When Ann, a smart but unlucky teenager, gets an opportunity to search for fossils in the American West, she is determined to turn her luck around and show the world her discoveries.

These hilarious fictional diaries put us inside the heads of hapless figures from history.

In this diary, we follow the experiences of a girl who finds herself in the running to be selected for a milestone manned voyage to Mars. Will she get through the rigorous training in one piece? Will she survive the journey to the red planet? And what historic words should she say when she first steps foot on its soil?

'Get Real' fact boxes featured throughout provide historical context and summarise the relevant scientific principles.


This series of hilarious fictional diaries put us inside the heads of hapless figures from history in frazzling situations. Alexander is a fourteen-year-old boy living in Athens in the 5th century BC. He wants to be a great warrior like his father, but he can barely lift a spear. When he’s tasked with accompanying a great Greek warrior, Dracon, to the Olympic Games in Oympia, he might just get his chance to prove himself in the sporting arena instead of on the battlefield. Will he become an Olympian legend or will the Greek poets be composing songs about how terrible he is?

‘Get Real’ fact boxes feature throughout, providing historical context and further information, as well as a timeline, historical biographies and a glossary in the endmatter.