Plagues and Federation: the Diary of Kitty Barnes, The Rocks, Sydney, 1900

Kitty lives in the 1900s in the Rocks, a poor area of Sydney. Her brother is away fighting in the Boer War, she teaching her mother to read and she is in love with the boy next door. There is also talk of uniting all the states in Federation and suddenly Sydney is gripped by a terrifying outbreak of Bubonic Plague.

This entire series is a wonderful way to learn history or teach it to adolescents. I find today's generations seem to recall more when they learn through other people (pop songs, celebrity gossip, etc.), so what better way to teach history than through someone else's perspective? Yes, "authentic" diaries would be "better", but would the language really hold the modern student's attention? Did the diary writer know what WOULD be important in the context of history? Probably not.