Balloon Girls

Description

A new inspiring and educational middle-grade novel from the author of The Boy from Earth and the Jack Mason Adventure series. Times are tough in the small town of Yallaroo where Ally Simpson has lived her whole life. The whole area is in drought and people are going broke or moving away. So when Ally hears about a competition to win the trip of a lifetime to visit the Smithsonian Museum in the USA, she knows she's got to do everything she can to try and win. Ally enlists her best friends Harmony and Ping to help her plan the most impressive experiment she can imagine- to send a video camera to the edge of space, and prove once and for all that the earth is round. At first, Ally is pretty sure she's got the whole competition stitched up. But then, as one disaster after another derails her plans, she begins to learn the importance of staying grounded even while she's aiming for the sky...

Darrell Pitt began his lifelong appreciation of Victorian literature when he read the Sherlock Holmes stories as a child, quickly moving on to H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. This early reading led to a love of comics, science fiction and all things geeky. Darrell is now married with one daughter. He lives in Melbourne.

'A rollicking who-dunnit that will keep young Sherlocks guessing to the very end.' * Magpies on The Firebird Mystery * 'Readers will progress from snickers to giggles to, finally, belly laughs and shouts of outrage.' * Kirkus Reviews on A Toaster on Mars * 'Who would think that a novel about STEM for girls could also deliver such entertainment? Balloon Girls by Darrell Pitt is packed with drama, crime, mystery, legend-and even a hint of unexpected romance-and wrapped in a layer of gentle humour.' * CBCA Victoria * 'Heartwarming and even a little inspiring.' * Otago Daily Times *