Dog (Shaun Tan, A&U)
23 September 2020
This is Shaun Tan doing what he does best. Carrying an elegant tension between joy and sadness, Dog left me in a puddle of emotion. The prose poetry traces the...
Factory 19 (Dennis Glover, Black Inc.)
23 September 2020
Dennis Glover’s second novel, an intriguing potential unveiling of our very near future, is crafted with a light touch and a satirical sense of humour. Factory 19 is a reflection...
We Are Wolves (Katrina Nannestad, ABC Books)
23 September 2020
In We Are Wolves, middle-grade author Katrina Nannestad, creator of the 'Olive of Groves' and 'Girl, the Dog and the Writer' series, moves confidently into more sombre territory with the...
One Day I’ll Remember This: Diaries 1987–1995 (Helen Garner, Text)
23 September 2020
The second volume of Helen Garner’s diaries picks up right where the first left off. It’s 1987 and her daughter, having graduated high school, is leaving home—or rather, Garner is...
Anemone is Not the Enemy (Anna McGregor, Scribble)
16 September 2020
Everybody needs a special friend—one they can rely on, one who’s there for them—but Anemone is lonely and finding it very difficult. The problem is he accidentally stings everybody who...
The Fifth Season (Philip Salom, Transit Lounge)
16 September 2020
Philip Salom has twice been shortlisted for the Miles Franklin, and The Fifth Season will attract serious readers as a result. But this is not a book for everyone; its...
I’m a Hero Too (Jamila Rizvi, illus by Peter Cheong, Puffin)
16 September 2020
I’m a Hero Too is about a little boy named Arty who’s feeling sad and out of sorts because his parents are acting strangely. Mum is talking in whispers and...
Songlines: The power and promise (Margo Neale & Lynne Kelly, Thames & Hudson)
9 September 2020
The first in a series of six books introducing Indigenous knowledges, Songlines: The power and promise explains the use of mnemonics, or memory systems, in Aboriginal culture. Songlines archive knowledge...
How to Be a Real Ballerina (Davina Bell, illus by Jenny Løvlie, Little Hare Books)
9 September 2020
Many preschoolers go through a ballerina phase and Davina Bell and Jenny Løvlie’s latest picture book shows a little girl doing the utmost to be a real ballerina—but not quite...
Lucky’s (Andrew Pippos, Picador)
9 September 2020
2002: Emily steps off the plane in Sydney, still reeling from an unexpected marriage breakdown. She’s here to write an article for the New Yorker about Lucky’s, a once-beloved mid-century...
Ernie’s Journey (David Woodland, Berbay)
9 September 2020
David Woodland’s debut picture book Ernie’s Journey is unmistakably influenced by his award-winning cinematic background. Its visual detail and narrative novelty are rich, and the absurd adventures of its eponymous...
Scary Bird (Michel Streich, Scholastic)
2 September 2020
A lively little book, Scary Bird puts diversity, adjustment and acceptance into an understandable parable for little listeners (though plenty of big listeners would also do well to pay attention...
Little Jiang (Shirley Marr, illus by Katy Jiang, Fremantle Press)
2 September 2020
Born under a confluence of inauspicious signs and hitherto haunted by all manner of hungry ghosts, it’s difficult for Mei to dismiss her aunt’s firmly held belief that she is...
Infinite Splendours (Sofie Laguna, A&U)
2 September 2020
Miles Franklin–winner Sofie Laguna’s fourth novel tells the story of Lawrence, a boy from a small western Victorian town near the Southern Grampians mountain range. Lawrence has a special, spiritual...
The Boy, the Wolf and the Stars (Shivaun Plozza, Puffin)
26 August 2020
Young readers with an insatiable hunger for adventure will love The Boy, the Wolf and the Stars, a timeless new novel from Shivaun Plozza. A departure from her writing for...
How to Make a Bird (Meg McKinlay, illus by Matt Ottley, Walker Books)
26 August 2020
For those children who revel in the natural environment, particularly fossils and bones, How to Make a Bird is a delight. According to the young girl protagonist, you will need...
A Different Kind of Seeing (Marie Younan, Scribe)
26 August 2020
This is a simply told tale of an extraordinary life. Marie Younan’s memoir unravels twin narratives: being blind in a seeing world and being part of a displaced people. For...
Living With the Anthropocene (ed by Cameron Muir, Kirsten Wehner & Jenny Newell, NewSouth)
26 August 2020
‘You’re not alone’ is one of the key threads in this collection of essays. That and ‘deep grief’ for what we know and don’t know is being lost, with many...
Rural Dreams (Margaret Hickey, MidnightSun)
19 August 2020
Rural Dreams, like its name implies, is a short story collection deeply rooted in country Australia. Reading it you can practically smell the dry grass, eucalyptus and stale pub carpet....
Future Girl (Asphyxia, A&U)
19 August 2020
The events of Future Girl play out in a future Melbourne that is eerily plausible. Food has been largely replaced by recon, an all-in-one food replacement that is marketed as...
A Letter to Layla: Travels to our deep past and near future (Ramona Koval, Text)
19 August 2020
Ramona Koval’s latest book is really a quest story: in it she sets out to find how humanity got to where we are now, and where we are going. In...
Aussie STEM Stars: Fiona Wood (Cristy Burne, Wild Dingo Press)
19 August 2020
‘Aussie STEM Stars’ is an exciting new narrative nonfiction series that celebrates experts in the fields of science, maths, engineering and technology. Book one centres on the story of Fiona...
Loss Adjustment (Linda Collins, Awa Press)
12 August 2020
The unimaginable horror of losing a beloved only child to suicide concentrated Linda Collins’ mind, producing this extraordinary book. The pain of her loss suffuses every page, but she writes...
All Our Shimmering Skies (Trent Dalton, HarperCollins)
12 August 2020
Backdropped by the 1942 bombing of Darwin, Trent Dalton’s All Our Shimmering Skies is a macabre, dreamlike fable interrogating greed and intergenerational trauma. At the age of seven, gravedigger girl...
Piper Picks the Perfect Pet (Caroline Tuohey, illus by Nicky Johnston, Ford St)
12 August 2020
From the alliterative title alone, you know this picture book must be read out loud to the little ones. Piper Picks the Perfect Pet even rhymes, which will add to...
This One is Ours (Kate O’Donnell, UQP)
12 August 2020
In her second novel, Kate O’Donnell, author of Untidy Towns, delivers an insightful and earnest coming-of-age story brimming with humanity. This One is Ours takes readers on a romantic overseas...
It’s Been a Pleasure, Noni Blake (Claire Christian, Text)
5 August 2020
Claire Christian’s first adult novel is billed as a contemporary romantic comedy and while there is a delicious romance plot, the true love story is between the eponymous protagonist and...
Soar: A life freed by dance (David McAllister, Thames & Hudson)
5 August 2020
As both a star principal dancer and tenured artistic director, David McAllister is a reliable chronicler of Australia’s recent ballet history. In his memoir Soar, McAllister records his early years...
Bindi (Kirli Saunders, illus by Dub Leffler, Magabala)
5 August 2020
Multi–award winning author and poet Kirli Saunders turns her talent to junior fiction with this wonderfully engaging verse novel, which won the inaugural WA Premier’s Daisy Utemorrah Award. Eleven-year-old Bindi...
Wolfred (Nick Bland, Hardie Grant Egmont)
5 August 2020
Toddlers and preschoolers will enjoy the engaging rhymes, quirky illustration and straightforward messaging of this new tale from popular picture book author Nick Bland. When aspiring writer Wolfred McFlea is...
