WELCOME TO AUSTRALIAN USED HOMESCHOOL BOOKS!
AUSTRALIANA FICTION - EARLY AUSTRALIAN LIFE
Picture Books
Walking To School (Ethel Turner) $5 PB VGC Australian poet Turner wrote this poem--which has since become a classic --when her five-year-old son started school. Her verses distil the essence of the emotions felt by a child on that first unaccompanied walk to school--the trepidation caused by terrors that lurk around every corner (such as fierce dogs and boisterous older boys), the determination to be brave, and the glorious hope that the preschoolers one passes will think that one is much older--seven, perhaps, or even eight. Gouldthorpe's splendid illustrations have a nostalgic turn-of-the-century look and are full of the interplay of light and shadow.4-7 YO http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/t/ethel-turner/walking-to-school.htm
Emily Jane (Sadie Pascoe) $6 HB EC, $5 PB VGC The annual Sunday School Picnic was an important event in Australia for many years. Social customs of 1910 are explored in an entertaining manner through a child's view of this Sunday School picnic. A family photograph is used to link 1910 with the present day. Illustrations are bright and informative. Join Emily Jane in this gorgeous picture book of early Australian life. 5-10 YO
The Great Bullocky Race (Michael Page, illustrated Robert Ingpen) $5 HB EC, $4 PB EC (Tiny yellow spots on inturns at front and back) The Great Bullocky race was run between Swan Hill on the River Murray and the seaport of Robe in South Australia. Donald MacDonald and his daughter, Alice, the girl bullocky (of red hair and freckles) reckoned they could beat Foxy Murphy and his son Young Wally on the race to the sea. This book tells the story of their adventures as they and their bullock teams contested the longest bullocky race ever run in Australia. Wonderful paintings and authentic story. 8+
The Bush Behind The Bay (Diana Noonan) $4 PB VGC The forest behind the bay is a magical place and no one would dream of cutting timber there. But how can the district protect the giant trees from the team of out-of-town millers? When local poet and bushman, Kangaroo Bill, sets out to save the forest, only young James knows what he is planning – and each day the secret becomes harder to keep! Set in the late 1800s, a lovely picture book about early Australian bush towns. 5-9 YO
How The Sailor Rode The Brumby (Illustrated by Max Caesar) $4 HB EC Set in the early Moreton Bay district in the 1800s, this humorous poem tells of a sailor who wants to work on a cattle run as a stockman. Gorgeous pictures giving many insights into early Australian life. 6-10 YO
The Tram To Bondi Beach (Elizabeth Hathorn) $5 PB VGC In this story set in 1930s Australia, a young boy is given permission by his father to ride the tram alone to the beach, where he plans to sell newspapers. Will the boy be able to handle this new responsibility and privilege? Vivas imbues her vistas with whimsical water colours; in rusty browns and coppery shades, she warmly conveys the bustle of a city by the sea, and the tram that is its lifeline. Her characters seem to defy the space constraints of a square page: they reach out to readers, or squabble and taunt one another, filling up backgrounds with activities and inviting a closer look. Ages 4-8. http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/6779100/used/The%20Tram%20to%20Bondi%20Beach
The Old Farm Cart (Macmillan Reader) $2 PB GC Great story about Mark discovering an old cobweb covered cart in the shed on Mr. Barlow’s farm. He learns from the elderly couple about the early transport in Australia, the reins and other saddlery used and helps restore the cart to bring pleasure to many children of the town. 5-8 YO
Said Hanrahan: A Bush Poem (John O’Brien) $4 HB EC A humorous poem set in the pioneering times of the 1800s about the never-to-be-satisfied farmer, Hanrahan. What makes the John O'Brien poetry unique is the ability of the writer to capture the characters of the times with all their Irish-Australian mannerisms; country people living simple uncomplicated lives concerned only with their family, their faith and how to make a living. These pioneering people faced the harsh environment of the Australian bush with the courage, patience, and endurance that has become synonymous with being Australian. Appealing illustrations. 5-10 YO
Novels
The Stars Are Upside Down (Gabriel Alington) $4 PB EC, $3 PB FC (Ex lib with minor cover wear and creases) Brought up in a crowded orphanage, and now a London kitchen-maid, Tavy yearns for freedom and space. So when she sees a poster advertising a £5 passage to Australia for single females of good character, she jumps at the chance. Set in 1849, Tavy endures the hardships of the journey by boat and then to the outback. 11+
