190,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿 

Come visit us in-store this weekend! 📚 Open 7 days, 8:30am–5pm

Kokoda

Teen edition
By Peter FitzSimons
0.0 (0 reviews)
4.22 goodreads logo

Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.

Check link for latest rating. ( 23 ratings, 2 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Kokoda by Peter FitzSimons is an engaging historical account that details the arduous experiences of Australian soldiers during the Kokoda Track campaign in World War II. The book showcases their courage, resilience, and the gripping challenges they faced in the dense jungles of Papua New Guinea. It vividly portrays the fierce battles and the emotional journey of young soldiers confronting the harsh realities of war.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2499
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you're interested in gripping historical narratives and tales of bravery. It offers a compelling account of the Kokoda Track campaign during World War II, providing vivid storytelling and insights into the resilience of soldiers. If you find stories of wartime endurance and strategic battles captivating, this young adult read might just be for you.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Kokoda, 1942. In the muddy, treacherous mountains of Papua New Guinea, a small force of young Australian soldiers—some of them still teenagers—are up against highly trained, experienced Japanese troops.

Many believed that the all-conquering Imperial Japanese Army was unstoppable. But this is the story of how these brave young Aussies faced some of the world's best soldiers on a narrow, precarious jungle track—and defeated them.

Praise for the original edition: 'an engrossing narrative, beautifully controlled by a master storyteller' The Sydney Morning Herald

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Kokoda by Peter FitzSimons has been praised for its compelling narrative and expert storytelling. The Sydney Morning Herald describes it as an engrossing piece controlled by a master storyteller, while Lieutenant Allan Kanga Moore of the 39th Battalion remarks that although it reads like fiction, it is entirely factual.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780734417435

Publisher: Hachette Australia

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 25 October 2016

Country: Australia

Imprint: Lothian Children's Books

Illustration: 3x8pp 1c

Audience: Teenage

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 21.0mm

Width: 128.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 240

Collections

Children’s, Teenage and Educational Fiction Peter FitzSimons Young Adult

About the Author

Peter FitzSimons is Australia's bestselling non-fiction writer, and for the past 30 years has also been a journalist and columnist with the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD and the SUN HERALD. He is the author of a number of highly successful books, including KOKODA, NED KELLY and GALLIPOLI, as well as biographies of such notable Australians as Sir Douglas Mawson, Nancy Wake and Nick Farr-Jones. His passion is to tell Australian stories, our own stories: of great men and women, of stirring events in our history. Peter grew up on a farm north of Sydney, went to boarding school in Sydney and attended Sydney University. An ex-Wallaby, he also lived for several years in rural France and Italy, playing Rugby for regional clubs. He lives in Sydney with his wife, Lisa Wilkinson - journalist, magazine editor and currently co-presenter of TODAY on Channel 9 - and their three children.

