Kids into books: Shadrach Girl

Author: Joy Cowley

Illustrator: Dexter Fry

Publisher: Puffin Books $15.95

Age Group: 9-12 years


'I need a pen. A real pen. Not markers.'

'Sorry. You ate the last one I gave you. Ask Mikey.'

'I can't. He and Eden are out on the boat. Please, Hannah.'

;Here!' said Andrea, feeling in her pocket. She rolled a ballpoint along the table.

'What's so urgent?' Hannah asked.

'Homework. A fantastically boring family history three pages long. I thought I'd use markers to make my writing really big, but I'd better do it with a pen. thanks, Andrea.'

'There's nothing boring about your family,' Andrea said. 'I hear you're good at writing. How come it's a problem?'

Hannah answered for him. 'Sky and I don't do non-fiction. He likes rhymes. I like fantasy. We hate to stick to the facts. Right, Sky?'

'Right,' said Sky, testing the ballpoint on the cover of his book. 'We tell lies on paper.'

'Not lies,' said Hannah. 'Truth. It's the kind of truth you don't get in non-fiction. Sky knows that. He's just trying to say something cool in front of you, Andy. He admires you. That's truth too. Isn't it, Sky?'