A big city ballerina with a chip on her shoulder. A homeschooled country girl ready to stand her ground. Throw them together and sparks are sure to fly!
 
Twelve-year old Aria Bennett’s life is prim and precise … until suddenly, it isn’t. Instead of peacefully living at her grandmother’s luxurious home in Auckland and attending special ballet classes to prepare for an upcoming audition, Aria is sent to live with her cousins in isolated Peel Forest, South Canterbury. She’s never met them, and never wanted to. Self-sufficient, homeschooled and far too numerous, they sound like a nightmare. Especially their composting toilet.
 
Hazel Anderson, second eldest of the eight Anderson children, loves her home and her family. She is fiercely protective of her young brothers and sisters and vows that Aria had better be nice to them OR ELSE. Then again, what’s not to like about living in a huge, noisy family, foraging for food off the land, milking goats and sharing a bedroom? She’s most likely worrying for nothing.
 
But when Aria arrives, it’s far worse than anyone imagined. She’s determined not to fit in, and Hazel is equally determined to protect the little ones from Aria’s snooty behaviour. Two cousins are going head to head in one almighty clash of wills. Throw in some possums, a chocolate cake and a very small house and you have a recipe for disaster … or do you?
 
‘Clash of the Cousins’ won the 2020 New Writers Award for a junior novel from Storylines New Zealand, and was shortlisted for the Tom Fitzgibbon Award.  It went on to receive a 'Highly Commended' from the Storyline Notable Book Awards where it was shortlisted in the junior novel category. Suitable for ages 8-12 years, or for younger children as a readaloud all the family can enjoy.