January 2005

This is a list of suggested titles which will be adapted.  It is not easy deciding which titles to include since so many children's titles have some element of fantasy.   I have chosen books which would more traditionally be regarded as fantasy or science fiction.  The books listed are for both Elementary and Secondary levels.  Please take the age suggestions as a rough guide.  

Please Note   All prices are in Australian dollars and include the new 10% GST tax.   However this GST does not apply to exports from Australia.

Send orders by mail, fax or email to Austral Ed.  Freight is sent by the most economical method, depending on urgency.

Recommended by Kate Shepherd

Isobelle Carmody
Her fantasy books are exciting, well written and are highly regarded.
The Gathering  pb $17.95 Joint Winner of the 1994 CBC Awards for Older Readers.  
Obernewtyn,  The Farseekers, The Ashling and The Keeping Place pb $19.95  each make up the series of the Obernewtyn Chronicles, the first of Carmody's very popular fantasy books.    (13 years up)
Also Scatterlings  pb $17.95  A disturbing story of Merlin.   (13 years up)
Dreamwalker pb $14.95 created with illustrator Steven Woolman is a striking graphic novel which looks at the way stories are created both in words and in illustration and in the way new worlds are created.                  (11 - 16 years)                                                                                                          

Brian Caswell
Merryll of the Stones pb $17.95  
A splendid story of time travel and magic, set in Wales and Australia.(12  years up)
A Cage of Butterflies pb $17.95
A gripping science fiction novel involving a group of children with unusual brain formation and an international drug company.(12 up)
Deucalion  pb $16.95
A complex and engrossing novel set in the future, in which settlers from Earth have colonised the distant planet Deucalion, exploiting resources and killing off the original inhabitants, the Elakoi.  Sequel is The View from Ararat    pb $16.95  (13 years up)

Anna Ciddor
Runestone   pb $14.95 
Part of a new series called Viking Magic, this is an engaging story about two children who were exchanged at birth and as a consequence Oddo the farmer's son gets into trouble for doing magic while Thora the spellworker's daughter is teased because she can never do even the simplest of magic spells.  Anna Ciddor says that the books are rooted in Viking lifestyle and belief, and Viking runes play a prominent part in the fantasy elements of the story.   Sequels are Wolfspell and Stormriders   pb $14.95 each      (8 - 11 years)

Ursula Dubosarsky
The Game of the Goose     pb $17.95 
As the three children play the Game of the Goose, they are suddenly swept into a strange fantasy world and discover that to escape from this frightening surreal world they have to help each other.  (8 - 12 )

Jackie French
Tajore Arkle  pb $15.95  
Jackie French has recreated as an absorbing fantasy novel the imaginary world that she lived in for much of the time till she was 14 years old.  It is an amazing world, harsh with vast deserts of white and red sand, a red sky and a green belt called the Rift country where the plants are poisonous .  This is the story of three children each of whom is an outcast in their village because of their strange dreams and memories.  Two of the children set out on a dangerous journey to search for the missing third child.   (9 - 13 years)

Alison Goodman
Singing the Dogstar Blues  pb $16.95 
An engaging futuristic story about an eighteen year girl who is training to be a time traveller and her training partner who is an alien with a totally different world and person view.   An intriguing plot, interesting technology, believable characters and some great music in a futuristic night club make it an enjoyable read.    (13 years up)
Beyond the Green Door by Kristan Julius  pb $16.95 
This is an absorbing fantasy story in which concern for the environment is a dominant theme.  Sarah Clare is just 13 years old when she falls through the green door into the desert land of Hutanya.  Hutanya used to be lush rainforest with a wealth of creatures and plants and Sarah realises that she has a very important role to play in bringing back the water.     (9 - 14 years)

Victor Kelleher
One of Australia's most popular fantasy and science fiction writer.
Master of the Grove (Winner of the 1983 CBC Book of the Year Award) pb $17.95.
The story of a young boy's search for truth - and a sorcerer's misuse of knowledge.    
The Makers pb $16.95. 
No-one has ever seen the Makers, the unknown rulers of the Keep, until Jeth, a young cadet, is unjustly accused of breaking the laws of combat.
The Red King  pb $17.95. 
The story of an unlikely group of travelling entertainers who challenge the Red King in his stronghold.   (12 up)
Brother Night  pb $16.95 
Ramon grows up  believing he is the son of the village gate-keeper but his life is transformed when he discovers that his father is the all-powerful Sun Lord and his mother the Moon Witch.  (12 up)  
Taronga  pb $18.95  is a bleak but compelling view of the future after a nuclear holocaust. (13  years up)   

