Books published by HARPERCOLLINS

A wild and uproarious masterpiece set in Sydney during the early depression years, it follows the hilarious exploits of its hero and narrator, Jack Gudgeon. Deserted by his long-suffering wife and gorgon-like sister-in-law, Gudgeon and his dreamy, disaster-prone teenage son, Stanley, manage to stumble into a never-ending series of adventures and catastrophes from which they invariably emerge with monumental hangovers. they are joined by a wonderful assortment of eccentric characters, who always materialize to enliven the parties that Gudgeon and son hold in their increasingly derelict home.Originally published during the Great Depression, Here's Luck was essential reading for those needing cheering up and Lower's genuine style - a blend of realism, absurdity, satire and wit - has rendered his work timeless. 'It remains pre-eminently Australia's funniest book, as ageless as Pickwick or tom Sawyer, a work of 'weird genius', as one reviewer put it, written by a "Chaplin" of words' - Cyril Pearl'Gloriously disreputable; mercilessly funny' - Richard Glover

traci Harding's the Ancient Future has sold over 40,000 copies and her legion of fans continues to grow. Kyle is a young man with no future and no past. Orphaned at a young age, he is bitter and uses his tough upbringing as an excuse for his lack of direction in life. But a mysterious parcel is about to change his view of himself, his parents and the world in which he lives. An old leather-bound book, intricately embossed with creatures and strange beings, is left on Kyle's doorstep with no card or note attached. the book issues Kyle a personal challenge - to finish reading the book and face the innermost truth about himself, or forfeit any chance of finding his true destiny. the Book of Dreams is an exploration of the self, via the creatures, elementals and personal guides that dwell beyond this physical world. It is a personal quest of discovery that leads to the understanding of the spiritual warrior that dwells within the depths of every human soul. ENtER...if you dare.

It's Sarindi's birthday, and what he wants more than anything else is the multi-coloured Dragon Kite he sees in the market. He thinks he's the luckiest boy when he wakes up and sees the kite, and he can't wait to go to the beach fly it with his father. But later that day Sarindi wonders if luck has deserted them all. An earthquake has flattened the nearby town of Bantul, where Sarindi's cousins live. Suddenly, it is no time to be going on a birthday picnic, or flyign a dragon kite. Sarindi and his father must go by becak to Bantul to see if they can help. Have Sarindi's cousins survived the earthquake? And will it ever be time again to fly his beautiful kite? Ages 7-10

Deep in the labyrinth of an underground hospital lies a secret worth millions . . . After a narrow escape from the hands of gorilla poachers in the African jungle, 13-year-old Jack Brown and his cousin Molly Hunter head off to the rural tranquillity of the Channel Islands. Once there, Jack and Molly begin what they expect will be a glorious two-week holiday and not even the escape of a leopard from Jersey Zoo fazes them. But when they stumble into the underground maze of a World War II German military hospital, holiday plans are swept aside as danger pays them an unwelcome visit. And it will require Jack's amazing gift and Molly's incredible martial arts abilities to save them from the clutches of evil international criminal Denver Wolf, who has sworn revenge against Jack. Get into the mind of Jack Brown as you see what he sees inside the minds of animals . . .

Rachel is German and Jewish and living in Leipzig, Germany. Life is good, and revolves around Sabbath meals shared with her happy family.With the outbreak of World War II, their lives are changed. the family are forced to move from their comfortable home into cramped housing, and when the Nazis arrive to finally take the family away they don't know what is to become of them. But Rachel's father gives her instructions that save her life. He also tells her not to speak. Rachel remains quiet for the rest of the war, but what happened to her family? Will Rachel regain her voice now that she really needs it? Ages: 9 - 13

DEBt FREE, CASHED UP AND LAUGHING will teach you how to save money on everyday household items with handy practical hints and tips. It will show you how to pay off your credit card and any outstanding debts and begin to save money so that you can enjoy a fun-filled life with no more financial anxiety. Savings can be made in every single area of your life and literally thousands of dollars can be saved depending on the hints and tips you choose to follow.

