Fourteen year-old Lucy lives in Glasgow with her mother, half-brother Reuben and Reuben's father, David, but she has never forgotten the memory of her poet father, her died saving her as a baby from a terrible fire. Not only does his spirit influence Lucy's literary achievements in being chosen to represent her school in a poetry competition, but history repeats itself when Lucy rescues a crotchety neighbour who has accidentally electrocuted himself.

Lucy has her life all planned out - perfect job at 21, engaged to ideal man at 26, married at 27 and a half, building ideal home at 28 (fully equipped with a stereo surround sound wide screen TV and a comfortable, yet stylish, couch), birth of perfect daughter at 30. What does not fit into her neatly organised life is a mother with a bombshell, an ex-best friend with an unfortunate liking for low-life boyfriends, a series of badly dressed, metallic eyeshadowed teachers and a (very) friendly boy next door

Mark starts the Sixth Form knowing that this is his last chance to impress - to be more popular, more obnoxious, the best informed about gynaecology. If he can display a casual enthusiasm for post-rugby showers and an imaginative bullying technique, the back seat of the bus will be his. The mesmerisingly good-looking new boy, Barry, seems to be having difficulties making friends. Everyone is afraid of him. He could be the perfect ally in Mark's mission to enhance his social status and finally get a shag.

Alex Archer returns from the Olympics in triumph, only to face new obstacles. Should she accept the offer of an American swimming scholarship? Should she continue swimming? Will she even get into university? But in particular, will she ever meet the mysterious Tom again? Rome seems a long way away as Alex begins to confront the realities of adulthood.

Winter is over and Alex Archer is in Rome - the only swimmer in the New Zealand Olympic team. She will have to stand on the starting blocks in front of twenty thousand people for the race she has dreamed of for years. But Rome is full of distractions - the games, the city itself, and a mysterious young man, who seems to be one step ahead of Alex. As the Olympic gun fires, Alex knows she must aim for the unbelievable.

What better place to hold the campus Halloween bash than Nightmare Hall? Freshman Jaye is going to do a ventriloquist act.....with a human dummy. Jaye befriends a very small, strange girl on campus to be 'the dummy'. For Jaye, when the party's over, the friendship's over, but for the dummy it's just beginning. Suddenly, Jaye is being stalked. Everywhere she goes the girl's airy high pitched voice follows. What's the punishment for using and dropping friends? For the dummy, it's death.

Saving hundreds of rats from the dissecting knife is only the start of the Green Guerrillas campaign. Their leader is Tess Robertson, a genius at fighting environmental pollution and injustice - and equally brilliant at fighting with friends and family at the same time. Now Tess is planning her biggest battle yet. She has to stop a billion dollar paper mill from being set up in town, and pumping dioxin, one of the world's most toxic pollutants, into the air.

Ellie and her friends leave home one quiet morning, wave goodbye to their parents, and head up into the hills to camp out for a while; seven teenagers filling in time during school holidays. The world is about to change forever. Their lives will never be the same again. Would you fight? Would you give up everything? Would you sacrifice even life itself?

Francesca is at the beginning of her second term in Year Eleven at an all boys' school that has just started accepting girls. She still misses her old friends, and, to make things worse, her mother has had a breakdown and can barely move from her bed. But Francesca has not counted on the fierce loyalty of her new friends, or falling in love, or finding that it's within her power to bring her family back together.

Carl Matt hasn't got much. There's just his younger brother Harley and the old red barge to Wiseman's Cove. And nothing's going to take those away from him. He's an awkward, lumpy fifteen year old. Not the hero type. Yet Carl has become one of the most memorable characters in Australian literature