The Gaps (Leanne Hall, Text)
13 January 2021
The fourth novel by 2009 Text Prize winner Leanne Hall is simultaneously harrowing and enchanting. The Gaps begins as abruptly as a slap, with a newscast declaring schoolgirl Yin Mitchell...
The Detective’s Guide to Ocean Travel (Nicki Greenberg, Affirm)
13 January 2021
Award-winning picture book and graphic novel author and illustrator Nicki Greenberg has turned her attention to middle-grade mystery in her newest work, The Detective’s Guide to Ocean Travel. Perfect for...
Main Abija My Grandad (Karen Rogers, A&U)
13 January 2021
Written as a tribute to the author and artist Karen Rogers’s grandfather, who was instrumental in teaching her about her ancestry and Country, this picture book is a celebration of...
Russell Prize for Humour Writing adds children’s category
12 January 2021
The State Library of New South Wales (SLNSW) has announced a new category in the 2021 Russell Prize for Humour Writing, aimed at a younger audience. The new $5000 Humour...
Wild, Riddle nominated for 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Awards
10 December 2020
Margaret Wild and Tohby Riddle have been nominated by IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) Australia as the Australian candidates for the 2022 Hans Christian Andersen Awards. Wild...
With a Little Kelp from Our Friends (Mathew Bate, illus by Liz Rowland, Thames & Hudson)
2 December 2020
From the evolution of this fascinating stuff to its modern usage as food, fuel and building material, in With a Little Kelp from Our Friends Mathew Bate tells you everything...
Footprints on the Moon (Lorraine Marwood, UQP)
2 December 2020
It’s 1969 and Sharnie is entering year seven and finding it difficult to make friends. The world is consumed by the Space Race and the Vietnam War, and Sharnie is...
Walker acquires Uhlmann picture book
2 December 2020
Walker Books Australia has acquired world rights to author and journalist Chris Uhlmann's debut picture book The Useless Tune, via Jeanne Ryckmans at the Cameron Creswell agency, Cameron’s Management. The Useless...
Wakefield acquires Webster’s ‘That Thing I Did’
1 December 2020
Wakefield Press has acquired world rights to YA novel That Thing I Did by Allayne Webster, via Jane Novak. ‘That Thing I Did is a rollicking road trip with a...
How did picture book sales fare during lockdown?
30 November 2020
In her final op-ed as Books+Publishing’s Junior columnist for 2020, Adele Walsh looks at how the sales of new picture books—the most tactile of reading experiences—fared during lockdown, and recommends a few...
HarperCollins acquires Pung, Ng children’s books
30 November 2020
HarperCollins Children’s Books Australia has acquired world rights to two books by author Alice Pung and illustrator Sher Rill Ng at auction via Clare Forster at Curtis Brown Australia and...
The Boy From the Mish (Gary Lonesborough, A&U)
25 November 2020
Jackson is an Aboriginal teen who lives with his mum and little brother; he has a girlfriend, good mates and the local men’s group. Then his aunty from the city...
CBCA restructures board, confirms 2021 Book Week theme
24 November 2020
The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) has appointed Wendy Rapee as its new chair, and restructured its board, reducing its size from 12 directors to eight. The restructure of...
Book it in: 2021 children’s and YA preview
18 November 2020
Alongside a slate of new books by established children’s authors, next year looks to be a year of firsts, featuring books by debut authors, established authors trying their hands at...
Beneath the Trees (Cristy Burne, Fremantle Press)
18 November 2020
Cam and her little sister Sophie have travelled halfway across Australia to see some platypuses in the wild, and even their mum forcing them to wear bright yellow emergency ponchos...
Iceberg (Claire Saxby, illus by Jess Racklyeft, A&U)
18 November 2020
There is no absolutely question as to why Claire Saxby and Jess Racklyeft are both multi-award-winning creators, and this book is a perfect partnership, eliciting the very best from both...
S&S to publish Kerr children’s series and World Cup diary
18 November 2020
Simon & Schuster Australia (S&S) has acquired world rights to a new children’s series by Sam Kerr, captain of the Australian national women’s soccer team the Matildas, in a six-book...
Gay YA rom-com wins 2020 Ampersand Prize
11 November 2020
Hardie Grant Children's Publishing (HGCP) has announced that Auckland teacher and writer Helen Valley has won the 2020 Ampersand Prize for her YA novel Tim Te Maro and the Subterranean...
Float or Sink? (Kylie Covark, illus by Andrew Plant, Ford St)
5 November 2020
Kylie Covark’s Float or Sink? quickly develops (after an opening that doesn’t quite nail the meter/rhyme structure to come) into a lively, playful story and preschool children will undoubtedly relish...
Tiger Daughter (Rebecca Lim, A&U)
5 November 2020
From Rebecca Lim, author and co-editor of the Meet Me at the Intersection YA anthology, this coming-of-age tale is about finding your own voice as a young girl in a...
Wakefield announces YA horror anthology winning submissions
29 October 2020
Wakefield Press has announced the winning submissions to its national callout for contributions to its YA fiction anthology Hometown Haunts: #LoveOzYA Horror Tales. The four winning stories are: An 'intense,...
Little Gem (Anna Zobel, Puffin)
28 October 2020
Little Gem is a witch-in-training who has the best intentions but doesn’t always get things quite right. When a travelling spell goes wrong Gem finds herself in the unusual village...
Ampersand Prize 2020 shortlist announced
21 October 2020
Hardie Grant Children's Publishing (HGCP) has announced the shortlist for its 2020 Ampersand Prize for unpublished young adult and middle-grade fiction. The five shortlisted authors and their works are: Conan...
McLean receives inaugural $10k Albert Ullin Award
21 October 2020
Andrew McLean is the winner of the inaugural Albert Ullin Award. The $10,000 biennial award, created with a bequest from the late The Little Book Room co-founder Albert Ullin, is...
Let’s Go, Little Roo (Renée Treml, Puffin)
21 October 2020
Prolific author Renée Treml says she wrote Let's Go, Little Roo from experience with her own shy child, and Little Roo’s stubborn emotions and thought processes are certainly recognisable. (Though...
The Carbon-Neutral Adventures of the Indefatigable EnviroTeens (First Dog on the Moon, A&U)
21 October 2020
Political cartoonist First Dog on the Moon’s debut book for children is a delightfully absurd metatextual picture book/graphic novel hybrid starring a genius wombat inventor, a superhero social media celebrity...
Book Links announces new children’s historical fiction award
19 October 2020
Book Links, the Centre for Children’s Literature in Queensland, has announced a new biennial award, the Book Links Award for Children's Historical Fiction. A prize of $1000 will be awarded...
Study finds CBCA early childhood category shortlisted books overwhelmingly white
15 October 2020
A study of books shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year Award in the early childhood category since 2001 has found that only 12% of human main characters in...
New $10k Albert Ullin Award for children’s book creators
14 October 2020
The Victorian branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) will administer a new $10,000 award for children's book creators, established with a bequest from the late Albert Ullin,...
An Amazing Australian Road Trip (Jackie Hosking, illus by Lesley Vamos, Walker Books)
14 October 2020
This cheerful picture book employs a lively rhyming narrative alongside factual snippets, creating a unique reading experience that is sure to appeal to fans of both fiction and nonfiction. The...