When Claudia's mother decides to go to Italy, she dumps Claudia with her grandfather - a man she hasn't even met. Claudia expects to meet an old man with a walking cane, but her grandfather wears clashing board shorts and shirt, licks his false teeth in restaurants, sticks incense in his neighbour's toes to keep away bad spirits and his favourite saying is 'cool bananas'! How is Claudia supposed to survive the holidays? And will Grandpa discover her secret?

We like to think that we live in an age of reason and rationality, that uncertainty and the unknown have largely been eliminated by technology and science. But it seems that we have nagging doubts. Continually, we tell each other odd tales about ankle slashers and hairy-armed women in the shopping mall. We hear about phantom hitchhikers and headless bikies on the highways. Dreadful things are reportedly done to small pets at home. tummies explode at work, garden gnomes take international holidays, and what certain celebrities do with gerbils should be nobody's business. these tales are usually called ' contemporary legends' or 'urban myths'. Given their often macabre subjects, most of us hope they are just myths, but whether we believe them or not, these stories are constantly spread around the world by people who apparently believe them to be true. In this revised edition of 'Urban Myths', author Graham Seal tracks down over one hundred contemporary Australian legends guaranteed to fascinate readers with their gruesomeness and their absurdity.

You don't need to be wealthy to be healthy! Bestselling diet and fitness author and personal trainer Andrew Cate shows you how to lose weight on a budget: - smart, practical tips on fat loss, food and fitness - the latest scientific findings on the best ways to lose weight - budget-friendly recipes and a list of superfoods this easy-to-follow weight-loss plan will reward you with savings. You can calculate how much weight you could lose, and how much money you could save! tHE tIGHt ARSE DIEt makes weight loss achievable for anybody and any lifestyle. Being lean and healthy is easier - and cheaper! - than you think.

After their successful books What Killed Jane Austen? and How Isaac Newton Lost his Marbles, Dr Leavesley and Dr Biro turn their attention once again to a new collection of medical mysteries and marvels. Written with Leavesley and Biro's clinical flair and knack for diagnosing the truth, Flies in the Ointment: Medical Quacks, Quirks and Oddities reveals the often dark and seamy side of human nature and uncovers the important details the forensic pathologists missed! It's a prescription for intrigue, mystery and fun. * Bound to satisfy the morbid curiosity in us all * Fascinating and well-researched stories * Success of previous titles What Killed Jane Austen? and How Isaac Newton Lost his Marbles * Authors are well known in medical and media circles

'My aim with the 53rd Boyer Lectures has been to inject new ideas and new ways of thinking about the status of Indigenous people in Australia and about the impact of the mining boom in the Aboriginal domain. My hope is that my interpretation of the economic impacts of the mining boom and some facts about our economic history are introduced into the national conversation about Aboriginal people, and thereby encourage a more sophisticated view than the archetypal one of the native as perpetual victim with no hope.' When W.E.H. Stanner delivered the Boyer Lectures in 1968, 'After the Dreaming: Black And White Australians - An Anthropologist′s View', he gave credence, perhaps inadvertently, to the widely held assumption at that time that Aboriginal life was incommensurate with modern economic life. today, the expectation is quite the reverse. the emergence of an Aboriginal middle class in Australia in the last two to three decades has gone largely unnoticed. there are hundreds of Aboriginal businesses and Aboriginal not-for-profit corporations with income streams, delivering economic outcomes to communities on an unprecedented scale. the 53rd Boyer Lectures, presented by Professor Marcia Langton AM, is an investigation into the dependency of Aboriginal businesses and not-for-profit corporations on the resources industry, and their resultant vulnerability to economic downturns.

