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Suggested Reading List for Australia
Please note: Students and parents should use discretion in determining the
appropriateness of each book for the student’s age, reading level, and
maturity. Books are designated G (grade school), J (junior high), or H (high
school).
|
TITLE & LINK
|
DESCRIPTION
|
GRADE
LEVEL
|
FICTION OR
NONFICTION
|
|
A Friend in the Kitchen, by Colin Bannerman |
Narratives and
recipes |
ALL |
N |
|
A Taste of Australia, by Victoria Alexander |
The Bathers Pavilion
Restaurant presents a new style of food that challenges the best of American cooking. With
over 75 recipes and gorgeous full-color photographs. |
ALL |
N |
|
Angel’s Gate, by Gary Crew |
When a gold digger
is murdered in Kimmy's small Australian town, one of the man's wild children comes to live
in Kimmy's home, and the two children build a friendship that will change them both. |
J/H |
F |
|
Beyond the Wild Shores, by Patricia Hickman |
Bailey Templeton, a
young American woman, comes to Sydney Cove to open a school in the colony. Met by
hostility, she forges ahead, determined to make a difference in the children's lives. She
meets a British naval captain, Grant Hogan, who expresses an interest in her, but his
resistance to her work and her own painful past keeps her from opening her heart toward
him. |
J/H |
F |
|
Danger Down Under, by Carolyn Keene |
Nancy Drew Mystery:
Trying to determine who has stolen a sacred ancient artifact belonging to an Australian
aborigine tribe, Nancy, Frank, and Joe become entangled in a land dispute feud between the
tribe and the owners of an opal mine. |
J |
F |
|
Dreamtime: Aboriginal Stories, by Oodgeroo
Noonuccal |
Australia's most
famous aboriginal writer offers reminiscences of her childhood on Stradboke Island off the
Queensland coast, communicating her pride in her heritage, and presents a collection of
traditional aboriginal folklore. |
ALL |
N |
|
Featherbys, by Mary Steele |
Sixth-graders Jess
and Vicky take the opportunity to explore the overgrown grounds of Featherbys, an old
house. Soon they have befriended Alice and Violet, the elderly sisters who live there. The
children help them reclaim the beauty of the old garden and assist Alice and Violet in
warding off the interference of a meddlesome, menacing relative. |
J |
F |
|
Great Barrier Reef; A Living Laboratory, by
Rebecca Johnson |
Various scientific
research projects are vivified, submersing readers in the cool blue waters of the Great
Barrier Reef. Dugongs, giant clams, and sea turtles make their homes in this 1,300-mile
strip of coral reefs along the coast of Australia, captivating and puzzling scientists.
Readers will feel they are a part of the expeditions. |
ALL |
N |
|
Illywhacker, by Peter Carey |
In Australian slang,
an illywhacker is a country fair con man, an unprincipled seller of fake diamonds and
dubious tonics. And Herbert Badgery, the 139-year-old narrator of Peter Carey's uproarious
novel, may be the king of them all. |
H |
F |
|
The Quicksand Pony, by Allision Lester |
For years, Joe has
lived in hiding with his emotionally disturbed mother in a valley on the Australian
coastline. A year after his mother dies, nine-year-old Joe decides to secretly follow a
young girl named Biddy and her parents on a cattle drive. |
H |
F |
|
Tomorrow: When the War Began, by John Marsden |
When Ellie and six
of her friends return home from a camping trip deep in the bush, they find that their
country has been invaded and everyone in town has been taken prisoner. Life-and-death
decisions must be made as they struggle with how to survive. |
H |
F |
|
Voyage of the Exiles (Land of the Far Horizons,
No 1), by Patricia Hickman |
In the year 1788, a
fleet of ships transports 1,300 convicts from England to New South Wales. The Land of
the Far Horizons is a new series portraying lives and events surrounding the founding
of Australia, dramatizing the early struggles of a people in bondage to the white slavery
of the penal colony, the tyrannical masters who enslaved them, and their eventual freedom.
|
H |
N |
|
Walkabout, by James Vance Marshall |
A short novel that
explores the culture of the Australian aboriginals as seen through the eyes of two young,
white, southern, American children in the 1950s. Victims of a plane crash, the children
meet a young aboriginal boy on his walkabout, which is the traditional rite of passage - a
test of manhood. |
J/H |
F |
|
Looking for Alibrandi, by Melina Marchetts |
Josephine Alibrandi,
17 and of Italian descent, is torn between her traditional upbringing, embodied by both
her immigrant grandmother and her overprotective mother, and the norms of teenage society.
