Such an amazing story!

My 11yo son received an advanced copy from a local bookshop to write a review. I started reading it aloud to him at lunch time today. We had short breaks for soccer training and dinner, but I managed to get it finished before bed time. I don't think he would have slept without hearing the ending! But now my poor voice needs a rest!

Set in Australia, this is a wonderful tale of bravery, perseverance and loyalty. It champions the bonds that make people family, and that even in bad times there are good people in this world. ( )

An excellent... Middle grade? Tween? Early teen? - I don't know how to assess books by age group and by now I'm too afraid to ask - book about a girl and her brother travelling across Victoria (Australia) by dog sled after a fungus has killed off most grasses/grains.

Points for:
- A strong, clear narrative voice
- An interesting apocalypse scenario
- A sense of threat and menace throughout the book, without being graphic or gory
- A divided/combined family (Ella and Emery are step-siblings) with realistic struggles and love
- The potential solution to the apocalypse being a return to native grasses and indigenous land management

One whole star removed for repeatedly referring to "sweaty" dogs - dogs don't sweat. Can't sweat. Are unable to sweat. It's an oddly basic error in a book that's clearly been well-researched otherwise. ( )

Really like the ideas behind this story where the world has been struck by a fungus that has killed all the wheat, corn and grass. No grass/hay = no cows, no sheep, no chickens and anything else that may feeds primarily on this food source= world in anarchy because they have no food. In this story Emery and his half-sister Ella decide to leave Melbourne city when their Dad disappears, and travel into the country where Emery's indigenous mother and Afghani grandfather grow mushrooms in an old gold mine. What makes them different is the way they decide to get there, with a special wheeled sleigh being pulled by their three dogs and two others they barter for on the way.
They follow the cycling track and old railway lines, avoiding roads as people will kill their dogs for food and steal everything they have to trade. There is also talk of cannibalism.
They meet lovely people who give them and their dogs food and water , and they try to avoid others, who sneak up behind them on noiseless electric bikes and try to shoot the dogs.
Lots of intrigue and I loved the fact that the Indigenous grasses and plant food are illustrated as surviving the fungus and basically being the answer to this Dystopian world's problems.
For younger readers as the main character Ella is about 12 years old and everything is seen from her point of view. ( )