Most Popular Books by Jackie French

Pamela the cow loves pears so much that no one else ever has a chance to eat any.

A collection of four favourites from the Wacky Families series. there's no such thing as a normal family! But some are wackier than others... Cecil's Mum wears long black boots and carries a sword; Gunk's dog Spot loves lettuce and seems to be growing awfully big, awfully fast; Horace's Dad has silver wings and a green and orange tail; and tom's family circle includes a Senior Bogeyman, a tooth Fairy's assistant and a large and hairy best friend called Mog. Fortunately for tom, his Uncle Gus is great at proving the old saying that small people can make a big difference. With drawings by award-winning illustrator Stephen Michael King, this collection of four hilarious Wacky Family stories is guaranteed to delight younger readers. Containing: My Mum the Pirate My Dog the Dinosaur My Dad the Dragon My Uncle Gus the Garden Gnome Ages: 7 - 10

"Christmas from a wombat's point of view, including competition for the carrots children have left out for Santa's reindeer, and guess who gets stuck in the chimney?"--

Prudence is invited by her father's distant werewolf cousins to their gloomy castle to hunt for some missing 'treasure'. Phredde and Bruce accompany Prudence, who is well aware that if she fails then her father will have to take her place. the zombie librarian also makes a reappearance, as does the castle banshee, and Cousin Flea decides that he wants to be a lighting and sound technician and turns what was once a nicely decorated castle into a setting for a television series. Ages 7-12

From one of our most respected and award-winning authors, Jackie French, comes a fascinating and fresh interpretation of Australian history, focusing on how the land itself, rather than social forces, has shaped the major events that led to modern Australia. to understand the present, you need to understand the past. to understand Australia's history, you need to look at how the land has shaped not just our past, but will continue to shape our future.From highly respected, award-winning author Jackie French comes a new and fascinating interpretation of Australian history, focusing on how the land itself, rather than social forces, shaped the major events that led to modern Australia. Our history is mostly written by those who live, work and research in cities, but it's the land itself which has shaped our history far more powerfully and significantly than we realise. Reinterpreting the history we think we all know - from the indigenous women who shaped the land, from terra Incognita to Eureka, from Federation to Gallipoli and beyond, Jackie French shows us that to understand our history, we need to understand our land. taking us behind history and the accepted version of events, she also shows us that there's so much we don't understand about our history because we simply don't understand the way life was lived at the time. Eye-opening, refreshing, completely fascinating and unforgettable, LEt tHE LAND SPEAK will transform the way we understand the role and influence of the land and how it has shaped our nation.

In the Summerland, life is perfect. Although Iddy cannot remember her past, she feels safe and secure with the people of this country town. But Iddy gradually finds out there are things in this place that nobody wants to talk about, like the Shadow house. What is it and why is it here?

A SWASHBUCKLING ADVENTURE FROM AUSTRALIA'S CHILDREN'S LAUREATE CAN YOU STILL LOVE YOUR FATHER, NO MATTER WHAT HIS CRIMES ARE? Twelve-year-old Ben Huntsmore is the son of a shipowner, an only child who loves the farming life on his mother's family estate, Badger's Hill. But when Ben's father loses their ancestral home in 1809 as payment for a gambling debt, Ben reluctantly joins him in a desperate venture to win it back, capturing enemy trading ships off the west Australian coast. While at sea, Ben must face not just the giant waves of the Southern Ocean but also the guns of a Dutch ship, along with unexpected treachery. And only the friendships of the mysterious convict Higgins and the young Indigenous sailor Guwara will help Ben survive, as well as show him the true meaning of loyalty and riches. From renowned children's author Jackie French comes a book filled with swashbuckling adventures and which uncovers Australia's hidden history as a pirate port and slavers' den. PRAISE FOR NANBERRY: BLACK BROTHER WHITE 'For really, really good Australian young-adult (and middle-grade) historical fiction, Jackie French has always been a winner ... With Nanberry: Black Brother White she delivers an excellent fictionalised account of the First Fleet's settlement at Sydney Cove ... a powerful novel' -- Australian Bookseller & Publisher, 5 stars 'She is one of few masters who can embed historic characters in rattling good tales, and her meticulous research is seamlessly inserted so that you live the detail rather than learn it. Even if you are not into history, Nanberry will hook you in ... Irresistible for history buffs of any age' -- Good Reading Magazine, 5 stars 'I've been telling all my friends to read this book, and to give it to their kids to read. It's absolutely engrossing' -- Herald Sun AWARDS FOR PIRATE BOY OF SYDNEY TOWN Shortlisted - NSW Premier's History Awards (Young People's History Prize)

