Shauna’s Great Expectations (Kathleen Loughnan, A&U)
Thursday, 4 April 2019
Seventeen-year-old Shauna is the recipient of an Indigenous scholarship to an elite Sydney girls’ school. The expectations placed on her could be no higher than those she places on herself,...
My Real Friend (David Hunt, illus by Lucinda Masciullo, ABC Books)
Thursday, 4 April 2019
David Hunt returns with his second offering for children following 2016’s The Nose Pixies. Taking the story of an imaginary friend and telling it from the other side, we hear...
Alex and the Alpacas Save the World (Kathryn Lefroy, Fremantle Press)
Thursday, 4 April 2019
Alex and the Alpacas Save the World is Kathryn Lefroy’s first novel. Part fantasy, part adventure, it reinvigorates the familiar good-versus-evil narrative with an original (if somewhat offbeat) setting and...
Daughter of Bad Times (Rohan Wilson, A&U)
Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Vogel Award-winning novelist Rohan Wilson is back with another gripping page-turner, this time in the form of a dystopian tale set 50 years in the future. Sea levels have risen,...
Room for a Stranger (Melanie Cheng, Text)
Wednesday, 27 March 2019
After an attempted home invasion leaves her feeling unsafe, elderly Meg signs on with a homeshare agency: Andy, an international student from Hong Kong who’s come to Melbourne to study...
The Lost Arabs (Omar Sakr, UQP)
Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Omar Sakr’s second poetry collection is an assured and vibrant exploration of doubt and faith. Following on from his Kenneth Slessor Prize-nominated debut These Wild Houses, this collection explores the...
Sky (Ondine Sherman, Pantera)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
Fifteen-year-old animal lover Sky has had her world turned upside down. Her mum has died, she is sent to live with Aunt Paula (a virtual stranger who cries constantly and...
Our Little Inventor (Sher Rill Ng, A&U)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
Little Nell has been furiously working away at her desk, her room cloaked in gloom. But she’s finally finished her invention. Despite her younger brother’s scoffing, Nell is adamant that...
Wilam: A Birrarung Story (Aunty Joy Murphy & Andrew Kelly, illus by Lisa Kennedy, Black Dog)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
Wilam is an illustrated children’s book about Birrarung (the Yarra River) and some of the native animals that live nearby. Aunty Joy Murphy, a Wurundjeri Elder, is the author of...
Horse Warrior (Meredith Jaffé, Harbour Publishing)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
In this medieval fantasy for middle-grade readers, 11-year-old Maia is desperate to compete in the annual Tournament of Avenal, a showcase of riding and shooting skills. But girls are not...
Sherlock Bones and the Natural History Mystery (Renée Treml, A&U)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
Middle primary readers seem to have an unquenchable thirst for illustrated, funny novels, with kids devouring series after series of the ‘Treehouse’ books, ‘The Bad Guys’, and ‘Dog Man’. Renée...
Rebellion at Eureka (Alan Tucker, Scholastic)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
It’s 1854, and now that Alf is 13 years old and finally done with school, he wants some independence. But his mum has other ideas, moving their general store business...
The Honeyman and the Hunter (Neil Grant, A&U)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
When 16-year-old Rudra’s estranged grandmother arrives from India to reunite with her only daughter, it unlocks a side of Rudra’s family and culture that he never knew; born and raised...
One Tree (Christopher Cheng, illus by Bruce Whatley, Puffin)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
Grandfather used to live happily on a farm, nearest the tallest tree on a mountain. Now he lives with his family in a small apartment in a crowded city and...
The Secret Runners of New York (Matthew Reilly, Macmillan)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
A school for the children of the wealthy elite is not where you would expect a book about the end of the world to be set, but that's what Matthew...
Fled (Meg Keneally, Echo)
Thursday, 28 February 2019
Having co-written the ‘Monsarrat’ historical fiction series with her father, Meg Keneally makes her solo debut with the gripping tale of one extraordinary woman’s life-long battle for survival. Following an...
