(‘Go home, you adolescent rabble! It must be past your bed...)
‘Go home, you adolescent rabble! It must be past your bedtime!‘ ’Aw shut up, you old bat!’ Hellz shouts. ’Yeah, we’ll go home when we feel like it,’ Tan yells. Hellz, Tan, and Eddie are the local skateboarding trio. Every night after school they hang out together, terrorising ‘the Witch’. That’s what they call elderly Lallie.
(When Karri delves into her family's past she finds a lot ...)
When Karri delves into her family's past she finds a lot more than she bargained for - a treacherous reef, missing treasure, eerie storms and a ghostly namesake.
(‘You just don’t know what it’s like. ‘ ’What?‘ Our eyes b...)
‘You just don’t know what it’s like. ‘ ’What?‘ Our eyes blaze at each other. He looks away. ‘I have to watch my back, that’s all,’ he says, more gently. Henny can’t work Kip out. Where is his family? Where does he live? Why do waves of sadness and anger sometimes overtake him? The answers to these questions only come when the two friends’ boat is trapped in a dark storm. In the urgent battle to survive, the limits of friendship and trust will be stretched to breaking point.
(A story about friendship, loyalty and the highs and lows ...)
A story about friendship, loyalty and the highs and lows of winning and losing. Pearce is Yosef's best friend and Pearce is perfect. He can run faster, climb higher and kick more goals than anyone else. But what would happen if Yosef began to come first instead? There are strange events going on at school.
(An outbreak of infectious giggles that close a school for...)
An outbreak of infectious giggles that close a school for the day, a magic Christmas pudding that takes over a house, an apple-green pig that starts gobbling up little boys - these are just some of the strange and bizarre things that happen in this wonderfully funny collection of new stories from Elaine Forrestal, one of Australia's best-known writers for children.
(Bryn and his family have just moved to a new house by the...)
Bryn and his family have just moved to a new house by the lake. The area is beautiful, teeming with wildlife. But soon there are scars on the landscape where the houses are being built - bulldozers tear at the earth, the sound of machinery rends the air. Once again the Min Min stirs... And this time it has chosen Bryn.
(This book is a lively new collection of stories from awar...)
This book is a lively new collection of stories from award-winning children's writer Elaine Forrestal. Filled with bubbles wearing bright rainbow-colored jackets, pet flies, naughty umbrellas and socks that keep disappearing, Rainbow Jackets will delight and entertain children in the early years of primary school.
(There’s tension at Eden Glassie these holidays: Tori is t...)
There’s tension at Eden Glassie these holidays: Tori is torn between spending time with his two cousins, Morgan on the new four-wheeler bike that Uncle Ian has bought for the vineyard, and Bronte, who wants to ride horses and hates the bike.
(It’s the holidays and Tori and his sister, Maddie, have g...)
It’s the holidays and Tori and his sister, Maddie, have gone to stay again with their cousins Bronte and Morgan on their vineyard property. But this time Maddie sets off a chain of events that plunges them all into mysteries, past and present. The second exciting mystery set on the vineyard property of Eden Glassie.
(‘I’m sure I heard it,’ I said. ‘It’s Axle, howling.‘ ’Axl...)
‘I’m sure I heard it,’ I said. ‘It’s Axle, howling.‘ ’Axle’s gone, Tori.’ My uncle shoved his secateurs in the back pocket of his baggy trousers. ‘I know it’s hard,’ he said. ‘Especially when we’ve never found his body.’ But Tori has heard a dog howling. Did he imagine it? Is it, as his cousin Bronte believes, Axle’s ghost?
(‘I can’t fit in there,’ I said, straightening up to my fu...)
‘I can’t fit in there,’ I said, straightening up to my full 154 centimeters. There was an almighty crash somewhere above us. A shower of dust and grit fell through the air vent in the ceiling and suddenly all four of us were scrambling in, pressing close together under the kitchen table.
(Miss Llewellyn-Jones has a lot of trouble keeping her was...)
Miss Llewellyn-Jones has a lot of trouble keeping her washing on the line. She loses jeans, tops, socks, knickers but when she hangs out Teddy, things take a surprising turn. With its delightfully rhythmic text and gorgeous, quirky illustrations, this colorful picture book is one that young children will want to read again and again.
(Anderson and his men came in under the stern of HMS Shann...)
Anderson and his men came in under the stern of HMS Shannon, jammed her rudder and scrambled up her ropes. But the captain had been looking out for them. He had orders to capture Anderson if he came within range, and to take him to Hobart for trial.
(Miss Llewellyn-Jones takes Teddy shopping - with disastro...)
Miss Llewellyn-Jones takes Teddy shopping - with disastrous results. Teddy takes off on an adventure of his own, and it takes all his ingenuity to find his way home. A delightfully rhythmic text and gorgeous, quirky illustrations make this an engaging tale for children to experience again and again.
