Quiet Time with My Seeya (Dinalie Dabarera, A&U Children’s)
14 February 2023
Quiet Time with My Seeya is the debut solo picture book by Dinalie Dabarera, whose previous illustrations in The Cat With The Coloured Tail were nominated for the CBCA Award...
Selfie (Allayne L Webster, Text)
14 February 2023
Tully Sinclair is in eighth grade. She loves art, has a long-time best friend Kira and some complicated family issues to deal with. Dene Walker is a social media influencer...
Grace and Mr Milligan (Caz Goodwin, illus by Pip Kruger, Marshall Cavendish)
14 February 2023
Young Grace, old Mr Milligan from next door and his goat Charlie regularly enjoy spending time together in their gardens and at the nearby beach, happily munching on fruit grown...
Philomella and the Impossible Forest (Doris Brett, HGCP)
7 February 2023
Philomella is having a perfectly ordinary terrible day when she stumbles across a door that shouldn’t be there that leads to a library which is, frankly, impossible. Sick of being...
Doris Brett recommends
7 February 2023
I have been re-reading Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (Penguin). I first read, and loved it, as a teenager. It is a sharply written, laugh-out-loud-on-the-tram novel, satirising the doom-and-gloom,...
Pasta! (Felice Arena, illus by Beatrice Cerrochi, Affirm)
7 February 2023
Pasta! is a delightfully bright picture book celebrating the world’s favourite food: pasta. Inviting even from the title page, which features a tabby cat sitting in front of an open...
Doris Brett on ‘Philomella and the Impossible Forest’
7 February 2023
Philomella and the Impossible Forest is Doris Brett's first fiction book for children. A 'playful take on the classic quest story' the middle-grade novel follows Philomella who stumbles upon a forest...
Bowerbird Blues (Aura Parker, Scholastic)
7 February 2023
Bowerbird Blues follows a feverishly determined bowerbird on a mission to collect not just all the fabulous blue items he can possibly find but also something else he can’t quite...
Country Tells Us When… (Tsheena Cooper, Mary Dann, Dalisa Pigram-Ross & Sheree Ford, ILF)
7 February 2023
Country Tells Us When… follows the feelings, smells, sights, tastes and sounds of Yawuru Country changing with each season, written and illustrated by educators Tsheena Cooper, Mary Dann, Dalisa Pigram-Ross,...
Democracy! (Philip Bunting, Little Hare)
1 February 2023
In his latest release, prolific children’s author Philip Bunting continues to display his talent for creating engaging and brightly hued nonfiction. In Democracy!, it is firmly asserted that ‘people power’...
Anchored (Debra Tidball, illus by Arielle Li, EK Books)
31 January 2023
A sensitive tale of connection near, far and across the waters, Anchored is a hopeful, heartwarming story demonstrating to young children that no matter the distance between them and a...
The Quiet and the Loud (Helena Fox, Pan)
31 January 2023
Helena Fox, author of award-winning debut How It Feels to Float, returns with another powerful, heart-tugging YA novel. Nine years after her dad disappeared under the lake, 18-year-old George is...
Newbery, Caldecott 2023 winners announced
31 January 2023
In the US, the American Library Association (ALA) has announced the winners of its Youth Media Awards, including the Newbery and Caldecott medals, reports Publishers Weekly. Debut author Amina Luqman-Dawson...
The Rocket-Powered Racing Caravan (C E Hayes, Omnibus Books)
24 January 2023
Endless homework, out-of-touch teachers, imperfect parents, failed first dates and, of course, bullies. Grade Seven is a tough gig! How on earth is Earl Grey going to survive the year?...
Nightbirds (Kate J Armstrong, A&U Children’s)
24 January 2023
Magic is illegal in Simta, punishable by death, but that does not mean it does not exist. Matilde, Æsa, and Sayer are nightbirds: privileged girls who have the ability to...
