Official Website: www.susanbrocker.com
Book Council webpage
Kiwi Write4Kidz webpage
Christchurch City Libraries webpage
New Zealand Society of Authors webpage

Susan has written more than 50 books for older kids and teenagers. Many of her books are non-fiction, about topics such as wildlife conservation, social history, and natural science. She also writes stories about horses and other animals, and can bring history alive and make it exciting, in novels like Restless Spirit and Across the Oregon Trail. Susan has worked in the writing and publishing industry since finishing her BA (Hons) in History at the University of Waikato, and became a full-time writer in 1997.

Susan says "My major achievement has been writing novels for older children about subjects close to my own heart, trying to bring history alive in them."

Dreams of Warriors

Featherston in the Second World War is a tough and bleak place for fourteen-year-old Bella. Her father is away fighting overseas, while his family fight to save their farm from ruin and keep his dreams alive. Bella, her mother, and older sister have to cope with a herd of dairy cows, an unscrupulous neighbour who covets the farm, and a crazy, bad-tempered racehorse called Gipsy. Bella is terrified of the horse and doesn’t know where to turn. When help is offered from an unlikely source, will she have the courage to accept it or will Gipsy destroy her father’s dreams?

Brave Bess and the ANZAC Horses

Many books have been written and stories told about the brave New Zealand soldiers who fought and died in World War One. But there is one story that is seldom told. It is the story of their brave horses.

At the outbreak of war in 1914, the New Zealand troops left for the battlefields with more than 3,700 horses. The horses were the first of over 10,000 that New Zealand sent to war, serving mainly with the Mounted Rifles Brigade in the deserts of the Middle East. They faced heat, stress, thirst, hunger, exhaustion, injury, and disease. Yet these noble creatures served our troopers with unquestioning courage and loyalty until the very end. Of all the horses that departed at the start of the war, only one ever returned home. Brave Bess and the ANZAC Horses is her story.

Saving Sam.

Ben's mother is dead, his father in jail, and his older brother is heading off the rails at a million kilometres an hour.

The social worker is fast running out of options, when the boys' aunt and uncle reluctantly agree to take them in. Just as well: they were the last on her list.

Ben's uncle has bought a guard dog from a man at the pub, but she's useless - afraid of loud voices and frightened of her own shadow - and he's decided to have her put down.

Ben and the unwanted dog recognize each other for what they are - damaged goods - and find some comfort and companionship together, which slowly grows into love and trust. That love will be needed when Ben's brother gets into seriously bad trouble, and Ben's trust in his dog is put to the ultimate test.

For boys and girls alike, aged 12 - 14.

Restless Spirit.

A moving and exciting adventure story for 9-12 year olds, set against the sweeping landscape of the North Island's volcanic plateau and Desert Road, RESTLESS SPIRITtells the story of a wild white Kaimanawa stallion who cannot be tamed and the two young troubled teens who come to love him.

Lara is new in town and resents it - Kahu is a talented carver, outwardly cocky and confident but riddled with doubts and fears.

Hunters slaughter the young stallion's family and he learns to fear and distrust humans, but when a brutish trainer targets the white stallion during the annual DOC muster, he must learn to trust Lara and Kahu if they are to have any chance of saving him.

To accomplish this, Lara and Kahu must both reach out - Lara to her peers and her estranged mother, and Kahu must reveal his hidden talent. Both must also face the reality that to help the stallion, they must ultimately lose him.

Parallel to their journey, the white stallion must face and overcome his fears. He must call on the strength and wisdom of his ancestors and place his trust in Lara and Kahu.