World’s End Was Home (Nan Chauncy) $5 HBDJ VGC An old treasure. Dallie, lonely and without parents of her own, is suddenly whisked away from her rich indifferent aunt and plunged into the most remarkable family enterprise she could ever have dreamed of. A whole family of distant relatives take Dallie with them to make a pioneer home in a remote and unexplored corner of the southern Tasmanian coast, aptly named Worlds's End. Hardship and adventure befall them and the climax is reached when Dallie's aunt discovers her whereabouts. 10+ http://cgi.ebay.com/World's-End-Was-Home-by-Nan-Chauncy-HC%2FDJ-1958-1st-Ed_W0QQitemZ290249859748QQcmdZViewItem?IMSfp=TL0807311164r18982
Kammoora (or The Brown Land Was Green) (Mavis Thorpe Clark) $4 PB BRAND NEW (Has tanning on inturns and page edges from storage) The year is 1844: John Webster and his family arrive by bullock cart to start a new job and a new life on the huge but isolated Kammoora Station. Twelve year old Henrietta, high spirited and resourceful, and her three brothers soon find themselves involved in a host of new and exciting experiences. 10+
Zizzy Zing (Ursula Dubosarsky) $3 PB VGC A mysterious letter arrives when Phyllis is spending the summer at an old convent school in the Blue Mountains. The letter leads her on a funny, but sobering journey back in time to the Australia Day 150 year celebrations in 1938. Phyllis discovers a bewildering tragedy: Who is the restless lady in the old-fashioned black dress? Why is she singing one moment and softly crying the next? Could the song ‘Zizzy Zing’, have anything to do with it? A wonderful mystery story – warm and touching, often funny and always enthralling. 9+ http://www.amazon.com/Zizzy-Zing-Ursula-Dubosarsky/dp/0140382577
Deepwaterman (Helen Frances) $3 PB GC Young Tom finds himself aboard the Astrid Johannson, one of the last great square-rigged grain ships to sail between Australia and Europe via Cape Horn. Can they survive the treacherous waters of the Horn? 10+
The Haunted School (Carol Drinkwater) $3 PB GC Set in New South Wales in 1863, Fanny Crowe, a fresh, young school teacher struggles to establish a new school in the wilds as the superstitious local residents, particularly twelve-year-old Richard Blackburn, wonder about her willingness to live in a ‘haunted house.’ Great insights into early colonial life. 9+
The Squatter-Man (Merle Cazaly) $5 HBDJ GC In 1867 Susan and her parents and seven brothers and sisters leave Scotland to migrate to Australia. Their father buys a block of land beside the River Murray and, in order to prove ownership, they build mud-brick huts on their land and sleep in them every night. An exciting story based on true historical events. 9-13 YO http://www.cornstalk.com.au/pix/64723.jpg
Australian Children’s Classics Eleanor Spence Omnibus $6 HB VGC Contains Lillypilly Hill (Harriet loves her new home in Australia, named after the two tall lillypilly trees in the garden. She has already adapted to their new way of life, but the rest of her family pine for the safe and orderly life of London. How can she help her family accept the challenge of the pioneering life they’ve embarked upon?) and The Summer In Between (The long, hot Australian summer stretched before Faith Melville. It was an important summer for her because she had just left the junior school and would start at Kenilworth Public School next year. Even though there was Christmas to look forward to, Faith felt like she would like something particularly exciting to do. This summer proves to meet all her expectations.) 10+
Bushfire Moon (Jeff Peck) $3 PB GC Set in drought-stricken outback Australia in 1891, Ned O’Day mistakes a swagman on the run for Father Christmas. Little does he realise that his mistake will set in motion an astonishing series of events – affecting everyone in the small community of Mitchelton. 9+
Stringybark Summer (Judith O’Neill) $3 PB EC A wonderful insight into turn-of-the-century Australian bush towns as Sophie, who wanted to stay home on the farm and help her mother with the new baby over the holidays, goes to spend them in the busy little township of Stringybark Mill with her grandpa. She grows to love the town and the horse, especially old Clinker. 9+
Picnic At Hanging Rock (Joan Lindsay) $3 PB FC (Tanning and minor cover split) On St Valentine's day in 1900, a party of Australian schoolgirls set off with two schoolmistresses on a picnic to a place called Hanging Rock. Some were never to return. What began as a pleasant and happy day out ended in terror. Joan Lindsay's descriptions of the Australian bush and wildlife are realistic and beautiful. 11+ http://www.amazon.com/Picnic-Hanging-Rock-Joan-Lindsay/dp/0099750619 (Cover different)
Riverman (Allan Baillie) $4 HB EC (Signed by author) Tim has always been known as the “Shrimp” - and in the tough town of Zeehan a small kid is no use to anyone. But a mine disaster in 1912 and a perilous journey up the wild Franklin River changes that. 10+ SHORT LIST FOR UK GUARDIAN AWARD; CBCA BOOK OF YEAR; SELECTED FOR WHITE RAVENS OF IYL, MUNICH; IBBY HONOUR DIPLOMA.
