Ready to meet your next read? Teen Breathe has teamed up with writer, book blogger, and avid reader Emily Waller to bring you our latest book recommendations.
COSIMA UNFORTUNATE STEALS A STAR BY LAURA NOAKES (AGES 8+)
It’s 1899 and Cosima Unfortunate can be found at the Home for Unfortunate Girls – a school where any disabled children, or children deemed different, are forcibly sent; a school where Cosima has spent her young life. A prankster at heart, Cosima rebels with her friends – Diya, Mary, and Pearl – to stage heists of cakes and biscuits. But when Cosima learns Lord Francis Fitzroy
plans on adopting them, the friends plan a much larger heist: stealing Fitzroy’s valuable tiara. A fantastically poignant story exploring themes of identity, resilience, and disproving the stigmas of disability.
MILLIE MAK THE MAKER BY ALICE PUNG & SHER RILL NG (AGES 8+)
Nine-year-old Millie Mak has discovered she is far from ordinary. After learning to sew, courtesy of her kind grannies, Millie realises she is able to take regular objects and transform them into something beautifully new. Who would’ve thought a tea towel could be made into a gorgeous skirt! With her newfound power, Millie goes about tackling the challenges of everyday life – from friends, to school, to family – emboldened by her blooming creativity. Nothing can stand in her way that a little imagination can’t fix! This heart-warming tale is complete with instructions enabling readers to make the same creations as Millie.
MING AND HILDE LEAD A REVOLUTION BY JACKIE FRENCH (AGES 8+)
Ming Qong is back! This time ready to embark on a (safer) adventure where she can witness girls change the world yet again. Thrust into South Australia in the 1800s, on a ship packed with sheep cared for by Saxon girls, Ming is looked after by Hilde, an inspiring lady in charge of a prized ram. Upon arriving in Port Adelaide, Ming not only learns about the sheep industry, but the role women had in changing it – and all while navigating an unfair society. This third instalment in The Girls Who Changed the World series is an eye-opening historical tale.
THE SIDEWAYS ORBIT OF EVIE HART BY SAMERA KAMALEDDINE (AGES 8+)
Evie Hart has a lot of big thoughts for someone who’s 12 years old. If her mother’s horoscope writing didn’t already have her pondering her future too often, Miss Owen – Evie’s year six teacher – opens a whole new can of worms when she educates her class about the vast curiosities of space. As Evie grapples to navigate family, friends, and finding her place in the world, she begins finding peculiar intergalactic comfort in Miss Owen’s lessons about the uncontrollable nature of the universe.
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