The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted (Robert Hillman, Text)
Thursday, 22 February 2018
In this tender, emotive novel, the lives of sheep farmer Tom Hope and Hungarian Holocaust survivor Hannah Babel collide in a small Victorian country town in the 1960s. Hannah’s exuberance,...
White Night (Ellie Marney, A&U)
Thursday, 1 February 2018
Bo Mitchell is a typical guy in Lamistead. He’s nice, sporty, and doesn’t do anything that will make him stand out. Aurora Wild stands out in all the wrong ways....
Turtle Trackers (Samantha Wheeler, UQP)
Thursday, 1 February 2018
Ten-year-old Isaac and his mum run a caravan park on the coast of Queensland. Things have been tough since the death of Isaac’s father, with Isaac having to take on...
The Endsister (Penni Russon, A&U)
Thursday, 1 February 2018
Penni Russon’s new middle-grade novel centres on the rowdy but lovable Outhwaite family. When they inherit an old mansion on the other side of the world, otherworldly encounters ensue. The...
Lucy’s Dawn (Juliet Blair, NLA)
Thursday, 1 February 2018
This is a charming historical novel, based on a series of events in pre-federation Sydney. Told through the diary entries of the fictional 14-year-old Lucy Coombes, the book delves into...
Stephanie Chiocci and the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Chase: Footy Stars Book One (Matt Porter, Ford Street Publishing)
Thursday, 1 February 2018
Stephanie Chiocci, captain of the Collingwood AFLW team, is taking some time away from footy training to compete in the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Chase in England—a race to catch a...
From Nerd to Ninja: Ninja Kid Book One (Ahn Do, Scholastic)
Thursday, 1 February 2018
When Nelson wakes up on his 10th birthday with a spider on his nose, things are not looking good. In his scramble to get it off he gets tangled in his...
Breaking News: Kensy and Max Book One (Jacqueline Harvey, Random House)
Thursday, 1 February 2018
Kensy and Max are 11-year-old twins whose slightly eccentric lives change overnight after a string of strange occurrences sees them racing across international borders to London accompanied by their Nanny...
I Wanted a Giant Chocolate Egg but All I Got Was This Stupid Book (Merv Lamington, illus by Makoto Koji, Affirm Press)
Thursday, 1 February 2018
Forget about any religious symbolism, for kids (and a fair few adults), Easter is all about chocolate eggs brought by the stealthy Easter bunny. This cute little self-referential picture book...
Some Girls (Nelly Thomas, illus by Sarah Dunk, Piccolo Nero)
Thursday, 1 February 2018
We have seen a recent surge of books highlighting the achievements of great women throughout history. These books aim to redress historical imbalances and inspire children of all genders to...
The Silver Sea (Alison Lester, Jane Godwin and the children at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Affirm Press)
Thursday, 1 February 2018
Since Alison Lester and Jane Godwin are practically Australian-children’s-literature royalty, it was hard to keep my expectations reasonable for The Silver Sea. Luckily, the book fulfils its potential. Visually sumptuous,...
A Boat of Stars: New Poems to Inspire and Enchant (ed by Margaret Connolly & Natalie Jane Prior, ABC Books)
Thursday, 1 February 2018
Apart from rhyming texts in picture books, poetry for children seems to be largely neglected, even though it is an active part of the Australian primary curriculum. So it is...
Surviving Your Split: A Guide to Separation, Divorce and Family Law in Australia (Lucy and Rebekah Mannering, MUP)
Thursday, 25 January 2018
The last thing I expected from reading Surviving Your Split: A Guide to Separation, Divorce and Family Law in Australia was enjoyment. I expected sound legal advice, helpful case studies,...
False Claims of Colonial Thieves (Charmaine Papertalk Green & John Kinsella, Magabala)
Thursday, 25 January 2018
In False Claims of Colonial Thieves, Charmaine Papertalk Green and John Kinsella articulate a political poetry that responds to land occupation, resource exploitation and historical wrongdoing. They situate themselves as...
Women of a Certain Age (ed by Jodie Moffat, Maria Scoda & Susan Laura Sullivan, Fremantle Press)
Thursday, 25 January 2018
Once women turn 50, society deems them ‘invisible’. Women of a Certain Age pushes against female invisibility by compiling warm and honest tales from notable Australians. Readers from many backgrounds...
