Showing results by narrator "Rebecca Macauley" in All Categories

How Penny Pollard learns to stop hating babies and (certain) boys is revealed in this hilarious and startling collection of letters.

Deep in the bush, where the trees grow tall, Finn discovers an old deserted shack. Inside is shivery cold, with green fungus on the walls. When a dog growls and a gravelly voice snarls, Finn's hair stands up like bristles on a brush. An old man and his dog are glowing in the darkness. Jack Henry lived in the shack 100 years ago and was friends with all the wild creatures. When Finn is with the old ghost, he can feel what the birds are singing and what the animals are feeling.

Minding a luxurious house seemed like fun to the Teen Power gang at first. But now Nick is feeling more and more uncomfortable. Suddenly the house seems like a prison, or a tomb. Is it the sealed windows and doors? Or the aquarium fish swimming in endless circles? Or maybe it's just that a fortune in emeralds was stolen from the house, ruining its owner, and disappearing without a trace.

Welcome to my world. I'm Amal Abdel-Hakim, a 17-year-old Australian-Palestinian-Muslim still trying to come to grips with my various identity hyphens. It's hard enough being cool as a teenager when being one issue behind the latest Cosmo is enough to disqualify you from the in-group. Try wearing a veil on your head and practicing the bum's up position at lunchtime and you know you're in for a tough time at school.

Here is a gripping, chilling, beautifully observed tale of what a teenage girl will do to keep her friends, by one of Australia's finest writers. Growing up during the 1980s in the safe complacency of the Australian suburbs, Plum Coyle should be happy. But on the cusp of her 14th birthday - and on the fringe of her peer group - she lives in terror of the disapproval of her cruel and fickle girlfriends and, most of all, she hates her awkward, changing body with a passion.

Rose wants to be alone but instead she's on a road trip of discovery with her mother. This is a warm, generous novel big on family dynamics and a rich portrait of a feisty young girl facing up to love, loss and life's big issues.

Juggling a career, family and other commitments is often overwhelming in today's busy world; happiness can seem to ebb away. But you CAN be happy, using Amanda Gore's simple and practical techniques. Enjoy your relationships, make the most of your career and money, reduce stress, escape energy-suckers, and look after your health. The 'mind body' approach reminds us that our mental and physical wellbeing are not separate, but one and the same.

It's Saturday morning. Auskick starts soon. But there's something wrong with Brendan's fish.

Being bad was what Buster did best. Until his dad thought of a way to sort him out.

From a talented emerging writer comes a brave, honest, unforgettable memoir about mental illness, which breaks the silence and shatters the taboos to give hope to all those struggling to find their way through. One day Sophie Hardcastle realised the joy she’d always known had disappeared. She was constantly tired, with no energy, no motivation and no sense of enjoyment for surfing, friends, conversations, movies, parties, family - for anything. Her hours became empty.

These endearing characters and funny stories, from bestselling author Paul Jennings, will amuse and delight children and their parents. Great for boosting the confidence and interest of beginner readers when used in conjunction with the print edition. Includes: Rascal and the Hot Air Balloon, Rascal at the Show, Rascal and Little Flora, Rascal and the Cheese.

It's December 1900, and Berylda Jones is heading home to Bathurst for Christmas. Tragically, 'home' is where she and her beloved sister Greta live in terror, under the control of their sadistic Uncle Alec. But Berylda has a plan, borne out of desperation, to free herself and Greta from Alec for good - if she can only find the courage to execute it.

Five stories from acclaimed children's authors Rod Clement and Sheena Knowles on one great audio book. Bursting with energy, sound effects and music, this is an audio book that will delight young listeners.

Mimi laid the box on the bench and opened it carefully. Inside were rows and rows of coloured pastels that shimmered in the light. She rolled them under her fingertips and her imagination began to fill with amazing pictures. When Mimi is given a box of magical pastels, she discovers that she can draw the Garden of Empress Cassia - a drawing so beautiful and real that people are transported inside it. But the pastels are ancient, mysterious, and powerful, and in the wrong hands can be very dangerous....

I think the best number in the whole universe is eight. My friend, Asim, likes numbers about as much as me, but he likes them all - odd or even. Esmarelda, though, who lives across the street, isn't so fond of numbers and she hates math. Singing's more her thing. She's really good, too - nearly as good as my mum. Mum's a professional singer, or was, until we had to move. The worst number in the universe, though, is seven. For a start, it's an odd number, and it's thin and sharp and mean-looking, like a medieval scythe.

"Help," shouted Chris. "Please. Somebody help." The silent green head had power over him. The cabbage patch curse was too strong. 'Zip.' Down came his fly. "Don't look. Don't look," shouted Chris. "Don't look. Don't look," shouted Ms. Henderson. But it was too late. Chris let fly. Splash, splash, sploosh. It could only happen in a Paul Jennings story, and it does.

Miss Isobel Clara Macleod, youngest of the seven children of Major Sir Angus Hutton Macleod, Surveyor-General of the colony of New South Wales, had the singular misfortune to know that at seven o'clock that morning her father was going to die. September, 1851. Sydney, city of secrets and gossip. Seventeen-year-old Isobel Macleod is determined to save her father because she loves him. But when she dares to trespass in a forbidden male world, she will be plunged into social disgrace.

At 17, Veronica O'Shay is happier running wild on the family farm than behaving in the ladylike manner her mother requires, and she despairs both of her secret passion for her brother's friend Jack Murphy and what promises to be a future of restraint and compliance. But this is 1913 and the genteel tranquillity of rural Beecroft is about to change forever as the O'Shay and Murphy families, along with their friends the Dwyers, are caught up in the theatre of war and their fates become intertwined.

Miss Lily's fabulous pink feather boa is the most wonderful thing the Last Potoroo has ever seen. When Miss Lily dances the tango, the Last Potoroo can't take her eyes off it. And when she wraps it around herself, she feels, for the first time in her life, that she can do anything and everything! Something so fabulous just has to be magic. With an original music score, this audiobook will captivate and delight youngsters.

When a fire is deliberately lit in the city of Quentaris, Nisha Fairsight and her minstrel friend Tal investigate and soon uncover a plot threatening its inhabitants. Adding to the city's woes is the threat of invasion from the vicious, insect-like Zolka, who are making it even more dangerous than usual to pass through the rift caves. Nisha must discover her fire-magic heritage and her place in Quentaris. Will she be able to save the city and her friends?