, literature, and Victorian life in general. All the delightful and bizarre inhabitants of Wonderland are here: the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat, the hooka-smoking Caterpillar and the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Ugly Duchess... and, of course, Alice herself - growing alternately taller

and smaller, attending demented tea parties and eccentric croquet games, and observing everything with clarity and rational amazement.

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne

Call Number F VER

ISBN: 0710502176

Publication Date: 1975 (This Ed.)

Jules Verne's incomparable Phileas Fogg races against time to win a sizeable wager. One adventure follows another in this memorable story rife with humor and strange encounters. He travels around the world by every means possible and has amazing experiences.

Ashling by Isobelle Carmody

Call Number: SF CAR

ISBN: 0140271511

Publication Date: 1995

The powerful farseeker Elspeth is sent to Sutrium, seat of the totalitarian council that rules the Land, to seal an alliance between the secret Misfit community at Obernewtyn and rebel forces.

The journey takes her far beyond the borders of the Land, across the sea and into the heart of the mysterious desert region of Sador. Elspeth will need help to destroy the weaponmachines. But before her dark quest can begin, Elspeth must learn the truth of her dreams: she must

understand why the Beforetimers destroyed their world …

The Game of the Goose by Ursula Dubosarsky

Call Number: F DUB

ISBN: 0670894389

Publication Date: 2000

In her hand was a hinged wooden box with a black clasp. On the lid was a painting of a white bird with a long neck, its wings stretched out in flight. Fred rubbed it with her fingers, wiping away the dust.

'The Game of the Goose,' she read slowly.'Open it,' said Rowley . . .

Fred, Rowley and Rabbit hardly knew each other before the game. But the game changed everything. It took each of them on an adventure – a terrifying, wonderful journey that they would remember forever.

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathon Swift

Call Number: F SWI (Adapted by James Dunbar)

ISBN: 0751372455

Publication Date: 2000

A savage and hilarious satire, Gulliver's Travels sees Lemuel Gulliver shipwrecked and adrift, subject to bizarre and unnerving encounters with - among others - quarrelling Lilliputians, philosophising horses, and the brutish Yahoo tribe that change his view of humanity - and

himself - forever. Swift's classic of 1726 portrays mankind in a distorted hall of mirrors as a diminished, magnified, and finally, bestial species, presenting us with a comical yet uncompromising reflection of ourselves.

Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne

Call Number: F VER

ISBN: 9780812504712

Publication Date: 1992 (This Ed.)

A Journey to the Centre of the Earth is a classic 1864 science-fiction novel written by Jules Verne. The main character is Professor Von Hardwigg who believes there are volcanic tubes going toward the center of the Earth. Professor Von Hardwigg, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans encounter many adventures, including prehistoric animals and natural hazards, eventually coming to the surface again in southern Italy.

The living organisms they meet reflect geological time; just as the rock layers become older and older the deeper they travel, the animals become more and more ancient the closer they come to the center of the Earth.

The Keeping Place by Isobelle Carmody

Call Number: SF CAR

ISBN: 0140295798

Publication Date: 2000

After Rushton is kidnapped, the Misfits of Obernewtyn are forced into a shaky alliance with the Rebels. Who kidnapped Rushton, and to what end? The Misfits believe a rebel must have kidnapped their master, but are they correct? The rebellion proceeds without Rushton, with Elspeth Gordie taking Rushton's place as Master of Obernewtyn.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Call Number: F LEW

ISBN: 0261667920

Publication Date: 1950 (This Ed. 1997)

Lucy has stumbled upon a marvellous land of fauns and centaurs, nymphs and talking animals. But soon she discovers that it is ruled by the cruel White Witch, and can only be freed by Aslan, the great Lion, and four children. In the never-ending war between good and evil, The Chronicles of Narnia set the stage for battles of epic proportions. Some take place in vast fields, where the forces of light and darkness clash. But other battles occur within the small chambers of the heart and are equally decisive.

Journeys to the ends of the world, fantastic creatures, betrayals, heroic deeds, and friendships won and lost, all come together in an unforgettable world of magic. So let the adventures begin.

Market Blues by Kirsty Murray

Call Number: F MUR

ISBN: 1865082848

Publication Date: 2001

Things unravel so fast. One day Sam is a kid with a straightforward life, next moment he’s sucked into a time warp and flung back a hundred years. Meeting Flea, Gertie and the gang is just the start of a crazy adventure with Sam on the run from police, sleeping outside the morgue, laying bets on horse races, fighting thieves and larrikins. An accident in a shooting

gallery confronts Sam with the hardest decision he’s ever had to make. Can he change the past – and his own future?