Jackie French's critically acclaimed and best-selling ANIMAL STARS series looks at history through the eyes of an animal. Ages: 9-13 All of Australia's dingoes may be descended from one south-east Asian 'rubbish dog' who arrived here over 5,000 years ago. This is a story about the first dingo. It is also the story of Loa, who heads off across the sea in his canoe when the girl he loves marries another. He takes only his spears and a 'rubbish dog', one of the scavengers from around the camp to eat if he gets hungry, or to throw to threatening sharks or crocodiles. But when a storm blows boy and dog out to sea, both must learn to survive in a strange new world as partners - and even as friends. From renowned author Jackie French comes a story about survival in our earliest times. Praise for THE HORSE WHO BIT A BUSHRANGER: 'This is a gripping, moving story that is also wonderfully evocative of an era when survival meant growing, creating or killing everything you needed. Kids will love the book for its pace, its sense of adventure and the fact that it is a darn good tale, like French's earlier books in the series.' AUSTRALIAN BOOKSELLER + PUBLISHER

As the King of England wavers between duty and love, Sophie knows that she must choose duty. The year is 1936 and the new King Edward VIII wishes to marry American divorcee, and suspected German agent, Wallis Simpson. Top-secret documents that the king must read and sign are being neglected for weeks, and some are even turning up in Berlin. And as Germany grows its military might with many thousands of new fighter planes every year, Britain and its empire are under increasing threat. Can Miss Lily's most successful protege, Sophie Vaile, the Countess of Shillings, seduce the new king, prevent his marriage to Wallis Simpson, and turn him from fascism? And if a man can sacrifice his life for his country, should a woman hesitate to sacrifice her honour? Based on new correspondence found in German archives, Lilies, Love and Lies is a work of fiction. Or is it? In the fourth title in the Miss Lily series, Jackie French explores one of the most controversial events in history that saw the unthinkable happen when a king chose love over duty.

'The story is equal parts Downton Abbey and wartime action, with enough romance and intrigue to make it 100% not-put-down-able.' -- Australian Women's Weekly on Miss Lily's Lovely Ladies Australian heiress Sophie Higgs was 'a rose of no-man's land', founding hospitals across war-torn Europe during the horror that was WW1. Now, in the 1920s, Sophie's wartime work must be erased so that the men who returned can find some kind of 'normality'. Sophie is, however, a graduate of the mysterious Miss Lily's school of charm and intrigue, and once more she risks her own life as she attempts to save others still trapped in the turmoil and aftermath of war. But in this new world, nothing is clear, in politics or in love. For the role of men has changed too. Torn between the love of three very different men, Sophie will face her greatest danger yet as she attempts an impossible journey across the world to save Nigel, Earl of Shillings - and her beloved Miss Lily. In this sequel to the bestselling Miss Lily's Lovely Ladies, Jackie French draws us further into a compelling story that celebrates the passion and adventure of an unstoppable army of women who changed the world.

The second book in a series that explores little-known history about Australia's fascinating past. Barney Bean is keen to make his fortune and he hears a secret; a sailor's secret about the treasure of the colony. But how can chasing whales make you rich? Is adventure at sea worth leaving everything he loves? Written by award-winning author Jackie French and superbly illustrated by Mark Wilson, this second book in The Secret Histories series explores how the early colony survived with the wealth from whaling, a little-known secret from Australia's past.

