The Secret of Zanzibar

The highly acclaimed Gerander trilogy comes to its thrilling conclusion Ages: 9-12 'So many secrets ...so many lies ...' Time is running out, as Queen Eugenia prepares to crown herself the absolute ruler of Greater Gerander. And so Alistair and Tibby Rose travel deep into dangerous territory on a daring mission to stop her, while Alice and Alex risk their lives by returning to the enemy stronghold they so recently fled. They must act now to restore Zanzibar to the throne, or lose their homeland forever. But Zanzibar has a secret. And it may cost Alistair his life ...

About the Author

Frances Watts spent nearly ten years working with some of Australia’s most talented children’s authors and illustrators as an editor before writing a book of her own. Her bestselling picture book Kisses for Daddy (illustrated by David Legge), was named an Honour Book in the Early Childhood category of the 2006 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards, and has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide in many different languages. Her second picture book with David Legge, Parsley Rabbit’s Book about Books, won the Eve Pownall Award for Information Books in the 2008 CBCA Book of the Year awards.

Captain Crabclaw’s Crew is the third book by this successful team. As well as continuing to write picture books, Frances has been working on a series of junior novels about two very unlikely superheroes, Extraordinary Ernie and Marvellous Maud, with the heroic illustrator Judy Watson. The third book in the series, The Greatest Sheep in History, will be published in April 2009.

Frances lives in Sydney’s inner west, and divides her time between writing and editing.