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WBN advance reviews >

The Odds (Matt Stanton, ABC Books) 

Wednesday, 7 October 2020
The lack of locally produced graphic novels for young Australians has been noted for some time now, but middle-grade and children’s author Matt Stanton has a new book to appease...

Give Me Some Space! (Philip Bunting, Omnibus) 

Wednesday, 7 October 2020
Una is a singular girl on a mission: leave boring old Earth behind for greener pastures—or in this case, planets. Smart, determined and ingenious, she crafts herself a homespun spacesuit...

Dog (Shaun Tan, A&U) 

Wednesday, 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.) 

Wednesday, 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) 

Wednesday, 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...

Anemone is Not the Enemy (Anna McGregor, Scribble) 

Wednesday, 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) 

Wednesday, 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...

Lucky’s (Andrew Pippos, Picador) 

Wednesday, 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) 

Wednesday, 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) 

Wednesday, 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...

Infinite Splendours (Sofie Laguna, A&U) 

Wednesday, 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...

A Different Kind of Seeing (Marie Younan, Scribe) 

Wednesday, 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...

Rural Dreams (Margaret Hickey, MidnightSun) 

Wednesday, 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) 

Wednesday, 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...

Loss Adjustment (Linda Collins, Awa Press) 

Wednesday, 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) 

Wednesday, 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...