Also by Peter FitzSimons

View all
  • Mutiny on the Bounty
    Mutiny on the Bounty by Peter FitzSimons is an enthralling retelling of one of history's most dramatic nautical adventures. The book delves deep into the legendary mutiny that took place on HMS Bounty on 28 April 1789, in the idyllic waters of the South Pacific. FitzSimons, known for his meticulous research and captivating storytelling, transports readers to a world of...
    By Peter FitzSimons
    Paperback
    $3500
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Batavia
    Batavia by Peter FitzSimons brings to life one of the greatest and most harrowing stories in Australia's history. Set in 1629, the narrative follows the maiden voyage of the Dutch East India Company’s flagship, the Batavia, as it travels from Amsterdam to the Dutch East Indies. Laden with the greatest treasure to leave Holland, the ship encounters an unforeseen disaster...
    By Peter FitzSimons
    Paperback
    $4500
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Gallipoli
    On 25 April 1915, Allied forces made a bold and fateful landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula, a strategically critical locale in present-day Turkey. Their mission was clear: to secure the sea route between Britain and France in the west and Russia in the east. However, after eight gruelling months of intense combat, the campaign ended in failure. Despite this, the...
    By Peter FitzSimons
    Paperback
    $3000
    (1)
    Backorder
    Ships mid November
  • Burke and Wills
    The iconic Australian exploration story - brought to life by Peter FitzSimons, Australia's storyteller. 'They have left here today!' he calls to the others. When King puts his hand down above the ashes of the fire, it is to find it still hot. There is even a tiny flame flickering from the end of one log. They must have left...
    By Peter FitzSimons
    Paperback
    $3999
    Backorder
    Ships mid November
  • The Legend of Albert Jacka
    Our heroes can come from the most ordinary of places. As a shy lad growing up in country Victoria, no one in the district had any idea the man Albert Jacka would become. Albert 'Bert' Jacka was 21 when Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914. Bert soon enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, and the young private was...
    By Peter FitzSimons
    Hardback
    $6000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Catalpa Rescue
    The incredible true story of one of the most extraordinary and inspirational prison breaks in Australian history. New York, 1874. Members of the Clan-na-Gael—agitators for Irish freedom from the English yoke—hatch a daring plan to free six Irish political prisoners from the most remote prison in the British Empire, Fremantle Prison in Western Australia. Under the guise of a whale...
    By Peter FitzSimons
    Paperback
    $3999
    (1)
    Backorder
    Ships early December
  • The Last Charge of the Australian Light Horse
    On 31st October 1917, as the day's light faded, the Australian Light Horse charged against their enemy. Eight hundred men and horses galloped four miles across open country, towards the artillery, rifles and machine guns of the Turks occupying the seemingly unassailable town of Beersheba. What happened in the next hour changed the course of history. This brave battle and...
    By Peter FitzSimons
    Hardback
    $6000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Fromelles and Pozières
    In the Trenches of Hell On 19 July 1916, 7,000 Australian soldiers—in the first major action of the AIF on the Western Front—attacked entrenched German positions at Fromelles in northern France. By the next day, there were over 5,500 casualties, including nearly 2,000 dead—a bloodbath that the Australian War Memorial describes as 'the worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history.'...
    By Peter FitzSimons
    Paperback
    $3600
    Elsewhere:
    $4000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Battle of Long Tan
    From the bestselling author of Kokoda and Gallipoli comes the epic story of Australia's deadliest Vietnam War battle. 4.31 pm: Enemy [on] left flank. Could be serious. 5.01 pm: Enemy ... penetrating both flanks and to north and south. 5.02: Running short of ammo. Require drop through trees. It was the afternoon of 18 August 1966, hot, humid with grey...
    By Peter FitzSimons
    Paperback
    $4499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Incredible Life of Hubert Wilkins
    The extraordinary, must-read story of the brave, bold Hubert Wilkins - Australia's most adventurous explorer, naturalist, photographer, war hero, aviator, spy and daredevil - brought to life by Australia's greatest storyteller. Sir Hubert Wilkins is one of the most remarkable Australians who ever lived. The son of pioneer pastoralists in South Australia, Hubert studied engineering before moving on to photography,...
    By Peter FitzSimons
    Paperback
    $3999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Ned Kelly
    History comes to life with Peter FitzSimons. The National Bestseller Love him or loathe him, Ned Kelly has been at the heart of Australian culture and identity since he and his gang were tracked down in bushland by the Victorian police and came out fighting, dressed in bulletproof iron armour made from farmers' ploughs. Historians still disagree over virtually every...
    By Peter FitzSimons
    Paperback
    $2700
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Charles Kingsford Smith and Those Magnificent Men
    The must-read story of the boy from Brisbane who became a wartime hero and aviation trailblazer. In an action-packed life, the indomitable 'Smithy' went from fighting as a soldier amid the carnage of Gallipoli and the Western Front to taking to the skies against the likes of the Red Baron—for which he won the Military Cross for gallantry—before becoming the...
    By Peter FitzSimons
    Paperback
    $3600
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

