AustLit

'Mel and Shell is the latest book for middle readers from award-winning author Julia Lawrinson.

'Shell and Mel are best friends, united by their love of ABBA. But when Scary Sharon decides she wants to be friends with Shell, and Mel begins acting strangely, things start changing fast. Confiding in her pen pal from 1829, Shell discovers she has a lot to learn about loyalty, honesty and roller skating.' (Publication summary)

'Maddie Lee is in year six. Her best and oldest friend Katy is busy with school duties and music and scholarship plans, and Maddie feels lost and lonely. Then a new girl starts at school. Maddie wants more than anything to become friends with her. And she does. But Samara’s friendship comes at a high price, with consequences Maddie could never have imagined.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'At times funny, at times heartbreaking, this is an ultimately uplifting story about the delicate fabric of family and friendship, and the painful realisation that not everything can remain the same forever.

'Year Twelve is not off to a good start for Amelia. Art is her world, but her art teacher hates everything she does; her best friend has stopped talking to her; her mother and father may as well be living in separate houses; and her father is slowly forgetting everything. Even Amelia.' (Publication summary)

'Telia makes her movements graceful as well as technically perfect. And when she finishes with a full straight-body twist – something I have never been able to do – her delighted grin makes everybody else smile. Even the judges.

'Even me.

'Even though I am wishing, more than anything, that I could perform like that. And knowing, with a horrible sinking feeling, that I never will.

'Chelsea is the hardest worker in her gymnastics club and she's determined to make the Nationals team, and then the Olympics.

'But new girl Telia has more natural talent. Chelsea gets jealous, which feels awful, because she really likes Telia, who isn't stuck-up like some other girls at gym. And it's not only envy that's bothering Chelsea – she's got family issues to worry about and her school friends are acting weird.

'It's time for Chelsea to figure out what's really important – and just maybe take a leap into the unknown…' (Publication summary)

'To avoid Losing It in the bushes with some random guy in a heavy-metal T-shirt after too many tequila shots, four best friends make a bet: to lose it before schoolies week - and preferably in a romantic, sober way that they won't regret.

'What follows is a sometimes funny, sometimes awkward, but always compelling comedy of errors as Abby, Mala, Bree and Zoe each try to find their Mr Right ... or at least get laid.' (From the publisher's website.)

'A lighthearted novel for children about the game of chess.

'Jackson is sporty and popular.

'Anna doesn't like the sporty, popular people.

'So when Jackson joins the chess squad, Anna does not initially welcome him. But Anna is about to learn some things about friendship, chess and physical fitness.' (From the publisher's website.)

'Sophie Callender wants to be famous so badly! When she is chosen for the hit TV game-show, MegaMatch, it looks as if her dream may come true.

'But is being famous as good as it seems?' (Publication summary)

'Is she - was she with Johnno?' said Erica.

'It doesn't work like that,' Trish said. 'Not like boyfriend and girlfriend stuff, as I've been trying to tell you. It's more - fluid.'

'Erica is restless for a life outside her office job, her boring boyfriend and her mother's tiny house in down-and-out Glebe.

'In the 1950s, Sydney is quickly building a reputation for sinfulness, and some of the most attractively sinful people are to be found in a group known as the Push. They meet regularly to discuss their wicked ideas at the Royal George, and Erica is drawn into the captivating crowd.' (Publication summary)

'She thought of Billy, and how he would never say 'Bye, beautiful' to someone like her, that likely no one would ever say anything like that to her in her life, and how she could not do anything to change any of it.

'Sandy does not know if she would fit in anywhere, but she feels like a complete outsider in this hot wheatbelt town where her policeman father has just been transferred...

 'Set in Western Australia in the 1960s, this is a story of secrets and heartbreak, of families and changing times, by rising star Julia Lawrinson.' (Publication summary)

'Jay is deeply cynical, delightfully disturbed and stuck in the suburbs with a fanatical greenie. It's her first year of uni and it doesn't take long for her to realise her massive IQ won't save her from exposure exposure to nuts and dimwits.'  (Publication summary)