SOLVED!: children's book: Australia, dog, girl named Opal? [s]

[Christy]

I read a book in the 1990's about a girl whose mother dies and she goes to live with her father and stepmother (I think) and there are a lot of new, younger siblings. She also adopts a dog - I think a mean neighbor boy ends up shooting the dog in the end.

The girl - Opal? - is in her early teens I think, but doesn't have her license yet, though she ends up driving the car for an emergency near the end of the book.

It takes place in rural Australia, and it was made into a TV movie some years later.

Thanks for any help id'ing this one!

[Peggy]

Well, parts of that description sounds like Kate Di Camillo's Because of Winn-Dixie, but that one takes place in Florida, not rural Australia, and was made into a feature movie, not a TV movie. I'll keep trying.

[Tara]

I think that the book could be "Thunderwith" by Libby Hathorn.

[Christy]

Yes, it's Thunderwith - thanks Tara! Apparently, one of the sibling's names was Opal - all of the siblings were named after stones or gems.

[Christy]

The TV movie was called "Echo of Thunder" with Judy Davis playing the stepmother.

[Allison]

I remember seeing that movie. It was a hallmark special. If only someone hadn't beaten me to it :(!