Books with author Lane Smith

Do you believe in fairy tales and mystical creatures such as fiery dragons that enjoy stews made of fuzzy mouse ears and breakfasts featuring frog legs? Saxan is a young dragon and has been practicing his skills for a long time under the watchful and loving eyes of his father and mother. Now it is time for The Big Challenge, the competition for all young dragons to try to earn a place in the Imperial Brigade. Saxan must apply all he has learned and have the courage to take a risk to have a chance in making his dream come true! Beautiful hand drawn illustrations bring Saxan’s world to life and are enjoyable for any age to share. Saxan’s story allows children to think about the importance of family as they begin to form life-long values.

Frederick Wordsworth Ward, better known as ‘Captain Thunderbolt’, had one of the longest bushranging ‘careers’ in history. Plaguing New South Wales for almost seven years, Thunderbolt enjoyed much public support as he was intelligent, charming and courageous and a great storyteller. He has become something of a romantic figure of Australia’s past. This book describes some of Thunderbolt’s more notable exploits and refutes many of the popular myths that surround him.The Australian Bushrangers series by librarian and historical researcher, Jane Smith, details the colourful lives of six of Australia’s most famous bushrangers of the gold rush era: Captain Thunderbolt, Captain Moonlite, Frank Gardiner, Ben Hall, and the two men known as ‘Captain Starlight’.Based on meticulous research of primary sources such as birth, death and marriage certificates, Police Gazettes, Court, policeand gaol records, letters and newspaper articles, Jane Smith, has produced a series of books that align with the nationalcurriculum and are both entertaining and historically accurate; for the first time dispelling many of the myths.These simply written, concise narratives provide an insight into the lives of these bushrangers. From their family background,crimes, family and gang members, the circumstances and events that led him to crime, and where relevant, his capture and death, the books are full of interesting facts and loaded with images, newspaper clippings and records.

This book is specially designed in Amazon's fixed-layout KF8 format with region magnification. Double-tap on an area of text to zoom and read. Chloe Zoe is starting kindergarten! Full days of school for a full week. Chloe Zoe has a new backpack and matching lunch box and is so excited to see her best friends Mary Margaret and George. On the first day of school, Chloe Zoe discovers Mary Margaret is in a different kindergarten class. Will kindergarten be any fun without her best friend?

At a village harvest festival, as the chilled winds breathe the onset of winter, the young farmer Andris meets Rhian, a mysterious young woman that somehow seems familiar from his past. She bears an iron sword, unusually heavy and off-balance, and she tells him a false name.That night, she pulls him into her violent struggle to save her family, as he learns that she is the princess of their small kingdom, who had helped to try to save his father's life ten years ago. Rhian is pursued by shapeshifters and necromancers, and she pleads to Andris to help her search for the aid of a legendary folk on a hidden island. Rhian explains that it was Andris himself who warned her of these dangers and bid her to find the island, all during a dream that she lived through weeks earlier."This fantasy tale creates an earnest, gleaming world that's hard to leave." - Kirkus Reviews

Penguins aren't the only animals with problems. . . . A second hilarious collaboration from picture-book superstars Lane Smith and Jory John!Can you guess what's making this giraffe self-conscious? Could it be . . . HIS ENORMOUS NECK?? Yes, it's exactly that--how on earth did you figure it out?Edward the giraffe can't understand why his neck is as long and bendy and, well, ridiculous as it is. No other animal has a neck this absurd. He's tried disguising it, dressing it up, strategically hiding it behind bushes--honestly, anything you can think of, he's tried. Just when Edward has exhausted his neck-hiding options and is about to throw in the towel, a turtle swoops in (well, ambles in, very slowly) and helps him understand that his neck has a purpose, and looks excellent in a bow tie.

