Conrad Cooper's Last Stand

Description

Set in 1978 against the Bastion Point occupation, Conrad Cooper's Last Stand is junior fiction full of humour but with a powerful core. Award-winning author Leonie Agnew has created a surprising, brave and totally engaging novel for young readers. "Dear Tane, I've never prayed to a god, so hope this is okay. If I get it wrong, don't strike me down with a thunderbolt or anything - I'm just a kid." Conrad Cooper needs a favour. He's just found out about Tane, the god of the forest, and he's decided that Tane is the perfect guy to solve his family problems. After all, the more high-profile gods probably have huge waiting lists, right? In return, Conrad will do anything to repay Tane, no matter how much trouble it causes. But will a Maori god listen to the prayers of a ten-year-old Pakeha boy? And, worse still, does Tane even exist?

Leonie Agnew may or may not be living in South America with a poodle named Juan. She informs us that her days are spent drinking sangrias and teaching Juan how to bark in Spanish, while trading sombreros on the black market via her iPad. However, our sources have located her in Auckland, New Zealand. They claim she is an award-winning children's author, a former copy writer, and currently moonlights as a primary school teacher. It is possible she has a tendency to make things up. This is called lying, unless you write it down - then it is pleasantly referred to as being an author.