Bayleaf

Hi there,
Can anyone recommend a children's novel set in Australia, that I can read aloud to my Y3/4 class? Our topic this term is Australia and ideally I would like a fairly modern story which deals with some of the environmental and social issues of living in modern Australia whilst being appropriate for 7-9 year olds. However, any "ripping yarns" considered!

quoll

Storm Boy (Colin Thiele) would come close to your requirements but if you want something more Aussie and not really within your guidelines of social commentary - my granddaughter loves The Silver Brumby (Elyne Mitchell) series. For slightly older kids Playing Battie Bow is a great book - history through the eyes of a modern teen (Ruth Park) - might be too old for your kids.

You might want to branch out a bit and look at some Aussie poetry too - CJ Dennis wrote some rollicking poems with fabulous rhymes. There are also classics like The Magic Pudding (Norman Lindsay)

Kim67

This abc3 series is great and has at least one book. The kids and I all love it.

http://www.abc.net.au/abc3/myplace/n...cenes/book.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/abc3/myplace/

fish.01

http://australia.gov.au/about-austra...hildrens-books

Bayleaf

Brilliant - thanks for the suggestions and links. I think Storm Boy will pretty much fit the bill and some Aussie poetry will be a good idea. We did some Banjo Patterson when I was a TA in Victoria, so I might use a bit of that, as well as some Aboriginal creation-type short stories.
Thanks again