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Too Many Dogs (Maura Finn, illus Lucinda Gifford, Affirm)
Released May 2025
Too Many Dogs is a charming and light-hearted picture book from the creative pairing behind Too Many Cats that explores what it means to be top dog. In their new collaboration,... Read more
Diggers, Dozers, and Dumpers (Ole Könnecke, Gecko)
Released May 2025
Picture books about machinery are always a hit, but they don’t always deliver an engaging narrative – this one does, seamlessly blending fiction with nonfiction. Diggers, Dozers, and Dumpers, written... Read more
This Dream Will Devour Us (Emma Clancey, A&U Children’s)
Released May 2025
What if humanity developed a drug that could manipulate the elements – essentially perform magic? In This Dream Will Devour Us, debut author Emma Clancey builds a world where the... Read more
The Girl and the Ghost (Jacqueline Harvey, Penguin)
Released May 2025
Jacqueline Harvey, author of the best-selling Alice-Miranda and Kensy and Max books, returns with The Girl and the Ghost, the first instalment in a new fantasy-mystery middle-grade series. When 12-year-old... Read more
The Surface Trials (HM Waugh, A&U Children’s)
Released May 2025
Starquest Academy is an elite school for exceptional students from around the galaxy. Notoriously difficult to enter, Starquest requires prospects to undergo a three-day televised challenge on an unknown planet.... Read more
Wandering Wild (Lynette Noni, Penguin)
Released May 2025
Wandering Wild, the latest novel from Lynette Noni (The Prison Healer), is the perfect cosy romance read. The dual-perspective narrative follows Zander, a Hollywood ‘bad boy’ desperate to rebuild his... Read more
I Am Not an Owl (Rhonda Ooi, illus Mel Corrigan, Woodslane)
Released May 2025
A small child who does not want to have a nap is a challenge. In this charming picture book for children aged 4 and up, Alexander turns the tables on... Read more
Super Sweet! (Kenneth & Queenie #1) (Raymond McGrath, Affirm)
Released May 2025
The first book in Raymond McGrath’s whimsical new junior graphic novel series, Kenneth & Queenie: Super Sweet! lives up to its name and includes three stories in one volume. Kenneth,... Read more
Grandmother from the East, Grandmother from the West (Jacinta Liu, illus Freda Chiu, Lothian)
Released April 2025
Jacinta Liu’s debut picture book is a comforting story about a young girl reflecting on the individual personalities, traits and experiences of her two grandmothers while looking at photos of... Read more
Goodnight Sheep (Sally Barton, illus Cherie Dignam, Fremantle)
Released April 2025
For some parents and carers, nothing is more anxiety-inducing than bedtime. Sally Barton’s Goodnight Sheep, illustrated by Cherie Dignam (The Pen series), embraces this universal challenge, inviting readers to find... Read more
The Colt from Old Regret (Dianne Wolfer, illus Erica Wagner, NLA)
Released April 2025
Dianne Wolfer (Soaring with the Sugarbird Lady) decentres the human perspective of Banjo Paterson’s ‘The Man from Snowy River’ in The Colt from Old Regret, recounting the escaped colt’s experience... Read more
The Great Chocolate Caper (Heist #1) (Joel McKerrow, Penguin)
Released April 2025
The Great Chocolate Caper is the first in the middle-grade Heist series by performance poet Joel McKerrow. Andy McGee is struggling to fit in and make friends in his first... Read more
How to Sail to Somewhere (Ashleigh Barton, Lothian)
Released April 2025
In a coastal holiday town where ‘the land kisses the sea and the children grow up with salt in their hair’, Bea, a lonely only child who has never set... Read more
Quarks, Sparks and Quantum Mysteries: A Cosmic Guide to the Building Blocks of our Universe (Lisa Harvey-Smith, illus Aidan Ryan, T&H)
Released April 2025
Astrophysicist professor Lisa Harvey-Smith has created another brilliant book as part of her mission to open up science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to children at a time when they... Read more
All About Love (Amy Dunjey, illus Giorgia Clerico, Five Mile)
Released April 2025
Amy Dunjey’s latest picture book All About Love is a playful, rhyming exploration of how love is expressed through actions. The story encourages young readers aged 3–8 to recognise love... Read more
The Thylacine and the Time Machine (Renée Treml, A&U Children’s)
Released April 2025
In The Thylacine and the Time Machine, 12-year-old Violet is completing a project on the de-extinction of the Tasmanian Tiger. Working late into the night, Violet falls asleep at her... Read more
Tim Tie-Your-Shoelaces (Something Terrible #1) (Sally Barton, illus Christopher Nielsen, Walker)
Released April 2025
‘Tim, tie your shoelaces – or something TERRIBLE will happen!’ Tim Mulligan hears this all the time – from his mum and dad, the neighbours, the crossing guard and even... Read more
The Paperbark Tree Committee (Karys McEwen, Text)
Released April 2025
The Paperbark Tree Committee, Karys McEwen’s second middle grade novel following All the Little Tricky Things, is a tender, compassionate story about navigating transitions and finding support in unexpected places.... Read more
Skin (Deborah Kelly, Rhiza Press)
Released April 2025
Skin is a powerful reminder of how heavily appearances and beauty standards influence us during our teenage years and beyond. Multi-award-winning author Deborah Kelly (The Mosaic) delivers an easy-to-read yet emotionally... Read more
My Mother’s Invisible Shield (RA Stephens, illus Jasmine Berry, Wombat)
Released April 2025
Mothers have special powers, and RA Stephens’s My Mother’s Invisible Shield explores this idea in a light and humorous way. The story follows a curious school-aged child who conducts a... Read more
