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In this coming-of-age novel by the award-winning YA author Fleur Beale, Ruby is about to discover that she has more backbone than she ever knew . . . Ruby Yarrow is 14 and she's the good girl who helps her mum. She cooks, she looks after the little ones and she would rather do all the work herself than make her brother Max help as he's meant to. That's okay with Ruby because she knows her mum loves her and relies on her. But it's not okay with Ruby's best friend Tia. 'You know what, Ruby Yarrow,' Tia yells, 'I'm not talking to you until you stop being a doormat.' That gets to Ruby. But how do you stop being a doormat? How do you get some backbone and start standing up for yourself? She can't even get her own bedroom, so why does she think she could get accepted for the school trip to Brazil? But Tia has made her start thinking - and things will never be the same again for Ruby. Or her family.
‘Dreams were dangerous things.’ It was the dream of Molly’s dying mother that she would become a nun. It isn’t, however, the dream of her Methodist father, who wants her to marry. But what is her true calling and how can she follow it? As the 19th century draws to an end, Molly searches out the extraordinary nun Mother Mary Joseph Aubert to find out. ‘One of the most consistently accomplished and versatile writers for teenagers in the country’ – The New Zealand Listener
Etta is worried about her brother, Jamie. The doctors can find nothing wrong with him, but he is getting weaker by the day. At breakfast one morning, he seems to have lost it completely: In a voice as pale as his face, he said, ‘I think I can see a ghost.’ However, when they all turn to look, sure enough, materialising on the window seat is a girl about Etta’s age, wearing a beautiful Victorian wedding dress. Etta has to get off to school, she has no time for this, but she is about to discover that time has a whole new significance. She and her ghost companion have no choice but to work out what is going on before Jamie is lost for ever . . .
Life inside a religious cult becomes too much for 16-year-old Rebecca when she finds out who she is to marry. An award-winning and thrilling sequel to the bestselling classic I am Not Esther, by the acclaimed Fleur Beale. Winner of a Storylines Notable Young Adult Fiction Award 2015 LIANZA Librarian's Choice Award 2015 When she turns 14, Rebecca will find out who she is to marry. All the girls in her strict religious sect must be married just after their 16th birthdays. Her twin sister Rachel desperately wants to marry the boy she's given her heart to. All Rebecca wants is to have a husband who is kind, but both girls know the choice is not theirs to make. But what will the future hold for Rebecca? Is there a dark side to the rules which have kept her safe? Can the way ahead be so simple when the community is driven by secrets and hidden desires? Award-winning YA writer Fleur Beale's gripping sequel to the bestselling classic I am not Esther is a psychological thriller.
When 12 year old Richard and his family move to the town he has to go to a new school. None of the other boys will talk to him, until Alex, Corky, and Gray get friendly. Richard soon finds they are bullies and violent, and that they have all the boys under their control. So he finds some other new kids and together they hatch a plot to undo the bad guys.
A Young Adult historical romance novel set in both New Zealand and England during the 19th century. The main character is Hannah, a strong Elizabeth Bennett-like personality, who lives in Taranaki with her father, twin brother, Maori step-mother and step-brother during the time of the land wars. Hannah and her twin, Jamie, travel to England, for a number of reasons - one of which is to find the family of their dead mother. There they encounter the culture shock of upper-class English county behaviour. In Hannah's search for her own identity and for the truth about the mother she has never known, she needs all her stubborn independence to survive. There are many fascinating aspects to the book: the Pakeha/Maori racial clash of the time; a young teenager's growing knowledge of the world around her - romance, marriage, work, the purpose of life, racism, death; the striking differences between the freedom of New Zealand and the constraints of England. A Respectable Girl is rich, full of detail, suspenseful, strong on character, has an excellent sense of place and it retains its secret until the final pages
The gripping sequel to the award-winning and bestselling YA novels I am not Esther and I am Rebecca. In this breathtaking follow-up to I am not Esther and I am Rebecca, Fleur Beale revisits the Pilgrim family and its closed religious community, The Children of the Faith. Four years have passed since Rebecca ran away. The community simmers with tension and rumours of an approaching split, and life has become terrifying for Rebecca’s remaining siblings as Elder Stephen seizes any chance to take revenge on them. Twelve-year-old Magdalene lives in fear that her strong-willed little sister, Zillah, will be his next target. The girls have run out of people who can protect them. To Zillah their path is clear but Magdalene is torn. How can she cause more hurt and shame for her parents? But, equally, how can she face a life with no freedom to be herself? And another question scares her most of all. Without the elders’ suffocating rules that tell her how to live, who would Magdalene be?
Atapo, a young Māori girl, tells her story, from her capture and slavery as a young child through to her escape to the mission house in the Bay of Islands as a 14-year-old. Here she learns the new ways and language that means she is present at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Although born into an important family her capture has meant she has lost her standing in her tribe, but she hopes the new skills she has acquired will mean she can return home with her head held high. Includes glossary of Māori terms and historical note. Suggested level: intermediate, junior secondary.
Greg is the odd one out at home-he doesn't like computers and isn't a brain like the rest of the family. He's bored at school and misunderstood at home. But when Greg stumbles upon Brad, a mechanic who works on and drives rally cars, Greg suddenly finds his niche. Against his fathers wishes a bond forms between Brad and Greg, and as the two work together to win on the circuit Greg grows in confidence in his chosen sport. The family must come to realise the strength in each of its members ... no matter what that strength might be.
Millie is a girl who's just a little bit odd. She's very independent, very resourceful -- and very rich. Her parents have pots of money and Millie could have all the stuff she wants, but she's really not that interested: Millie wants to walk lightly through the world. The other girls at school think she's hopelessly weird, but when catastrophe strikes, they find that Millie's weirdness is exactly what is needed. Millie's spunkiness, inner strength, and ability to cope with difficult situations make her a positive role model for all young readers. The book's unusual layout, novel use of fonts, and fabulous illustrations complement the encouraging message.