How to Die in the 21st Century: A Whole New Way to Talk About Death (Hannah Gould, T&H)
Tuesday, 20 January 2026
For something that will affect all of us, death is a topic that’s difficult to bring up. Enter Hannah Gould, whose How to Die in the 21st Century seeks to bring...
The House of Blue Grass (Alan Atkinson, NewSouth)
Tuesday, 20 January 2026
Alan Atkinson’s The House of Blue Glass is ostensibly a biography of Penelope Lucas, “the first well-educated woman to travel from Europe to Australia without the ‘protection’ of a husband...
A Far-flung Life (ML Stedman, Penguin)
Tuesday, 20 January 2026
From the acclaimed author of The Light Between Oceans comes A Far-flung Life, ML Stedman’s much-anticipated second novel. Set in rural Western Australia in 1958, the story follows the MacBride...
Oh Brother (Georgina Chadderton, Penguin)
Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Oh Brother by Georgina Chadderton is a warm, perceptive middle-grade graphic memoir about growing up alongside a sibling with high support needs. Set in the early 2000s, the book follows...
Bird Deity (John Morrissey, Text)
Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Shorter novels have made a strong resurgence in recent years – particularly in science fiction – and John Morrissey’s (Firelight) debut fiction novel, Bird Deity, sits squarely within this zeitgeist....
Side Character Energy (Olivia Tolich, Text)
Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Olivia Tolich’s Side Character Energy is a lively debut romantic comedy with a strong focus on self-discovery. When Bee starts dating William, Gertie is happy for her – instinctively so....
Trials of Hope (የተስፋ ፈተና)(Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes’s Trials of Hope is a hybrid memoir in poetry and prose that feels less like a linear life story than a lived cosmology. Winner of the 2024...
Milly Meelyu (Holly Bradley & Darryl Fogarty, illus Corinne Fogarty, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Milly Meelyu is a thoughtful exploration of environment and wildlife protection, written by conservation biologist Holly Bradley and Badimia Elder Darryl Fogarty. Milly Meelyu is a skink who lives in...
How Do You Hide a Hippo? (Rebecca Grant, illus Jedda Robaard, Little Book Press)
Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Rebecca Grant’s How Do You Hide a Hippo? is a playful picture book that invites young readers to join a child’s increasingly silly attempts to conceal a hippo in unlikely...
Growing Up Digital: Helping Your Kids and Teens Navigate Life Online (Susan McLean, A&U)
Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Growing Up Digital, by Australia’s leading cybersafety expert, Susan McLean, is a grounded and genuinely useful guide for parents navigating life online with their children in an increasingly complex digital...
The Woman in the Spotlight (JR Lonie, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 13 January 2026
In JR Lonie’s newest historical thriller, The Woman in the Spotlight, a young performer must outwit the oppressive control of the Nazi regime. Monika Varády, a Bavarian actress newly arrived...
Freddie Jones: The Mystery of the Troublesome Trees (Kate Foster, Walker)
Tuesday, 13 January 2026
Freddie Jones is an adventurer at heart. The first in a new series by award-winning author Kate Foster (Harriet Hound), Freddie Jones: The Mystery of the Troublesome Trees is a...
Meltdown (Lauren Novak, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Meltdown is a heavily researched yet highly accessible examination of “mum rage”, the gendered term the book uses to describe anger experienced in motherhood, exploring why it happens and how...
Red Star Rebels (Amie Kaufman, A&U Children’s)
Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Amie Kaufman is a well-known name in young adult speculative fiction, particularly for the bestselling Starbound and Illuminae Files series (co-authored with Megan Spooner and Jay Kristoff respectively). Red Star...
Romeo v Juliet (RA Spratt, Penguin)
Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Bestselling author RA Spratt’s Romeo v Juliet is a light-hearted time-travelling comedy that will appeal to older middle-grade and younger YA audiences aged 12 and up. When 16-year-old Selby, a...
My Brother Otto (Ingrid Laguna, Text)
Tuesday, 9 December 2025
In My Brother Otto, Ingrid Laguna (Edie Tells a Lie) explores the emotional upheaval of welcoming and losing a new sibling. Quinn is 11 years old and happy being an...
