Isabella's Diary

2005

Children's novel for 8-10 year olds in diary format. The story follows a true diary of a boat coming to New Zealand in 1865. (In the story a child dies of a measles outbreak but in the historical diary, 20 children died.)

2018 Austin Macauley UK. Reprinted in braille in NZ, 2020

Written in a similiar style as the Scholastic "My Story" series ie Diary format, based on a true event or person. The story, set in the 1930s, follows the life of a young boy who lives on a farm in southern NZ in the 1930s depression. He has a dream to play sport, especially rugby which he plays in the paddock with his brothers, sometimes using a swede for a ball. He listens to the commentary of the international games on radio and dreams of being an All Black.