Alex And The Alpacas Ride Again

After her adventures in Tasmania, Alex is back home in Melbourne and ready for the next one. But Grandpa Jacob wants to keep Alex protected, and he wants her to go back to being a regular kid and forget that she is the saviour of the world. Why can't he understand that she's not normal, she's special? When things start to happen around the olive sapling housing Kiala's spirit, Alex sees her chance to prove how important she is, but at what cost? When Ivette, an unexpected arrival from America, tries to assert herself into the mission, Alex is left questioning herself and her abilities, as she attempts to put her trust in others.

Depicting the full spectrum of adolescent alienation, this engaging, coming-of-age narrative is a humorous blend of novel and memoir. A sensitive, quick-witted boy from a small town, Jack Muir adores his mother, yearns for affection from his father, and lives in the shadow of his accomplished brother. Sent to a boarding school at a young age, Jack must quickly decide what sort of person he will be—the type that succumbs to the pressure of bullies and the school system or the type that fights back, using clever banter and intellect to get by. With a unique and authentic voice, this darkly humorous tale portrays the road to depression as seen through the naiveté of youth.

Meet Me at the Intersection is an anthology of short fiction, memoir, and poetry by authors who are First Nations, People of Color, LGBTIQA+, or living with disability. The focus of the anthology is on Australian life as seen through each author's unique, and seldom heard, perspective. With works by Ellen van Neerven, Graham Akhurst, Kyle Lynch, Ezekiel Kwaymullina, Olivia Muscat, Mimi Lee, Jessica Walton, Kelly Gardiner, Rafeif Ismail, Yvette Walker, Amra Pajalic, Melanie Rodriga, Omar Sakr, Wendy Chen, Jordi Kerr, Rebecca Lim, Michelle Aung Thin and Alice Pung, this anthology is designed to challenge the dominant, homogenous story of privilege and power that rarely admits "outsider" voices.

When Jessie and her older sister Kay find a book called The History of Mischief,hidden beneath the floorboards in their grandmother's house, they uncover asecret world. The History chronicles how, since antiquity, mischief-makers haveclandestinely shaped the past &– from an Athenian slave to a Polish salt miner andfrom an advisor to the Ethiopian Queen to a girl escaping the Siege of Paris. Jessiebecomes enthralled by the book and by her own mission to determine its accuracy.Soon the History inspires Jessie to perform her own acts of mischief, unofficiallybecoming mischief-maker number 202 in an effort to cheer up her eccentricneighbour, Mrs Moran, and to comfort her new schoolfriend, Theodore. However, noteverything is as it seems. As Jessie delves deeper into the real story behind theHistory, she becomes convinced her grandmother holds the key to a long-held familysecret.The History of Mischief is about the many things we do to try to escape

Written from the perspective of a teenager, this chilling psychological thriller follows Tessa as she copes with the blood-stained event that changed her life forever. Set in Perth, Western Australia, this gripping novel demonstrates how Tessa clings to anorexia and to her sinister, imaginary friend, Ned—her greatest support and her staunchest ally who is privy to her deepest secrets—in an attempt to deal with the loss of her brother and the resulting change in her parents.

Hilarious and heartbreaking, Creepy & Maud charts the relationship between two social misfits, played out in the space between their windows. Creepy is a boy who watches from the shadows keenly observing and caustically commentating on human folly. Maud is less certain. A confused girl with a condition that embarrasses her parents and assures her isolation. Together Creepy and Maud discover something outside their own vulnerability — each other's. But life is arbitrary; and loving someone doesn't mean you can save them. Creepy & Maud is a blackly funny and moving first novel that says; 'You're ok to be as screwed up as you think you are and you're not alone in that.'

Elisabeth's hand trembled as she lifted the jar of warm liquid. She wanted to run away and scream that it was all a mistake, but instead she took a deep breath and poured her urine over the plastic pregnancy tester. A few drops spilt on the bathroom tiles. She shivered. It was so unfair. They'd only done it a few times and it hadn't even been th...

This is a beautifully written, heartfelt look at the effects of breast cancer and the loss of a loved one to the disease. It's the summer of 1987, and Mira is beginning her first year at university. She has a radical new haircut, and an all-black wardrobe: she should be having the time of her life. But, it's hard for her to get excited about anything when she's being smothered by her crazy Italian family, enrolled in a course she's not interested in, and expecting nuclear warfare at any moment. Even a new best friend and the magnetic boy from art class can't wipe away the image of a looming mushroom cloud—her mother has breast cancer. Mira's world is about to explode, but it's not the skies she should be checking.

'Betts offers young adult fiction at its best, successfully engaging a poetic literary aesthetic' Australian Book Review.... Living alone with his silent father and the shadow cast by his long-dead mother, Dustin waits. All he wants is to slip under the radar and survive what's left of high school; get through his work at the photo lab, get by. Beyond that lies real life. Then one Sunday, a single photo gets stuck in the processor and it changes everything. The bike in the picture is decent, for once, a Ducati Monster 620, cherry red. The woman beside it is striking too. What begins then as an innocent curiosity in Terri Pavish, her photography, her freedom, her speed, becomes something else, and the past swings full-circle to haunt him.

Lucy is under pressure to succeed and needs to focus on her end-of-year exams—the last thing she needs now is an intense boyfriend. Even though Carl loves Lucy, breaking up with him feels like the only way to keep her dreams on track. But sometimes even right decisions can have awful consequences. Carl crashes his car, breaking his best friend's neck and leaving himself in a coma. Meanwhile, Lucy discovers that she's pregnant. What unfolds is a complex drama, full of unexpected twists and turns that will keep teen readers hooked until the very end.