Cover Reveal! Spirit of the Crocodile

Absolutely delighted with the cover of this new book for middle-grade readers, co-written with my good friend, Torres Strait Islander Aaron Fa’Aoso.

Our publishers at Allen & Unwin are calling it an inspiring story of courage, resilience and hope, set in the Torres Strait Islander community as climate change threatens culture, tradition and connection to place.

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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?’

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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.

Available for pre-order now, and due for publication in March 2025.

Go on – reach out to your local library or your nearest school and ask them to buy it in! It’s a novel for readers 8-14.

Our hope is that Spirit of the Crocodile shines a light on a little known corner of Australia, and introduces readers (through the eyes of their new friends Ezra, Mason, Maryanne and Barbara) to new ways of looking at their own world. Crucially, low-lying Saibai Island truly is at the front line of the climate emergency and illuminating the  community’s challenges – in an accessible, laugh-out-loud way – was an important motivation for writing the book.

Click here for more info, including some intriguing author insights.