Online Storytime program ends; 12 most recorded books
24 January 2023
The Online Storytime program, which launched as a pilot program in 2020 and was extended a further 12 months to December 2022, has ended. The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA),...
Mama’s Chickens (Michelle Worthington, illus by Nicky Johnston, EK Books)
17 January 2023
Mama doesn’t like chickens. But when she gets some of her own, they quickly develop a relationship of gentle camaraderie. Then Mama begins to forget things, like where she is...
The Glow (Sofie Laguna, illus by Marc McBride, A&U Children’s)
17 January 2023
The Song of Lewis Carmichael brought us the excellent pairing of author Sofie Laguna and illustrator Marc McBride. The Glow is their latest collaboration, a thrilling sci-fi adventure with a...
Christmas Press acquires second Kelleher middle-grade novel
12 January 2023
Christmas press has acquired world rights to The Cave, an upper middle-grade novel by Victor Kelleher, via Margaret Connolly of Margaret Connolly and Associates. Described by Christmas Press publishing director...
Matt Formston: Surfing in the Dark (John Dickson, illus by Philip Bunting, Berbay)
10 January 2023
People who are blind, who achieve incredible feats, are the linchpin of ‘Big Visions’, an exciting new nonfiction picture book series from Berbay Books and Vision Australia, aimed at 7–12-year-olds...
Downtown Sewertown (Tull Suwannakit, Ford St)
10 January 2023
CBCA notable author-illustrator Tull Suwannakit has crafted his picture book Downtown Sewertown to depict a refugee experience. It is also a cautionary tale about the environment. A mouse, fox, rabbit...
The Wish Sisters #1: The Party Wish (Allison Rushby, illus by Karen Blair, UQP)
10 January 2023
The Party Wish is the first book in the middle-grade series The Wish Sisters by Allison Rushby. At just under 100 pages it follows Flick and baby Birdie, who discover...
Clarke joins HGCP with two-book deal
9 January 2023
Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing (HGCP) has acquired two books by Maxine Beneba Clarke. Releasing in June 2023, the first title, It’s the Sound of the Thing: 100 new poems for...
Sea Glass (Rebecca Fraser, Wombat Books)
6 December 2022
Rebecca Fraser is a vibrant voice in Australian junior fiction. Her novel Sea Glass is the beautifully executed story of 11-year-old Cailin, a pre-teen who is stuck with her mother...
Tiny Tradies (Tami Sussman, illus by Tom Jellett, Affirm Press)
6 December 2022
Tami Sussman and evergreen illustrator Tom Jellett perfectly execute their ingenious idea of comparing toddlers and tradespeople in Tiny Tradies. The picture book begins at home before a big day...
The Hotel Witch (Jessica Miller, Text)
6 December 2022
With a cast of larger-than-life characters that almost pop off the page, The Hotel Witch is the wonderfully imaginative new adventure from Jessica Miller, who previously brought us The Republic...
UWAP acquires Akhurst YA novel
6 December 2022
UWA Publishing (UWAP) has acquired ANZ rights to Graham Akhurst’s young adult novel Borderland, via Danielle Binks of Jacinta di Mase Management. Set in Brisbane and the fictional rural town of...
Dorrie (Tanya McCartney, HarperCollins)
29 November 2022
Award-winning Tanya McCartney’s Dorrie is a personable, narrative-style biography of author Dorothy Wall and how she came to write the Blinky Bill stories. It’s filled with young Dorrie’s irrepressible energy...
Grace Notes (Karen Comer, Lothian)
29 November 2022
A verse novel taking place as Coronavirus takes a grip on Melbourne, Karen Comer’s debut Grace Notes is a lyrical exploration of how two teenagers experience exceptional times. Crux, an...
Easy Peasy (Ky Garvey, illus by Amy Calautti, EK Books)
22 November 2022
When Ruby is given a pair of fabulous sparkly red roller skates for her birthday, she expects to be able to skate, equally fabulously, immediately—easy peasy. Of course, it isn’t...