The Australian Bushrangers series by librarian and historical researcher, Jane Smith, details the colourful lives of six of Australia’s most famous bushrangers of the gold rush era: Captain Thunderbolt, Captain Moonlite, Frank Gardiner,The fifth book in the series features the two men know as “Captain Starlight”. .Both were bushrangers who travelled widely across the country in the second half of the nineteenth century, and although their backgrounds and their crimes differed greatly, they are linked by their connection with a character from a novel.Frank Pearson was the first “Starlight” who burst onto the scene in 1868, when he abandoned his practice as a doctor, stole a horse and took off on a bushranging spree that ended in a shoot-out and the death of a policeman. Pearson was a very talented man: intelligent, well-educated and well-read, and a clever artist and composer. He was also a pathological liar with no moral compass whatsoever. The intriguing thing about him is that we know nothing about his first thirty years. He had so many aliases that we don’t even know what his real name was.The other was Henry Readford, whose stunning theft of 1000 cattle was the inspiration for the fictional character “Captain Starlight” in Rolf Boldrewood’s novel Robbery under arms. This book is full of fascinating facts and legendary exploits as it explores the lives of both of the bushrangers known for very different reasons. With reference to newspapers, gaol records, police records and other primary sources it narrates the captivating stories of their crimes, their lives, their imprisonments and their ultimately their deaths.

Have you ever thought: I have so many problems and nobody even cares? Well, penguins have problems too! Discover them in this hilarious collaboration from Jory John (All my friends are dead. and Quit Calling Me a Monster!) and Lane Smith (The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales)! This penguin has come to tell you that life in Antarctica is no paradise. For starters, it is FREEZING. Also, penguins have a ton of natural predators. Plus, can you imagine trying to find your mom in a big ol’ crowd of identical penguins? No, thank you. Yes, it seems there is no escaping the drudgery of your daily grind, whatever it might be. Or perhaps we’ve just learned that grumps are everywhere. . . . This book is sure to tickle kids’ funny bones and will elicit appreciative sighs from the adults reading it aloud. "We are all Mortimer [the main character in Penguin Problems]." —The New York Times“Bursting with humor.” —Kirkus Reviews “The snark level is cranked up high.” —The Horn Book, Starred “Will be right at home with fans of Jon Klassen’s This Is Not My Hat.” —Booklist “Classic comedy.” —Publishers Weekly “Rib-tickling.” —School Library Journal

At a village harvest festival, as the chilled winds breathe the onset of winter, the young farmer Andris meets Rhian, a mysterious young woman that somehow seems familiar from his past. She bears an iron sword, unusually heavy and off-balance, and she tells him a false name.That night, she pulls him into her violent struggle to save her family, as he learns that she is the princess of their small kingdom, who had helped to try to save his father's life ten years ago. Rhian is pursued by shapeshifters and necromancers, and she pleads to Andris to help her search for the aid of a legendary folk on a hidden island. Rhian explains that it was Andris himself who warned her of these dangers and bid her to find the island, all during a dream that she lived through weeks earlier."This fantasy tale creates an earnest, gleaming world that's hard to leave." - Kirkus Reviews

Perth, 1899: a respected public servant mistakes a bottle of cyanide for his heart medicine, swallows it and dies. Months later on the other side of the country, a prisoner of Pentridge gaol with the same name as the deceased reads of the inquest with alarm. He writes to the coroner with his suspicions: the supposedly upstanding government accountant was an impostor – an ex-con – who had stolen his identity and deceived people at the highest level. The claims sent the authorities into a spin; who really was the deceased? Was it possible he was the bushranger known as ‘Captain Starlight’ who, thirty years earlier, had callously murdered a policeman and been sentenced to hang? How had he pulled off the subterfuge and what other secrets remained hidden? As the investigation unfolds, the remarkable life and crimes of Captain Starlight, committed across four states of Australia under countless aliases, are revealed. Author Jane Smith’s meticulous research reveals the stranger than fiction story of a compulsive liar and serial imposter: a doctor, a stockman and an accountant – and a bushranger, forger, con-man and killer. It is a true story of murder and deceit that reveals new information and presents, for the first time, a theory as to the real identity of the bushranger known as ‘Captain Starlight’.

The Girl from the Forest is a children's fantasy series that follows a small girl's travels, encounters, experiences, and discoveries across her expansive universe. Full of contrast, color and shape, and simple stories, The Girl from the Forest engages the imagination of young children and opens the door to an enriching story telling experience for all ages. Follow along with the Girl in this first book of the series as she moves through the magic, mystery, and gratitude of her life's simplest moments.

In 1869 Mt Egerton was outraged by the armed hold-up of the local bank by a masked villain calling himself 'Captain Moonlite'. The perpetrator turned out to be the new lay preacher, Andrew George Scott. On his release from prison Moonlite led a ragged bunch of young desperadoes to stage a siege that envolved a shoot-out and the death of a policeman.