Heads and Tails (John Canty, Berbay Publishing)
Tuesday, 14 March 2017
Heads and Tails is an educational book for small children either at home or at school, incorporating a game into the narrative to make the animal information fun rather than...
Nanna’s Button Tin (Dianne Wolfer, illus by Heather Potter, Walker Books)
Tuesday, 14 March 2017
I had a teddy who lost an eye, but my Nanna didn’t have a button tin. My daughter had a nanna who kept her buttons in a range of colour-coded...
Don’t Wake the Dingo (Sally Morgan, illus by Sarah Boese, Scholastic)
Monday, 27 February 2017
The rhythmic text, with frequent alliteration, makes this story perfect for reading aloud at bedtime. The dingo is asleep in a dim, dry cave, which is warm and comfortable. He’s...
The Beast of Hushing Wood (Gabrielle Wang, Puffin)
Monday, 27 February 2017
Ziggy Truegood isn’t looking forward to turning 12, and with a very good reason: every night for the past month she has dreamt she will drown on her birthday. With...
The Blue Cat (Ursula Dubosarsky, A&U)
Monday, 27 February 2017
Slow, dreamlike and meandering, The Blue Cat is a glimpse into life in wartime Australia. Set in Sydney in 1942, it follows Columba in her adventures with her force-of-nature best...
Jack of Spades (Sophie Masson, Eagle Books)
Monday, 27 February 2017
Prolific writer Sophie Masson’s latest book is a young-adult historical fiction, set in Europe in 1910. The book’s title refers to a card sent to 16-year-old English girl, Linda, from...
Mammoth Mistake: Starring Olive Black Book One (Alex Miles, illus by Maude Guesne, Affirm Press)
Monday, 27 February 2017
Mammoth Mistake is the first book in a new series by author Alex Miles, who, among other things, has written for the hugely successful ‘Zac Power’ series. Olive Black is...
Sci-Fi Junior High (John Martin & Scott Seegert, Koala Books)
Monday, 27 February 2017
As the son of two supergeniuses, Kelvin Klosmo has Mighty Mega Supergenius-sized shoes to fill … The only trouble is his supergeniusness hasn’t quite kicked in yet. When Kelvin’s parents...
Night Swimming (Steph Bowe, Text)
Monday, 27 February 2017
Kirby Arrow and her best friend Clancy Lee are the only two 17-year-olds in their tiny town. Clancy wants to leave as soon as possible, but Kirby is determined to...
Remind Me How This Ends (Gabrielle Tozer, HarperCollins)
Monday, 27 February 2017
In Remind Me How This Ends, the author of The Intern, Gabrielle Tozer, swaps the high-pressure world of the fashion industry for a quieter and more introspective story about love,...
The Secret Science of Magic (Melissa Keil, HGE)
Monday, 27 February 2017
Melissa Keil has established herself as a powerful new voice in contemporary YA after winning the Ampersand Prize for her first novel Life in Outer Space and an Inky shortlisting...
The Silent Invasion (James Bradley, Pan)
Monday, 27 February 2017
Callie was six when the Change came to earth. She’s 14 now, and the world’s a different place. The Change, a mysterious illness spread by alien seedpods, has thrown humanity...
Spirited away: Gabrielle Wang on ‘The Beast of Hushing Woods’
Monday, 27 February 2017
Gabrielle Wang’s The Beast of Hushing Woods (Puffin, April) is a ‘lyrical, dreamlike fable for confident readers aged 10 and up’, which ‘marries snippets of Eastern mythology with a setting...
Movie mayhem: Alex Miles on ‘Mammoth Mistake’
Monday, 27 February 2017
Mammoth Mistake is the first book in Alex Miles’ new ‘Olive Black’ series, about a 10-year-old actress who juggles friendships, rivals and on-set hijinks. Reviewer Bec Kavanagh spoke to the...
Comic timing: Peter Helliar on ‘Frankie Fish and the Sonic Suitcase’
Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Comedian Peter Helliar’s first children’s book Frankie Fish and the Sonic Suitcase (HGE, February) is a time-travel adventure starring 12-year-old Frankie and his cranky grandad, who has a hook for...
