Lights Out, Little Dragon (Debra Tidball, illus Rae Tan, HarperCollins)
9 April 2024
Lights Out, Little Dragon is an interactive bedtime book for toddlers aged 3+ and their caregivers, with a cute and relatable character that is just too busy to go to...
What’s Murder Between Friends (Meg Gatland-Veness, Pantera)
9 April 2024
Hallie has always dreamed of being an actor. Thanks to her drama teacher, Ms Lovelace, the school is finally putting on its first show. When Hallie’s class stumbles upon Ms...
Love from Scratch (Amy Hutton, S&S)
9 April 2024
Amy Hutton’s new romance, Love from Scratch, reunites readers with the gorgeous actor Ethan from her previous book, Sit, Stay, Love. Ethan, once terribly fearful of dogs, is now filming...
Drop into the Ocean (Karen Wasson, illus Marta Tesoro, Hardie Grant Explore)
2 April 2024
Drop into the Ocean: A tour of the world’s oceans and seas is exciting, colourful, entertaining and insightful. Packed with fun facts and well-researched information, it’s the type of book...
Dear Mutzi (Tess Scholfield-Peters, NLA)
2 April 2024
Tess Scholfield-Peters’ debut book, Dear Mutzi, is a narrative nonfiction account of her grandfather's experience in Nazi Germany. It powerfully describes how 18-year-old Hermann Pollnow fled Nazi Germany for rural...
Heartsease (Kate Kruimink, Picador)
2 April 2024
Ellen 'Nelly' and Charlotte 'Lot' are as unalike as sisters come, yet they were once inseparable despite this. Lot is Nelly’s elder by eight years—an employment lawyer and single mother...
The Lost Letters of Rose Carey (Julie Bennett, S&S)
26 March 2024
Inspired by the life of the Australian swimmer and film icon Annette Kellerman, The Lost Letters of Rose Carey follows two heroines: Emma Quinn, in the present time, and Rose Carey, in...
Boots (Elizabeth Pulsford, illus Krista Brennan, Wombat Books)
26 March 2024
The idea of walking in someone else’s shoes to evoke understanding and empathy is not a new concept, but Elizabeth Pulsford takes it further in her debut picture book, Boots,...
Ghost Cities (Siang Lu, UQP)
19 March 2024
Recently fired from his translating job at the Chinese Consulate in Sydney for lying about his translation skills and using Google Translate to do his job, Xiang Lu is a...
Ultra Violet: Down to Business (Cristy Burne, illus Rebel Challenger, Larrikin House)
19 March 2024
Ultra Violet: Down to Business is the first in a new junior graphic novel series with a hilarious—but very scientific—premise. Violet (a science genius who wears a lab coat) and...
Cora Seen and Heard (Zanni Louise, Walker)
12 March 2024
When Cora’s family moves to Tasmania to renovate a decrepit theatre, Cora, 12, is thrilled at the opportunity to reinvent herself as Cora 2.0: more confident, admired, and interesting. But...
Circadia (Judith Bishop, UQP)
12 March 2024
Judith Bishop’s Circadia is a collection of neatly formed, intelligent poems in which you can discover something new with each read. Bishop is in conversation with a chorus of voices and introduces...
To Sing of War (Catherine McKinnon, HarperCollins)
12 March 2024
From Miles Franklin–shortlisted author Catherine McKinnon (Storyland), To Sing of War confronts the interconnectedness that binds humanity. Against the backdrop of WWII, we find ourselves immersed in the jungles of...
Saltblood (Francesca de Tores, Bloomsbury)
5 March 2024
Saltblood is an engrossing, deeply felt historical novel by Melbourne poet, author and academic Francesca de Tores (with previous works published as Francesca Haig), fictionalising the life of pirate Mary...
Country (Aunty Fay Muir & Sue Lawson, illus Cheryl Davison, Wild Dog)
5 March 2024
Country is a celebration of earth and sky, sun, moon and stars—central to First Nations Culture. Through intricate, warm and entrancing artwork by renowned artist and Walbunja, Ngarigo woman Cheryl...
