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Deborah trained as a teacher before becoming writer/producer of a national children’s TV show at Network TEN. She then went to Africa where she was harassed by monkeys, got caught in a desert sandstorm and thrown in jail twice. Since then, she’s become an internationally published and awarded author of 28 books including her climate change trilogy, Grimsdon, New City and Final Storm. TheStupendously Spectacular Spelling Bee and The Most Marvellous Spelling Bee Mystery were inspired by her grade 4 teacher. Her latest books are the CBCA Notable books, Bear in Space, and The Book of Wondrous Possibilities, her love letter to books, booksellers and librarians and how they save us when we feel lost. Her latest books are The Kindness Project and a picture book called No More Room in the Bed (Aug 2024). Deb’s won awards for her work but mostly hopes to be as brave as her characters.
Books by Deborah Abela
The Kindness Project
Best Suited 8-12 Years
Ms Skye thinks kids can change the world with a Kindness Project.
Nicolette wants to but how can she when Layla treats her like she’s invisible and DJ picks on everything she says? Leaf thinks Nicolette can be a superhero.
So maybe if they work together they just might do it.
The Book of Wondrous Possibilities
Best Suited 8-12 Years
Arlo Goodman lives with his Uncle Avery in a run-down flat above their bookshop. He has no friends, except for his pet mouse, Herbert.
But when a girl called Lisette bursts into the shop and begs him to hide her from a murderer, Arlo’s life changes forever.
He’s swept up into an adventure involving kidnappers, car chases and a story in The Book of Wondrous Possibilities, where Arlo and his skymouse battle dragons. But can Arlo find the courage to battle an even greater enemy, who threatens to destroy everything he loves?
Bear in Space
Best suited 4+Years
Bear has plans to change his world, one space adventure at a time, and discovers just how far you can go with someone by your side.
Grimsdon
Best Suited 9-13 Years
Grimsdon is in ruins. Three years ago a massive wave broke its barriers and the sea flooded this grand city. Most were saved, some were lost – and some were left behind.
New City
Best Suited 9 – 13 years old
A new city offers a new life – but what kind of life will Isabella and her friends find?
Final Storm
Best Suited 9-13 Years
Isabella, Griffin and their friends have settled into New City, enrolled in school and are making new friends. When someone from Isabella’s past returns, loyalties are tested. Who is watching her from the shadows? And can Isabella and Griffin’s friendship survive this furious final storm?
The Stupendously Spectacular Spelling Bee
Best Suited 8-12 Years
India Wimple can spell. Brilliantly. Every Friday night, she and her family watch the Stupendously Spectacular Spelling Bee. When the Wimples suggest she enter the next Bee, India says she’s not good enough – but her family won’t hear it and encourage her to sign up.
The Most Marvellous Spelling Bee Mystery
Best Suited 8-12 Years
Just when India Wimple’s life is returning to normal after competing in the Stupendously Spectacular Spelling Bee, she’s invited to London for an international spelling showdown. But how can she go without her family? The Yungabilla community might have a solution!
Wolfie: An Unlikely Hero
Best Suited 3-6 Years
Wolfie may want to be a hero, but he’s about to discover that arguing with this book’s narrator is not the best way to improve his image…
Max Remy Superspy 1: In Search Of The Time And Space Machine
Best Suited 9-12 Years
Max Remy is twelve and hates almost everything except superspy Alex Crane, a fictitious character Max has invented who works for a secret spy agency called Spyforce. When Max is sent off to the bush to spend time with her aunt and uncle, she arrives with an attitude and a determination to have a bad time. How can she possibly hope to emulate Alex Crane and become a superspy on a boring old farm?
But then Max’s uncle’s shed explodes (just as Linden, the boy next door, is saving Max from sinking into a cowpat-filled dam), and Max discovers that her aunt and uncle are not quite what they seem – In fact, they are world-famous scientists working on a Time and Space Machine that will change the world!!!
Before long, Max and Linden are caught up in a thrilling adventure involving the real Spyforce (and some all-too-real baddies) which will challenge their bravery, invention and superspying abilities.
Max Remy Superspy 2: Spyforce Revealed
Best Suited 9-12 Years
The Easter holidays are coming up and Max can’t wait to go back to the farm to see Ben, Eleanor, Francis and Linden and escape a life she is convinced is more cursed than anyone she knows. She is even more excited to receive an invitation to attend a meeting at Spyforce HQ in London and Max and Linden board one of Spyforce’s invisible super fast jets to make the trip.
