Part of Series
The Olympics are over, and everyone is feeling flat – including Lina. As she reads the newspaper every night with her father, Lina finds out that some of the Hungarian athletes have stayed behind and are hiding in Melbourne so they don't have to face the fighting in their homeland. Lina begins to suspect that one is being hidden by her cranky old neighbour, Mrs Bencszik. She writes an article about it and sends it to her hero, the Age journalist Stella Davis – who wants to meet her and publish the article! But Lina soon realises that Stella wants to steal the story for herself. Lina refuses to share the article, pretending instead that she made the whole thing up. But that doesn't mean that Lina's chance to be a real journalist is lost forever... When she writes down her father's life story of how he fleed Italy for fear of political persecution, her teacher secretly sends it to the newspaper. As Lina and her father settle down to read the paper together one evening, there it is. In this heartwarming conclusion to Lina's story, she comes to grips with her heritage and finally feels true pride in her family – and herself.
Author
Sally Rippin was born in Darwin, but grew up mainly in South-East Asia. As a young adult she lived in China for three years, studying traditional Chinese painting. Sally has over seventy books published, many of them award-winning, including two novels for young adults. Her most recent work includes the highly acclaimed children’s novel Angel Creek and the popular Billie B Brown books, which became the highest selling series for 6-8 year olds in Australia within the first year of their release. Sally is Australia’s highest selling female author and her Billie B Brown books have sold more than 4.5 million copies in 14 languages. Sally is a popular presenter in schools and at literary festivals both in Australia and overseas and has a regular program on 3RRR interviewing children’s authors and industry professionals. She is a passionate ambassador for the 100 Story Building creative writing centre for marginalized youth and has mentored many emerging writers and illustrators. Recently, she and her partner co-founded Story Peddlers, a hand-made performance tent that packs away into a custom-built bike, with the aim of bringing back the art of the roving storyteller.
