Spirit of the Crocodile

(Paperback)

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Description

The crocodile's eyes were yellow, slit by a vertical pupil. The creature remained perfectly still, but it throbbed with life. Ezra felt goosebumps in spite of the afternoon heat, and took a few steps back.
'Is that thing looking at you' asked Mason.
'Nah. How could it be'

Twelve-year old Ezra is an ordinary boy who lives on Saibai, an extraordinary Australian island. He loves a laugh, he loves his family, and - almost more than anything - he loves a dare.

But when one of his dares goes wrong, Ezra realises he needs to make some decisions about helping out and measuring up. He learns that there's more than one way to look at, well, nearly everything.

And as ever-increasing climate disasters threaten Saibai, Ezra and his best mate Mason must draw on their resilience and courage to help the community survive a massive out-of-season storm.

Set in today's Torres Strait, Spirit of the Crocodile is a captivating novel that explores the importance of culture, community and place to a carefree kid on the cusp of growing up.

Reviews

'A vital story to understand the Torres Strait; its people and the uniquely devastating challenges they're facing on the front-lines of the climate catastrophe. This extraordinary novel will compel all readers to get invested in the fight for our planet thanks to the terrific and tender story of community, culture, compassion and coming-of-age amidst climate change; told with humour, heart and exhilarating action! ' - Danielle Binks, bestselling author of The Year the Maps Changed

Author Bio

Aaron Fa'Aoso is a Torres Strait Islander film producer, director, screenwriter and actor. In 2022 he published his memoir, So Far, So Good. Aaron is the founder and Managing Director of Lone Star, a film and television production company whose many outputs include the documentary series Blue Water Empire, about the history of the Torres Strait Islands and Strait to the Plate, a food and travel series also set in the Torres Strait. Aaron is a board member of SBS and of Screen Queensland, and was the co-chair of the Queensland Government's Interim Truth and Treaty Body.

Michelle Scott Tucker is the author of Elizabeth Macarthur: A Life at the Edge of the World - a biography of the woman who established the Australian wool industry (although her husband received all the credit). Elizabeth Macarthur was shortlisted for the 2019 NSW State Library Ashurst Business Literature Prize and the 2019 CHASS Australia Book Prize. Michelle is the co-writer of Aaron Fa'Aoso's memoir, So Far, So Good.

Consultant editor Lyn White has extensive experience as a primary school teacher-librarian and EAL teacher and in 2010 completed postgraduate studies in Editing and Communications at the University of Melbourne. Lyn is passionate about children's literature and has great expertise in engaging students and teachers with quality texts. Her work with refugee children motivated her to create the acclaimed Through My Eyes series of books set in contemporary war zones. Lyn went on to create and edit the Through My Eyes - Natural Disaster Zones series set around international and Australian disasters. The novels pay tribute to the courage and resilience of children who are often the most vulnerable in post-disaster situations. Lyn is a conference presenter, runs workshops based on the Through My Eyes texts and has written several articles for teacher-association journals and children's literature magazines.