It’s 1972, and across Australia the catchcry is ‘It’s time’. Time for old folk, time for young folk, time for a new, idealistic Labor government. In Gibber's Creek, it's time for Jed Kelly to choose between past love, Nicholas, the local Labor member, and Sam from the Halfway to Eternity commune. And for Scarlett O'Hara, it's time to dream that one day she becomes a doctor - despite being in a wheelchair. It's also time for matriarch Matilda Thompson to reflect on the life that took her from the slums of Grinder's Alley to the events that began a nation at a billabong in 1894. The 1970s was a time of extraordinary ideals of a better world, but as the ideals drifted from disaster to the Dismissal there were deep conflicts about what that better world might be. Jackie French, author of the bestselling To Love a Sunburnt Country, has woven her own experience of that period into an unforgettable story of a small rural community and a nation swept into the social and political tumult of the early 1970s.

A story about dreams, gold, rebellion ... and an unlikely friendship across time It's 1854, and the Ballarat goldfields are a place of dreams and rebellion as Sam, a homeless teenager, is called back to the past to join the Puddlehams, who run 'the best little cook shop on the diggings'. The Puddlehams dream of buying a hotel with velvet seats, while others dream of freedom from the British crown, away from the rule of wealthy landowners and corrupt officials. As the summer days get hotter, and the miners' protests are ignored with catastrophic results, Sam experiences first-hand the power of a united stand which will change her life forever. PRAISE FOR JACKIE FRENCH 'Jackie French is excellent at telling history in an exciting way for children' -- Burke's Backyard

It's 1939, and for Georg, son of an English academic living in Germany, life is full of cream cakes and loving parents. It is also a time when his teacher measures the pupils' heads to see which of them have the most 'Aryan'- shaped heads. But when a university graduation ceremony turns into a pro-Nazi demonstration, Georg is smuggled out of Germany to war-torn London and then across enemy seas to Australia where he must forget his past and who he is in order to survive.

Although this book is about controlling 'weeds' without resorting to poisons, it really covers much more. It offers a complete growing strategy for your garden or farm, whether you grow flowers, vegetables, fruit, lawn or pasture.

The story behind Banjo Paterson's iconic Australian song. 'Once a jolly swagman camped by a Billabong Under the shade of a Coolibah tree And he sang as he watched and waited till his Billy boiled You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me...' In 1894, twelve-year-old Matilda flees the city slums to find her unknown father and his farm. But drought grips the land, and the shearers are on strike. Her father has turned swaggie and he's wanted by the troopers. In front of his terrified daughter, he makes a stand against them, defiant to the last. 'You'll never catch me alive, said he...' Set against a backdrop of bushfire, flood, war and jubilation, this is the story of one girl's journey towards independence. It is also the story of others who had no vote and very little but their dreams. Drawing on the well-known poem by A.B. Paterson and from events rooted in actual history, this is the untold story behind Australia's early years as an emerging nation. PRAISE 'Jackie French has a passion for history, and an enviable ability to weave the fascinating minutiae of everyday life into a good story.' -- Magpies Magazine

THE DIARY OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, GENTLEMAN is part comedy, part love story, the threads of Shakespeare's life drawn from his plays. Could the world's greatest writer truly put down his pen forever to become a gentleman? He was a boy who escaped small town life to be the most acclaimed playwright of the land. A lover whose sonnets still sing 400 years later; a glover's apprentice who became a gentleman. But was he happy with his new riches? Who was the woman he truly loved? The world knows the name of William Shakespeare. This book reveals the man - lover, son and poet. Based on new documentary evidence, as well as textual examination of his plays, this fascinating book gives a tantalising glimpse at what might have been: the other hands that helped craft those plays, the secrets that must ever be hidden but - just possibly - may now be told. Ages 12+

Further adventures of Phredde the feisty, funky phaery and her friends Pru and Bruce (the boy prince who'd rather stay being a frog). It's a new term, and things look GREAt! the new headmaster has outlawed homework, and every kid will get six free ice blocks a day! So why is Pru so worried? try a blood-sucking footy team for a start. there's also an evil kid-eating cow, a mysterious FLOINGGGGGGGGGGG!, and a new school rule outlawing magic! Which means that if Bruce wants to stay on the footy team he has to stop being a frog! Ages 7-12

US edition of Australian title.