River of Salt (Dave Warner, Fremantle Press)
Thursday, 28 February 2019
After fronting a rock band in the late 1970s and later writing for film and TV, Dave Warner now taps a rich seam of character-driven crime novels. His 2015 book...
The Place on Dalhousie (Melina Marchetta, Viking)
Thursday, 28 February 2019
Melina Marchetta writes masterfully about messy relationships, whether they are familial or romantic, and her new novel is no exception. When Rosie Gennaro meets Jimmy Hailler, the two enter into...
Unconditional Love: A Memoir of Filmmaking and Motherhood (Jocelyn Moorhouse, Text)
Thursday, 28 February 2019
When Jocelyn Moorhouse’s film Proof was released in 1991, it created excitement—here was a new Australian writer-director with a startlingly original eye. International success quickly followed, but then she disappeared...
Eight Lives (Susan Hurley, Affirm)
Thursday, 28 February 2019
Former refugee David Tran has invented a wonder-drug that could transform immunology. With the first human trial about to take place, David, the new Golden Boy of Australian medical research,...
The Colonial Fantasy: Why White Australia Can’t Solve Black Problems (Sarah Maddison, A&U)
Thursday, 28 February 2019
Underpinned by denial, myth-making and blame-shifting, the settler rationale is prevalent throughout Australian history, justifying the frontier wars, dispossession and the Stolen Generations. The Colonial Fantasy by Melbourne University professor...
City of Trees: Essays on Life, Death and the Need for a Forest (Sophie Cunningham, Text)
Thursday, 28 February 2019
In this poignant and timely collection of essays, Sophie Cunningham touches on matters private and political, historical and current, beautiful and terrifying—but always coming back to her obvious adoration of...
Robert Menzies: The Art of Politics (Troy Bramston, Scribe)
Thursday, 28 February 2019
Journalist and former political advisor Troy Bramston’s new biography of Robert Menzies, Australia’s longest serving prime minister, aims to refocus the historical lens. Too often Menzies is written off as...
Growing up African in Australia (ed by Maxine Beneba Clarke, Black Inc.)
Thursday, 28 February 2019
Growing up African in Australia is a new anthology edited by Maxine Beneba Clarke with Ahmed Yussef and Magan Magan. The anthology is a mixture of experienced and emerging writers’...
Baz & Benz (Heidi McKinnon, A&U)
Thursday, 7 February 2019
The titular Baz and Benz are a pair of owls: a small blue one and a larger green one. At the start of the book, they agree wholeheartedly that they...
52 Mondays (Anna Ciddor, A&U)
Thursday, 7 February 2019
52 Mondays is the latest middle-grade novel from Anna Ciddor, written in the same classic storytelling tradition as her previous work, The Family with Two Front Doors. A fictionalised account...
Ivanhoe Swift Left Home at Six (Jane Godwin, illus by A Yi, A&U)
Thursday, 7 February 2019
Despite his parents’ concerns, Ivanhoe Swift leaves home at the age of six to see the world for himself. And so begins a dreamlike journey of self-discovery and gaining independence....
Catch a Falling Star (Meg McKinlay, Walker Books)
Thursday, 7 February 2019
It’s the late 1970s in rural Western Australia, and 12-year-old Frankie’s life isn’t always easy. Her mother works all the time, so Frankie looks after her very smart but not...
You Must Be Layla (Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Penguin)
Thursday, 7 February 2019
Thirteen-year-old Layla has landed a scholarship at a prestigious private school where no one looks like her. She’s a creative kid who loves singing and making jewellery, but many of...
Underdog: #LoveOzYA Short Stories (ed by Tobias Madden, Nero)
Thursday, 7 February 2019
Following the success of its predecessor Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology, new anthology Underdog celebrates up-and-coming writers of Australian young adult fiction, with submissions received via an open call-out....
