Bustown and Desiree Din and the Red Forest by Lachlan Philpott

Bustown

Breathe in deep, can ya smell it? Smell of bus seats. Vinyl and sweat. Nothing nowhere beats that. See the yellow bus? That’s where we was born. Bustown. A junked paradise of worn tyres and scrap metal, far away from the land of Otherness.

Enjoying the safety of their junkyard town, the people of Bustown happily wait for The Driver to return. But Axel and Cressida can’t stop thinking about Otherness. With a chain of keys in close reach, how long will they continue to wait?

A vibrant exploration of small town life, Bustown questions the desperate move young people make to the city and the impact it has on the people and places they leave behind.

Desiree Din and the Red Forest

Desiree Din feels like a powerless little girl. Sick of hearing she’s too young to understand, she fights with her mother and battles her brother and sister. But one day, Desiree goes too far …

After an explosive fight with her family, they leave Desiree home alone. Out of her frustration, she creates the illusory Red Forest, a magical world full of strange creatures who need her help. In this world of her own, Desiree is finally powerful, but is being in charge really as simple as she thought?