Ash Road — Ivan Southall

Winner, Children's Book Council, Book of the Year, 1966

Commended, American Library Association, 1966

Winner, New York Times Book Review, Children's Book of the Year, 1966

Introduction by Maurice Saxby

It's hot, dry and sweaty on Ash Road, where Graham, Harry and Wallace are getting their first taste of independence, camping, just the three of them. When they accidentally light a bushfire no one would have guessed how far it would go. All along Ash Road fathers go off to fight the fires and mothers help in the first aid centres. The children of Prescott are left alone, presumed safe, until it's the fire itself that reaches them. These children are forced to face a major crisis with only each other and the two old men left in their care.

The best selling Ash Road is an action-packed adventure story, so evocative of rural Australia you can taste the Eucalyptus.