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Age 12-16. The Ellie Chronicles 1. We were halfway up the spur when we heard it. Homer and Gavin and I, just the three of us… I’d say there were fifteen shots in the first volley, evenly spaced, lasting about twenty-five seconds… All the way down the spur I’d heard the scattered shots, getting closer as I got closer, and all the way down I tried to think of reasonable explanations for them, and I couldn't think of a single thing that made sense. Wars never end. They go on loudly or they go on quietly. They grip you with bulldog teeth. The town of Wirrawee is emerging from war, slowly. School's back in, Juicy's is open for coffee, farmers are bidding at the cattle sales. Ellie Linton at last gets what she longed for and what she fought for, to be back on the farm with her parents. But it's not the same. A new nation is on the other side of a new border. Suddenly the war is about to explode into Ellie's life again. The effects are devastating. The consequences will change her...

Marsden’s foot is still firmly on the accelerator and 'While I Live' will no doubt attract legions of new fans, as well as keep the faithful.

 

older teens will admire the strong youth who have the courage to stand firm in the face of adversity.

 

Narrator Suzi Dougherty, with her appropriate native accent, becomes Ellie, telling her story realistically and with the right amount of emotion ... This coming of age story will entertain today's teens.

 

John Marsden was born in Melbourne in 1950. In 1985 he found himself teaching English in the Australian bush, at Timbertop School. Noticing a complete lack of interest in reading among his Year 9 students he tried his hand at writing a short novel that he thought they might enjoy. The rest, as they say, is history. He has sold over two million books world-wide and has won every major writing award in Australia for young people’s fiction, as well as numerous awards both in the USA and Europe, including the Buxtehude Bulle Award in Germany, which is one of the world’s most coveted prizes for young people’s books. He has also been awarded the Christopher Medal (USA) and the National Children's Book Award (Australia).  He currently writes and teaches in Victoria, Australia.