(3) YA Eddie lives in a small Australian mining town, post World War II. He longs to quit school, work in the mines, and hang out with his girlfriend, but a classmate's murder puts Eddie and others in a web of suspicion. Told in alternating first-person voices of adults and young people, this verse novel is an affecting tale of murder and forgiveness.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(2) 4-6 Illustrated by Beth Norling. Herrick's impressionistic poems add up to a portrait of a good-natured Australian sixth-grade class and their Bob Dylan–singing, bell bottoms–wearing teacher. Even those pieces concerning familiar kidstuff delineate carefully nuanced characters. Cumulatively, slyly, the poems reveal the kids' growth and the developing relationships in the classroom. Norling's drawings in the manner of a twelve-year-old illustrator have quirky, cartoonlike flair.

Reviewer: Deirdre F. Baker | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2008

(1) YA Herrick sets his spare verse novel in an outback valley inhabited by the dysfunctional Hardings and the Jacksons. When Lucy Harding learns that Jake Jackson is on a quest to find a rogue wolf, she sees an opportunity to run away from her abusive father. Instead, she faces the wolf and rescues Jake. This poignant coming-of-age story has a low-key but happy ending.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2007