The Work (Bri Lee, A&U)
27 February 2024
Having tackled power, privilege and sexual politics in her nonfiction books, Eggshell Skull, Beauty and Who Gets to Be Smart, Bri Lee brings the same shrewd scrutiny to her debut novel,...
Tree (Claire Saxby, illus Jess Racklyeft, A&U Children’s)
27 February 2024
Tree, by multi-award-winning picture book creators Claire Saxby and Jess Racklyeft, explores the life of a mighty mountain ash, the tallest in a forest of tall trees. Similar to their...
Deep Water (James Bradley, Hamish Hamilton)
27 February 2024
The first chapter of Deep Water is named ‘The Word for World Is Water’, a reference to science fiction writer Ursula K Le Guin’s novella The Word for World Is...
Italian Coastal (Amber Guinness, T&H)
20 February 2024
Amber Guinness’s Italian Coastal: Recipes and stories from where the land meets the sea takes readers on a tour of the seven Italian regions that sit on the Tyrrhenian Sea—places...
Happy All Over (Emma Quay, ABC Books)
20 February 2024
Happy All Over is exactly that. Emma Quay’s capacity to capture miniatures of joy, through both word and image, will bring a smile to even the most careworn and cynical...
Black Silk & Sympathy (Deborah Challinor, HarperCollins)
20 February 2024
Deborah Challinor’s latest offering, Black Silk & Sympathy, sweeps readers away to the intriguing world of Victorian funeral customs in 1860s Sydney. In this expertly crafted novel, Challinor delivers a...
No Church in the Wild (Murray Middleton, Picador)
13 February 2024
Stereotypes and bad press about the commission towers of Melbourne’s inner west are easy to come by, but Vogel winner Murray Middleton’s deeply researched and complex portrayal of this community...
Alice™: The biggest untold story in the history of money (Stuart Kells, MUP)
13 February 2024
An Australian inventor patented the future of world finance. An Australian journalist saw what finance had become and told the world. Business and finance writer Stuart Kells (The Library: A...
When the World Was Soft (Juluwarlu Group Aboriginal Corporation, A&U Children’s)
13 February 2024
The Juluwarlu Group Aboriginal Corporation (based in Roebourne and Ngurrawaana Community, in WA’s Pilbara region) has compiled Yindjibarndi Creation Stories in a compelling and beautiful graphic novel format. For readers...
Amma (Saraid de Silva, Moa Press)
6 February 2024
Annie Fernando has flown to London to meet her estranged uncle Suri. So begins the captivating tale of family, love and secrets told through the lives of three generations of...
Seed to Sky: Life in the Daintree (Pamela Freeman, illus Liz Anelli, Walker)
6 February 2024
With breathtaking illustrations, Seed to Sky: Life in the Daintree is packed with fun facts about the animals and plants native to the Daintree Rainforest region. After the success of...
Pheasants Nest (Louise Milligan, A&U)
6 February 2024
Pheasants Nest is a thriller about every journalist’s nightmare—that they, too, will be reduced to clickbait headlines and long-form reflective true crime essays. There may be no more fitting journalist...
Joy Moody Is Out of Time (Kerryn Mayne, Bantam)
30 January 2024
For two decades, Cassiopeia (Cassie) and Andromeda (Andie) Moody have understood their destiny. They are special, chosen and kept safe, spending most of their lives within the confines of their Melbourne home,...
Kin: Family in the 21st century (Marina Kamenev, NewSouth)
30 January 2024
While women’s rights over their bodies continue to be depleted in the United States, Kin: Family in the 21st century presents the history of a related struggle: the right to...
Alphabetter (Maura Pierlot, illus Jorge Garcia Redondo, Affirm)
30 January 2024
Alphabetter: A Better You and Me, from A to Z is a new educational picture book from Affirm Press, which published the popular Life Lessons for Little Ones series. Written by...