She struggles with feelings of inferiority not only because she's poorer than the other
students and an “ethnic,'' but also because her mother never married. |
H |
F |
|
Lockie Leonard Scumbuster, by Tim Winton |
Australian surfer
dude Lockie strikes up an unlikely friendship with black-clad, heavy metal-fan Egg, and
the two boys spearhead a crusade to stop local factories from polluting the harbor. Casual
and a bit crude, as adolescents often are, this funny novel chronicles Lockie's hapless
crushes on girls as well as his stumbling but eventually effective foray into
environmental action. |
J |
F |
|
An Aboriginal Family, by Rollow Browne |
An eleven-year-old
aboriginal girl describes her life with her family on a former cattle station in the
Northern Territory of Australia. |
ALL |
N |
|
Australia (Countries of the World), by
Michael S. Dahl |
Discusses the
history, landscape, people, and culture of the country of Australia. |
G |
N |
|
The Australian Outback and Its People (People and
Places), by Kate Smith |
The large, dry
regions of Australia, known as the outback, are introduced through brief discussions of
their history, environment, inhabitants, and future. The aboriginal culture and the
European impact on it are explored at greater length. Color photographs enhance the text,
showing unique animals such as the echidna and the bilby. Bib., glos., ind. —Copyright © 1995 The Horn Book, Inc. All
rights reserved. |
J |
N |
|
Sydney (Cities of the World), by Richard Stein |
Richard Conrad Stein
is a very prolific travel writer. |
G/J |
N |
|
Down Under: Vanishing Cultures, by Jan Reynolds |
Documents the daily
lives and beliefs of the Tiwi—a northern Australian group of aborigines who continue
to travel the same paths that their ancestors have walked for thousands of years without
touching or disturbing the landscape. |
J |
N |
|
The Bone People, by Keri Hulme |
Set in the harsh
environment of the South Island beaches of New Zealand, this masterful story brings
together three singular people in a trinity that reflects their country's varied heritage.
Winner of the 1985 Booker-McConnell prize for fiction. |
H |
F |
|
Once Were Warriors, by Alan Duff |
Follows the
destructive path of a modern-day Maori family. Once they abandoned their heritage, they
found they were cast in the roles of second-class citizens and had no outlet for their
needs and turned abusive toward each other. One mother draws her family together by
drawing from the warrior heritage of her people. |
H |
F |
|
Mysteries of the Dreamtime; The Supernatural Life of
the Australian Aborigine, by James Cowan |
Whether making a
Dream Journey in search of his ancestral roots or painting his body in order to recreate
his culture heroes, the Aborigine participates in an intense spiritual reality that can
only be expressed and experienced in the Dreaming-an event of luminous beauty that has
given his life purpose and meaning. |
J/H |
N |
|
Didgeridoo: Ritual Origins and Playing Techniques, by
Dirk Shellberg |
Great for the
beginner. A nicely written book with a few how-to's. A bit on PVC didges, slide didges,
and some b/w photos from his journeys. Schellberg also touches on the healing and
spiritual aspects of the didgeridoo. Short, sweet, and inspirational. |
ALL |
N |
|
The Speaking Land: Myth and Story in Aboriginal
Australia, by Ronald Berndt |
Ronald Murray Berndt
has written many books addressing aboriginals and anthropology. |
ALL |
N |
|
Aboriginal Mythology; An Encyclopedia of Myth and
Legend, by Mudrooroo Nyoongah |
Out of print but may
be available through special request. |
ALL |
N |
|
Islands of Australia's Great Barrier Reef,
by Hugh Finlay |
Travel guide,
includes 50 maps. |
ALL |
N |
|
Lonely Planet Australia, by Hugh Finlay, Steve
Womersley, Dani Valent |
Travel guide with
great historical references and maps. |
ALL |
N |
|
Frommer's Australia 2000 (Country Annual), by
Natalie Fruger, Marc Llewellyn, Natalie Kruger |
The guide begins with 16
pages of color photographs that span the continent, from Sydney's Harbour Bridge to the
Great Coral Reef. The "Best of Australia" lists come next, highlighting the best
beaches, restaurants, bush walks, and snorkeling, as well as outdoor adventures and
small-town getaways. Intermixed are sections on the Sydney 2000 Olympic games,
Australian history and culture, an online directory for Internet research, a pull-out map,
and even an Aussie/Yankee lexicon. |
ALL |
N |
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