Meltdown (Lauren Novak, HarperCollins)
Nonfiction
Released February 2026, reviewed by Eleanor Jackson.
Meltdown is a heavily researched yet highly accessible examination of “mum rage”, the gendered term the book uses to describe...
Red Star Rebels (Amie Kaufman, A&U Children’s)
Young adult
Released February 2026, reviewed by Jordi Kerr.
Amie Kaufman is a well-known name in young adult speculative fiction, particularly for the bestselling Starbound and Illuminae Files series...
Romeo v Juliet (RA Spratt, Penguin)
Young adult
Released February 2026, reviewed by Charlotte Callander.
Bestselling author RA Spratt’s Romeo v Juliet is a light-hearted time-travelling comedy that will appeal to older middle-grade and younger...
My Brother Otto (Ingrid Laguna, Text)
Younger readers
Released February 2026, reviewed by Erin Wamala.
In My Brother Otto, Ingrid Laguna (Edie Tells a Lie) explores the emotional upheaval of welcoming and losing a new...
The World from Here (Cassy Polimeni, illus Mel Armstrong, CSIRO Publishing)
Children’s picture book
Released February 2026, reviewed by Lian Hingee.
Cassy Polimeni, whose junior fiction novel Ella and the Amazing Frog Orchestra won the Wilderness Society’s Environment Award, brings her...
Saving Shark Pup: The Incredible True Story (Sharon Dalgleish, illus Amandine Thomas, A&U Children’s)
Children’s picture book
Released February 2026, reviewed by Romi Sharp.
Saving Shark Pup: The Incredible True Story is an intriguing and emotive retelling of a great white shark pup’s dramatic...
Two Tongues (Maria van Neerven, UQP)
Poetry
Released February 2026, reviewed by Eman Mourad.
Two Tongues is a memoir of language and memory told through poetry. Mununjali woman from the Yugambeh nation Maria van...
A Time of Living Graciously: Reflections on Growing Older (Brigid Lowry, Fremantle)
Nonfiction
Released February 2026, reviewed by Chloe Cooper.
In a culture obsessed with youth and productivity, it’s easy to forget that rest is not laziness, aging is not...
Bugger (Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Hachette)
Fiction
Released February 2026, reviewed by Alex Durac.
Bugger by Michael Mohammed Ahmad (The Lebs, The Tribe) is a heart-wrenching investigation into child sex abuse. Its protagonist, Hamoodi,...
The Sisterhood Rules (Kathy Lette, Aria)
Fiction
Released February 2026, reviewed by Michelle Atkins.
Bawdy, cheeky and resoundingly “punny”, Kathy Lette’s latest romp, The Sisterhood Rules, is 100% on brand. Twin sisters Isabel and...
How to Make Friends and Go Viral by Accident (YK Willemse, Rhiza Edge)
Younger readers
Released February 2026, reviewed by Brenton Cullen.
The novella How to Make Friends and Go Viral by Accident by YK Willemse (Jerry’s Window) follows 13-year-old Hayden Connor...
How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates (Shailee Thompson, Atria Australia)
Fiction
Released February 2026, reviewed by Kate Cuthbert.
Shailee Thompson’s debut, How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates, is a genre-blending good time that captures the zeitgeist...
Bush Tukka Guide for Kids (Samantha Martin, Hardie Grant Explore)
Nonfiction
Released February 2026, reviewed by Merril Darling.
Bush Tukka Guide for Kids by Samantha Martin, a descendant of the Jaru people, is an exceptional book about so...
Muttonfish Magic (Ruth Simms & Lucy Robertson, illus Jasmine Seymour, Magabala)
Children’s picture book
Released February 2026, reviewed by Joy Lawn.
Muttonfish Magic honours the Kameragyl and Bidjigal people, the traditional custodians of the land around Kamay (Botany Bay) and Guriwal...
My Sister, the Todzilla (Jacinta Froud, illus Matt Shanks, Affirm)
Children’s picture book
Released February 2026, reviewed by Romi Sharp.
Many parents and older siblings of toddlers will relate to the premise of Jacinta Froud’s My Sister, the Todzilla –...
Wurnan: Sharing on Ngarinyin Country (Wilinggin Aboriginal Corporation, Magabala)
Nonfiction
Released February 2026, reviewed by Becca Whitehead.
Wurnan: Sharing on Ngarinyin Country, created by the Wilinggin Aboriginal Corporation, is a powerful cultural record that documents the people,...
The Break Up (It’s a Twin Thing! #1) (Kristin Darell, illus A Yi, Penguin)
Younger readers
Released February 2026, reviewed by Kirsten Barich.
Kristin Darell’s The Break Up, the first in a new series illustrated by A Yi, is a middle-grade novel that...
Plotting the Oceans: Stories of Powerful Maps and Their Makers (Sarah Hamylton, Monash University Publishing)
Nonfiction
Released February 2026, reviewed by Samantha Mylan.
In Plotting the Oceans: Stories of Powerful Maps and Their Makers, Sarah Hamylton reveals how maps chart landscapes and shape...
The Duke’s Secret (Sue Williams, A&U)
Fiction
Released February 2026, reviewed by Katy Briggs.
In The Duke’s Secret, the latest historical fiction by Sue Williams (The Governor, His Wife and His Mistress), journalist Ava...
In a Common Hour (Sita Walker, Ultimo)
Fiction
Released February 2026, reviewed by Jasmine Pirovic .
Dedicated to the Queensland state school teachers she works alongside, Sita Walker’s debut novel, In a Common Hour, offers readers...
