Description

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The empty spaces of the Australian Outback are magical. The land is sacred to the clans of both Man and the animals that explored Australia in the Dreamtime before history. Then, Earth is new, and Man and the animals can live in harmony with each other--if they will. Life is not easy. The ground is barren and water scarce. Animals eat each other. And evil does exist. Friends need to stay together to survive. Always looming nearby is that ultimate evil: the dreaded Goori Goori Bird...Meet Piddle, the playful platypus lass just looking for mates to have fun with, Lulu, a shy koala, Gru, the out-and-about young kangaroo, and Cookie, a crazy kookaburra. Then, there's Crank-or Charles, as he prefers to be called-the biggest, meanest crocodile ever. He has a sense of humor second to none, so he thinks. Man befriends them, sharing his ancestral Dreamtime stories and learning their ways in return while the group does a walk-about in the Red Center of Australia. Along comes Burtie, a wombat who already knows everything that anyone should know. And tiny Winston, the eccentric echidna, following a spider web to find the Goori Goori Bird--and kill it. Come along for an adventure in Dreamtime.

About the Author

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RJ Biggar is an American doctor (specializing in children) who lives near Washington DC. In preparation for this book, he spent two years traveling all over Australia, sleeping the canyons of the Outback, camping on Kangaroo Island, hiking through crocodile-infested streams in Kakadu National Park, and swimming along the Great Barrier Reef. He has written 4 other novels and plays for children.