Reviews

The author adopts quite a chatty tone as she very successfully 'makes history come alive' and takes readers through the eight centuries of social, political, and cultural world history haunted by the terrors of The Plague, The Death, The Pestilence. Comprehensively researched historical information is interspersed with some gripping 'Imagine you are there' segments: diary entries and letters written by fictional characters who are about fourteen.
— Elspeth Cameron, Reading Time

This text offers excellent insights into medieval society as well as human nature in general and would be certain to spark lively classroom discussions about medieval European life for high school students learning about this period of history.
— Susan Whelan, Suite101

Authoritative information accompanies the colorful narrative.
— Western Australia Department of Education

Carole Wilkinson takes the reader beyond the surface of the Ned Kelly legend... She brings the story alive through the everyday life and struggles of this unkilely hero... Wilkinson leads readers to ponder how Ned became an Australian icon in an accessible text which consummately uses fact and fictional reconstructions to achieve its purposes.
— Children’s Book of the Year Judges’ Report

An entertaining and enlightening read for kids who might not otherwise learn much about their past...
— Jane Sullivan, The Age

Through her consummate research and a deep, abiding empathy with the characters which she has resurrected, Carole Wilkinson has that rare ability to bring the past to live, in all of its authentic, ‘warts-and-all’ realism. Recommended.
— Magpies

One does not have to be a prior Kelly enthusiast to enjoy this book. It will appeal to not only the juvenile reader, but also to anyone wishing to gain a quick basic understanding of the story without having to wade through piles of books.
— Bailup

A terrific book... easy to read and very enjoyable...
— Paul (Young Australian Readers’ Awards)