Barbican

This is a series of seven fantasy adventure books written for middle school (c. 10-14 year old) children, although many older teens have been engrossed by the stories, and especially the brainfood they supply.

Kings Keep is a (fictional) private school set in bushland near the city ofSydney,Australia. The adventures and mysteries in the books relate to the many former uses of the school site as well as its unusual teaching staff and teaching methods, all of which keep the new students (and the reader) guessing throughout the series. The castle references in each book title are at first cryptic and unexplained to further tantalize the reader.

The action centres around the main character, twelve-year-old Alec, a farm boy from far westernNew South Waleswho is very much a fish out of water in the city. He is struggling to come to terms with a family tragedy that has left him angry and vulnerable.

Alecs adventures and dilemmas raise important issues including friendship and trust, multiculturalism and aboriginal culture, altruism and self-preservation, uniqueness and destiny, time and space. Liberal sprinklings of Australian history, biography, art, foreign languages and sciences provide interesting and, at times, provocative topics for the reader to explore further.