David Laing 
Forest Spirit 

An exciting read, this book is an action-packed yarn: adventure, mystery, magic, suspense, spiritualism, Aboriginal and Australian culture, with a cast of interesting characters including a wombat and a German Shepherd. A book about loyalty, trust and true friendship.

Jacinta Kelly (Jars), a part Aboriginal girl living in the Northern Territory who is orphaned when a buffalo charges her family’s ute, tragically killing her mother, father and brother. Because she has no other family members in the NT, she is sent to live with her uncle, aunt and cousin (Snook) in Tasmania.

Snook and Jars quickly become friends, and along with Quenton Quigley, the annoying but not altogether bad son of the mayor of the area, they have an adventure when they go camping in the forest with Snook’s father. Jars meets the Forest Spirit – an apparition that has appeared in her dreams and now asks for her help to uncover a secret in the Tasmanian bush.

Jars, her cousin Snook and the bumbling Quenton Quigley begin and adventure in the wilderness that takes many unexpected twists and turns! At the end of the story, the mystery of Jars’ dream of an ancient man who later appears in a rock carving in a forest cave is solved. Jars also begins to overcome the grief of losing her family as she learns that they will always be with her.