Longtime Passing (Hesba Brinsmead) $3 PB FC The story based on the author’s own childhood in the Candlebark Country of the Blue Mountains. Go back in time to when the Truelance family built their home in the rainforest, home schooled at the kitchen table, helped in the sawmill and with the turnip crop. Over the years, as the five children grew up, changes came to their property “Longtime.” Motor-lorries replaced bullock teams, a telephone line was put in and one by one the children went ‘down below’ to Sydney to high school. 10+ THE CHILDREN’S BOOK COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA BOOK OF THE YEAR http://cgi.ebay.com.au/HESBA-BRINSMEAD-Longtime-Passing-PB-Blue-Moutains_W0QQitemZ130239197136QQcmdZViewItem?IMSfp=TL080716091a15884
Bette And The Queen Carnival (Jean E. Turnley) $2 PB EC It’s 1927, and when the Carlisle family bring their house to the town of Darrawarra, little do they realise what’s in store. For, like most tiny Australian country towns, Darrawarra is a mass of rivalries, jealousies and alliances – and the Carlisles don’t fit in. This particularly worries Bette, the middle child, whose ambition is to find a ‘bosom friend’, someone to whom she can confide everything. Very realistic imagery of Australian early life. 10+
Sugar And Spice (Mary Wright) $2 PB VGC Pixie and Molly aren’t on the best of terms and as different as sugar and spice, but are forced to leave home to attend high school TOGETHER. Set in the 1920s, they travel from the tiny settlement of Coolawong in the outback, to a big country town – together, and begin a new life with a new family. They finally grow up to understand one another as they join Girl Guides, discover Rudolph Valentino and fly in a bi-plane. 11+
All The Green Year (D.E. Charlwood) $3 HB VGC Set in a Victorian coastal town in the late 1920s, join the adolescent narrator and his family and friend’s adventures when they ride a camel to school, stage a bullfight inspired by the movies, have a terrible fight with Big Stinger and have a strange new feeling about girls. Suffused with nostalgia and gaiety. An Australian classic.12+
The River: A Chronicle Of Life On The Land (Eric Rolls) $3 PB VGC An autobiographical account of twenty years of farming on the banks of the Namoi River. This is a chronicle of love, happiness and despair; of flood and drought; hardship and sheer enjoyment, illustrated sensitively in charcoal by Marianne Yamaguchi. 10+
Sun On The Stubble (ABC TV) $4 PB EC Sun on the Stubble is adapted from a series of novels by award-winning Australian children's writer Colin Theile, author of 'Storm Boy' and 'Blue Fin'. The series tells the story of Bruno Gunther, a 14-year-old boy from a German immigrant family growing up in a small farming community in South Australia during the 1930s. For Bruno, life on the farm creates rich opportunities fro all kinds of adventures, dilemmas and comic mishaps. Full of photographs from the series. 7-11 YO http://www.bookworm.com.au/shop/scditem.asp?ProdID=18407
Sun On The Stubble $3 PB VGC Commended by the Children's Book Council of Australia in 1962, this is a heart-warming story set in a South Australian farming district in the years between the World Wars. Colin Thiele's keen observation brings vividly to life his pictures of rural life, and his outstanding ability to combine humour with an incisive insight into the Australian character is seen here at its best. Recommended. 11+ http://www.bookworm.com.au/shop/scditem.asp?ProdID=12133
The Rim Of The Morning (Colin Thiele) $3 PB VGC This collection of six stories by the renowned Australian author Colin Thiele is about life in Australia. Ranges from small farming communities in South Australia during the 1930s, to life on the coast near the Murray mouth to life on an outback station in the drought. Exciting stories with a wealth of information about Australian landscapes and lifestyles. Recommended! 10+
The Split Creek Kids (Roger Vaughan Carr) $3 PB GC Set in a rural Australian town, Cassie and Peter tow their little brother on the rope as far as the gate of the Split Creek School. Join the fun and games of a 1940’s bush school and see what school was all really like back then! Lovely line drawings. 8+
All In The Blue Unclouded Weather (Robin Klein) $3 PB EC Follow the growing up of four sisters, Vivienne, Cathy, Heather and Grace as they enjoy the post war years in a small Australian country town. It’s all blue unclouded weather in the late 1940’s, everything is as it should be…..afternoons at the Roxy theatre, patent leather shoes, dreams of Clark Gable, stockings with seams up the back.11+ http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Unclouded-Weather-Robin-Klein/dp/0140349820