The World from Here (Cassy Polimeni, illus Mel Armstrong, CSIRO Publishing)
Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Cassy Polimeni, whose junior fiction novel Ella and the Amazing Frog Orchestra won the Wilderness Society’s Environment Award, brings her gift for accessible science to The World from Here. In...
Saving Shark Pup: The Incredible True Story (Sharon Dalgleish, illus Amandine Thomas, A&U Children’s)
Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Saving Shark Pup: The Incredible True Story is an intriguing and emotive retelling of a great white shark pup’s dramatic rescue from Manly Beach, sure to captivate readers aged 4...
Two Tongues (Maria van Neerven, UQP)
Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Two Tongues is a memoir of language and memory told through poetry. Mununjali woman from the Yugambeh nation Maria van Neerven structures the collection in three chronological parts, tracing her...
A Time of Living Graciously: Reflections on Growing Older (Brigid Lowry, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 9 December 2025
In a culture obsessed with youth and productivity, it’s easy to forget that rest is not laziness, aging is not failure and our worth is not measured by output. Brigid...
Bugger (Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Hachette)
Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Bugger by Michael Mohammed Ahmad (The Lebs, The Tribe) is a heart-wrenching investigation into child sex abuse. Its protagonist, Hamoodi, is an isolated 10-year-old who adores Power Rangers and lives...
The Sisterhood Rules (Kathy Lette, Aria)
Tuesday, 9 December 2025
Bawdy, cheeky and resoundingly “punny”, Kathy Lette’s latest romp, The Sisterhood Rules, is 100% on brand. Twin sisters Isabel and Verity have been estranged for five years, ever since Verity...
How to Make Friends and Go Viral by Accident (YK Willemse, Rhiza Edge)
Tuesday, 2 December 2025
The novella How to Make Friends and Go Viral by Accident by YK Willemse (Jerry’s Window) follows 13-year-old Hayden Connor as he struggles with a speech impediment and the anxiety...
How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates (Shailee Thompson, Atria Australia)
Tuesday, 2 December 2025
Shailee Thompson’s debut, How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates, is a genre-blending good time that captures the zeitgeist with its mélange of romantic comedy and horror, movie quotes...
Bush Tukka Guide for Kids (Samantha Martin, HG Explore)
Tuesday, 2 December 2025
Bush Tukka Guide for Kids by Samantha Martin, a descendant of the Jaru people, is an exceptional book about so much more than food. Known as the “Bush Tukka Woman”,...
Muttonfish Magic (Ruth Simms & Lucy Robertson, illus Jasmine Seymour, Magabala)
Tuesday, 2 December 2025
Muttonfish Magic honours the Kameragyl and Bidjigal people, the traditional custodians of the land around Kamay (Botany Bay) and Guriwal (La Perouse). With sensory lyricism, Bidjigal Elder Ruth Simms and...
My Sister, the Todzilla (Jacinta Froud, illus Matt Shanks, Affirm)
Tuesday, 2 December 2025
Many parents and older siblings of toddlers will relate to the premise of Jacinta Froud’s My Sister, the Todzilla – a hilarious and entirely recognisable take on toddler tantrums, presented...
Wurnan: Sharing on Ngarinyin Country (Wilinggin Aboriginal Corporation, Magabala)
Tuesday, 2 December 2025
Wurnan: Sharing on Ngarinyin Country, created by the Wilinggin Aboriginal Corporation, is a powerful cultural record that documents the people, artists, stories, traditions and artefacts of Ngarinyin Country in the...
The Break Up (It’s a Twin Thing! #1) (Kristin Darell, illus A Yi, Penguin)
Tuesday, 2 December 2025
Kristin Darell’s The Break Up, the first in a new series illustrated by A Yi, is a middle-grade novel that explores the complexities of primary school friendships with drama, humour...
Plotting the Oceans: Stories of Powerful Maps and Their Makers (Sarah Hamylton, Monash University Publishing)
Tuesday, 2 December 2025
In Plotting the Oceans: Stories of Powerful Maps and Their Makers, Sarah Hamylton reveals how maps chart landscapes and shape how we understand and connect with the world around us....