More from Young Adult

View all
  • New Release
    The Naturals: Dangerous Impulses Book 5
    The Naturals are BACK! No. 1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Lynn Barnes delivers the highly anticipated new installment in her beloved Naturals Series. Cassie Hobbes joined the FBI's Naturals program at seventeen because she had an incredible ability to read people. Since then, Cassie, fellow profiler Dean, emotion‐reader Michael, lie‐detector Lia, and statistical genius Sloane have caught serial...
    By Jennifer Lynn Barnes
    Paperback
    $2199
    Elsewhere:
    $2499
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • New Release
    The Sixth Faction
    Beatrice Prior stands on the brink of a decision every person in her world must make: five factions, five futures, five lives. She has a plan: she's going to make the bravest choice, and leave Abnegation behind to join Dauntless, even though it means leaving her family behind. But when tragedy strikes at her Choosing Ceremony, everything changes—her world, her...
    By Veronica Roth
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3499
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • 21 Days of Fear: A Letters Thriller
    New Release
    21 Days of Fear: A Letters Thriller
    A heart-wrenching YA thriller told in an advent calendar format, paced for amping up the chilling suspense! What would you do to bring your sister back from the dead? After Lucas’s sister mysteriously disappeared ten years ago, his family was torn apart. His mother has been lost in a deep depression ever since, his father has been unable to speak...
    By Hervé Commère
    Hardback
    $3500
    Elsewhere:
    $4500
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Star Path
    New Release
    The Star Path
    A young whale searches for the whale rider's heir and a teenager takes an epic voyage to Antarctica with a fleet of waka hourua to claim his lost inheritance, in this breathtaking return to the world of global hit The Whale Rider, over thirty years on. From the internationally acclaimed author of The Whale Rider comes a novel about the...
    By Witi Ihimaera Smiler
    Paperback
    $2999
    Elsewhere:
    $3500
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Song of the Saltings
    On the isolated island of Brack, the people live by an ancient bargain: every year, a sacrifice must be made to the Glimm, the creature that haunts the salt marshes. Eight years ago, it should have taken Lotta. Instead, the monster spared her and claimed her pony, shattering tradition and anointing her both folk hero and object of suspicion. Now...
    By Rachael King
    Paperback
    $2499
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Tell Me with Kisses
    From New York Times bestselling author and Wattpad sensation Mercedes Ron comes the English translation of the third in the Tell Me series, where Kamila Hamilton is caught between the two Di Bianco brothers after they burst back into her life. From New York Times bestselling author and Wattpad sensation Mercedes Ron comes the English translation of the third in...
    By Mercedes Ron
    Paperback
    $2399
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Release Me
    The searing second volume in a new series set in the #1 global bestselling Shatter Me universe ten years after the fall of The Reestablishment. Rosabelle Wolff had a plan. Now she wants revenge. To save her sister she needs to get back home and destroy the system that created her. Rosabelle’s greatest strength is her ability to deaden her...
    By Tahereh Mafi
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2499
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • A Language of Dragons
    The most exciting debut of 2025 – an incredible fantasy Dark Academia, perfect for fans of Babel, Fourth Wing, and the Scholomance trilogy. EVERY FIRE STARTS WITH A SINGLE SPARK. Welcome to Bletchley Park… with dragons. London, 1923. Dragons soar through the skies and protests erupt on the streets, but Vivien Featherswallow isn’t worried. She’s going to follow the rules,...
    By S. F. Williamson
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $2299
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Shatter Me: Shatter Me series 1
    Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi is a gripping dystopian novel that plunges readers into a world where society is on the brink of collapse. At the heart of this chaos is Juliette, a 17-year-old girl with a fatal touch—literally. For 264 days, Juliette has been imprisoned in solitary confinement, her only crime being an accidental touch that resulted in death....
    By Tahereh Mafi
    Paperback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Cozy Corner
    Relax and unwind with this adorable colouring book – it’s time to get cozy! Step into a world of calm and comfort with Cozy Corner, featuring 45 beautiful hand-drawn pages ready for you to colour in. Settle into your very own cozy corner with these brand new colouring pages! This follow-up to Coco Wyo's beloved Little Corner promises a new...
    By Coco Wyo
    Paperback
    $1700
    Elsewhere:
    $2100
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Bunny vs Monkey: The Great Big Glitch (a Phoenix Comic Book): the instant number one bestselling book from Jamie Smart, Illustrator of the Year
    When Bunny, Monkey and friends discover a glitch in reality, life gets even crazier than normal: Bunny declares himself The Woods' Magical Protector, Pig becomes a superspy, plus there's complete metal Monkey mayhem! Experience the laughs and chaos in Bunny vs Monkey: The Great Big Glitch (a Phoenix Comic Book), the instant number one bestselling book from Jamie Smart, Illustrator...
    By Jamie Smart
    Paperback
    $2499
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Summer I Turned Pretty
    The Summer I Turned Pretty is now a major new TV series on Amazon Prime! If you loved The Kissing Booth and Jenny Han's smash-hit Netflix movie series To All the Boys I Loved Before, then you'll adore this gorgeously funny, romantic story! Everything that happened this past summer, and every summer before it, has all led up to this....
    By Jenny Han
    Paperback
    $2400
    In Stock
    Ships Monday

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 190,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.

Young Adult lists from the team

Explore our curated lists from our heroes to find your next read!

The Latest at Book Hero

View all