Ella and Emery are worried. Their dad hasn’t returned to their home in the city, after promising to be back in a few days. He went to look for their mum who has been away working, trying to help with the energy crisis. No power is not the only problem.

A strange red fungus has wiped out all grain crops across the world. Grass, the staple food of cows, sheep and other animals, has also died out. At first, the government helped out with food parcels to the cities but even they have stopped.

Emery is Aboriginal and knows the best plan will be to get to his family home far away in outback Australia. They will have to sneak out of the city after curfew, avoiding the gun-totting gangs and street trouble that erupts constantly over now-scarce food and water.

With their three dogs, Marrochy, Bear and Wolf, and two others adopted from friends, they set off ‘mushing’. This is tying the dogs into special harnesses to pull a sled on wheels.

Giving any people and all towns a wide berth, they begin their long journey. But there is more trouble, guns, hate and greed out there and eventually they have to face it. Emery has been the driving force for them both, until he is left lying in the dirt with only Ella to save him.

A normal journey across the outback is fraught with danger, but add desperate, hungry people fleeing the cities and willing to do anything to survive, and the adventure is so much more intense. From the multi award winning author of How to Bee this is a fantastic read!

Author – Bren MacDibble

Age – 10+

Teachers Tips here (Scroll down to bottom of page)

(Adventure, Courage, Outback, Mushing, Dog sled, Animals, Australia, Blended Family, Aborigine, Virus, Hunger, Environment, Action, Climate Change, NZ Author, New Zealand Author, Indigenous, First Nations, Aboriginal person)