He liked trees. Trees are tough and strong. They've been around much longer than people. This one had, that's for sure. He'd seen an old yellowy photograph of the school from the days of carts and horses, with women in long dresses and big hats, moustached men standing stiff in suits, kids playing with hoops. The tree was there then, and that was a good while ago. Like the sign on the front gate said: Jarrah Central School 1861.
Not all families are safe, not all memories are good and not all relationships survive. But everything leaves a shadow.
CBCA Shortlist 2008 - Older Readers
Pharaoh
$15.99 – Paperback book / Harper Collins
The people call Prince Narmer 'the Golden One' – a boy with the brightest future ahead of him. Handsome and talented, he is destined to be King of Thinis, the greatest town in Egypt and, for Narmer, the centre of the wor... Buy or find out more →
The Ghost's Child
$24.95 – Hardcover book / Viking
A strange boy suddenly appears in a lonely old woman’s lounge room. As she serves him tea, Hartnett observes that the milk turns the tea ‘a pressed-rose brown’ and immediately we are in a world where language makes exhil... Buy or find out more →
Marty's Shadow
$17.99 – Paperback book / Omnibus Books
He liked trees. Trees are tough and strong. They've been around much longer than people. This one had, that's for sure. He'd seen an old yellowy photograph of the school from the days of carts and horses, with women in l... Buy or find out more →
Black Water
$18.95 – Paperback book / Penguin
When Farren Foxs father is missing at sea, all Farren wants is for his brother, Danny, to come home from Gallipoli. But when Danny does return from the war, he is vastly changed. And with the arrival of the mysterious ch... Buy or find out more →
Leaving Barrumbi
$17.99 – Paperback book / Omnibus Books
The nine-hour trip to his new school is just the beginning of the worst time in Dale Murphy's life. He's only ever lived with Aboriginal kids—his is the only white family at the community—but once he starts at the Leichh... Buy or find out more →