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Jacqueline Harvey

Jacqueline Harvey

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Jacqueline Harvey worked in schools for many years but has had a passion for storytelling since she was a child.


She is the author of the popular Alice-Miranda, Clementine Rose, Kensy and Max and Willa and Woof series, which have sold almost two million copies in Australia alone. In 2022, she released a picture book, That Cat, illustrated by one of her former students, Kate Isobel Scott. The pair has since gone on to publish The Daring Tale of Gloria the Great and the Kevin the Sheep series. Jacqueline's books have received numerous shortlistings and awards while her picture book, The Sound of the Sea, was a CBCA Honour Book.


Jacqueline speaks to thousands of young people at schools and festivals around the world and says the characters in her books are often made up of the best bits of children she’s met over the years. While she is not a twin, like Kensy and Max she does have excellent powers of observation and has always thought she’d make a great spy.


She has narrated over thirty audio books.


Jacqueline lives between Sydney, Australia, and Queenstown, New Zealand. The first book in her new middle grade series, The Girl and the Ghost, launches in 2025.

More features

Video
Girl and the Ghost by Jacqueline Harvey TRAILER

Read more: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-girl-and-the-ghost-9781761349409 A French village, new friends, fabulous food, a local mystery to be solved and . . . a ghost. She snaps the locket shut. Just as quickly as he appeared, the boy is gone. Josephine’s heart is hammering. Her skin feels prickly and hot. Surely, she’s imagined him. That’s the only possible explanation. Because boys don’t live in lockets. Not unless they’re ghosts. And ghosts aren’t real. Or are they? When almost-thirteen-year-old Josephine Eloise Thomas moves from Sydney to a chateau in the southwest of France, she expects many things – adventures, inspiration for the stories she loves to write and maybe finding out more about her French mother, who tragically died when she was a toddler. What she doesn’t expect is to find a beautiful gold locket with the ghost of Louis XVII trapped inside! After being accidentally released into the twenty-first century, the young prince proves to be annoying, strange and obviously from another time. He also believes that Josephine is not who she says she is. Then, there’s Gabriel. The grandson of the local baker – French, beautiful, an artist and definitely not a ghost. When Josephine and Gabriel venture to the shadowy Chateau Du Lac next door to her home, the secrets become more sinister. With Louis’s help, can Josephine and Gabriel discover what her neighbours are really up to and solve the mystery of Louis and the locket too?

Article
Willa and Woof: Camp Chaos maze activity

Help Willa find Woof with this fun maze activity!

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Keep entertained this long weekend!

Activities to keep the children engaged this weekend (regardless of the weather!)

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Willa and Woof 4: Wedding Rescue by Jacqueline Harvey | OUT NOW

Order your copy here - https://www.penguin.com.au/books/willa-and-woof-4-wedding-rescue-9781761043345 Adventure, imagination and loads of fun. Summer has arrived and Willa’s excited – it’s time for Aunty Jane’s wedding! But December means it’s bushfire season too and Willa’s town is in danger. When a spot fire burns down the wedding venue, she has to jump into action to save the day. She’ll need to enlist the help of some of Sunset Views retirement village’s most talented residents (along with Tae, her best same-age friend; her trusty sidekick Woof; and Frank, her best old-age friend) to pull everything together. Can Willa find a way to rescue the wedding?

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Willa and Woof 3 Colouring In

Colour in with Willa and Woof

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Willa and Woof Activity

Find a word with Willa and Woof

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Willa and Woof 1: Mimi is Missing by Jacqueline Harvey | OUT NOW

Adventure, imagination and loads of fun. From the bestselling author of Alice-Miranda comes this humorous and heartfelt series about eight-year-old Willa and her best four-legged friend, Woof! Willa’s in trouble. Mimi – the famous racing pigeon owned by Frank, her neighbour and best old-aged friend – is missing. And Willa is pretty sure she’s the one who left the cage door open . . . She’ll need her most creative ideas (along with the help of Tae, her best same-age friend, and her trusty sidekick Woof, the albino Irish Wolfhound) to track Mimi down before Frank finds out! Can Willa find Mimi before it’s too late? Order your copy here - https://www.penguin.com.au/books/willa-and-woof-1-mimi-is-missing-9781761043314

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That Cat read aloud by Jacqueline Harvey

Buy now: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/that-cat-9781761040702 An utterly delightful rhyming book, purrfect for the whole family. Nothing is quite like a cat. There are brat cats and fat cats, rat cats and mat cats . . . but if there's one cat everyone knows, it's THAT CAT. #ThatCat #JacquelineHarvey #KateIsobelScott