Our Australian Girl: The Poppy Stories

by Gabrielle Wang, Lucia Masciullo (Illustrator)

It's 1864 and Poppy, disguised as a boy, has escaped from the aboriginal mission at Bird Creek near Echuca. Her dream is to find her brother Gus, who ran away to pan for gold. But travelling through the Australian bush is full of danger and adventure...Journey with Poppy across all four exciting stories about a girl who dreams of a better life during the Gold Rush.

464 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 17, 2016

About the author

Gabrielle Wang is an award winning children’s author born in Melbourne of Chinese heritage. Her great grandfather came to Victoria during the Gold Rush, settling in the town of Wahgunyah on the Murray River. In her twenties Gabrielle lived in China and Taiwan where she studied Chinese language, traditional painting and calligraphy. After working as a graphic designer she discovered a love of painting pictures with words. Since then she has written 16 books for children and young adults. Gabrielle’s stories are a blend of Chinese and Western culture with a touch of magic. She has twice won the Aurealis Award for Best Children’s fiction, and her books have been named Notables in the CBC Awards and highly commended in the Prime Minister's Awards. She is also published internationally in US, UK, China, Korea and South America.

Reviews

[phia light · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an utterly amazing book, gripping and entertaining. My favourite bits of the book are when Poppy has some trouble keeping up he disguise of a boy (don't judge)
So, yeah, definitely read this book and all the others in the Our Australian Girl series

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was great I loved the setting and I couldn't put it down.Lots of people would in joy it.

[Michelle Hickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poppy is part Indigenous and part Chinese and runs away from the mission home in search of her brother. She goes on the road dressed as a boy and has adventures along the way including meeting bushrangers, learning to ride a horse and making friends. The ending is a bit too neat for me, with a family reunion tied up very quickly at the end. A good story for kids to read about life in Australia in 1864 and provides a really good sense of the disconnect indigenous kids felt when they were taken from their people and not allowed to maintain their culture in the mission schools.

[Jazzy ! · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast paced with an amazing storyline and characters???? Absolutely yes