The Tiny Star (Mem Fox, illus by Freya Blackwood, Puffin)
Thursday, 5 September 2019
Individually, a new book by either Mem Fox or Freya Blackwood, both award-winners and bestselling children’s book creators, would be welcomed by their readers. This book combines the two, with...
Invisible Boys (Holden Sheppard, Fremantle Press)
Thursday, 5 September 2019
In the coastal town of Geraldton, several young men struggle with the restrictions placed on them by culture, parental expectations and peer pressure. With the threat of violence a constant,...
My Folks Grew Up in the ’80s (Robin Feiner, illus by Beck Feiner, ABC Books)
Thursday, 5 September 2019
From the first glance of this picture book, those of us (particularly Generation Xers) who grew up in the 80s know we’re in for a treat. There, on the cover,...
Ghost Bird (Lisa Fuller, UQP)
Thursday, 5 September 2019
Lisa Fuller was the recipient of the 2017 David Unaipon Award for an Unpublished Indigenous Writer for Ghost Bird. In this young adult novel, Stacey Thomson’s twin sister, Laney, is...
Windcatcher (Diane Jackson Hill, illus by Craig Smith, CSIRO Publishing)
Thursday, 5 September 2019
Windcatcher is the story of the migration of the short-tailed shearwater. In particular, the solo offspring of bird number 625. Her mother was tagged with a metal leg band so...
The Lost Stone of SkyCity (H M Waugh, Fremantle Press)
Thursday, 5 September 2019
When the princess of the terrifying, fabled Ice-People kidnaps Danam, claiming him as her prophesied protector, his friend Sunaya knows she’s the only one who can rescue him. But it’s...
Summer Time (Hilary Bell, illus by Antonia Pesenti, NewSouth)
Thursday, 1 August 2019
Summer Time, Hilary Bell and Antonia Pesenti’s third picture book collaboration, explores ideas of time within the grand nostalgic mythology of Australian summer. On each double-page spread, a chapter-like stanza...
The Man in the Water (David Burton, UQP)
Thursday, 1 August 2019
Four years after his award-winning YA memoir How to be Happy, David Burton returns with The Man in the Water, a coming-of-age mystery novel with an undercurrent of grief and...
Angel Mage (Garth Nix, A&U)
Thursday, 1 August 2019
Recently in fantasy there has been a move away from medieval Europe settings. One of the most popular examples of this is the 17th-century-Europe-inspired ‘Flintlock Fantasy’, though it owes as...
All of the Factors of Why I Love Tractors (Davina Bell, illus by Jenny Løvlie, Little Hare)
Thursday, 1 August 2019
A little boy called Frankie, accompanied by his mother, visits the library and borrows his favourite book about tractors. He is already well versed in all the characteristics and functions...
Super Nova (Krys Saclier, illus by Rebecca Timmis, Ford St)
Thursday, 1 August 2019
Super Nova is the story of the protagonist and his sister Nova, who he believes is getting up to all sorts of mischief. 'Nova always gets away with it,' says...
The Glimme (Emily Rodda, illus by Marc McBride, Scholastic)
Thursday, 1 August 2019
The Glimme starts in a perfectly ordinary and dull fishing village with a boy called Finn sketching dragons and monsters. But it’s not long before Finn is standing in front...
Ask Hercules Quick (Ursula Dubosarsky, illus by Andrew Joyner, A&U)
Thursday, 1 August 2019
Hercules lives with his alligator aunt in a building full of quirky characters. On a trip to the shops his imagination is captured by a magic box, but how will...
A writer’s life for me: Andrew Daddo on ‘Atticus Van Tasticus’
Thursday, 4 July 2019
Atticus Van Tasticus, Andrew Daddo and Stephen Michael King’s illustrated middle-grade adventure (Puffin, September), follows a 10-year-old whose grandma gifts him a pirate ship. Kelsey Oldham spoke with Daddo about...
How to Make a Movie in 12 Days (Fiona Hardy, Affirm Kids)
Thursday, 4 July 2019
Hayley, 11, has one mission in life: to make a movie. Ever since Grandma—who was going to make it with her—died, the need is much greater than before, especially since...