Garth Nix
Sabriel  pb $17.95 
A highly inventive story of Sabriel, an engaging heroine.  For many years she has lived outside the walls of the Old Kingdom but when her father, the Mage Abhorsen is missing, Sabriel must cross back into that world.     (12 up)
Lirael and Abhorsen pb $17.95 each
Set in a dark magical world, these are absorbing sequels.
Shade's Children  pb $16.95   A dramatic story of courage and companionship set against savage forces of darkness.  (12 up)
Mister Monday (Keys to the Kingdom Book 1)            pb $14.95
This is the first book in a new fantasy series called Keys to the Kingdom.  It is densely written and has a complex plot.  For fantasy fans.   The sequel is Grim Tuesday   pb  $14.95  (12 - 16 years)
Serena and the Sea Serpent  pb $10.95  
One of the engaging Aussie Bites series for younger readers.     (6 - 10 years)

Emily Rodda
Rowan of Rin  pb $14.95  contains many of the elements of traditional fantasy - the quest, the dragon, misty swamps and walls of spiders.  Won the Younger Readers, 1994 CBC Award.    Sequels are Rowan and the Travellers and Rowan and the Keeper of the Crystal  and Rowan and the Zebak  pb $14.95.
Deltora Quest series involves a traditional fantasy quest to find the seven gems which make up the Belt of Deltora.  Each book involves a perilous quest for Lief, Barda and Jasmine through seven very different lands to obtain the gems to free Deltora from the tyranny of the evil Shadow Lord.
Deltora Quest 1
1  The Forests of Silence       2  The Lake of Tears       3  City of the Rats
4  The Shifting Sands            5  Dread Mountain          6 The Maze of the Beast
7  The Valley of the Lost       8  Return to Del          pb $14.95  each   (8 - 12 years)
Deltora Quest 2          pb $14.95   each book
1.  Cavern of the Fear    2. The Isle of Illusion      3.  The Shadowlands    
Deltora Quest 3    
1.  Dragon's Nest    2.  Shadowgate  3. Isle of the Dead   4.  The Sister of the South   Deltora is threatened again, this time by four vile creations of sorcery, the Four Sisters.   pb $ 14.95 each book             (8 - 13 years)
The Deltora Book of Monsters illustrated by Marc McBride  pb $16.95
A chronicle of the monsters and mysterious creatures in the land of Del.  It has been taken form the Deltora Annals by Josef, Palace Li brarian.  (8 - 12 years)

Gillian Rubinstein
Space Demons  pb $14.95 is about the ultimate in computer games.  An exciting story about a game which feeds on the children's competitiveness  making a highly dangerous situation.  Its sequel is Sky Maze pb $13.95  and the third in the series, when the children from Australia visit Japan is called Shinkei    pb $13.95  (10 - 14 years)
Galax-arena. pb $16.95   
A gripping and thought-provoking futuristic story.  Peter, Joella and Liane succeed in escaping from a life in which they were forced to perform acrobatics in a highly competitive dangerous world.    (11 -  16 years)
Terra-Farma  is the compelling sequel  pb $19.95  where the children are on the run from those in control of Project Genesis Five, an underground ruthless organisation with an extraordinary agenda of which the Galax-Arena is just one part.   It is a gripping futuristic novel, complex in plot and characters and with a number of thought-provoking themes which are very relevant to what is happening in various parts of the world today (including China's one child policy and our own aging populations).   (11 - 16 years)
As Lian Hearn, she has written The Tales of the Otori trilogy.   Very simply but vividly written, these books are set in feudal Japan with many of the traditions and customs of that period but there is also a fantasy element to this story of intrigue, courage, danger and beauty.  Gillian has had a long time interest in Japan and wanted to keep this series of the Tales from the Otori quite separate from her children's writing.   Titles are Across the Nightingale Floor hardback $29.95 pb $21.95, Grass for this Pillow hardback $29.95 pb $21.95 and Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn  hardback $29.95        (13 years up)

Carole Wilkinson
Dragonkeeper  pb  $19.95  
An intriguing fantasy novel set in Ancient China where a slave girl saves the life of an aging dragon and together they make an epic journey across China.  (9 - 13 years)

Joel Shepherd
Crossover   pb $18.95 
A fast paced story with a strong and engaging heroine in Cassandra Kresnov,    Crossover is set in a future world with a dynamic political and economic structure where the U.S. is no longer the overriding dominant power and where Asian countries especially India and China have a much stronger role.  The background of political intrigue makes it an exciting book to read and it is  aimed at a more popular and wider audience than general sci fi books.  In fact anyone who liked the film Bladerunner would probably like the book.  It's often very funny but there are also many issues to think about.  Best suited for the Senior Library.
Fast moving exciting sequels are Breakaway pb $18.95 and Killswitch  pb $18.95   (15 years up)

If you would like to order any of the books listed above, send orders to Austral Ed by fax, post or email.   

All prices are in Australian dollars.

For additional lists of recommended books and newsletters from Austral Ed, visit our website       www.australed.iinet.net.au