The story of the famous Burke and Wills expedition … as it has never been told before.

The humans call him ‘Bell Sing’, but to the other camels he is known as ‘He Who Spits Further Than the Wind’.

Transported from the mountains and deserts of the ‘Northwest Frontier’ (present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan), Bell Sing accompanies explorers Burke and Wills as they try to cross Australia from south to north.

Bell Sing has never had a high opinion of humans – or horses. And this expedition is the worst-managed caravan he’s ever been in. Camel handler Dost Mahomet and soldier John King are also beginning to wonder if their leader is competent … or crazy.

Bell Sing can smell water over the sandhills on the horizon … and freedom too. Can the expedition succeed? And who – if anyone – will survive?

This is the gritty and true story about one of the most extraordinary and iconic events in Australia’s history.

PRAISE FOR THE ANIMAL STARS

‘an irreverent and informative charmer’ - Sunday Age

‘What a delight to read this book! … could inspire much original history reading by young readers’ - Book News

‘This is history brought to life for the younger reader’ - Reader’s Feast Book Guide