Zillah Bethell

Desperate to become a shark-caller to avenge the death of her parents, Blue Wing is instead charged with befriending infuriating newcomer Maple. At first they are angry and out of sync with the island and each other. But when the tide breathes the promise of treasure, can they overcome their differences and brave the deadliest shark in the ocean?

The Shark Caller

The Song Walker is an extraordinary new story of friendship, discovery and courage from Zillah Bethell, author of The Shark Caller which won the Wales Book of the Year and the Edward Stanford Children's Travel Book of the Year 2022. "There are three questions that I need to find the answers to: Where am I? What am I doing here? And... Who am I?" When a young girl wakes up in the middle of the desert, she has no idea who she is. She's wearing one shoe, a silky black dress, and she's carrying a strange, heavy case. She meets Tarni, who is on a mysterious quest of her own. Together, the two girls trek across the vast and ever-changing Australian Outback in search of answers. Except both are also hiding secrets...

The Song Walker

I am how I've always been. My name is Auden Dare. I am eleven years old. Auden Dare has an unusual perspective on life: he cannot see in colour. He's always had this rare condition - and life is beginning to get harder for Auden. The war for water that is raging across the world is getting a little closer all the time. It hardly rains any more, anywhere. Everyone is thirsty all the time, and grubby, and exhausted. Auden has to learn to live without his father, who is away fighting, and has had to move to a new town with his mother, and start a new school, where everyone thinks he's a weirdo. But when he meets Vivi Rookmini, a smiling girl bright with cleverness, his hopes begin to lift. It soon becomes clear to Auden, though, that there are some strange things afoot in his new hometown. He and his mother have moved into the old cottage of his recently dead uncle Jonah Bloom - a scientist and professor at the university. The place is in disarray, and although Auden's mother tells him it's because Jonah was a messy old thing, Auden knows differently. Someone else did this, someone who was looking for something of Jonah's. Auden had heard too that Jonah was working on something that could cure Auden's condition - could this be it? Then Auden and Vivi make an extraordinary discovery. Hidden away under the shed at the bottom of Jonah's garden is an enigmatic and ingenious robot, who calls himself Paragon. A talking, walking, human-like robot. Apparently built by Jonah, but why? The answer to this will take Auden and Vivi on a thrilling journey of discovery as they seek to find out just what exactly Paragon is - and what link he has to Auden - and find that the truth is bigger and more wonderful than either of them could have imagined.

The Extraordinary Colours of Auden Dare

In a post-apocalyptic Great Britain, after her mother's death Serendipity, about twelve, leaves Lahn Dan and teams up with an orphan, Tab, hoping to find horses surviving somewhere.

A Whisper of Horses

A beautiful friendship and coming-of-age story in middle-grade, The Extraordinary Colors of Auden Dare by Zillah Bethell is lightly futuristic, and deeply compelling. Auden Dare is colorblind and lives in a world where water is scarce and families must live on a weekly, allocated supply. When Auden’s uncle, the scientist Dr. Bloom, suddenly dies, he leaves a note to Auden and to his classmate Vivi Rookmini. Together, the notes lead them to Paragon—a robot. As Auden, Vivi, and Paragon try to uncover Paragon’s purpose and put together the clues Dr. Bloom left behind, they find out that Dr. Bloom's death was anything but innocent, that powerful people are searching for Paragon—and that it's up to Auden and Vivi to stop them.

Zillah Bethell

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