Snatched by Pirates by Patricia Bernard.

The book is part of the My Australian Story series. It is set in 1899. As a baby, Billy Hamilton was left to die by his Chinese parents. He has a birthmark shaped like a dragon's claw; his family believes this means he will grow up to kill his father. Billy is taken in by two missionaries. They raise him in Shanghai until it becomes unsafe. They then move to Thursday Island (in the Torres Strait).

Aged 15, Billy and two Torres Strait Islander friends are captured by pirates (blackbirded). The pirates force the boys to dive for pearl shells. Billy's journey involves a number of different vessels; he meets friends and enemies, good captains and bad.

The book has lots of rich vocabulary and mentions a number of potential areas for research including pearling, whaling, various fauna and flora, Aboriginal totems and dispossession, and slavery. The crew members Billy meets come from all parts of South East Asia.

Like all the books in this series, the story is quite gritty and there are parts that could cause anxiety. There is mention of previous crew members taking their own lives, one person is bitten in half by a shark and Billy passes fat crocodiles who have obviously eaten people. In the final pages, there is a mutiny and the ship's captain and his son are murdered.

I felt that the book was longer than it needed to be and students may get bored, particularly towards the end. Lots of new characters are introduced with only 30 pages to go. At this point, I just wanted to read a conclusion.

Wonder by R.J Palacio

Wonder tells the story of ten-year-old August (Auggie) Pullman, who was born with severe facial differences. Auggie is starting at Beecher Prep School, having previously been home-schooled. The book explores Auggie's experience and also that of his older sister Via, who is starting her first year in high school.

The main themes are tolerance, kindness, friendship and parental angst. Auggie's teacher Mr Tushman gives his students a monthly precept. These precepts help to articulate the author's message.  Beecher Prep is a private 'non-inclusion' school. This brings up the debate as to whether looking different is a disability.

The first part of the book is written from Auggie's perspective. The second part details the same time period from Via's viewpoint. Auggie's friend Summer then covers the same period. Another student, Jack, takes the story forward. This is followed by a few chapters from Justin, Via's boyfriend. The story returns to Auggie for the final part.

The book is similar to Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper but more predictable and feel-good.  It would be a good book to share with a Stage 3 class (10-12-year-olds); it provides lots of opportunities to discuss both bullying and pro-social behaviour. Via's experiences at high school (her two best friends drop her) would also be interesting to explore.