Royce Bond – February 25 2018

Royce is a retired award-winning science teacher turned full-time writer. His ‘Kitchen Science’ program is used in 2000 schools throughout Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia, and he published its accompanying text of the same name after winning the prestigious National BHP /CSIRO Science Teacher’s Award. Royce has worked as a part-time freelance writer and newspaper columnist. He has also dabbled in poetry. Royce’s other works include the non fiction book, The Case of the Smelly Armpit and Other Scientific Mysteries, over a dozen children’s short stories, and seven teacher reference books. He has written one television script, The Beetlejuice Pirates, and two young adult fantasy novel series, The Chronicles of the Knights of Katesch and The Lords of Time which see him combine his love of medieval re-enactment with science. Royce is also a speaker at numerous schools in Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne giving author talks about writing and science.

Spare Body Parts – Illustrated by Mitch Vane
Hodder Headline, 2001; ISBN 9780733613111
9-13 years
A dog with two heads. A mouse with a human ear growing out of his back. A toilet that knows when you’ve eaten junk food. A bank where you can buy hearts and kidneys. A robot that hunts dangerous tumours. An insect that’s really a spy! Have you ever wondered what the future may look like? One day people will be able to live with half a brain, human organs will be grown inside pigs and blood will be grown in the same way we grow plants. This book is an educational but fun look at the outrageous, weird and sometimes wonderful technological developments expected this century.

Mars Attack – Illustrated by Gus Gordon
Random House, 1999; ISBN 9780091838744
Primary – lower secondary

Mars is within your reach. What if you were one of the first Martians? No! Not those little green men from sci-fi movies, but one of the first colonists from Earth to settle on the Red Planet. But how would you get there? How could you go to the toilet in space? Where would you live and what would you eat? Could you take your pets?