POOKIE ALEERA IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND

Award-winning author Steven Herrick's latest book is a heart-warming tale about friendship, grief and the importance of baked goods.

In a country town, in a school just like yours, the kids in Class 6A tell their stories.

There's Mick, school captain and sometime trouble-maker, who wants to make the school a better place, while his younger brother Jacob just wants to fly. There's shy and lonely Laura who hopes to finally fit in with a circle of friends, while Pete struggles to deal with his grandpa's sudden death. Popular Selina obsesses over class comedian Cameron, while Cameron obsesses over Anzac biscuits and Pookie Aleera - whoever that is!

For new teacher Ms Arthur, it's another world, but for Mr Korsky, the school groundskeeper, he's seen it all before.

Steven Herrick is one of Australia's most popular and widely heard children's authors. Many of his fourteen books for children and young adults have been on the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Awards shortlist, including Love, Ghosts and Nose Hair (1997), A Place like This (1999), The Simple Gift (2001), and Tom Jones Saves the World (2003). Do-wrong Ron (2004) and By the River (2005) were named Honour Books. Steven's first novel, Rhyming Boy, was published in 2008. At school his favourite subject was soccer, and he dreamed of football glory while he worked at various jobs. For the past twenty-five years he's been a full-time writer and regularly performs his work in schools throughout the world. He lives in the Blue Mountains with his partner and two sons.