Tom Appleby, Convict Boy - Jackie French - $14.95  

Best book about how coming to Australia turned out to be a wonderful opportunity for those who made the most of it. From being the son of a comfortably-off tradesman, to being orphaned and sold as a chimney sweep, then gaol to transportation to indentured servant in Sydney Cove, this book has all the excitment and of the best books. French refutes what she calls ‘myths’ of early Australia, showing through the story that starvation in the early colony was not for lack of food, rather for unwillingness of most British to eat off the land. This is the most illuminating book about the lives of chimney sweeps in London, the fear of the workhouse, and the plight of poor children there that I have read. Ages 7 - 16 yrs