On reaching Spyforce headquarters they meet an extremely interesting collection of characters. But nothing shocks Max and Linden more than finding out that Alex Crane is real! Mr Blue is once again up to no good. Spyforce have come across information that Blue has invented a concoction that, when eaten, controls minds.
Max and Linden, along with Ella and Alex and the team at Spyforce, must once again foil the evil work of Mr Blue before he creates an army of kids under his control.
Max Remy Superspy 3: The Nightmare Vortex
Best Suited 9-12 Years
Hidden on a secret island deep within a medieval fortress, the Annual Spy Awards Night is about to begin.
But when Mr Blue intercepts Spyforce intelligence and discovers the location of the top secret ceremony, he brings to life a dormant volcano that leaves Max and Linden only hours to save the spy agencies of the world from a terrible and explosive demise.
Max Remy Superspy 4: The Hollywood Mission
Best Suited 9-12 Years
Life’s a drag for Max Remy. Her mum is getting married to her sop of a boyfriend, Aiden. Her dad wants Max to visit him in Hollywood, but she’s not allowed to fly there on her own. And her arch-enemy, Toby Jennings, is acting strangely at school.
A weekend at Mindawarra with her friend Linden soon cheers her up, especially when she discovers that Ben, Eleanor and Francis have finished their improvements to the Time and Space Machine and are taking it to America. Now Max has someone to travel with! But Max soon discovers that Hollywood isn’t all glitz and glamour. First Toby Jennings turns up unexpectedly to crash her holiday. Then Max can’t seem to do anything right on the set of her father’s latest blockbuster. And Spyforce uncovers a fiendish plot within the movie industry to program hidden secrets into Hollywood films bound for worldwide distribution.
Can Max and Linden find Dr Biggus Fartie, the world-renowed encoding expert, before it’s too late? Why does Max’s father stop paying any attention to her? And what is the mysterious Raychik really up to in the editing suite?
This may turn out to be Max Remy’s most dangerous Spyforce mission yet …
Max Remy Superspy 5: The Amazon Experiment
Best Suited 9-12 Years
There’s a new agent at Spyforce named Suave. He’s good- looking, charming and does everything perfectly. Max Remy instantly dislikes him. Then a Spyforce agent falls ill with sleeping sickness, and the cause is traced to a parasite found only in the Triatoma bug of the Amazon jungle. Max has to put her personal dislikes on hold as Quimby equips Max, Linden and Suave for the mission to the Amazon. But before they can leave, Frond is kidnapped and a normally bumbling, office-bound Steinberger takes over the mission, desperate to save Spyforce and his not- so- secret love, Frond.
Thus begins an insect-ridden, plane- crashing, piranha- eating, alligator- munching, tarantula- crawling adventure through the Amazon Jungle to rescue Frond, find the Triatoma bug and return to Spyforce to save the agents from a terrible and certain demise.
Max Remy Superspy 6: Blue’s Revenge
Best Suited 9-12 Years
Blue is locked up in the world’s most secure prison – but when has that ever stopped him from making his evil plans? After engineering a cunning escape, he kidnaps Max’s mother, organises a series of attacks on Spyforce agents, then lures Chief Harrison into meeting him on a desolate Scottish hillside. Knowing their chief is in terrible danger, Max and Linden disobey orders and go on their own mission to find Max’s mum and rescue Harrison – but can they survive Blue’s goons, the Pulverising Cell and the deadly worlds of the Portal Room?
There’s no doubt that Blue’s thirst for revenge will lead to someone’s death. But with Blue, you can’t always believe what you see …
Max Remy Superspy 7: The Venice Job
Best Suited 9-12 Years
Venice is in danger. Someone is threatening to destroy the city – and they’ve already detonated one bomb. Max, Linden and Toby join forces with a young Italian spy, Luca Cavello, to track down the culprit. Max agrees to meet the blackmailer at the famous Rialto Bridge – but before she can identify them, she’s pushed into the stormy canal waters. Are Max’s rescuers as innocent as they seem? Why do the blackmailers know Spyforce’s every move? Most importantly, can Max stop being clumsy in front of the good-looking Luca and complete the mission before Venice is lost forever?
Max Remy Superspy 8: Mission In Malta
Best Suited 9- 12 Years
Members of an elite group of scientists are disappearing and Chief Harrison’s close friend, Alfonzo Martina, is next. Max and Linden eagerly accept their mission to guard the world-famous professor – until Max finds out that Alfonzo’s specialty is leeches. Not a fan of animals, especially small, slimy, bloodsucking ones, Max soon uncovers a wretched plan to ruin not only the professor but the entire world. Will Flea-Powered Trainers and Sherbet Liquefier be enough to save the two spies, the professor and his leeches from a slimy end?
