AustLit

'Aster attends a school for gifted kids, but she doesn’t think she’s special at all. If she was, her mother wouldn’t have left. And if she isn’t careful, everyone else will leave her too.

'Each day Aster must do a good, right thing – a challenge she sets herself, to make someone else’s life better. Nobody can know about her ‘things’, because then they won’t count. And if she doesn’t do them, she knows everything will go wrong.
Then she meets Xavier. He wears princess pajamas and has his own kind of special missions to make life better. When they do these missions together, Aster feels free…but if she stops doing her good, right things will everything fall apart?' (Publication summary)

'Wonder Quinn is a lonely orphan who lives in the attic of Direleafe Hall with only a gloomy crow for company. Every year she watches the other girls return to school, hoping to find a friend among them. And every year her heart breaks when she doesn’t.

'So when a fiery new girl befriends her in class, Wonder’s dreams seem to be coming true. Mabel Clattersham is outspoken, kind and, most importantly, unafraid of the awful Georgiana Kinch.

'But as the girls grow closer, Wonder discovers her friend has a list of strange wishes: Throw a pie, leap into the sky, break someone’s heart…

'What is Mabel’s big secret? And why is she in such a hurry to finish her list? Can Wonder protect her heart from being broken all over again?'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Sixteen-year-old Therese lives in a small town on a small island. Her Aunt Kath calls her Tiger. Her friends call her Resey. The boy she loves calls her Champ. She’s a lot of different things for a lot of different people. Therese has always had her feet on the ground. She’s running through high school, but someone in her life is about to fall … And when he does, her perfect world falls with him. For the first time in her life, Therese can’t stand being on the ground. Girl Running, Boy Falling is a raw read about a girl and boy—who are beautifully flawed.' (Source: Publisher's blurb)