Possum Summer: Jen Blom (engl.) 156 S.

Eleven-year-old Princess desperately wants a pet, but her father says animals on a farm must earn their keep.

With her dad away in the army, her mother busy with work and her older half-sister Monica busy being 16, “P” (which she prefers over Princess) tries to make the cow-herding dog Blackie a pet, but he won’t listen to her. When Blackie kills a possum, P finds it was a mother and adopts the surviving baby despite her father’s rule. With the help of her best friend Mart, P keeps “Ike” a secret from teachers and family while trying to teach him to be a wild possum (since her wounded father will be home soon).

With catastrophes coming fast and furious, can P do right by her charge and keep the farm ready for her father’s return?

This tale is set in Oklahoma rather than Australia, but its heartrendering story is relevant the world over: the story of a girl and her father whose fractious relationship is healed by the hard lessons they learn about love and letting go.