Shelf help: Cath Crowley on ‘Words in Deep Blue’
Tuesday, 5 July 2016
A love story set in a second-hand bookshop, Cath Crowley’s latest YA novel Words in Deep Blue is ‘a beautiful examination of grief, love and the power of words’. Reviewer...
On tour: Rainbow Rowell
Tuesday, 5 July 2016
Rainbow Rowell’s YA novels include Eleanor and Park (Orion), Fangirl and Carry On (both Macmillan). She is travelling to the Melbourne Writers Festival in August What would you put on...
Valdur the Viking and the Ghostly Goths (Craig Cormick, Ford Street)
Friday, 1 July 2016
Valdur the Viking is having a pretty bad day. First, his pet dog Ragna—who is maybe a dragon—eats the last pickle. Then his father and most of their ship’s crew...
The Book that Made Me (ed by Judith Ridge, Walker Books)
Friday, 1 July 2016
The Book that Made Me is a collection of mini-essays by 32 authors, many of them children’s and YA authors and most Australian or New Zealanders. The authors were asked...
The Bone Sparrow (Zana Fraillon, Lothian)
Thursday, 2 June 2016
In a story that is in some ways reminiscent of John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, author Zana Fraillon asks readers to imagine a ‘Someday’ better than today. It...
On tour: Tamora Pierce
Thursday, 2 June 2016
US author Tamora Pierce has written a number of YA series, including ‘The Song of the Lioness’ and the ‘Circle of Magic’. She will be travelling to Australia for the...
Game on: Anita Heiss on ‘Kicking Goals with Goodsey and Magic’
Thursday, 2 June 2016
Anita Heiss’ children’s nonfiction book Kicking Goals with Goodsey and Magic (Piccolo Nero, July) is a collaboration with former football players Adam Goodes and Michael O’Loughlin. Reviewer Louise Pfanner says...
Oh Albert! (Davina Bell, illus by Sara Acton, Viking)
Thursday, 2 June 2016
Oh, Albert! is a captivating picture book about a mischievous pet dog called Albert, whose eyes are bigger than his stomach. The story follows a week in the life of...
Princess Parsley (Pamela Rushby, Omnibus)
Thursday, 2 June 2016
Poor Parsley Patterson. As if it’s not hard enough starting high school, her dad decides to secede from Australia, making 12-year-old Parsley and her younger sisters (Sage, Rosemary and Thyme—the...
Toad-ally Magic: Ruby Wishfingers book two (Deborah Kelly, illus by Leigh Hedstrom, Wombat Books)
Thursday, 2 June 2016
Ruby Wishfingers first discovered that she had wish magic in her fingers when she was nine. Now that she’s 11, she has 11 new wishes to spend! But when her...
Pandamonia (Chris Owen, illus by Chris Nixon, Fremantle Press)
Tuesday, 10 May 2016
Pandas are adorable creatures right? So soft and furry and on-trend with their black and white colours. They also don’t do very much except laze around and chew on bamboo...
Kicking Goals with Goodesy and Magic (Anita Heiss, Adam Goodes & Michael O’Loughlin, Piccolo Nero)
Tuesday, 10 May 2016
Firstly, a disclaimer: I have never watched a game of football and I know nothing about the game. Actually, I knew nothing, but now I know a lot more. Anita...
Welcome to Country (Aunty Joy Murphy, illus by Lisa Kennedy, Black Dog Books)
Tuesday, 10 May 2016
Although ‘Acknowledgement of Country’ speeches are increasingly a part of Australian gatherings, many non-Indigenous Australians are still learning about traditional ‘Welcome to Country’ ceremonies. Welcome to Country by senior Wurundjeri...
Songs That Sound like Blood (Jared Thomas, Magabala)
Tuesday, 10 May 2016
Growing up in Port Augusta is restricting Roxy’s dream to become a musician, but when she is accepted to Adelaide University’s Centre of Aboriginal Studies in Music, she feels conflicted...
