Julia Lawrinson is een Australische auteur wiens werk zich verdiept in kinder- en jeugdliteratuur. Haar schrijfstijl wordt gekenmerkt door het vermogen om de complexe emoties en ervaringen van jongeren met gevoeligheid en eerlijkheid te verkennen. Lawrinson behandelt vaak thema's als opgroeien, identiteit en het vinden van je eigen plek in de wereld. Haar unieke stem en meeslepende verhalen spreken lezers van alle leeftijden aan.
Shell and Mel are best friends, united by their love of ABBA. But when Scary Sharon decides she wants to be friends with Shell, and Mel begins acting strangely, things start changing fast. Confiding in her pen pal from 1829, Shell discovers she has a lot to learn about loyalty, honesty and roller skating.
This is a contemporary and timely exploration of friendships between young girls and the pressures they're faced with in the modern world. Maddie Lee is in 6th grade and she feels ordinary and dull. Her best and oldest friend Katy is head counselor and aiming at an academic scholarship. Maddie doesn't have anything that is hers, anything that is special. Enter a mysterious new girl, Samara. Samara is pretty, calm, and before long is in the popular girls' group. Maddie wants more than anything else to become friends with her. But when she does finally engineer a friendship of sorts, Maddie realizes that Samara has a secret. When Samara enlists Maddie to raise money to keep her family from being separated, Maddie finally feels important and needed. So when Samara asks her to go one step further and start stealing, Maddie makes a decision that will have consequences beyond her imagining.
Wie eine Sommerbrise Beste Freundinnen für immer zu sein, das haben sich Abby, Mala, Bree und Zoe schon ganz früh geschworen. Also kein Wunder, dass sie sich auch bei der Suche nach Mr Right zusammentun. Und so starten sie einen köstlichen Sommer lang ihr »Liebesexperiment«, bei dem jede für sich nach dem Jungen fürs Leben suchen wird. Abwechselnd aus ihren vier Perspektiven berichten die Freundinnen von ihren verrückten und geglückten Liebesabenteuern.