Unlocking the memories: J C Burke on ‘The Things We Promise’
Wednesday, 8 February 2017
Set in the 1990s around the HIV/AIDS crisis, J C Burke’s YA novel The Things We Promise (A&U, March) is a ‘heartbreaking examination of grief, love and prejudice from the...
The Things We Promise (J C Burke, A&U)
Wednesday, 8 February 2017
Gemma can’t wait for her brother Billy to return from New York. An up-and-coming hair and make-up artist, Billy has promised to help Gemma get ready for her school formal,...
Frogkisser! (Garth Nix, A&U)
Wednesday, 8 February 2017
Princess Anya, second in line to the throne, lives with her childish, spoilt older sister Princess Morven, her stepmother and her step-stepfather, Evil Socrerer Duke Rikard (it’s far less complicated...
The Eleventh Hour: Agent Nomad Book One (Skye Melki-Wegner, Random House)
Wednesday, 8 February 2017
The Eleventh Hour kicks off the ‘Agent Nomad’ series by Skye Melki-Wegner, author of ‘Chasing the Valley’. It follows 15-year-old protagonist Natalie Palladino as she discovers a world she thought...
Harry Kruize, Born to Lose (Paul Collins, Ford Street)
Wednesday, 8 February 2017
Harry feels like a born loser: his dad walked out of his life and never looked back, the school bully has Harry squarely in his sights, and his sessions with...
Shearing Time (Allison Paterson, illus by Shane McGrath, Big Sky Publishing)
Wednesday, 8 February 2017
Though shearing is engrained in Australian mythology, chances are that most children aren’t familiar with the practice of removing a woolly coat from its owner. Allison Paterson’s book tries, with...
Mopoke (Philip Bunting, Scholastic)
Wednesday, 8 February 2017
‘This is a mopoke’ is the opening line of a new picture book that stars the Bookbook Owl. Extremely common around Australia, this quiet bird keeps to itself. Or at...
The Fantastic Recipe Machine (Chihiro Takeuchi, Berbay Publishing)
Wednesday, 8 February 2017
Chihiro Takeuchi is a paper-cut artist and the intricate pictures in this picture book are a startling sample of her craft. The Fantastic Recipe Machine is a testament to the...
Florette (Anna Walker, Viking)
Wednesday, 8 February 2017
Anna Walker’s picture book Mr Huff was awarded the 2016 CBCA Book of the Year in the Early Childhood category, so more picture books from her are eagerly awaited. Florette...
One Little Goat (Ursula Dubosarsky, illus by Andrew Joyner, Little Hare)
Wednesday, 18 January 2017
Goats are the new ducks, it would seem, as the successful team of Ursula Dubosarsky and Andrew Joyner (The Terrible Plop, Too Many Elephants) reunite for another round of inventive...
On tour: Peadar Ó Guilin
Monday, 16 January 2017
Peadar Ó Guilin (pronounced ‘Padder Oh Gilleen’, according to the author) is an Irish writer, playwright and former stand-up comedian. His latest YA book The Call (David Fickling) is a teenage survival...
Choose your own adventures: 2017 children’s and YA preview
Wednesday, 9 November 2016
Next year will see the launch of Affirm Press’ children’s list, starting with A Walk in the Bush (Gwyn Perkins, March), ‘a joyful story about enjoying nature and seeing the funny side of...
The Thank You Dish (Trace Balla, A&U)
Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Thank You Dish is a whimsical picture book from Trace Balla, author and illustrator of Rivertime and Rockhopping. The book centres on Grace and Mama, who are thanking the people,...
Under the Love Umbrella (Davina Bell, illus by Allison Colpoys, Scribble)
Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Davina Bell and Allison Colpoys’ previous collaboration was the superb, award-winning The Underwater Fancy-Dress Parade, and their follow-up, Under the Love Umbrella, has a similar charm—if not quite the same...
Ballad for a Mad Girl (Vikki Wakefield, Text)
Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Grace is the prankster in her group of friends, the odd one of the odd ones out. She’s always been known for taking a joke further, and for being the...
