I do not remember when I discovered how my mother died, it seems to be something I always knew, a horror I absorbed through my skin.
Determined, passionate, privileged and headstrong, Elizabeth was born into a world where she felt she didn't belong and had to fight to survive.
Her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed by her father Henry VIII. From that moment on, Elizabeth competed with her two half-siblings for love and for Britain's throne. In the gilded corridors of the royal palace, enemies she couldn't see – as well as those bound to her by blood – plotted to destroy her.
How do you find the courage to become queen even though you are just a girl?
Determined, passionate, privileged and headstrong, Elizabeth was born into a world where she felt she didn't belong and had to fight to survive.
Her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed by her father Henry VIII. From that moment on, Elizabeth competed with her two half-siblings for love and for Britain's throne. In the gilded corridors of the royal palace, enemies she couldn't see – as well as those bound to her by blood – plotted to destroy her.
How do you find the courage to become queen even though you are just a girl?
In Pharaoh Prince Narmer is heir to the throne of Thinis. Narmer has everything a young prince could want – good looks, his father’s love and respect, and the love and respect of his people. But he is the younger son, and his older brother Hawk isn’t as helpful and subservient as he appears to be. A visit from a well travelled trader and his assistant Nitho introduces Narmer to the Oracle, and suddenly Thinis, the largest town on the Nile, doesn’t seem like the centre of the universe to him. When he is attacked by a crocodile, and betrayed by those closest to him, Narmer’s world closes, but as he takes his own journey across the desert, the world suddenly opens, along with the future.
This is the story of a Scottish wolfhound called Snarf and his owner, Hekja, whose simple but happy lives change unrecognisably when their village is raided by Vikings.
As a puppy, Snarf is fortuitously rescued by a young girl called Hekja when he is badly injured. Both are then captured by raiding Vikings and transported to ′Vinland′ with Freydis Ericsdottir, half-sister of Leif Ericson (who is usually credited with ′discovering′ America. Both Freydis and Leif are the children of Eric the Red, who founded the Greenland colony.)
This page-turning story is set against an historical backdrop and the book is both fascinating and historically informative. The book will also contain detailed black and white line illustrations throughout.
Before Barack Obama became a politician he was, among other things, a writer. Dreams from My Father is his masterpiece: a refreshing, revealing portrait of a young man asking the big questions about identity and belonging.
The son of a black African father and a white American mother, Obama recounts an emotional odyssey. He retraces the migration of his mother's family from Kansas to Hawaii, then to his childhood home in Indonesia. Finally he travels to Kenya, where he confronts the bitter truth of his father's life and at last reconciles his divided inheritance.
Sixteen-year-old Noah is a troublemaker.
His father is a hotshot barrister.
This is not a good combination.
His father is a hotshot barrister.
This is not a good combination.
When Noah gets caught mucking up at school, his dad sends him to work at his aunt's law firm during the holidays to 'learn responsibility' and 'fix his attitude'.
There he meets Jacinta - the cute intern who knows her way around a photocopier, and Casey - the wicked witch of the firm.
Noah becomes involved in a case where a woman has been killed during a mugging gone wrong. There's a grieving husband, a guilty employer, and an open and shut case involving lots of money.
But right and wrong, and crime and punishment are soon entangled as Noah realises that things are seldom what they seem.
The slide opened and I heard a gentle, kind voice: What is your confession, my child?
I was stuffed. The Priest would declare me a heretic; my parents would call me a traitor…
The Priest asked me again: What is your confession, my child?
I'm Muslim. I whispered.
Welcome to my world. I'm Amal Abdel-Hakim, a seventeen year-old Australian-Palestinian-Muslim still trying to come to grips with my various identity hyphens.
It's hard enough being cool as a teenager when being one issue behind the latest Cosmo is enough to disqualify you from the in-group. Try wearing a veil on your head and practising the bum's up position at lunchtime and you know you're in for a tough time at school.
Luckily my friends support me, although they've got a few troubles of their own. Simone, blonde, gorgeous and overweight – she's got serious image issues, and Leila's really intelligent but her parents are more interested in her getting a marriage certificate than her high school certificate!
And I thought I had problems…
"I need to see Sitti Zeynab one last time. To know if I will have the courage to go ahead with my plan. The two nurses look frazzled and smile wearily at me. 'We must leave now,' they say in urgent tones. 'I won't be long,' I reassure them and I jump up onto the back of the ambulance.
"I can smell the air of her village, pure and scented. I can see her village as though it were Bethlehem itself. I can smell the almond trees. Hear my heels click on the courtyard tiles. See myself jumping two steps at a time down the limestone stairs. I can see Sitti Zeynab sitting in the front porch of the house. I only have to remember that walk through her memories and I know I can make my promise. I've already lost once. I refuse to lose again. 'Stay alive,' I whisper. 'And you shall touch that soil again.'"
Thirteen-year-old Hayaat is on a mission. She believes a handful of soil from her grandmother's ancestral home in Jerusalem will save her beloved Sitti Zeynab's life. The only problem is the impenetrable wall that divides the West Bank, as well as the check points, the curfews, the permit system and Hayaat's best friend Samy, who is mainly interested in football and the latest elimination on X-Factor, but always manages to attract trouble.
But luck is on their side. Hayaat and Samy have a curfew-free day to travel to Jerusalem. However, while their journey may only be a few kilometres long, it may take a lifetime to complete.
The slide opened and I heard a gentle, kind voice: What is your confession, my child?
I was stuffed. The Priest would declare me a heretic; my parents would call me a traitor…
The Priest asked me again: What is your confession, my child?
I'm Muslim. I whispered.
Welcome to my world. I'm Amal Abdel-Hakim, a seventeen year-old Australian-Palestinian-Muslim still trying to come to grips with my various identity hyphens.
It's hard enough being cool as a teenager when being one issue behind the latest Cosmo is enough to disqualify you from the in-group. Try wearing a veil on your head and practising the bum's up position at lunchtime and you know you're in for a tough time at school.
Luckily my friends support me, although they've got a few troubles of their own. Simone, blonde, gorgeous and overweight – she's got serious image issues, and Leila's really intelligent but her parents are more interested in her getting a marriage certificate than her high school certificate!
And I thought I had problems…
"I need to see Sitti Zeynab one last time. To know if I will have the courage to go ahead with my plan. The two nurses look frazzled and smile wearily at me. 'We must leave now,' they say in urgent tones. 'I won't be long,' I reassure them and I jump up onto the back of the ambulance.
"I can smell the air of her village, pure and scented. I can see her village as though it were Bethlehem itself. I can smell the almond trees. Hear my heels click on the courtyard tiles. See myself jumping two steps at a time down the limestone stairs. I can see Sitti Zeynab sitting in the front porch of the house. I only have to remember that walk through her memories and I know I can make my promise. I've already lost once. I refuse to lose again. 'Stay alive,' I whisper. 'And you shall touch that soil again.'"
Thirteen-year-old Hayaat is on a mission. She believes a handful of soil from her grandmother's ancestral home in Jerusalem will save her beloved Sitti Zeynab's life. The only problem is the impenetrable wall that divides the West Bank, as well as the check points, the curfews, the permit system and Hayaat's best friend Samy, who is mainly interested in football and the latest elimination on X-Factor, but always manages to attract trouble.
But luck is on their side. Hayaat and Samy have a curfew-free day to travel to Jerusalem. However, while their journey may only be a few kilometres long, it may take a lifetime to complete.
