A friend for Grace by Sofie Laguna

Ill. by Lucia Masciullo. Our Australian Girl(series). Penguin, 2011, ISBN 978 0 14 330529 3.
(Ages 9+) Recommended. Australian history. Grace is now aboard the prison ship, Indispensible, where she has become friendly with Hannah, a young girl her age also on the ship bound for New South Wales. Hannah's mother, convicted for stealing, begged the judge to allow her daughter to come with her to New South Wales, rather than leave her alone and homeless in London. Through their eyes we see the ship for what it is, a hovel, full of convicts, some of whom are ill, smelling of vomit and death.
A second story about Grace, a convict girl bound for Sydney Town, in the series, Our Australian Girl, will have wide appeal to students and teachers wanting a warm hearted story about our forebears. An engaging main charter, along with an informative story, will be a boon for teachers looking for an interesting way to teach the new curriculum. At the end of this story, is information about the situation in Sydney Cove, and a teaser, the first chapter of the story following the life of Grace when she arrives in the penal settlement, Grace and Glory.
Fran Knight