Rose in bloom by Sherryl Clark

Ill. by Lucia Masciullo. Our Australian Girl (series). Penguin, 2011. ISBN 978 0 14 330539 1.
(Ages: 9+) Australian history. In this the last in the quartet of books concerning Rose, a young girl struggling to be free of the restrictions on young women of her age at the time of Federation in 1901, she has secured a place in the school cricket team. But she cannot tell her parents, and so hides the invitation that the school sends out to the parents of the girls in the team, to watch their team's efforts against another girl's school. Rose, unused to the longer skirt her mother makes her wear, tumbles down the stairs injuring her ankle only weeks before the big match. A likeable character, Rose will have the sympathy of the readership behind her as they too struggle with her dilemma. Readers will understand from these short, easy to read series just how different the lives of girls were at the turn of the twentieth century, and marvel at just how our society has progressed since then.
The Rose series of books within the series, Our Australian Girl, will like the others attract a wide and loyal readership as the mid primary people read of girls their age in various dates in our past. All books are supported by a website that the readers will love to explore.
Fran Knight