Books —
Phenomena

Phenomena is an educational series of children's books. The series has been put together by Black Dog Books and published in Australia by Horwitz Martin. Some of the books have also been published in the USA by Sundance Publishing. As they are aimed at the education market, they are sold directly to schools and are not available through bookstores. If you want to get a copy, try contacting the publisher directly.

The concept of the series is that each educational topic has two books — a non-fiction book with a few short pieces of fiction, and a short novel with fact boxes in the margins.

Real Sci-Fi

ISBN: 0 7253 1664 0

This book is on the Years 7, 8 and 9 booklist for the 2008 Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge. This is its fourth year on the booklist.

This is my nonfiction contribution for the first series, about the realities in science fiction — developments that science fiction has predicted and is still predicting. Each chapter begins with a short story to introduce the topic. It was published in Australia in June 1999 and in the USA in April 2000. The USA publisher has re-titled the series Fact Meets Fiction, changed the cover, the layout and even some of the text.

Contents are as follows:

• Introduction
• Chapter 1 — Space: the Final Frontier
• Chapter 2 — Electronic brains in cyberspace
• Chapter 3 — Mechanical creatures and living machines
• Chapter 4 — Death rays and light beams
• Chapter 5 — Flying saucers and little green men
• Chapter 6 — From the past and into the future
• Where to from here?
• George's note

Heroes & Villains

ISBN: 0 7253 1949 6

This is my nonfiction contribution for the second series, examining heroes and villains, both fictional and real, throughout history. Each chapter begins with a short story to introduce the topic. It was published in Australia in September 2000.

Contents are as follows:

• Introduction
• Chapter 1 — Myths and superheroes
• Chapter 2 — Playing to win
• Chapter 3 — The winner takes it all
• Chapter 4 — Fighting the system
• Chapter 5 — Heroic villains
• Chapter 6 — Ordinary people
• Where to from here?
• George's note

Ordinary Hero

ISBN: 0 7253 1948 8

This is my novel for the second series, and companion book to Heroes and Villains. The story is about a boy who becomes a reluctant hero after saving a young girl from a house fire. It was published in Australia in September 2000.

Contents are as follows:

• Chapter 1 — Award for bravery
• Chapter 2 — Walking to school
• Chapter 3 — English class
• Chapter 4 — Super Store
• Chapter 5 — Police
• Chapter 6 — From hero to villain
• Chapter 7 — Resolutions
• Chapter 8 — Explanations
• Where to from here?
• George's note

[ HOME ] [ writing stuff ] [ acting stuff ] [ web stuff ] [ other stuff ]

[ books ] [ short stories ] [ articles ] [ scripts ] [ papers ] [ editing ] [ speaking ] [ reading ]

Last Modified: Wednesday, 27 February, 2008.

© 2008 George Ivanoff