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Call Number: F BAR

ISBN: 0600566838

Publication Date: 1989 (This Ed.)

"All children, except one, grow up." So begins the tale of J.M. Barrie's imaginative hero - Peter Pan. This timeless classic will delight the entire family as they journey with Wendy and her two brothers to the magical land of Neverland. Join in their many adventures in this retelling of this children's classic.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

Call Number: F STE

ISBN: 1851459626

Publication Date: 1994 (This Ed.)

Traditionally considered a coming-of-age story, Treasure Island is a tale noted for its atmosphere, characters and action, and also as a wry commentary on the ambiguity of morality – as seen in Long John Silver – unusual for children's literature. It is one of the most frequently dramatized of all novels. The influence of Treasure Island on popular perceptions of pirates is enormous, including such elements as treasure maps marked with an "X", schooners, the Black Spot, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen bearing parrots on their shoulders.

A Portrait of the Artist as a young Man by James Joyce

Call Number: SF JOY

ISBN: 0435123114

Publication Date: 1964

The intellectual and religio-philosophical awakening of young Stephen Dedalus as he begins to question and rebel against the Catholic and Irish conventions with which he has been raised. He finally leaves for abroad to pursue his ambitions as an artist. The work is an early example of some of Joyce's modernist techniques that would later be represented in a more developed manner by Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. The novel, which has had a "huge influence on novelists across the world", was ranked by Modern Library as the third greatest English-language novel of the 20th century.

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Call Number: SN 823 CER

ISBN: 0140445617

Publication Date: 2000

Follows the adventures of a nameless hidalgo (at the end of Part II given the name Alonso Quixano) who reads so many chivalric romances that he loses his sanity and decides to set out to revive chivalry, undo wrongs, and bring justice to the world, under the name Don Quixote. He recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza, as his squire, who often employs a unique, earthy wit in dealing with Don Quixote's rhetorical orations on antiquated knighthood. Don Quixote, in the first part of the book, does not see the world for what it is, and prefers to imagine that he is living out a knightly story. The story implements various themes, such as intertextuality, realism, metatheatre, and literary representation.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Call Number: SF FIT

ISBN: 0435123246

Publication Date: 1987

The Great Gatsby, first Published in 1925 and probably F. Scott Fitzgerald's finest novel, is set on Long Island's North shore, where Nick Carraway begins a new life in New York in the "roaring 20's". Carraway is invited to join his new neighbour Jay Gatsby's social circle, including the self-made millionaire's legendary parties, and bears witness to Gatsby's rekindled love affair with the unhappily married Daisy, which ends in tragedy. Today the novel is widely regarded as a paragon of the Great American Novel and a literary classic.

East of the Mountains by David Guterson

Call Number: SF GUT

ISBN: 0747545081

Publication Date: 2000

Following the death of his wife Rachel and diagnosis of his own medical condition, Dr Ben Givens left his home in Seattle - heading east with his Winchester and hunting dogs in tow - not intending to return. It was to be a journey to the verges of the Columbia River, where he had entered the world and had decided he would now take his leave of it. What transpired was anything but the journey he anticipated. Instead, Ben’s perspective shifts as his intended exit transforms into an eye-opening, life-enhancing diversion.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Call Number: SNF 823 CON

ISBN: 0192826514

Publication Date: 1990

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness is quite simply the scariest book ever written, this is a searing tale of one of the strangest and most memorable journeys ever undertaken - to the heart of a geographical and psychological wilderness from which no-one returns unscarred. For this isn't simply a journey up an uncharted river into a geographical wilderness; rather, it's a trip deep into our collective subconscious.

The Divine Wind by Gary Disher

Call Number: SF DIS

ISBN: 0733605265

Publication Date: 1998

Alice, Hartley, Mitsy and Jamie are kids growing up in Broome before the Second World War. Their lives, although very different, are bound by friendship. Hartley and Alice Penrose are the children of an uneducated pearling master and a cultivated, disgruntled mother. Mitsy Sennosuke is Japanese, the daughter of Zeke, a diver working for Hartley and Alice s father, and Sadako, who makes soy sauce in a tin shed factory. Jamie Kilian is the son of a local magistrate, recently moved north from the city. Together, they unconsciously cross the boundaries of class and race, as they swim, joke and watch films in the cinema in Sheba Lane.

Their lives change when the war breaks out..

