Tamsin Janu

Winston lives in Wooba, an outback town famous for the "Big loaf of Bread". For as long as he can remember, there has only been him and his mother, but now his Mum is about to marry Jim from Dubbo, and he and his daughter Macy have just moved in for a "trial" before the wedding.
Winston is really excited to suddenly have a sister the same age as himself, but things get off to a rough start when Macy ( who has done Gymnastics all her life) discovers the town has no gymnasium for her to practice in. Winston uses his brain and comes up with training on the playground equipment and school but that isn't enough for Macy to begin with.

A nice little story about country towns, community and the problems faced by blended families - not only from the kids' point of view , but also the Mum's as she struggles to now deal with a new daughter.
One for Grade 5 up.… (meer)

Almost as good as the first one. In this one Figgy has to deal with her mother suddenly reappearing in her life and also with Nana being taken by his violent father. Figgy's mother has been on drugs and stole and now is pregnant and sick with Figgy's baby brother. With Nana, Figgy enlists the help of Kofi to try and find him and ends up on a fishing boat where boys are sold to the fisherman as a kind of slavery. Oh, and by the way, Figgy got chosen as the lead in a movie made by Obrunis (white people) despite having only one eye and not being beautiful. Lovely book about family, friendship and love.… (meer)

I can see why this book was nominated for awards as it has a very engaging central character Figgy and deals with Ghana, poverty and the innocence of childhood.
Figgy is concerned as her Grandmother is ill and needs money that can only be found in America. So, she decides to leave her remote village with her pet goat Kwame to bring back the cure. On the way, Figgy meets Nana, a boy running from his violent father, who is 10 months older that Figgy and has a gift for languages taught to him by tourists.
Nana decides to accompany Figgy on her quest - on the way they are chased by drummers, steal from orphanages, spend a lot of time starving and talking about The World. Eventually, after a terrible accident kills the goat, Nana and Figgy find themselves in the company of Kofi ( a wealthy businessman) and his daughter Mia, and everything seems that it is going to be ok, until they overhear them talking about putting the 2 kids in an orphanage. Soon Nana is in a hospital and everything seems hopeless.… (meer)