New Zealand author
Summary: Rufkin must learn to try harder. He is sent to work in a salvage yard, where vicious cave lizards lurk in the mud, among rusting ship hulks saved for scrap. When he hears a small voice cry elp!from the riverbank mangroves, Rufkin and his reluctant new neighbour, Nissy, are caught up in a perilous sea adventure that threatens to bring the end-of-days. Rufkin, the boy who suffers stage-fright, is suddenly centre stage: the only one who can right an ancient wrong and save the kingdom. (Publisher)
Homeland Beneath the Stars
Teipe is a child born to the Ngati Tinomana on Rarotonga hundreds of years ago.
As an infant he witnesses a battle in which his father is nearly killed.
In response his ariki (high chief) Tamatea, selects people, including Teipe's family, friends and the girl Karu, chosen to be his future va'ine (wife). They accompany the ariki's own family on a settlement voyage to 'Avaiki Tautau - a huge, half legendary land with mountains that belch fire but a land where they dream of peace and plenty.
On this eventful voyage approaching his new home, conflicted with fear and a sense of adventure, Teipe learns many ocean navigation skills handed down from his ancestors.
To survive his people will need to live with change.
Leaving both Rarotonga and their childhoods behind, Teipe and his friends grow in confidence and rise to the challenge.
New Zealand author
Summary: It's 1874 and when ten-year-old Rebecca Kelly is sent to the dreary Derry workhouse she decides that this is not the life for her. So she runs away and steals a horse to ride to Belfast. Rebecca is determined that she will join her brother, Felix, who is a sailor on the Queen of Nations, a ship bound for New Zealand, but this will be difficult for a young girl without a penny to her name. Rebecca must become a servant for the Walker family and earn her passage to the new colony. (Publisher)
New Zealand author