I am David by Anne Holm

Call Number: WOR F HOL (workroom)

ISBN: 0435123718

Publication Date: 1991

David escapes from the concentration camp where he has spent his entire life and flees across Europe. He is utterly alone – who can he trust? What will await him? And all the while, how can he be sure that they won’t catch up with him...David learns that his polite manner, his haunted eyes and his thin features are strange to other people. He must learn to fend for himself in this strange new world. This is The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas meets Jonathan Safran Foer for children.

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Call Number: F TOL

ISBN: (3 books)

Publication Date:

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

The Ivory Trail by Victor Kelleher

Call Number: SF KEL

ISBN: 0141309776

Publication Date: 2001

Reissue of a novel for teenagers first published in the Viking imprint in 1999. 15-year-old Jamie Hassan has been chosen by a Sufi of old Alexandria to step into the realms of the dead and follow the ivory trail through four continents, six generations, and five diverse cultures. As a channeller, Jamie can speak to the dead and relive their lives, but will he deny his remarkable power? Award-winning author's other publications include 'Taronga', 'Slow Burn' and 'Fire Dancer'

Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory

Call Number: SNF 823 MAL (Vol 2 only)

ISBN: 014043044X

Publication Date: 1969

An immortal story of love, adventure, chivalry, treachery and death. Edited and first published by William Caxton in 1485, Le Morte D'Arthur is Sir Thomas Malory's unique and splendid version of the Arthurian legend. Mordred's treason, the knightly exploits of Tristan, Lancelot's fatally divided loyalties and his love for Guenever, the quest for the Holy Grail; all the elements are there woven into a wonderful completeness by the magic of his prose style. The result is not only one of the most readable accounts of the knights of the Round Table but also one of the most moving. As the story advances towards the inevitable tragedy of Arthur's death the effect is cumulative, rising with an impending sense of doom and tragedy towards its shattering.

Room of one’s Own by Virginia Woolf

Call Number: SF WOO

ISBN: 0192818392

Publication Date: 1992

Probably Woolf's most readable and entertaining book, it was based on papers delivered at Newnham and Girton Colleges—the two women's colleges at Cambridge University. Woolf provides a brief history of women's writing in English, a scathing account of the subtle and not so subtle ways in which women have been discouraged from writing, and a recommendation for how to change matters. In the process, Woolf takes on women's economic disadvantages, the underfunding of women's education, the discouragement of women from certain kinds of (lucrative) work, the ways in which women are socialized into suspicion of each other, and how women participate in their own systemic oppression.

Peeling the Onion by Wendy Orr

Call Number: SF ORR (audio Book)

ISBN: 1741636246

Publication Date: 2006

Finding yourself in hospital, in a bed full of shattered glass, is traumatic. Coming to terms with multiple fractures and probable long-term difficulties is something else again - slow, painful, full of obstacles and questions with no clear answers. Anna is used to being athletic, popular, 'normal'. Now she feels the layers of her familiar self being peeled away; nothing is normal or easy. Can she pick up the pieces of her life? What part will Hayden and Luke play? And who, now, is Anna Duncan?

The Secret River by Kate Grenville

Call Number: SF GRE

ISBN: 1921145250

Publication Date: 2006

In 1806 William Thornhill, a man of quick temper and deep feelings, is transported from the slums of London to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. With his wife, Sal, and their children he arrives in a harsh land he cannot understand. But the colony can turn a convict into a free man. Eight years later Thornhill sails up the Hawkesbury to claim 100 acres for himself. Aboriginal people already live on that river. And other recent arrivals - Thomas Blackwood, Smasher Sullivan, and Mrs Herring - are finding their own ways to respond to them.

The Story of my Life by Helen Keller

Call Number: N 362.4 KEL

ISBN: 0590443534

Publication Date: 1967

Helen Keller overcame the seemingly insurmountable obstacles of deafness and blindness to become an icon of perseverance, respected and honored by readers, historians, and activists. Her autobiography, The Story of My Life, published in the United States in 1903, is still read today for its ability to motivate and reassure readers.

The Tomorrow Series by John Marsden

Call Number: SF MAR

ISBN: 0330274864 (Book 1)

Publication Date: 1994 +

Somewhere out there Ellie and her friends are hiding. They're shocked, they're frightened, they're alone. Their world has changed, with the speed of a slamming door. They've got no weapons – except courage. They've got no help – except themselves. They've got nothing – except friendship. How strong can you be, when the world is full of people trying to kill you? Tomorrow, When the War Began is the first of an enormously popular series that has been translated and published all over the world. It is the book that started the series that became the legend...

