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Piper Picks the Perfect Pet (Caroline Tuohey, illus by Nicky Johnston, Ford St)
Released October 2020
From the alliterative title alone, you know this picture book must be read out loud to the little ones. Piper Picks the Perfect Pet even rhymes, which will add to... Read more
Rural Dreams (Margaret Hickey, MidnightSun)
Released October 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.... Read more
Future Girl (Asphyxia, A&U)
Released October 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... Read more
A Letter to Layla: Travels to our deep past and near future (Ramona Koval, Text)
Released October 2020
Ramona Koval’s latest book is really a quest story: in it she sets out to find how humanity got to where we are now, and where we are going. In... Read more
Aussie STEM Stars: Fiona Wood (Cristy Burne, Wild Dingo Press)
Released October 2020
‘Aussie STEM Stars’ is an exciting new narrative nonfiction series that celebrates experts in the fields of science, maths, engineering and technology. Book one centres on the story of Fiona... Read more
Living With the Anthropocene (ed by Cameron Muir, Kirsten Wehner & Jenny Newell, NewSouth)
Released October 2020
‘You’re not alone’ is one of the key threads in this collection of essays. That and ‘deep grief’ for what we know and don’t know is being lost, with many... Read more
Loss Adjustment (Linda Collins, Awa Press)
Released October 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... Read more
A Different Kind of Seeing (Marie Younan, Scribe)
Released October 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... Read more
Little Jiang (Shirley Marr, illus by Katy Jiang, Fremantle Press)
Released October 2020
Born under a confluence of inauspicious signs and hitherto haunted by all manner of hungry ghosts, it’s difficult for Mei to dismiss her aunt’s firmly held belief that she is... Read more
Fly on the Wall (Remy Lai, Walker)
Released September 2020
When Henry Khoo isn’t trolling his school as anonymous cartoonist ‘Fly on the Wall’, he is being babied at home by an overprotective family. To correct this, Henry devises a... Read more
Vida: A woman for our time (Jacqueline Kent, Viking)
Released September 2020
It’s a sad fact that most Australians are unaware of the correct pronunciation of Vida Goldstein’s name (a long ‘i’ in both), let alone that she was the first woman... Read more
Under the Rainbow: The life and times of E W Cole (Richard Broinowski, MUP)
Released September 2020
Edward William Cole (1832—1918), arguably Australia’s most famous bookseller, started his career by accident. Trying to hawk his self-penned pamphlets door-to-door in East Melbourne, a woman told him he should... Read more
The Mother Fault (Kate Mildenhall, S&S)
Released September 2020
This gripping and thoughtful novel offers a spine-tingling vision of a future Australia—eerie in its potential realism—in which citizens’ movements are tracked and climate change has decimated the country, flooding... Read more
Bunnygirl (Holly Jayne, Berbay)
Released September 2020
In this adorable junior graphic novel, the main character Bea loves superhero comics, cute things, bunnies and eating cereal. She really wants to become a superhero so that she can... Read more
Bluebird (Malcolm Knox, A&U)
Released September 2020
A shaggy array of characters populate Malcolm Knox’s ambitious novel, with 50-year-old Gordon Grimes at the centre. An erstwhile journalist and estranged husband, Gordon is determined to preserve a rundown... Read more
Aunty’s Wedding (Miranda Tapsell & Joshua Tyler, illus by Samantha Fry, A&U)
Released September 2020
There are few picture books about weddings for young children, who are naturally curious about this important ceremony. This story takes the charming perspective of a young child who is... Read more
The Wolves of Greycoat Hall (Lucinda Gifford, Walker Books)
Released September 2020
Author and illustrator Lucinda Gifford brings us a refreshing and humorous tale with The Wolves of Greycoat Hall, the first book in a new junior fiction series. Boris and his... Read more
The Burning Island (Jock Serong, Text)
Released September 2020
To read The Burning Island is to feel, very often, ‘all at sea’. Much of the novel takes place on the ocean, sure, but more than that, it can be... Read more
Howl (Kat Patrick, illus by Evie Barrow, Scribble)
Released September 2020
Maggie is having one of those days: the sky too blue, the moon too bright, the spaghetti too long. It almost goes without saying that Maggie’s mother is also having... Read more
Sorrow and Bliss (Meg Mason, Fourth Estate)
Released September 2020
Martha is sick. She’s been sick since she was 17 years old, and a cocktail of pills in varying doses has never made a difference to the lows that leave... Read more
