FICTION - NZ - NZ Snr Yrs 7-9

Tane and Rebecca aren’t sure what to make of a sequence of 1s and 0s, a message that looks like a random collection of alternating digits. As they decode it, slowly it becomes clear -- the messages are being sent back in time from the future! But why...Tane and Rebecca follow the message’s cryptic instructions, but it’s not long before they begin to suspect the worst --that the very survival of the human race may be at stake!

It would take a very special person to crack the computer systems of the White House. An expert. A genius. A devil. All of the above, some would say. Someone like Sam Wilson, brilliant teenage computer hacker. But Sam's obsession is about to lead him into a dangerous world. A world of espionage and intrigue; of cybercrime and imminent war. A world where logging on to your computer could mean the difference between life and death. A thrilling action novel set in the not-too-distant future in which a brilliant young computer hacker f... read more

A new edition of Bernard Beckett's unconventional thriller for teenagers. Marko surfaces from a drug induced haze to find himself hidden from the world in a psychiatric ward. He is certain the 'Doctor' means to kill him, but he in turn has vengeful plans of his own. Who are these people and what happened to the others? Who can Marko trust and how much time does he have? Time enough to write it all down, his story of a coast to coast trip by his PE class, and the earthquake which ripped his world apart. A New Zealand thriller ... read more

Lizzie is twelve years old: sparky, determined and recently crippled by an illness. The year is 1833 and her father, James Kemp, is a missionary to Maori at Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands. When Lizzie’s baby brother dies and her mother becomes ill, nothing Lizzie does seems able to make things better. As the eldest daughter of seven children, m... read more

In 1924, thirteen-year-old Dee is living with her mother and aunt: her father died during World War One. Although she misses her father, Dee is happy enough until she is separated from her mother and her aunt, both of whom, falling very ill, have to go to a sanatorium for medical care. Dee is thrust into a Wellington children's Refuge, where an authoritarian Assistant Matron makes her life a misery, and the rules of the institution suffocate Dee's academic ambitions and her self-expression. Soon Dee is shocked to learn that her aun... read more

Harriet is missing her brother. She's refusing to believe that he's not coming back. She wants him to return to his untidy bedroom and make her parents happy again - like they used to be before Toby went away. Ten-year-old Harriet is lonely and is having difficulty coping with school. But she notices the dog next door is receiving visits from other neighbourhood dogs who are teaching him how to slip his collar - then slip back into it. Meanwhile, mysterious parcels are arriving in the mail for her. The dogs, who talk amongst themse... read more

Sil is a rising star among tuis - a brilliant singer and composer - and the annual music competitions are looming. But a sense of menace closes in as the outcast magpies plot to devastate the valley. A compelling story about a community of tuis and the scheming magpies who set out to destroy their way of life. Competition, collaboration and coming of age are themes in this fast-moving novel for ages 10 and over. “A very [x 4] satisfying read. It’s engrossing... a very, very New Zealand story.” — John McIntyre, National Radio... read more

On 25 April 1915, thousands of Australians and New Zealanders landed at an unnamed cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula. They had come to fight the Turks. They thought the battle would be over in three days. Months later they were still in the trenches theyÃÃÂÂÃ... read more

'It’s easy to work out what day to write about. It only happened a couple of weeks ago. That was the day when I found the bike. And it was the same day that Mum told me she was leaving. Since then, those two things have got so tangled up together you wouldn’t believe it. So it’s not hard at all to choose the day. But it might take a bit longer than one night’s homework to write about it. That’s because now I’ve started thinking about it, I’ve decided I want to write down as much as I can ab... read more

Thirteen-year-old David finds living with his family very difficult. He and his sister Emma are a very typical bickering pair of siblings, who suddenly find themselves hurled into another age of New Zealand. When hit by a car, David awakens, with Emma there too, in a humble and ramshackle cottage in 1840s. He soon figures out that he and his sister have been taken back in time to a whaling station of settlement-era NZ. David struggles to adapt to the harsh environment and eventually his memory of the past fades. As well as having ... read more

