Books with author Jackie French

Thirteen-year-old Danny and his family are struggling to make ends meet in New York during the Great Depression. His father leaves to search for work, and Danny and his mother do what they can to survive. With his mother pregnant and unable to help, Danny is forced to beg for food. Through it all, they retain their good humor and family pride, and in the end help arrives in a most unexpected guise. “Rich, rewarding historical fiction.”--Kirkus Reviews

She sleeps. She eats. She scratches. She is training humans to become better pets. She is Mothball, a wombat with attitude. Awarda??winning author Jackie French's love of wombats comes alive in this cheeky observation of Mothball's life, while Bruce Whatley's captivating illustrations of Mothball's antics shows just how entertaining and endearing wombats are to humans. The bestselling daily routine of Mothball the wombat is now in durable board book format for the youngest reader to enjoy.

In war-torn Malaya, Nancy dreams of Australia - and a young man called Michael. The year is 1942 and the world is at war. Nancy Clancy left school at fourteen to spend a year droving, just like her grandfather Clancy of the Overflow. Now sixteen, Nancy's family has sent her to Malaya to bring home her sister-in-law Moira and baby nephew Gavin. Yet despite the threat of Japanese invasion, Moira resists, wanting to stay near her husband Ben.But not even Nancy of the Overflow can stop the fall of Singapore and the capture of so many Australian troops. When their ship is bombed, Nancy, Moira and Gavin are reported missing.Back home at Gibbers Creek, Michael refuses to believe the girl he loves has died. As Darwin, Broome and even Sydney are bombed, Australians must fight to save their country. But as Michael and the families of Gibbers Creek discover, there are many ways to love your country, and many ways to fight for it.From one of Australia's most-admired storytellers comes a gripping and unforgettable novel based on true events and little-known people. This is a story about ultimate survival and the deepest kinds of love.PRAISE'A book about a love of country that is heartwarming and heartbreaking, and hard to put down.'-- Adelaide Advertiser, 4 stars

'HISTORICAL FICTION AT ITS BEST' -- Bookseller & Publisher 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. Hatred is contagious, but Georg finds that kindness can be, too.A companion piece to the best-selling Hitler's Daughter, this is a story of war-torn Europe during WWII, as seen through the eyes of a young German boy Georg, who loses his family and must forget his past and who he is in order to survive.MORE PRAISE FOR PENNIES FOR HITLER'Jackie French's research and subsequent feeling for the era is superb the descriptions of wartime Australia alone are fascinating. This is historical fiction at is best and thoroughly recommended for upper primary children and beyond.' -- Bookseller & Publisher, 5 Star Review'From its dramatic opening sequence to its one word conclusion 300 pages later, this is an absorbing story rich with details of everyday life' -- Canberra Times'This striking fiction for school age readers gives an unflinching view of war and a close-up human perspective on asylum seekers.' -- Saturday Age

In the tradition of The Man from Snowy River comes a gripping and courageous sequel to A Waltz for Matilda The year is 1919. Thirty years have passed since the man from Snowy River made his famous ride. But World War I still casts its shadow across a valley in the heart of Australia, particularly for orphaned sixteen-year-old Flinty McAlpine, who lost a brother when the Snowy River men marched away to war.Why has the man Flinty loves returned from the war so changed and distant? Why has her brother Andy 'gone with cattle', leaving Flinty in charge of their younger brother and sister and with the threat of eviction from the farm she loves so dearly? A brumby muster held under the watchful eye of the legendary Clancy of the Overflow offers hope. Now Flinty must ride to save her farm, her family and the valley she loves.Set among the landscapes of the great poems of Australia, this book is a love song to the Snowy Mountains and a tribute to Australia's poets who immortalised so much of our land. The Girl from Snowy River combines passion, heartbreak, history and an enduring love and rich understanding of our land.PRAISE FOR A WALTZ FOR MATILDA'... this absorbing saga abounds in social and historical detail' -- Magpies

A story of transportation and life in a new world from Australia's Children's Laureate At the tender age of eight, chimney sweep Tom Appleby is convicted of stealing and sentenced to deportation to Botany Bay. As one of the members of the First Fleet, he arrives in a country that seemingly has little to offer - or little that the English are used to, anyway.Luckily, not long after tom's arrival in the colony, the fair and kind Sergeant Stanley decides to take on tom as a servant. Together Tom, Sergeant Stanley and his son, Rob, build a house, set up an orchard and a vegetable garden for themselves - and thrive, unlike many others in the new colony.Jackie French weaves Tom's story in with the story of the development of Australia. She tells of a colony that, despite its natural abundance, cannot offer what the colonists want - familiarity. While the people's health is better than it ever was in England, their morale is low as they wait for news from home.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

