Canterbury Quake: Christchurch, 2010-11

Description

Anyone would think Maddy's world had crumbled when she didn't get a cell phone for her eleventh birthday. But Maddy soon has far more important things to worry about. In the dark of night, with a terrifying rumble and a deafening roar, the world turns upside down! Suddenly, words like 'liquefaction', 'aftershocks' and 'state of emergency' bubble to the surface of her vocabulary. As Maddy navigates the bumps and crashes of life after the big quakes, she discovers how strong family ties can be, and finds friendship in the most unlikely of places.

Desna Wallace is a school librarian in Christchurch who is passionate about children's books. After Desna left school she spent a number of years travelling overseas before coming back to New Zealand to raise her family. Desna takes any chance she can to read children's and young adult books. Reading, she believes, is one of the best ways to improve your own writing. Desna has had a number of plays, poems and stories published in the School Journal, but this is her first novel.