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Call Number: WOR F LEE (Workroom)

ISBN: 0099419785

Publication Date: 2006

Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the '30s. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence, and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man's struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much. To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming-of-age story, an anti-racist novel, a historical drama of the Great Depression and a sublime example of the Southern writing tradition.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Call Number: d dah

ISBN: 0141311304

Publication Date: 2001

Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory is opening at last! But only five lucky children will be allowed inside. And the winners are: Augustus Gloop, an enormously fat boy whose hobby is eating; Veruca Salt, a spoiled-rotten brat whose parents are wrapped around her little finger; Violet Beauregarde, a dim-witted gum-chewer with the fastest jaws around; Mike Teavee, a toy pistol-toting gangster-in-training who is obsessed with television; and Charlie Bucket, Our Hero, a boy who is honest and kind, brave and true, and good and ready for the wildest time of his life!

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Call Number: SF TAN

ISBN: 0734406940

Publication Date: 2006

A truly remarkable work of art that is already one of the most talked-about book of the season."A shockingly imaginative graphic novel that captures the sense of adventure and wonder that surrounds a new arrival on the shores of a shining new city. Wordless, but with perfect narrative flow, Tan gives us a story filled with cityscapes worthy of Winsor McCay." -- Jeff Smith, author of Bone"A magical river of strangers and their stories!" -- Craig Thompson, author of Blankets

The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

Call Number: SF SPA

ISBN: 0751540471

Publication Date: 2007

At thirty-one, Noah Calhoun, back in coastal North Carolina after World War II, is haunted by images of the girl he lost more than a decade earlier. At twenty-nine, socialite Allie Nelson is about to marry a wealthy lawyer, but she cannot stop thinking about the boy who long ago stole her heart. Thus begins the story of a love so enduring and deep it can turn tragedy into triumph, and may even have the power to create a miracle...

The Island by John Heffernan

Call Number: F HEF

ISBN: 1865048135

Publication Date: 2005

This book tells the story of an island on which a hard-working tribe lives. They rarely smiled, and never laughed, and although there was much beauty on the island, no one noticed. No one, that is, except a little blind boy. The blind boy brings happiness to the people of the island. He shows them how to laugh. But that’s not enough for them. They want to capture this happiness and keep it forever.

.

Oh! The places You’ll go by Dr Seuss

Call Number: JF SEU

ISBN: 0007158521

Publication Date: 2003

A perennial favorite, Dr. Seuss’s wonderfully wise graduation speech is the perfect send-off for children starting out in the world, be they nursery school, high school, or college grads! From soaring to high heights and seeing great sights to being left in a Lurch on a prickle-ly perch, Dr. Seuss addresses life’s ups and downs with his trademark humorous verse and illustrations, while encouraging readers to find the success that lies within.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Call Number: F REA (Not original text)

ISBN: 9781906230722

Publication Date: 2013

The Whale is a novel by Herman Melville, in which Ishmael narrates the monomaniacal quest of Ahab, captain of the whaler Pequod, for revenge on the albino sperm whale Moby Dick, which on a previous voyage destroyed Ahab's ship and severed his leg at the knee.

The Red Tree by Shaun Tan

Call Number: F TAN

ISBN: 0734401728

Publication Date: 2001

When a child awakens with dark leaves drifting into her bedroom, she feels that "sometimes the day begins with nothing to look forward to, and things go from bad to worse." Feelings too complex for words are rendered into an imaginary landscape where the child wanders, oblivious to the glimmer of promise in the shape of a tiny red leaf. Everything seems hopeless until the child returns to her room and sees the red tree. At that perfect moment of beauty and purity, the child smiles and her world stirs anew. Shaun Tan's illustrations are remarkable for the way they combine and react upon each other. He creates an otherworldly labyinth of visual ideas joined with the familiar immediacy of the little child, and condenses them into scenes of extraordinary depth and insight.

Pavana’s Journey by Deborah Ellis

Call Number: F ELL

ISBN: 0888995199

Publication Date: 2002

Deborah Ellis follows the eponymous 12-year-old girl who, disguised as a boy, sets off from Kabul in search of her missing mother and siblings in Taliban-era Afghanistan. When war breaks out, she bands together with other displaced children.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann

Brashares

Call Number: SF BRA

Rated: 2001

Best friends Lena, Tibby, Bridget and Carmen are

preparing to spend their first summer apart. When

the girls discover a second hand pair of jeans look

great on all of them they promise to rotate the

magical jeans, dubbed 'the travelling pants', amongst

them and at the summer's end record their favourite

adventure while wearing the pants. The concept of

transitioning in to a new phase of life is explored in

this movie. As the girls approach their sixteenth

birthdays the challenges they face grow more

difficult, and growing up requires them to find greater

maturity, wisdom, and courage than ever before.

