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The Wild Unknown

Brief Description
A propulsive middle-grade mystery about changing friendships, growing up, and embracing adventure. Compelling, thoughtful and impossible to put down. – Karys McEwen It's 2045 and the world is full of tech. Eddie has a bot in his ear giving him advice all day, and classroom bots... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2100
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A propulsive middle-grade mystery about changing friendships, growing up, and embracing adventure

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A propulsive middle-grade mystery about changing friendships, growing up, and embracing adventure.

Compelling, thoughtful and impossible to put down. – Karys McEwen

It's 2045 and the world is full of tech. Eddie has a bot in his ear giving him advice all day, and classroom bots keeping track of him at school. The streets are full of bird-drones, and gametech is amazing.

But tech can't help the police find a missing boy called Theo. When they abandon the search, Eddie and his friends sneak out to look for clues. What they find doesn't seem to make sense.

Then strange things start happening to Eddie. He's never been sporty but suddenly he's a brilliant runner. He has excellent night vision—and there are hair-like feathers growing out of his skin.

It's exciting. And it's terrifying.

But does the strangeness have anything to do with Theo's disappearance? And could it help Eddie find the missing boy?

The Wild Unknown is a gripping adventure set in a near-future world, where the truth can be difficult to find and where real friends will always be better than the smartest tech.

Praise

Timely and vivid, this brilliant book is a warm hug, a rustle of autumn leaves and the last day of term all rolled into one. – Fiona Wood, author of How to Spell Catastrophe, on The Goodbye Year

Two fabulous characters working out what matters most—I love Cat and Fan so much! – Sally Rippin on Elsewhere Girls

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781923058835

Publisher: Text Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 28 April 2026

Country: Australia

Imprint: The Text Publishing Company

Audience: Children

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 1.0mm

Width: 1.0mm

Height: 1.0mm

Weight: 1g

Pages: 336

About the Author

Emily Gale's books include The Goodbye Year, The Other Side of Summer and its companion novel I Am Out with Lanterns, the Eliza Boom Diaries, Steal My Sunshine and Girl, Aloud, as well as her recent collaborations with friend and fellow author Nova Weetman, Elsewhere Girls and Outlaw Girls.

Also by Emily Gale

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    Kate and Ruby live in the High Country in Victoria. They're both daring, quick-thinking and prepared to break the rules, and they're both brilliant horse riders—they'd probably be great friends. But they live in different times, more than 140 years apart. While galloping through the mountains, Kate rides headlong into a thrilling experience that transports her from 1878 to the...
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  • The Goodbye Year
    It’s the start of 2020, and Harper is filled with anticipation about being in the final year of Riverlark Primary. She wants a leadership role, the comfort of her friendship group, and to fly under the radar of Riverlark’s mean-boy. But one by one, things go wrong. When Harper’s best friends are made school captains, they are consumed by their...
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  • I Am Out With Lanterns
    A beautiful novel about friendship, first love and the power of art to change lives. One of us is in the dark. One of us is a bully. One of us wants to be understood. One of us loves a girl who loves another. One of us remembers the past as if it just happened. One of us believes they've...
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  • Aussie STEM Stars: Gisela Kaplan
    Age range 9 to 14 Aussie STEM Stars is an inspiring children's series that celebrates Australia's experts in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Gisela Kaplan's story begins in post-World War II Germany. Despite incredible challenges as a child, she retained a profound curiosity, care and compassion for all living things. Her captivating, ground-breaking scientific research on Australian magpies, tawny frogmouths,...
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  • Elsewhere Girls
    It's midnight and I'm alone in the kitchen eating a cold potato scallop. Coach O'Call would say something like, ‘That’s not what I expect from a scholarship girl!’ because I have to be up for squad training in five hours and I’m not supposed to go near potato scallops, and—oh, yeah—it’s my fifth. Cat has recently started at a new...
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  • The Other Side of Summer
    Summer is trying to recover from a tragedy, but it seems impossible when her family is falling apart around her. Having an extraordinary best friend like Mal helps a little, but Summer's secret source of happiness is a link to the past—one very special guitar. Now her dad's plan to save them is turning Summer's life upside down again. The...
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