Running in Circles by Shivaun Plozza

Dell (Adelaide) lives with her dad and three sisters. Mum left the family when Dell was only seven to follow her dream of finding evidence and perhaps even meeting aliens. Initially mum did contact the family but for many years they have not heard from her. Dell resents the way her birthday cards, if they were even sent, arrived well after the event and she is confused and furious as to why mum left them in the first place. None of this is fair to her dad or her sisters. Then mum arrives back in town. It is Dell who first sees her and her instinct is to protect the family from any further hurt and disappointment. The two youngest children, Prim and Una, don't have any memory of their mother - they were so young when she left. Summer, Dell's older sister does remember, and Dell is sure she won't want to revisit the hurt and disappointment that will to come when her mother breezes out of town again.

Slowly Dell watches with deep concern and even anger as each member of her family seems to fall under mum's spell. Mum is sure this new crop circle in Tully means friendly aliens want to help our planet with our climate crisis. Dell is a budding meteorologist so she knows this is all nonsense but then dad says the whole family needs to go to the crop circle at midnight on 7th June because that is when the aliens will arrive. 

Here are a few text quotes:

"I turn away and walk the circle myself. It's messy. It's not sugar cane this time, just long grass that's all squished and tangled like bed hair. ... I crouch, searching for signs the grass was flattened with a plank. Nothing. ... Just rain and grass and mud and footprints." pg 117

"Why is she here? In our house? The one she left? My heart constricts. What if she stays. If she apologises and becomes our mum again and loves dad and never leaves. Is that okay?" pg 161

"You should all read Quentin's book. He argues that every time they visit, it's been to heal our mistakes through the key lines. Humans cause so much damage. We're really the worst disease this planet has every known. She we think they'll finally speak with us directly, to teach us their ways and share their technology." pg 165

Fun fact - before you read this book (or after) you will discover that in 1966 a crop circle did appear near Tully. Read more here. And here is a detailed ABC News page with more information. 

Readers in Australia who do not live in Queensland may need a map to locate Tully and perhaps do some further reading about their record rainfall. And they really do have a big gumboot in the town. Also, the research topic that Dell and her friend Teddy have chosen about The Alligators Nest is a real place (even though there are no alligators in Australia).

Located in the Tully Gorge National Park 6 km north of Tully via Murray Street, this is a rainforest park which was originally popularised by a group of local scouts who gave it the name (there are no alligators in Australia). It is a day use picnic area fringed by rainforest which has lilies, palms, fern-leafed tamarinds and water ferns. Part of the appeal of the area is that the rainforest is home to eastern water dragons, nursery frogs and chameleon geckos.

The chapter titles in this book work as a countdown to the final showdown when the aliens are due to arrive on the 7th June. 

I had a small but good collection of books about aliens, UFOs, and occurrences like crop circles in my former school library. I was always fascinated by the books about The Nazca Lines for example. If you are visiting a library take a look at Dewey [001.9; 001.94 or 001.95].

Publisher blurb: When crop circles appear in Tully, North Queensland, twelve-year-old Dell knows it’s a hoax. She’s a future climate scientist who believes in facts, not science fiction. But Dell’s estranged mum is an extraterrestrial fanatic. She blusters back into town armed with alien conspiracy theories and a dazzling smile. If Dell can prove the crop circle is fake, surely her mum will hightail it out of Tully again, preferably before she causes Dell’s dad and three sisters further heartbreak. But as her mother’s claims grow more out of this world and alien fever takes over the country, Dell worries she’s fighting a losing battle. How can she convince anyone of the truth when they’re all so desperate to believe a lie?

One of the aspects of this story that I wrongly anticipated was the way Quentin Higgs, the pseudo-scientist working with Dell's mum, was sure to be exposed as a fraud and I expected to discover his main motivation was to sell his book but that didn't seem to eventuate. This could be a good discussion point with your class. 

Here are some things I discovered about crop circles (source - note this contains a lot of advertising):

From the 1960s to the 1980s, perhaps no term was more commonly associated with UFOs and extraterrestrial visitation than “crop circles.” As the name suggests, crop circles are massive, circular areas of flattened crops — usually wheat or corn — or other plants, which depict seemingly intentional shapes and other images when seen from above. (in the case of Running in Circles it is a sugar cane farm).

Crop circles amazed many people due to the large size of the indentations and the images they depicted. It’s little wonder why they led to speculation about alien craft landing on Earth. After all, some indentations appeared to mark where “saucers” had once rested. And others seemed to be messages from extraterrestrial beings ...

Two Englishmen proved that it didn’t take an advanced civilization or technology beyond humanity’s comprehension to create crop circles. In fact, all it required was a bit of liquid courage, heavy planks of wood, and some rope. Despite this, some ufologists insist that at least some crop circles were made by “nonhuman” beings.

In 1966, an Australian banana farmer named George Pedley allegedly witnessed something bizarre on his property near Tully. Pedley claimed to have seen a "flying saucer" lifting off — leaving behind a large, circular area of flattened plants in the exact same spot where the UFO had landed. Dubbed a "saucer nest," Pedley's crop circle was not an isolated incident. All around the Tully region, locals began reporting more saucer nest sightings

I do think, however, that readers aged 10+ will enjoy Running in Circles with the advice do not skip to the end. You are sure to be on Dell's side hoping the truth will be revealed. It is rare to read a book for this age group where the mother is so awful - she left the family when the children were very young because she is obsessed with her belief in aliens. She even seems to bribe the kids with cafe treats and a 'pretend' interest in their lives and she keeps making promises that she has no intention of fulfilling - her betrayal of Summer is dreadful. On the upside Dels' grandmother, who is called Mo-Mo, is a wonderful support to Dell when everything seems to be crashing down around her. 

Thank you to Gleebooks kids for sharing their advance reader copy of Running in Circle and to UQP for the actual copy. Running in Circles will be released next week - 28th April 2026. You can read an extract here. 

Shivaun Plozza has a 2026 Older Readers Notable title: The Worst Perfect Moment. Read the Kirkus Star review. I am going to keep my eye out for another of her books from 2020 - The Boy, The Wolf and the Stars. 

Here are some other books I have talked about by Shivaun Plozza:

Meet me at the Moon Tree

Summer of the Shipwrecks

Further reading and other books to explore:

Non Fiction fans should look for this terrific series