'If you've got a minute to spare I'll more than gladly relate to you the real, true, fair-dinkum, ridgy-didge, authentic story ... ' Bill 'Swampy' Marsh is one of Australia's most popular storytellers - he knows a good story when he hears it and now he has gathered together a collection of real Aussie adventures for younger readers! Imagine droving thousands of cattle across the vast outback for months, living under the stars without any parents around. Lots of people in this collection have done just that. You'll also hear great stories about fast trains running away without drivers, learn how to shear a sheep (and how not to), and read about the flying doctor service arriving just in the nick of time. Some stories you'll have to read to believe. these are stories of an Australia that is disappearing, but you can experience them today. For 10-14 year olds.

the magical world of the Realm is in trouble. A wild wind has brought mischievous Peskies down from the hills, and they're making life impossible! Not even Queen Helena knows what to do. then Jessie comes up with an answer: an old, forgotten spell that will lead her and her friends on a fascinating journey - and straight into trouble. Ages 7-12.

Walking is the least daunting form of exercise. It's cheap; it's easy on the knees and requires no sporty coordination. Learn how to walk for fun, for good health, for fitness and for weight loss. Here is an eight-week program that can be customised to suit different body types and lifestyles. Now there s no excuse to get moving!

Jessie has helped the magic people of the Realm to escape danger twice now. But now her world is in danger. Bushfires threaten her beloved home, Blue Moon, and only a wish-a very powerful wish-can save it. For this, Jessie needs a wish-stone, which means she must make a very treacherous journey ... Ages 7-12.

Jessie's friends from the Realm beg her to return and help them with a problem. Magic is thick in the air, and the terrifying griffins that guard the Realm's treasure house are out of control! the tiny, beautiful flower fairies play an important part in Jessie's clever plan to stop the griffins. But then the fairies themselves fall into a new and terrible danger, and only Jessie can save them. Ages 7-12.

When the only way of being good is being bad. Jonty thinks he's attending a regular school, but he can't figure out why all his classmates are turning into well-behaved, brilliant students. When the perfect school turns into a perfect nightmare, no one is safe from the world's cleverest students. With two unlikely friends, Jonty sets about exposing the principal's dastardly plan, but will they just become part of his evil scheme too? It's a non-stop comedy adventure that makes you think - how far would you go to be top of the class?

When Emily and Daniel's parents send them on a rollicking pirate adventure holiday things go horribly wrong. there's something very weird about Captain Wetbeard's ship! A bald, farting parrot, a diet of chocolate-coated shrimps, plank-walking - these weren't in the holiday brochure!

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Gold medals and love: can Rachel win both? Rachel is now playing for a team called Phoenix and she is doing so well that she is regarded as a core member. Rachel is devastated to miss out on the Australian Netball Squad selection for the Commonwealth Games, but when one of the key Australian players is injured at the final training session, Rachel is called to fill the vacant spot. Her lifelong dream comes true! While away Rachel keeps a diary for the two weeks of the Games, recording her battles with insecurity, victories on the court, travel experiences and the regular phone conversations with boyfriend Daniel. the battle for gold between New Zealand and Australia is both exhausting and exhilarating. After the game Rachel is frustrated when she can't ring Daniel because she is called away to do a media interview. there she discovers that the 'interviewer' is Daniel, who has used all of his savings to be with her for her final match. Ages 10-14

What do you do when your school librarian starts dressing in leopard-skin and goes off chasing dinosaurs? A school excursion to the Big Koala goes horribly wrong when Phredde, Pru and Bruce - and their vampire teacher Mrs Olsen, and Miss Richards, librarian and martial arts expert - head back into the time of the dinosaurs, not to mention giant marsupial lions, a dinosaur with diarrhoea and an exploding volcano. Who will save them? Can one kid, two phaeries, a vampire and a librarian dressed in leopard-skin survive in the past with just a laptop computer, a flying carpet and a plastic spoon? Ages 7-12

Another hilarious collection of four of the most revolting and funny stories you're ever likely to read. Gathered together for the first time are stories about: Jellyfish Undies; Foot Rot; Pigeon Poo; Deadly B.O. All designed to curdle your stomach and test your stamina. Warning: this book is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. Ages 8+

Just when your stomach had settled, J.A. Mawter returns with more sick and silly stories. Have you ever had a cockroach in your undies or taken part in a cheese race? these are only two of the serious issues tackled by J.A. Mawter in this the fifth book of the So! series. As for Gus Gordon, he's gone totally mad in this book and the illustrations are more hilarious than ever. Ages 8+