Elaine Forrestal is an Australian writer. Forrestal has produced middle-grade novels such as the award-winning Straggler's Reef, Someone like Me, and Winning, as well as the collections of simple, short read-aloud tales published as A Glassful of Giggles and Rainbow Jackets.
Background
Elaine Forrestal was born on October 9, 1941, in Perth, Australia, to Russell Alfred (a bank officer) and Emily Annie “Bonnie” (a secretary; maiden name, Ives) Chandler. Her father’s employment in a bank meant frequent moves for the family from one small country town to another.
Education
In the little rural schools that Elaine and her brothers attended, the arrival of a new consignment of books from the State Government’s Hadley Travelling Library Scheme was a red-letter day for all. Hadley Boxes were changed only every two months. Elaine had always read them all, from books for beginners through every grade range, well before the next batch was due. A voracious reader, she devoured everything she could find: classic tales of adventure and romance, Boy’s Own Stories, rattling good yarns, Elizabeth Goudge’s The White Horse and The Sign of the Dolphin, biographies of everyone from Scott of the Antarctic (Elaine was firm in her opinion that Oats would have been a better choice as expedition leader) to the Allied secret agent Odette in World War II.
Country town life, and her parent’s commitment to providing the best possible opportunities for their children were a mainstay of Elaine’s childhood. Her mother encouraged their involvement in the arts as participants, not just as viewers. Music was always part of their lives, as were drawing, craftwork, books, and writing. The ABC Children’s Session and its Argonauts Club were a great influence. In the version broadcast to children in Western Australia, local author JK Ewers dispensed excellent and individual advice to each child writer.
By the time she had completed Year 10 however, Elaine could see no sense in staying at school. She decided she did not want to be either a teacher or a nurse so she may as well get a job in Perth. Within a few years, she was married with two young children and living in the country again. But it was the experience of watching her children grow and develop that sparked what has since become a lifelong passion. She knew she wanted to be involved somehow in children’s learning and development, to nurture creativity and the growth of imagination. She enrolled in a crash course to enable her to work as a teacher’s aide in the local kindergarten. A few years later she moved to Perth, completed a degree in Early Childhood Education, and embarked on a very satisfying career as a pre-school teacher.
Career
Working as a preschool teacher in Perth, Australia, for many years, Forrestal began her writing career by writing down several of the stories she told her students and submitting them for publication in anthologies and periodicals. Her first novel, The Watching Lake, was inspired by a local legend about a ghost that haunted Herdman's Lake, near Forrestal's suburban home. The novel presents readers with a mystery as well as an inherent warning about the ecological damage that may result from tampering with nature and was shortlisted for the Western Australia Premier's Book Award in 1991.
In Forrestal's novel, Someone like Me, the life of an ordinary sixth-grade boy is changed in many ways when he discovers that his family's neighbor has a troubling mystery in her past. The recipient of several honors, Someone like Me is bursting with lovely images of the Australian countryside and lifestyle.
In Straggler's Reef, the past surfaces in the present as young Australians Karri and Jarrad are stranded on a reef while sailing with their father off the coast of Western Australia. Karrie passes the time reading her grandmother's journal when Carrie, a ghostly figure from the past, appears on the yacht deck and announces that the boat is stranded directly overtop a sunken treasure.
Other novels by Forrestal include Leaving No Footprint, Winning, and her ongoing Eden Glassie Mystery series, focusing on friends Henny and Kip and Kip's dog Stranger. Part of the "Eden Glassie" series, Leaving No Footprints follows the teens as they first meet during a summer holiday when Henny's family go to their vacation home on Dog Beach. At first fellow beach dweller, Kip seems reserved and moody, but the two soon become friends, and when their boat is endangered during a storm Henny finally learns the reasons for Kip's need for emotional distance.
Focusing on the rivalries that can sometimes occur even in the closest friendships, Winning introduces middle-graders Pearce and Yosef. Always a natural at sports, Pearce is also a natural leader among his schoolmates, and when Yosef begins to show a talent for running Pearce feels threatened by this unfamiliar competition. A series of local robberies also prove cause for concern among the group of boys when it coincides with Pearce's seemingly sudden change in behavior. Suspicions grow among his friends, who do not know their friend's secret: that Pearce is also dealing with a violent father.
Elaine has had magazine articles and short stories published and has also written for children's television. Her works have been translated into Italian and Slovenian.
Forrestal married Barry Edmonds on November 17, 1962. Their marriage ended on February 28, 1980. She later married Peter Forrestal, a wine and food writer, on January 10, 1981. Their children are Lee Anne Beet and Carmel Jane Keylock.