The first books in this series are: Meet Grace by Sofie Laguna, Meet Letty by Alison Lloyd, Meet Poppy by Gabrielle Wang and Meet Rose by Sherryl Clark.
These four chapter books form the beginning of the Our Australian Girl series by introducing four girls growing up in colonial Australia. In 1808, Grace, homeless and hungry on the streets of London, steals a horse and finds herself on a prison ship bound for the colony. In 1841, under very different circumstances, Letty mistakenly joins her sister on migration to Australia. In 1864, we follow Poppy, a girl of Aboriginal and Chinese parentage who sets out after her brother when he escapes from their rural institutional home. And lastly, there’s Rose, a privileged Melbournian who upsets her mother by idolising her thoroughly modern, suffragette Aunt Alice.
Each slip of a book includes a bundle of extra information to colour the central plot, including a map, a teaser of the next book (there are 16 in all), an autobiographical blurb from the author on ‘How I became an Australian girl’, a website and a page of historical facts. While some of this extra content feels heavily ingratiating to the readership, the writing is of such quality, the plots fast-paced, the themes well handled and the girls so engaging that the package works. This is a great series with which to introduce eight- to twelve-year-olds who aren’t quite ready for the My Australian Story series (published by Scholastic) to Australian history.
Like this:
Like Loading...
February 1, 2011 at 11:06 am Jessica
A story of children left to fend for themselves after war in their countries. Four of them meet and try to get to England. No one wants them but they manage by supporting each other to get to the UK. They are tough and scarred by war but still ultimately just kids.
Based on true experiences of refugee children this is a wonderful read. Chris
Like this:
Like Loading...
December 15, 2010 at 10:11 am Chris
A story of children left to fend for themselves after war in their countries. Four of them meet and try to get to England. No one wants them but they manage by supporting each other to get to the UK. They are tough and scarred by war but still ultimately just kids.
Chris
Jon Page