A companion title to the best-selling The Fire Wombat, this is the story of Myrtle, a small turtle who, by heading uphill, tells the other animals that a flood is coming. Myrtle the turtle knows everything about the waterhole where she lives in the creek. She can also sense the giant flood that is coming, long before other animals or humans. And when Myrtle begins her long, slow climb up the mountain to safety, who will follow her? From the award-winning duo of The Fire Wombat, Jackie French and Danny Snell have now created a fascinating and beautifully illustrated story about Myrtle, a Common Long-necked Turtle; reptiles that can predict the weather very accurately. PRAISE "The Turtle and the Flood is a master class in picture books. Jackie French, proves once again why she is a national treasure. A perfect narrative that builds anticipation with the right word always in the right place. Rhyme and repetition make it a great read aloud adventure with her love for Australian nature shining through. Danny Snell's delightful illustrations interplay beautifully with the story, imbuing the animal characters with personality while keeping true to their real appearance. The central portrait of the rain is a surprise, causing physical action to match the movement of the weather." -- ACT Book of the Year Award Judge AWARDS Winner - ACT Picture Book of the Year Literary Award 2024

An 'Ice Age' meets Diary of a Wombat story Dippy is a diprotodon, the BIGGEST, friendliest wombat who lived 100,000 years ago. All Dippy wants is happy friends, a place to sleep and lots to eat. Who knew that could be such an adventure? Based on a concept by Ben Smith Whatley and brought to life by the creators of the internationally bestselling Diary of a Wombat, this is a hilarious story of prehistoric daring and chaos set in the fascinating world of ancient Australia megafauna. PRAISE 'Dippy's Big Day Out is deceptively simple but fosters adventure, curiosity, self-sufficiency and getting enough rest after play.' - Books+Publishing

In their own original way, best friends Mole and Shrew celebrate five holidays throughout the year.

'A MUST FOR YOUR SUMMER READING LIST' -- Better Reading A body has been found in the burned-out wreckage of the church at Gibber's Creek -- with older skeletons lying beneath it. The corpse is identified as that of Ignatius Mervyn, the man who attempted to kill Jed Kelly and her unborn child. Newcomer Fish Johnstone is drawn into the murder investigation, convinced that the local police are on the wrong track with their enquiries. But as she digs beneath the warm and welcoming surface of the Gibber's Creek community, more secrets emerge. And Fish must also face her own mystery -- the sudden appearance and then disappearance of her father, a Vietnamese refugee she never knew. Set during the Indigenous rights and 'boat people' controversies of the late 1970s, this haunting story shows how love and kindness can create the courage to face the past. PRAISE FOR THE MATILDA SAGA 'An engrossing mystery story, an ode to strong women, and a moving exploration of the private wounds we carry ... The Last Dingo Summer is a must for your summer reading list' -- Better Reading 'The perfect read for anyone who loves immersing themselves in Australian fiction. Gripping, emotional and moving, Facing the Flame is a great book to curl up with on a warm spring night' -- New Idea 'Highly recommended ... this was a complete binge, read in one night because it was just too good and too gripping to put down ... a cracking story filled with rich characters both old and new and imbued with all that we hold dear about Australian love of country and mateship' -- ReadPlus

From Australia's best-loved storyteller comes the final book in the bestselling Matilda Saga This is a love song to our nation, told in a single sweeping story Jed Kelly has finally persuaded her great aunt Nancy to tell the story of her grandparents. The tale that unfolds is one of Australia's greatest romances - that of Clancy of the Overflow, who gave up everything for Rose, the woman he adored, and yet still gained all he'd lost and more. But Nancy's story is not the history that Jed expects. More tales lurk behind the folklore that surrounds Clancy - the stories of the women hidden in Australia's long history, who forged a nation and whose voices need to be heard. It is also a story of many kinds of love. Clancy's growing passion for the bush, immortalised in Paterson's poem, which speaks to him in the ripple of the river and the song of the stars, and Nancy's need to pass on her deep understanding of her country. But perhaps the most moving love story of all is the one that never happened, between Matilda O'Halloran and Clancy of the Overflow. And as Jed brings all of these stories to life in her book, Matilda and Clancy will once again waltz beside the river and the forgotten will be given a new voice. PRAISE FOR THE MATILDA SAGA 'An engrossing mystery story, an ode to strong women, and a moving exploration of the private wounds we carry ... The Last Dingo Summer is a must for your summer reading list' -- Better Reading 'The perfect read for anyone who loves immersing themselves in Australian fiction. Gripping, emotional and moving, Facing the Flame is a great book to curl up with' -- New Idea 'Highly recommended ... this was a complete binge, read in one night because it was just too good and too gripping to put down ... a cracking story filled with rich characters both old and new and imbued with all that we hold dear about Australian love of country and mateship' -- ReadPlus