Max Remy Superspy 9: The French Code
Best Suited 9-12 Years
When a leading archeologist disappears from the Louvre, the world’s most famous museum, Spyforce agents Max, Linden and Toby are sent to France to mind his spoilt daughter. But Monsieur Marceau has left an encrypted message for his daughter, and the police aren’t the only people interested in what Veronique knows. Who has kidnapped Marceau, and why? The three superspies soon discover that the answer involves mysterious codes, secret graveyard meetings, underground torture chambers in medieval castles, and the wonders of ancient Egypt.
Will Max crack the puzzle before it’s too late?
Max Remy Superspy 10: The Final Curtain
Best Suited 9-12 Years
While Spyforce agents celebrate 50 years of fighting crime at a lavish party, a small, deadly device pulses in the floor beneath them. The next day during a spy training session in a secluded forest Max Remy is found unconscious. Did she fall or was she attacked? And why are famous monuments and buildings crumbling around London? Who is behind it and will Linden survive after becoming victim to a madman’s deadly plans?
Can Max save Linden and stop the destruction, or will this be the end of Spyforce . . . forever?
Jasper Zammit Soccer Legend 1: The Game Of Life
Best Suited 7-12 Years
Jasper Zammit is a soccer legend – at least in his own head. Whole stadiums shout his name as he bends balls, accepts trophies and scores magic goals for the Rovers Under-11s. When a new girl, Lil, joins the team, Jasper thinks he’s found someone as obsessed with soccer as he is. But there’s one hitch – Lil’s dad is the reason Jasper’s dad has lost his job. Can the two still be friends?
Jasper Zammit Soccer Legend 2: The Striker
Best Suited 7-12 Years
There’s a new kid at Jasper’s school. His name is Aamir and he can’t speak English, but when Jasper remembers his grandad saying that you don’t need language to play sport, he takes Aamir onto the soccer field to teach him a few tricks. Aamir already has a few of his own, and he’s soon invited to join the Rovers. The trouble is, star Eastville Kings player Badger Mackenzie can’t resist doing what he does best – badgering his opponent to put them off their game. This time his target is Aamir. Someone will be sent off the field with a red card – but who will it be? And will it affect the Rovers’ wish of one day playing in the finals?
Jasper Zammit Soccer Legend 3: The Finals
Best Suited 7-12 Years
It’s a few weeks before the finals and Coach Wallace has to go overseas, but he leaves the Rovers in the hands of a new coach. He’s keen, charming and knows his stuff. But with winning being the only thing he cares about, his coaching methods lead to bitter divisions and a game that is no longer fun. When Lil’s brother arrives home from playing for the state team, he helps the Rovers devise a plan to get them back on track. But will he be able to save them total collapse? Time is running out and he’s their only hope.
The Remarkable Secret Of Aurelie Bonhoffen
Best Suited 9-12 Years
A quirky and mysterious tale of friends, fire-twirlers and ghosts from one of Australia’s best storytellers.
Ever since Aurelie Bonhoffen was a child, she has juggled, played the dead girl on the ghost train and the back end of the cow in the marquee of Bonhoffen’s Seaside Pier. She adores her family – especially her uncles Rolo and Rindolf – but on her twelfth birthday, she stumbles on her family’s remarkable secret. It’s hard to accept at first, but when her new friend at school reveals a dangerous plot against the pier, the secret helps Aurelie confront the greatest threat her family has ever faced.
Ghost Club 2: The Haunted School
Best Suited 9-12 Years
Angeline and Edgar have to go to their Senior School sleepover, but Angeline is dreading having to talk to the other kids.
The night goes wrong when a ghost appears in the old boarding school dormitory where they are camped out. Their classmates are terrified – and Principal Prim is not happy!
With the help of Ghost Club, Angeline and Edgar must find out who the ghost is so they can help her – but first they have to convince their school principal that kids can be ghost catchers too, and they have to avoid Travis the bully, who is spying on them – and causing trouble wherever they go.
Ghost Club 3: A Transylvanian Tale
Best Suited 9-12 Years
Edgar, Angeline and Dylan are off to the annual Ghost Club convention – in Transylvania!
During a visit to Dracula’s castle, they are disturbed by a near-miss accident. But the danger is forgotten when Angeline has the chance to meet her hero, the famous ghost-catcher Ripley Granger.
Is Dylan the only one to notice that something is very wrong at the convention? Someone is hiding a terrible secret – and it might take the intervention of a determined ghost to make everyone see the truth.