Sydney Town, October 1791
The snake raised its head three feet from where I stood, turning the roosters on the spit above the fire.
Brown snake. Deadly.
I froze.
A boy can run faster than a snake can slither. A brown snake can strike faster than a boy can move.
Birrung had taught me that snakes sleep in the winter. This one must have just woken up. Hungry. Ready to bite.
Outside, a giant groans and growls. A wind that batters shrieks and howls. A crack, A lurch, our house is torn Ripped to paper by the storm. On Christmas Eve in 1974, Cyclone Tracy destroyed most of the city of Darwin, with houses ripped apart and families fighting for their lives as they sought shelter. … Continue reading “Cyclone, by Jackie French & Bruce Whatley”
Sydney Cove, December 1789
I waited in the line outside the storehouse. Only two convicts were before me – big fellows with tattoos on their arms and dirty bare feet – waiting for their rations too. My tummy was so empty it couldn’t even gurgle.
There was cheese in that storehouse.
I wanted that cheese so bad I could already feel the maggots wriggling against my tongue. Ma used to say that maggots meant food was going bad, but when your tummy is empty, maggots are just extra food. I’d been eating maggots with my cheese for the two years we’d been here in New South Wales, and hadn’t even got a tummy ache. Not from the maggots anyways, Hunger ached worse than bad food.
One small spark brought fire awake Winding like a small black snake. Fire flickered, fire crept Flames snickered, bushfire leapt. A fire starts small but quickly grows, spreading across the landscape, lighting up the trees, the sky – and even houses. People flee as fire fighters battle to bring the monster under control. Afterwards, there … Continue reading “Fire, by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley”
Who am I? Only a daughter? A Capulet, wed to my father’s choice? No! I am the girl who chose her destiny, whose love outlasts the sun. I am Juliet. The story is not you – Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed lovers who fall in love in spite of their families being sworn enemies, but are … Continue reading “I am Juliet, by Jackie French”
I may not have lost my legs, she thought, but I’ve lost those I love forever. The war had savaged Mum, and Mrs Mack, and every woman in the valley. The war was over but the pain was still there, for her and the families left behind, not just for the men who had been … Continue reading “The Girl From Snowy River, by Jackie French”
From that first Anzac Day to commemorations in the years that followed, and through to the ceremonies of today, and even beyond, this book traces the growth of the Anzac legend and the development of the day
It’s a tough old world when even your guinea pig thinks you’re boring.
Leo can talk to animals. It’s a skill that’s could win friends at school, if no anyone believed you. But no one does.
In January 2011 much of Queensland and parts of NSW were subjected to terrible flooding. the rest of Australia – and the world – watched in horror at the destruction and loss of life. In Floodthe team of Jackie French and Bruce Whatley capture those times in words and pictures accessible to children.