Ellie's a normal school-age girl who'd much rather hang out with her friends during the summer holidays than travel hours from the city to her family's rickety bach to spend her time with her mother and father. At the insistence of her parents, however, this is what she must do. Little does she know, though, that the trip holds so much adventure and mystery...In her explorations of the area she spots mysterious creatures of the night, only to have her observations disbelieved by all she tells.The Moonbirds is her exciting holiday a... read more

Too many secrets, buried for too long. Becs is a sassy 12-year-old drama queen who strikes a bargain with her mother. She'll spend a few months away from home while her new step-family renovates an elegant old house in the country. When it's sold, some of the money will pay her fees at the same private school that all her friends will be attending. But as usual, she hasn't listened properly. They aren't going to live in the old mansion - they'll be in a shack in the bush, with long drops and eight-legged wildlife! Becs is not impr... read more

Matt Logan isn't looking forward to spending the school holidays with his grandmother and her new husband. He has to fly to Rotorua, where he doesn't know anybody, and he's a bit wary of his new step-grandfather. All Matt knows is that he's Maori and a bus driver. Along with his worries, Matt packs his pride and joy - a homemade metal detector, because, you never know, he might find something interesting. What he finds is Juzza, who lives over the back fence and wants to join a local gang. When the boys unearth a handcuffed skeleto... read more

This is the true story of the Kiwi war horses of the First World War. The jet-black mare galloped wildly across the scorching white sands, the guns and shells exploding around her with a deafening roar. Her master spurred her on, his legs tightly gripping her heaving sides. With foam-flecked lips and ears laid flat, she thundered on through the flying bullets and choking dust ...Every ANZAC Day we celebrate our heroes, with many books written and stories told about the brave soldiers who fought and died in World War One. Until now ... read more

When is it right to do something wrong? Anna is a well-behaved and obedient child, who is horrified when she organizes a school trip to her mother's laboratory and discovers they experiment on live animals. A sheep is being held on the fourth floor of a secure building, away from all the things that make life good for a sheep - and he will be killed and dissected when her mother's experiment is finished. Sick at heart with what she now knows, she is further rocked to discover her father has his own secret. What follows is her way o... read more

Set in Charleston, a gold-mining ghost town 30km south of Westport, Frog Whistle Mine is another of Des Hunt's trademark exciting, beautifully written contemporary action adventure stories for children, with ecological themes. Twelve-year-old Tony has lived all around New Zealand, travelling with his nomadic Mum, and desperately wants somewhere to belong. When they arrive in Charleston, he is almost afraid to hope this might finally be the place, but is desperate not to be disappointed yet again. With a unique bush and coastal ... read more

Where Cuckoos Call tells the story of a migratory shining cuckoo, raised by 12 year old Ben Mansfield, a keen ornithologist who looks after endangered birds nesting in a sheltered bay on his family farm in the Coromandel Peninsula. Ben and his mum are dealing with the long term effects of his father's debilitating illness, and when it looks as if the farm will have to sold, Ben's life turns upside down. He must grow up fast as change threatens his family, his home, and his beloved birds, when a resort development is unveiled and ma... read more

Juggling with Mandarins introduced Pip McLeod and his family - sports mad Dad who has a bit of an anger management problem, his soccer star brother Nick, his endearing baby sister Madeleine and his ever patient Mum. At the book's end Pip has finally established his individuality - and talent as a gifted climber, who is managing to finally climb out from under his father's overbearing shadow. But the story didn't stop there - and as Pip finds out, life has more than a few traps and pitfalls waiting for him - and his older brother. O... read more

A moving and exciting adventure story for 9-12 year olds, set against the sweeping landscape of the North Island's volcanic plateau and Desert Road, Restless Spirit tells the story of a wild white Kaimanawa stallion who cannot be tamed and the two young troubled teens who come to love him. Lara is new in town and resents it - Kahu is a talented carver, outwardly cocky and confident but riddled with doubts and fears. Hunters slaughter the young stallion?s family and he learns to fear and distrust humans, but when a brutish trainer ... read more

Tim Thomas is searching for dinosaur fossils in the hills above Pounamu, his grandparents’ sheep station. His mum drowned when he was four, leaving Tim with only a vague memory of her — and of a large tooth embedded in rock. But time is against him as he races to find the exact spot where the tooth lies, before the river gully is dammed and the rising waters cover the site.