The first in a new series that focuses on a secret part of our history From best-selling and award-winning author Jackie French comes a new series for younger readers called the Secret Histories. This first book in the series tells the story of a young indigenous girl Birrung who befriends orphaned Barney and his friend Elsie. Birrung is living with Mr Johnson, chaplain to the Australian colony in 1790, and his family. Generous in spirit, the Johnson family also take in Barney and Elsie who have only just been surviving on their meagre daily rations. Despite living with the Johnsons, Birrung's connection to her people remains strong, and when Mr and Mrs Johnson see how Barney's feeling for Birrung are growing, they gently explain that his friendship with a 'native' girl and all that she taught him about her language and lore must remain a secret - forever. Perfect for readers who loved the best-selling and award-winning Nanberry: Black Brother White, the Secret Histories series will be welcomed by all who love the power of Jackie French's storytelling.

In Greycliffs, where Anya lives, the people work hard in the slab- rock quarry for most of their life. A rockfall that Anya foresaw in her dreams is blamed on her and she is sent away to the Mountain; a place for those who are different - the Pastseers. For the first time in her life, Anya is accepted, able to be herself.

Living in a rough Puritan missionary settlement that borders on an Indian village, 16-year-old Rebekah is forced to choose between two cultures when she falls in love with a defiant Pawtucket medicine man.

La semaine trépidante d'un wombat, marsupial d'Australie, qui ne fait que dormir, se gratter, creuser des terriers, et réclamer des carottes au fermier dont il dévaste la propriété.

The golden pony - Strangers on horseback - Half a million horses - Sir Grey Nose - The black kid - The baker's horse.

The star of the international bestseller Diary of a Wombat is back - with a new mouth to feed! Cuter, stroppier and even more determined than her mother-- meet Mothball's baby. Age 3+.

The amazing story of Australia's first surgeon and the boy he adopted. Ages 12+

When werewolf pup Boojum Bark's mother is kidnapped, he is sent to the School for Heroes, to learn how to become a hero so that he can rescue her. The school comes under attack, and Boojum helps sniff out the perpetrators. Explores themes of recognising your own talents, and of friendship.

The bombs were falling and the smoke rising from the concentration camps, but all Hitler's daughter knew was the world of lessons with Fraulein Gelber and the hedgehogs she rescued from the cold. Was it just a story or did Hitler's daughter really exist? And If you were Hitler's daughter, would all the horror that occurred be your fault, too? Do things that happened a long time ago still matter?

A thought-provoking and controversial story that examines religious persecution and refugees, this book contains two parallel stories that eventually come together. It is suitable for ages 12+.

As a young boy describes the behaviors of familiar animals, readers must flip the flaps to find out about behaviors that the animals love to do.

NAACP IMAGE AWARD NOMINEE-Outstanding Literary Work-Debut AuthorRevealing a collection of never been seen photographs, reliving the experiences, and reviewing the historic speeches, "A Defining Moment" provides an introspective view of the journey taken by the first African American President of the United States.

" Lundi matin : sieste, après-midi : sieste, soir : sieste. Me suis gratté. Nuit : ai mangé de l'herbe, puis... dodo ". Voici le journal désopilant d'un wombat, ce gros mammifère australien, de la taille d'un ourson, pataud, gourmand, paresseux, et si attachant ! Le wombat est originaire d'Australie et de Tasmanie. Son nom lui a été donné par les aborigènes. A partir de 3 ans.