Reading Age: 13+ Years

The latest winner of the Ampersand Prize is a genre-smashing hostage drama about 14-year-old Tamara, who's faced with an impossible choice when she falls for her kidnappers.Yet this is no ordinary kidnapping. Tamara has been living on a star freighter in deep space, and her kidna...ppers are terrifying Crowpeople - the only aliens humanity has ever encountered. No-one has ever survived a Crowpeople attack, until now - and Tamara must use everything she has just to stay alive. But survival always comes at a price, and there's no handbook for this hostage crisis. As Tamara comes to know the Crowpeople's way of life, and the threats they face from humanity's exploration into deep space, she realises she has an impossible choice to make. Should she stay as the only human among the Crows, knowing she'll never see her family again ... or inevitably betray her new community if she wants to escape?This ground-breaking thriller is the latest young-adult novel to win the Ampersand Prize, a stand-out entry with a blindingly original voice: raw, strange and deeply sympathetic. With its vivid and immersive world-building, this electrifying debut is The Knife of Never Letting Go meets Homeland, for the next generation of sci-fi readers.
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Produced in partnership with the National Museum of Australia, The Story of Australia is an accessible, definitive history resource that every home should have How did Australia's earliest human inhabitants reach the island continent? Which discovery ushered in a new era of immig...ration, prosperity and technological advancement? How did a far-flung colony and military outpost transform into one of the wealthiest and most peaceful nations in the modern world? Dip into the pages to discover these answers and morea The Story of Australia is a complete full-colour illustrated history of the country. Find out how the Australian landscape was formed, and how the continuing cultures of its indigenous peoples, European exploration, colonisation, and Federation have helped the country develop into a thriving modern nation. Produced in partnership with the National Museum of Australia, The Story of Australia draws on the museum's exhaustive collection of objects, photographs and artefacts. Authoritative, inviting and entertaining, The Story of Australia is the reliable and definitive history resource that every home and library should have.
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From the highly acclaimed author of The Guy, the Girl, the Artist and His Ex comes this funny, heartfelt novel about rage, regret and the pitfalls of life in the digital age.

In 1841, fifteen-year-old Bridie Stewart and her family leave their grim, hand-to-mouth existence in Covent Garden and travel to a prosperous new life in Port Phillip. Bridieas mother and stepfather expect Bridie to grow up during the long months at sea, forget her dead father, a...nd prepare for a sensible marriage in colonial Australia. Bridie doesn't want to grow up, or ever forget her dad. Sheas determined to smuggle a notebook filled with his fairytales to the far side of the world. When Rhys Bevan, a soft-voiced young storyteller and fellow traveller realises Bridie is hiding something, a magical friendship is born. But Bridie doesn't realise the Welshmanas life also holds secrets. Or that the message written on the flyleaf of her notebook holds a dark, double meaning. As they traverse the world's oceans, Rhys's past returns to haunt him and Bridie grapples with the implications of her dadas final message. The pair take refuge in fairytales, little expecting the trouble it will cause. Or that Rhys's ancient tales will challenge every certainty Bridie has ever known.
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