What happens when your mother feeds you more roughage in a week than a health farm dishes out in a year? How will Macca "iron gut" Mactavish's mates make him throw up? How will Gumby Mason score a boogie from his football Coach? If you're a fan of cockroaches, vomit, boogie, and turds - then SO GROSS is the book for you. A hilarious collection of seven of the funniest and most revolting stories ever, this book is not for those with a weak stomach. Ages 9+

Prudence is invited by her father's distant werewolf cousins to their gloomy castle to hunt for some missing 'treasure'. Phredde and Bruce accompany Prudence, who is well aware that if she fails then her father will have to take her place. the zombie librarian also makes a reappearance, as does the castle banshee, and Cousin Flea decides that he wants to be a lighting and sound technician and turns what was once a nicely decorated castle into a setting for a television series. Ages 7-12

Michael Panckridge, author of the toby Jones cricketing series, joins forces with Australian Rugby League legend Laurie Daly to bring us an exciting new sporting series - League of Legends. Sam Davies loves rugby league more than anything - and now he's been chosen to train in the Country squad! He loves league so much that he even sneaks out to watch the Salamanders, his most despised team, play - any football is better than no football. Sneaking out leads to serious complications when Sam witnesses something on the way home from the match that is somehow tied up with the Salamanders football team and the missing Fogherty Shield. Something really weird is going on, and with the help of his friends, Sam is determined to find out just what it si. But in the process it looks like might end up discovering more than he's bargained for ... Ages: 10-13 years

Iddy cannot remember her name, or where she comes from, or anything about her people. But she finds understanding and friends in the peace and calm of Summerland. Her friends are reassuring - Iddy will remember, when she is ready. In the Summerland the dragons eat mosquitoes and unicorns prune the apple trees; so many strange things to see and imagine, and question. Iddy finds it hard to worry about her loss of memory. Until one day the shadowmen arrive and Iddy is the only one who can save the village, if only she can get past the fear. Ages 12+

Endorsed by Netball Australia. Rachel is 15 years old and loves netball 埳he has her sights set on playing for Australia. Just when a Club scout visits looking for promising players to upgrade, she twists her ankle. to make matters worse, the coach has just announced that their team will have to merge with another club. Rachel tries out and makes the new team, but is finding a couple of the more experienced players hard to get along with. Will Rachel be able to overcome her difficulties and become part of the team? Ages 9+

Instant New York Times Bestseller#1 New York Times bestselling author Bret Baier reveals how George Washington saved the Constitution-and the American experiment"To Rescue The Constitution is a masterful exploration of the electrifying struggle to unite a young United States." --Jay WinikA sweeping narrative ranging from the unsettled early American frontier and the battlefields of the Revolution to the history-making clashes within Philadelphia's Independence Hall, Bret Baier's To Rescue the Constitution dramatically illuminates the life of George Washington, the Founder who did more than perhaps any other individual to secure the future of the United States.George Washington rescued the nation three times: first by leading the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War, second by presiding over the Constitutional Convention that set the blueprint for the United States and ushering the Constitution through a fractious ratification process, and third by leading the nation as its first president. There is no doubt that the struggling new nation needed to be rescued--and that Washington was the only American who could bring the together.After the victorious War of Independence, when a spirit of unity and patriotism might have been expected, instead the nation fractured. The states were no more than a loosely knit and contentious confederation, with no strong central union. It was an urgent matter that led to the calling of a Constitutional Convention to meet in Philadelphia during the summer of 1787.Setting aside his plan to retire to Mount Vernon, Washington agreed to be a delegate at Philadelphia. There he was unanimously elected president of the convention. After successfully bringing the Constitution into being, Washington then sacrificed any hope of returning to private life by accepting the unanimous election to be the nation's first president. Washington was not known for brilliant oratory or prose, but his quiet, steady leadership gave life to the Constitution by showing how it should be enacted.In this vivid and moving portrait of America's early struggles, Baier captures the critical moments when Washington's leadership brought the nation from the brink of collapse. Baier exposes an early America that is grittier and far more divided than is often portrayed--one we can see reflected in today's conflicts.