The Secret Science Society’s Spectacular Experiment (Kathy Hoopmann & Josie Montano, illus by Ann-Marie Finn, Wombat Books)
Thursday, 4 July 2019
Since Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls, the trend for kids’ books celebrating perseverance, creativity and innovation has seeped from nonfiction into fiction. Kathy Hoopmann and Josie Montano’s chapter book for...
Monuments (Will Kostakis, Lothian)
Thursday, 4 July 2019
Award-winning young adult author Will Kostakis makes his first foray into urban fantasy with Monuments, book one in a duology that has a massive scope but a local setting. Sixteen-year-old...
Ollie and Augustus (Gabriel Evans, Walker)
Thursday, 4 July 2019
When Ollie (‘small—like a pickling jar or a shoe box’) starts school, he worries that his beloved pet Augustus (‘large—like a fridge or a table’; a vast creature of indeterminate...
The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling (Wai Chim, A&U)
Thursday, 4 July 2019
Sixteen-year-old Anna comes from a relatively traditional Chinese-Australian family. Originally from Hong Kong, her father owns a restaurant while her mother stays at home to look after the children. Anna...
Grace’s Secrets (Louise Park, Berbay)
Thursday, 4 July 2019
Having relocated to a Scottish castle with her mother, Grace discovers a way into the past and promptly sets about helping her predecessors, even as her actual life seems to...
Kulinmaya! Keep Listening, Everybody! (Mumu Mike Williams, A&U)
Thursday, 4 July 2019
Pitjantjatjara artist and activist Mumu Mike Williams, aka Kunmanara, sought to hold the government to account on Indigenous issues through his subversive artwork, which repurposed Australia Post mailbags into painted...
Cryptosight (Nean McKenzie, MidnightSun)
Thursday, 4 July 2019
Cryptosight is a fun romp through regional Victoria, following Raff and his younger sister as they try to track down their missing monster-tracking father, while out-swerving the baddies at every...
The Gift (Michael Speechley, Picture Puffin)
Thursday, 4 July 2019
Rosie is a lonely little girl who misses her mum. Across the street from Rosie’s place is a scary and neglected-looking house. Rosie has never seen the person who lives...
I Am Change (Suzy Zail, Black Dog)
Thursday, 4 July 2019
Suzy Zail's latest novel tells the story of young Lilian, who wants nothing more than to go to school. However, poverty, outdated traditions and the simple fact she was born...
Jinxed!: The Curious Curse of Cora Bell (Rebecca McRitchie, illus by Sharon O’Connor, HarperCollins)
Thursday, 4 July 2019
Rebecca McRitchie follows the success of her ‘Whimsy and Woe’ duology with a new middle-grade fantasy series, of which Jinxed! is the first instalment. Cora lives in the tumbledown city...
The Lords of Melody (Phillip Gwynne, Puffin)
Thursday, 4 July 2019
Suzi Lord lives on a street full of mansions in an old weatherboard house bought by her ex-rock star parents while they were at the height of their fame with...
Nervous laughter: Nina Kenwood on ‘It Sounded Better in My Head’
Thursday, 6 June 2019
Nina Kenwood won the 2018 Text Prize for her YA debut It Sounded Better in My Head (Text, August), which follows neurotic 18-year-old Natalie as she navigates first love during...
It Sounded Better in My Head (Nina Kenwood, Text)
Thursday, 6 June 2019
Natalie is caught in-between: between year 12 exams and uni results, between her parents’ slow-motion divorce, between her two best friends, Zach and Lucy, who have been dating for a...
Bitsy (Nicki Greenberg, Affirm Kids)
Thursday, 6 June 2019
We all know that bats are nocturnal creatures, but writer/illustrator Nicki Greenberg’s latest picture book takes this fact and subverts it: her bat, Bitsy, dares to behave differently from its...
All That Impossible Space (Anna Morgan, Lothian)
Thursday, 6 June 2019
Lara Laylor just wants to get through year 10 without too much drama, but between a controlling best friend and the shadow of an older sister with a much bigger...