Randomistas (Andrew Leigh, La Trobe University Press)
Thursday, 25 January 2018
Randomised trials are scientific experiments that aim to clear the fog of our personal biases to arrive at the truth. Participants in a randomised trial are generally split into a...
In the Garden of Fugitives (Ceridwen Dovey, Hamish Hamilton)
Thursday, 25 January 2018
Ceridwen Dovey is one of our best, most original writers. Her 2014 book, Only the Animals, was a compelling, beautifully constructed collection of unforgettable short stories. Her splendid new novel, In the...
The Shepherd’s Hut (Tim Winton, Hamish Hamilton)
Thursday, 25 January 2018
Jaxie Clackton is a teenager on the run in the parched, unforgiving landscape bordering the salt lakes by the Western Australian desert. Convinced he’ll be held responsible for the accidental...
What the Light Reveals (Mick McCoy, Transit Lounge)
Thursday, 25 January 2018
Mick McCoy’s third novel, What The Light Reveals, is an intelligent, tense and memorable story that opens in a world gripped by post-WWII fear and the looming threat of the...
Trick of the Light (Laura Elvery, UQP)
Thursday, 25 January 2018
The 24 stories in Brisbane writer Laura Elvery’s debut collection Trick of the Light span countries and centuries, ranging stylistically from stark realism to light speculative fiction. Some are vignettes,...
The Ruin (Dervla McTiernan, HarperCollins)
Thursday, 25 January 2018
The Ruin is as much a morality tale as it is an incendiary page-turner. This superior, haunting novel of murder, deception and ethical dilemma is set in Galway, on Ireland’s...
Apple and Knife (Intan Paramaditha, trans by Stephen J Epstein, Brow Books)
Thursday, 25 January 2018
The universe within which Apple and Knife unfolds is both mythological and everyday—from office cubicles to rat-infested underground cities, sometimes in the same breath. Sydney-based Indonesian horror writer Intan Paramaditha’s...
Room on Our Rock (Kate and Jol Temple, illus by Terri Rose Baynton, Scholastic)
Wednesday, 1 November 2017
It’s never too early to instil empathy and compassion in the formative minds of the young, and Room on Our Rock does an admirable job in cultivating such qualities in...
Go Go and the Silver Shoes (Jane Godwin, illus by Anna Walker, Viking)
Monday, 23 October 2017
Jane Godwin and Anna Walker are a winning pair: Walker’s tender, beautiful illustrations are a perfect complement to Godwin’s careful, gentle words. Their previous successes include the reassuring Starting School...
Grandma Z (Daniel Gray-Barnett, Scribble)
Monday, 23 October 2017
Albert leads a very ordinary, monochrome life. But on his birthday, when his parents are planning the same boring routine, there is a surprise knock on the door. Albert’s larger-than-life...
Tin Heart (Shivaun Plozza, Penguin)
Monday, 23 October 2017
Marlowe Jensen was The Dying Girl. Born with a congenital heart defect, no-one expected Marlowe to make it to her 18th birthday until she won the organ-donation lottery, and got...
The Hole Story (Kelly Canby, Fremantle Press)
Monday, 23 October 2017
One of the joys of early childhood are those moments when you discover the remarkable in the everyday. The Hole Story turns on such uncanny moments. When Charlie discovers a...
Perfect World: Otherworlds Book One (George Ivanoff, Puffin)
Monday, 23 October 2017
While out shopping for pickles, a chance discovery lands Keagan in a parallel world: a pristine land of eerily similar clones, who quickly throw him out with the trash for being too different....
P is for Pearl (Eliza Henry-Jones, HarperCollins)
Monday, 23 October 2017
Seventeen-year-old Gwen runs every day from the thoughts of her future and the ghosts of her past. She is unable to imagine a life beyond the boundaries of her small...
Missing (Sue Whiting, Walker Books)
Monday, 23 October 2017
A mother is missing in the jungles of Panama and a father and daughter are attempting to discover the truth behind her disappearance. This is the premise of Sue Whiting’s...