The third title in the Matilda saga, which began with A WALTZ FOR MATILDA and followed with THE GIRL FROM SNOWY RIVER A true cross-over, that becomes a terrific holiday read for our literary adult market A page-turning, heart-warming family saga set in the Snowy Mountains during the Depression in the 1930s. Ages:11 years+ Blue Laurence has escaped the prison of her aunt's mansion to join the Magnifico Family Circus, a travelling troupe that brings glamour and laughter to country towns gripped by the Depression. Blue hides her crippled legs and scars behind the sparkle of a mermaid's costume; but she's not the only member of the circus hiding a dark secret. the unquenchable Madame Zlosky creates as well as foresees futures. the bearded lady is a young man with laughing eyes. A headless skeleton dangles in the House of Horrors. And somewhere a murderer is waiting ... to strike again. this third book in the Waltz for Matilda saga is set in 1932, at the height of the Depression. Miss Matilda is still running Drinkwater Station, but has put aside her own tragedy to help those suffering in tough economic times and Joey, from the Girl from Snowy River, uses his new medical skills to solve a mystery. Praise for A Waltz for Matilda: '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 Praise for the Girl from Snowy River: '... when I was 11 or 12, I would have read and reread it until it fell to bits. It has everything: horses, poems, ghosts, heroism, war, the bush and a love story.' Saturday Age 'this is a genuine gem that is impossible to put down and must be swallowed whole in one sitting.' Newcastle Herald Ages: 11+

The story behind Banjo Paterson's iconic Australian song. 'Once a jolly swagman camped by a BillabongUnder the shade of a Coolibah treeAnd he sang as he watched and waited till his Billy boiledYou'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 world is at war, and women are working, often behind the scenes, in areas from nursing to espionage. And despite their many successes, these are the women the men don't see. Unimaginable danger creeps ever closer to Miss Lily and her loved ones . . .Amid the decadence and instability of Berlin in the 1920s, a band of women must unite to save all that is precious to them.With her dangerous past behind her, Australian heiress Sophie Higgs lives in quiet comfort as the Countess of Shillings, until Hannelore, Princess of Arneburg, charms the Prince of Wales. He orders Sophie, Nigel - and Miss Lily - to investigate the mysterious politician Hannelore believes is the only man who can save Europe from another devastating war.His name is Adolf Hitler.As unimaginable peril threatens to destroy countries and tear families apart, Sophie must face Goering's Brownshirt Nazi thugs, blackmail, and the many possible faces of love.And then the man she once adored and thought was lost reappears, and Sophie will be confronted by the girl intent on killing the mother who betrayed her family in the war: Miss Lily.The third book in the Miss Lily series, The Lily in the Snow is a story filled with secrets that also explores the strength of friendship and the changing face of women in this new Europe.

A searing story of passion, betrayal, battles and love, this is Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' stripped of superstition, and its power and beauty refined into fewer words where good balances the evil and there is a happy ending - for some. Following on from OPHELIA, QUEEN OF DENMARK and I AM JULIET, this is the third title in the series for young people that focuses on the reinterpretation of Shakespeare's classic and enduring plays.'I didn't mean to do it'.Annie is not a witch, but when her mistress Lady Macbeth calls for a potion to 'stiffen Macbeth's sinews', Annie is caught up in plots that lead to murder, kingship and betrayal. Annie must also not only choose between Rab the Blacksmith and Murdoch, Thane of Greymouth, but discover where her loyalty lies. Ages: 10+

Following on from I AM JULIET (August 2014), this is the second title in a new series for young people that focuses on the reinterpretation of Shakespeare's classic and enduring plays. Ages: 10+ She is the girl who will be queen: Ophelia, daughter of Denmarks lord chancellor and loved by Prince Hamlet. But while Hamlets family stab, poison or haunt one another, Ophelia plans a sensible rule, one filled with justice and the making of delicious cheeses. Even if she has to pretend to be mad to make it happen, Ophelia will let nothing, not even howling ghosts, stand in her way. This is Shakespeares play, but with what might also have happened behind the scenes. And this story has a happy ending. From Jackie French, one of Australias most respected and awarded authors and the Australian Childrens Laureate and 2015 Senior Australian of the Year, comes a book that reimagines the life of one of Shakespeares most intriguing female characters. Praise for I am Juliet: The captivating storyline and well-developed characters will make it popular with high school-aged readers.Magpies