NEW! There's No Such Thing (Children's)

Children's SF - published by Blake Education and illustrated by Rita Voutila.
ISBN 978 1 74164 640 5.
An alien drops into Cody's backyard and, after the teenaged neighbour warns Cody about the hazards of keeping secret pets, Cody tries to tell his mother. But it seems there are some things parents just won't believe!
Gigglers are full-colour humorous books that entertain and motivate even reluctant readers. You can look inside and order There's No Such Thing at Blake Education.

NEW! The Adventures of Zip Velocity (Children's)

Children's adventure - published by Blake Education and illustrated by Wayne Bryant.
ISBN 978 1 74164 631 3.
Cody loves to pretend to be his favourite story book hero, Zip Velocity. When Zip Velocity accidentally ends up in the real world, Cody is the only person who can help him capture his evil adversary, Baron von Hairy, and return to the story book.
Gigglers are full-colour humorous books that entertain and motivate even reluctant readers. You can look inside and order The Adventures of Zip Velocity at Blake Education.

Anchovy Circus (Children's)

Children's adventure - published by Blake Education and illustrated by Connah Brecon.
ISBN 978 1 74164 614 6.
Antonio really doesn't like anchovies but his family is mad about them. Every meal time he stuffs them in his pocket and smuggles them up to his room and hides them under his bed. After a while he notices that the anchovies are twisting into odd shapes, odd circus animal shapes. That's when he gets his idea for the Anchovy Circus!
Sparklers are illustrated chapter books that are designed to bridge the gap between reading schemes and traditional chapter books. You can order Anchovy Circus at Blake Education.

Go Go Gecko (Children's)

Children's adventure - published by Blake Education and illustrated by Jan D'Silva.
ISBN 978 1 74164 608 5.
There's a gecko in the chalk box! All the kids have seen it but Mr Mooney has not. No matter how high they push their hands up or how loudly they "Oooh!" Mr Mooney won't pick someone to tell him. Then the gecko gets loose and the class can't sit still any more!
Sparklers are illustrated chapter books that are designed to bridge the gap between reading schemes and traditional chapter books. You can order Go Go Gecko at Blake Education.

No Fishing (Children's)

Children's adventure - published by Blake Education and illustrated by Virginia Gray.
ISBN 978 1 74164 609 2.
Matt's Dad loves fishing and wants Matt to come fishing with him. Matt likes fish. He doesn't want to kill them. What can he do to keep the fish safe?
Sparklers are illustrated chapter books that are designed to bridge the gap between reading schemes and traditional chapter books. You can order No Fishing at Blake Education.

The Dinner Guest (Children's)

Children's adventure - published by Blake Education and illustrated by Gail C Breese.
ISBN 978 1 74164 615 3.
Jess thinks dinner time is boring. Mum is always on the phone, so Jess has to eat quietly. One day an uninvited and unusual guest comes to dinner. This dinner is anything but boring!
Sparklers are illustrated chapter books that are designed to bridge the gap between reading schemes and traditional chapter books. You can order The Dinner Guest at Blake Education.

Being Bella Wang (YA)

This SF/mythical short story appeared in the October 2008 edition, Issue 4 of SHinY Magazine. Bella Wang is a sports clone. All the Bella Wangs are professional golfers but keeping your sister clones out of trouble in Bali when a vindictive god gets a taste for Bellas, is a big task for the second oldest Bella clone.
SHinY is a young adult science fiction magazine delivered direct to the inbox of subscribing readers.
Subscribe to SHinY
Read the Reviews

The Great Burkes (Children's)

This comedy short story featured in the May 2008 edition of Rainbow Rumpus E-Magazine. Nathan's family consists of a tarot card-reading mother, a grandmother with memory problems and a dog who likes to wear clothes. Nathan always thought his family was a bit of a side show... but that was before they joined the fair.
Rainbow Rumpus is an e-magazine that seeks to provide literature for children of gay and lesbian parents.
Read The Great Burkes here

Blurred Horizons (YA)

