My First Book of Aussie Birds (Gordon Winch, illus by Stephen Pym, Catch a Star)
12 October 2021
Bright and colourful, lively and engaging, lift-the-flap board book My First Book of Aussie Birds contains a magical menagerie of unique native birds waiting to be discovered by little hands. Much-loved author Gordon Winch,...
The Midnight Girls (Alicia Jasinska, Penguin)
6 October 2021
Alicia Jasinska’s The Midnight Girls will be eagerly devoured by fans of her dark fantasy YA debut The Dark Tide. In Lechija, a kingdom much like 18th-century Poland, three witches rely on their...
Bluey, Wolf Girl dominate Aus children’s bestsellers YTD
29 September 2021
The Australian children’s year to date (YTD) charts continue to be dominated by Bluey, so much so that Nielsen Book Australia has provided the children’s data with Bluey titles removed....
Wiradjuri Country (Larry Brandy, NLA Publishing)
29 September 2021
In Wiradjuri Country, Wiradjuri author Larry Brandy (along with several Indigenous artists, and with many photographs), offers a wealth of detailed information about flora, fauna, habitat, history, culture and storytelling in the...
Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief (Katrina Nannestad, ABC Books)
28 September 2021
Rabbit, Soldier, Angel, Thief is a historical novel for middle-grade readers set during WWII. Young Sasha lies in a hospital in Berlin, recovering after the end of the war. His...
HGCP acquires ‘UnMonumental’ picture book
22 September 2021
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) has acquired world rights to UnMonumental, a hardback picture book by artists James Tylor and Matt Chun based on their Instagram project of the same...
Freya Blackwood on ‘The Boy and the Elephant’
21 September 2021
Freya Blackwood is a Greenaway Medallist and seven-time CBCA winner whose picture books are beloved for her warm and perceptive drawings. Her latest book, The Boy and the Elephant (HarperCollins, November) is a tender, wordless picture book...
Stellarphant (James Foley, Fremantle Press)
21 September 2021
One of the best things about picture books is that anything is possible; there are no restrictions on imagination. Author–illustrator James Foley’s latest book plays with a totally outlandish concept:...
The Boy and the Elephant (Freya Blackwood, HarperCollins)
21 September 2021
After almost 20 years of her books on our shelves, a new Freya Blackwood is always cause for delight. The Boy and the Elephant—Blackwood’s first wordless picture book—allows her quiet...
Pyke’s ‘Family Tree’ selected for National Simultaneous Storytime 2022
20 September 2021
Josh Pyke’s forthcoming book Family Tree (Scholastic) has been selected for the Australian Library and Information Association’s (ALIA) National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) 2022, which will be held on Wednesday, 25...
Walker Books launches new imprint Walker Studio
20 September 2021
Walker Books Australia is launching a new ‘beautifully produced, design-driven’ imprint, Walker Studio. While the Studio imprint has been previously launched by Walker Books in the UK and Candlewick in...
Big Love (Megan Jacobson, illus by Beck Feiner, Walker Studio)
15 September 2021
This sweet picture book debut draws an immediate comparison with children’s bookshelf classic Guess How Much I Love You. As the borders of Big Love’s world unspool, from house to entire universe, the lyrical...
Hometown Haunts: #LoveOzYA Horror Tales (ed by Poppy Nwosu, Wakefield Press)
15 September 2021
To the library of #LoveOzYA anthologies (Begin, End, Begin; Meet Me at the Intersection; Underdog; Kindred) comes Hometown Haunts, a new collection featuring 12 short stories and two graphic novels united...
Merriman YA novels optioned for screen
15 September 2021
Screen adaption rights to YA novels Catch Me When You Fall and Invisibly Breathing by New Zealand author Eileen Merriman have been optioned by Enjoy Entertainment, in a deal negotiated...
‘The Boy Who Tried to Shrink His Name’ sells to North America
15 September 2021
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) has sold North American rights to The Boy Who Tried to Shrink His Name by Sandhya Parappukkaran and Michelle Pereira to Abrams Books. The deal,...
Environment Award for Children’s Literature 2021 winners announced
14 September 2021
The Wilderness Society has announced the winners of the 2021 Environment Award for Children’s Literature. Selected from shortlists announced in June, the winning titles in each category are: Picture fiction...
$100k Historical Novel Prize longlists announced
9 September 2021
The Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA) has announced the longlist for the second annual ARA Historical Novel Prize and the inaugural longlist for its children's and young adult (CYA) category....
Tomorrow is a Brand-New Day (Davina Bell, illus by Allison Colpoys, Scribble)
8 September 2021
Tomorrow is a Brand-New Day is an ode to making a mistake and then making things right. It follows two children—friends with different styles—who come into conflict with each other...
Marcie Gill and the Caravan Park Cat (Monica McInerney, illus by Danny Snell, Puffin)
8 September 2021
With a dozen adult novels under her belt, Monica McInerney is now turning her hand to children’s fiction and her first foray into middle-grade territory is just as full of heart and laughter as her...
‘Ghost Bird’ sells to UK
2 September 2021
UK independent publisher Old Barn Books has bought UK and Commonwealth (ex Canada and ANZ) rights to Lisa Fuller's YA novel Ghost Bird from University of Queensland Press (UQP). The...
The Greatest Mistakes That Went Right (Maddy Mara, illus by Cheryl Orsini, Affirm Press)
31 August 2021
Many kids are afraid to try new things because they are scared of not getting it right the first time; niggling insecurities and latent perfectionism can often mean they miss...
Terciel and Elinor (Garth Nix, A&U)
31 August 2021
Garth Nix’s ‘Old Kingdom’ books have been a perennial staple of YA sections in bookstores for the past 25 years, and I couldn’t even guess how many copies of Sabriel...
How to Repaint a Life (Steven Herrick, UQP)
24 August 2021
How to Repaint a Life is the latest offering from Steven Herrick, author of award-winning young adult titles including The Simple Gift and The Bogan Mondrian. This is gritty, heartbreaking prose that delves into...
Norton and the Borrowing Bear (Gabriel Evans, Berbay)
24 August 2021
Gabriel Evans is fast becoming one of the most consistently delightful Australian picture book creators of recent years. With each release he adds to his oeuvre with such apparent ease,...
Corey Tutt on ‘The First Scientists’
18 August 2021
Kamilaroi STEM advocate and founder of Deadly Science Corey Tutt is the author of The First Scientists (illus by Blak Douglas, Hardie Grant, October), which explores early and contemporary First...
Celebrating 75 years of the CBCA Book of the Year Award
18 August 2021
The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Book Week—supported by a joint campaign by the ABA and the ASA encouraging people to 'shop local, read local'—kicks off this week following...
Social Queue (Kay Kerr, Text)
17 August 2021
Neurodiverse teenager Zoe is undertaking an internship at an online media company when her first assignment, about the struggles of navigating the online dating scene as an autistic person, goes...
A Duck Called Brian (Al Murphy, Scholastic)
17 August 2021
Brian the duck is unique—unlike all his yellow duck friends, he is bright blue. When Brian wakes up one morning to find he has run out of his favourite cereal,...
NZ Margaret Mahy Illustration Prize shortlist announced
16 August 2021
Hachette Aotearoa NZ and the Margaret Mahy estate have announced the shortlist for the Margaret Mahy Illustration Prize. The shortlisted illustrators are: Elizabeth Knowles Tara Southgate Sarah Trolle Jessica Twohill...
Larrikin House acquires Freeman picture book
12 August 2021
Larrikin House has acquired worldwide rights to children’s picture book The Heartbeat of the Land by Cathy Freeman. The publisher says the book is ‘a poignant call for environmental action...