FILMS

Puberty Blues (1981)

Duration: 87 minutes

Rated: M 15+

The movie is about two 13-year-old girls from the lower middle class Sutherland Shire in Sydney. The girls attempt to create a popular social status by ingratiating themselves with the "Greenhill gang" of surfers, who have an unrestrained attitude toward casual sex, drugs and alcohol.

The Hours (2002)

Duration: 114 minutes

Rated: PG

The plot focuses on three women of different generations whose lives are interconnected by the novel Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. These are Clarissa Vaughan (Streep), a New Yorker preparing an award party for her AIDS-stricken long-time friend and poet, Richard (Harris) in 2001; Laura Brown (Moore), a pregnant 1950s California housewife with a young boy and an unhappy marriage; and Virginia Woolf (Kidman) herself in 1920s England, who is struggling with depression and mental illness while trying to write her novel.

Looking for Alibrandi (2000)

Duration: 103 minutes

Rated: PG

Looking for Alibrandi begins light-heartedly, and the viewer gets a very quick understanding of Josie's character through her interactions with her friends and family. As the film progresses, the glamour that is initially associated with Josie begins to fade as she struggles to cope with her final year of school (especially the racist attitude of one girl in particular, Carly Bishop the suicide of her crush, John Barton, and meeting with Michael Andretti, her father, of whom has only just found out about her existence upon returning to Sydney for work. She also has continual conflict with her grandmother, Katia Alibrandi.

The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Duration: 178 minutes

Rated: M

Set in Middle-earth, the story tells of the Dark Lord Sauron, who is seeking the One Ring. The Ring has found its way to the young hobbit Frodo Baggins. The fate of Middle-earth hangs in the balance as Frodo and eight companions who form the Fellowship of the Ring begin their journey to Mount Doom in the land of Mordor, the only place where the Ring can be destroyed.

Muriel’s Wedding (1994)

Duration: 106 minutes

Rated: M

Socially awkward Muriel Heslop wants nothing more than to get married. Unfortunately, due to her oppressive politician father, Muriel has never even been on a date. Ostracized by her more socially adept friends, Muriel runs into fellow outcast Rhonda Epinstalk, and the two move from their small Australian town to the big city of Sydney, where Muriel changes her name and begins the arduous task of redesigning her life to match her fantasies.

Rabbit Proof Fence (2002)

Duration: 94 minutes

Rated: PG

Tells the true story of three aboriginal girls who are forcibly taken from their families in 1931 to be trained as domestic servants as part of an official Australian government policy. They make a daring escape and embark on an epic 1,500 mile journey to get back home - following the rabbit-proof fence that bisects the Australian continent - with the authorities in hot pursuit.

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Duration: 129 minutes

Rated: PG

The movie, which focuses on the coming of age of three young children, especially the tomboy Scout, gains strength from her point of view: It sees the good and evil of the world through the eyes of a six-year-old child. The movie shifts the emphasis to the character of her father, Atticus Finch, but from this new point of view doesn't see as much as an adult in that time and place should see.

Schindler’s List (1993)

Duration: 195 minutes

Rated: M

The film is based on the life of Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories.

The Truman Show (1998)

Duration: 103 minutes

Rated: PG

The film chronicles the life of a man who is initially unaware that he is living in a constructed reality television show, broadcast around the clock to billions of people around the globe. Truman becomes suspicious of his perceived reality and embarks on a quest to discover the truth about his life.

Shrek (2001)

Duration: 90 minutes

Rated: PG

After his swamp is filled with magical creatures, an ogre agrees to rescue a princess for a villainous lord in order to get his land back.

Walkabout (1971)

Duration: 100 minutes

Rated: M

A teenage school and her much younger brother become stranded in the wilderness after their father goes berserk after driving them far into the Australian outback. By the middle of the next day, they are weak and the boy can barely walk. They are then discovered by an Aboriginal boy although the girl cannot communicate with him, her brother mimes their need for water. The three travel together, with the Aboriginal boy sharing food he has caught hunting. They learn to communicate using words and sign language.

Picnic at Handing Rock (1975)

Duration: 115 minutes

Rated: G

The plot focuses on a group of female students at an Australian women's college in 1900 who inexplicably vanish at the site of an enormous rock formation while on a Valentine's Day picnic, and also explores the outlying effects the girls' disappearance has on the community. It has been often discussed due to its ambiguous ending.

PLAYSThe Crucible

Othello