This science fiction short story was in the December 2007 edition, Issue 2 of SHinY Magazine. Tash's world is crumbling into the desert around her. There's no way she can save it, but then the future comes knocking with bigger problems.
SHinY is a young adult science fiction magazine delivered direct to the inbox of subscribing readers.
Subscribe to SHinY
Read the Reviews

The Other 'Other' Tale of the Three Little Pigs (Children's)

A comedy play for 30-60 Children - 6-10 year olds - listed by Australian Script Centre.
The three little pigs drive their mother so crazy she asks them to leave home. The pigs wander through a collision of fairytales and real life, meeting and collecting colourful characters along the way, until they meet the thing they all fear most, a wolf. Young wolfie, however, is a vegetarian with impeccable manners, and he just wants to make friends.
Read the Reviews

The Beast of Moogill (Children's)

Children's Science Fiction - 6-8 year olds - published by Blake Education and illustrated by Ken Rinkel.
ISBN 1 86509 035 2.
Tim has to help an alien fight a beast. He doesn't want to, but it's hard to say no when he's been teleported to an alien planet and he's about to drown.
It's 32 pages of gorgeous full colour and may be ordered at Blake Education.
Now also available in the US at Holt McDougal.
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A Red Hot Pet (Children's)

Children's Fantasy - 6-7 year olds - published by Blake Education and illustrated by Steven Hallam.
ISBN 1 86509 269 X.
Dad brings home a baby dragon. Holly and Kurt are thrilled until they find out that dragons can be difficult pets. If they can't find a way to make their dragon behave, he will have to go.
It's 32 pages of gorgeous full colour and may be ordered at Blake Education.
Now also available in the US at Holt McDougal.

Diary of a French Eel (Children's)

This two-page cartoon was published in the August 2003 edition, FRANCE ISSUE, of Hullabaloo Magazine (winner of an AEP Distinguished Achievement Award). Hullabaloo was a geographical educational magazine that awarded readers with passports and stamps and combined fun facts with stories from different countries. My 'animal diaries' became a regular 2-page feature in the magazine.
Read: Diary of a French Eel

Diary of a New Zealand Sheep, Calf Day, News-Zealand and To Eat or Not to Eat Kiwi (Children's)

A two-page cartoon, a short story, and two articles were published in the April 2003 edition, NEW ZEALAND ISSUE, of Hullabaloo Magazine. This was a high quality colourful US magazine for children 7 years and up.
Read: Diary of a New Zealand Sheep
Read: Calf Day
Read: News-Zealand
Read: To Eat or Not to Eat Kiwi

Take Me to Your Leader (Children's)

Science Fiction - 6-7 year olds - published by Blake Education and illustrated by Nathan Jurevicius.
ISBN 1 86509 501 X.
Tim meets an alien who is out to take over the world and he isn't going to let the fact that he is hopelessly small stop him. Tim finds out the alien will be made into a footstool if he fails so Tim tries to help him.
It's 32 pages of funky full colour and may be ordered at Blake Education
Now also available in the US at Holt McDougal.

Honestly Ernest! (Children's)

Children's short story for 7-10 year olds - 1000w - Ernest takes the wrong bus and ends up at a swim meet instead of school camp. Can things get any worse? Possibly, the coach wants Ernest to swim for the team.
ISBN 017 0101568 for both.

Ernest's Mice Mischief (Children's)

Children's short story for 7-10 year olds - 1000w - Why did Ernest choose to do his speech about mice? Now his teacher expects him to bring them to school on Speech Day. But these are not 'normal' mice.

Double Troubles were back-to-back flip-over first chapter books for 8-9 year olds. Each 32 page book contained easy-to-manage chapters with short paragraphs and humorous line drawings on every page. When the reader reached the middle they flipped the book to read another troublesome situation with the same character. Double Troubles provided a fun and easy transition from picture books to chapter books.
Recently the 'Ernest' Double Troubles became out of print. Previously they were published by Nelson ITP, then Thomson Learning and later taken over by Cengage.