The Shark Caller (Dianne Wolfer, Random House)
Tuesday, 10 May 2016
The Shark Caller breaks new ground in junior YA fiction. Dianne Wolfer blends a mystical tale about legends and traditions in Papua New Guinea with issues such as saving a...
The Nose Pixies (David Hunt, illus by Lucia Masciullo, ABC Books)
Monday, 9 May 2016
Everyone has heard of the tooth fairy, but what of the lesser-known nose pixies? The tiny, wingless pixies live in the royal kingdom of Schnozz, but instead of teeth they...
One Step (Andrew Daddo, Penguin)
Thursday, 5 May 2016
Dylan is an average young guy; his life revolves around school, his family and his burgeoning interest in girls. However, all is not as it seems, and after bearing the...
One Would Think the Deep (Claire Zorn, UQP)
Thursday, 5 May 2016
When Sam calls his Aunty Lorraine for the first time in seven years, it’s to tell her that his mum, her sister, is dead. It’s also to tell her that...
The Road to Winter (Mark Smith, Text)
Thursday, 5 May 2016
Since the virus, Finn lives alone in his small coastal town with just his dog for company. He keeps his head down and lives off the supplies his father stored...
My Brother (Dee, Oliver and Tiffany Huxley, Working Title Press)
Thursday, 5 May 2016
This profoundly moving picture book is about the overwhelming sorrow and sense of loss that follows the death of a loved one. The simple, expressive text, with carefully chosen words,...
The Other Christy (Oliver Phommavanh, Puffin)
Thursday, 5 May 2016
Eleven-year-old Christy Ung has tried hard to fit in and make friends since she and her grandpa moved to Australia from Cambodia. At school, though, she’s almost invisible: thanks to...
Black (Fleur Ferris, Random House)
Thursday, 5 May 2016
Is Ebony Marshall cursed? Three of her closest friends have died in separate accidents, and some people in her small Victorian country town are convinced she is bad luck. Ebony...
When Michael Met Mina (Randa Abdel-Fattah, Pan)
Thursday, 5 May 2016
Michael and Mina could not be more different: she’s a ‘scholarship girl’ originally from Afghanistan and about to begin Year 11 at a posh new school in Sydney; he comes...
Dragonfly Song (Wendy Orr, A&U)
Thursday, 5 May 2016
Born into privilege that is swiftly taken from her, Aissa learns early how painful life can be. In servitude at the age of four, never speaking and frequently mistreated, she...
Forgetting Foster (Dianne Touchell, A&U)
Thursday, 5 May 2016
Brutally honest and unflinching in its examination of the effects of Alzheimer’s disease on an entire family, Forgetting Foster is a beautiful, heart-wrenching book that will stay with you. Seven-year-old...
Steve Goes to Carnival (Joshua Button & Robyn Wells, Magabala)
Thursday, 5 May 2016
A picture book can often be a happy collaboration between an author and an illustrator; far more rarely is it the product of two artists. In Steve Goes to Carnival,...
All the rage: Claire Zorn on ‘One Would Think the Deep’
Thursday, 5 May 2016
Claire Zorn’s One Would Think the Deep is an exploration of violence and grief that ‘has all the trademark complexities of her first two novels’, writes reviewer Bec Kavanagh. She...
Race relations: Randa Abdel-Fattah on ‘When Michael Met Mina’
Thursday, 5 May 2016
Randa Abdel-Fattah’s When Michael Met Mina follows the burgeoning relationship between Mina, a ‘scholarship girl’ originally from Afghanistan, and Michael, whose family belongs to a racist political organisation. Reviewer Frances...
On tour: Michael Grant
Thursday, 5 May 2016
Michael Grant’s latest book is Front Lines (HGE). He is travelling to the Sydney Writers’ Festival and Brisbane in May What would you put on a shelf-talker for your latest...
Desert Lake: The Story of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre (Pamela Freeman, illus by Liz Anelli, Walker Books)
Wednesday, 6 April 2016
This new standalone picture book in the award-winning ‘Nature Storybook’ series is a fascinating insight into how flora and fauna survive in the hot, dry land of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre...
