Review search
Bernard’s Plane Trip (Adele Jaunn, Working Title Press)
Released June 2013
With simple, informative text and clear illustrations, we follow a bear called Bernard as he packs for his trip and takes an aeroplane for the first time. Bernard is nervous.... Read more
Big Red Kangaroo (Clare Saxby, illus by Graham Byrne, Walker Books)
Released August 2013
Big Red Kangaroo is a beautifully illustrated picture book that combines narrative and fact to create an accessible introduction to this fascinating creature. The subject of the book is of... Read more
Hold on Tight (Sara Acton, Scholastic)
Released June 2013
What would happen if you let go of your mum’s hand and blew away up into the sky? Would you have cups of tea with the birds? Bounce on clouds?... Read more
Where Are You, Banana? (Sofie Laguna, illus by Craig Smith, A&U)
Released July 2013
This book explores the special relationship that develops between a child and their first pet. Roddy and Banana have been best friends ever since Roddy’s dad brought Banana home as... Read more
Chook Chook: Little and Lo in the City (Wai Chim, UQP)
Released July 2013
This entertaining story begins in rural China. Mei lives on a farm with her mother, brother and two beloved chooks, Little and Lo. Everyone is getting along harmoniously until Mei’s... Read more
Lulu Bell and the Birthday Unicorn (Belinda Murrell, illus by Serena Geddes, Random House)
Released June 2013
We meet Lulu Bell on a very important day—her little sister Rosie’s sixth birthday. Everything seems to be going according to plan until a runaway pony threatens to spoil the... Read more
More Stories from the Billabong (James Vance Marshall, illus by Francis Firebrace, Walker Books)
Released August 2013
This is a companion title to Stories from the Billabong by the same collaborators. It is a gorgeously presented book, full of stories of the Dreamtime when Australian Aborigines believe... Read more
Shahana: Through My Eyes (Rosanne Hawke, A&U)
Released June 2013
This is an outstanding first entry in the ‘Through My Eyes’ series for readers aged 11-14, which aims to increase awareness of the devastating effects of war on children. It... Read more
Stay: The Last Dog in Antarctica (Jesse Blackadder, ABC Books)
Released July 2013
Stay is a fibreglass golden labrador with a slot in her head. Her job is to sit in front of a shopping centre in Hobart and collect donations for the... Read more
Fairytales for Wilde Girls (Allyse Near, Random House)
Released June 2013
It’s a big call to compare an author to Margo Lanagan, Neil Gaiman and Holly Black—even more so when that author is just 22 and about to publish her first... Read more
The First Third (Will Kostakis, Puffin)
Released July 2013
The First Third is the second book by author Will Kostakis, following Loathing Lola. We meet Bill and his family in the hospital ward, where they are gathered around their... Read more
Hatched: Celebrating 20 Years of the Tim Winton Award for Young Writers (foreword by Tim Winton, Fremantle Press)
Released August 2013
Short stories are little adventures that allow us to fall briefly from our world into another—a fundamental part of the human experience, as Tim Winton writes in his introduction to... Read more
Lucien (James Moloney, HarperCollins)
Released June 2013
This is the third and final book in James Maloney’s fantasy series, which began in 2011 with Silvermay. It picks up the story with the arrival of Silvermay and her... Read more
The Whole of My World (Nicole Hayes, Woolshed Press)
Released June 2013
It’s a rare treat to find a sports-focused YA novel with a female protagonist, and Australian author Nicole Hayes’ moving 1980s-set debut The Whole of My World combines the heady... Read more
Wildlife (Fiona Wood, Pan Macmillan)
Released June 2013
Wildlife is a poignant and insightful view into the teenage battleground of friendships, family and new romance, and is Fiona Wood’s confident follow-up to her debut novel Six Impossible Things.... Read more
The Sky So Heavy (Claire Zorn, UQP)
Released August 2013
As post-apocalypse YA novels go, this one is scarily realistic. Fin and his little brother Max are left to fend for themselves after a nuclear winter falls over their home... Read more
Who We Were (Lucy Neave, Text)
Released June 2013
Who We Were is a sweeping love story that spans multiple continents and decades. Annabel is just 17 when she meets Bill on a trip from Melbourne to her home... Read more
A Wrong Turn at the Office of Unmade Lists (Jane Rawson, Transit Lounge)
Released June 2013
Dystopian worlds can be as perilous for those writing about them as they are for those occupying them. Thankfully Jane Rawson avoids the common trap of valuing the surroundings over... Read more
The 100 Best Albums of All Time (Craig Mathieson & Toby Cresswell, Hardie Grant)
Released August 2013
Longstanding Australian music journalists John O’Donnell, Craig Mathieson and Toby Cresswell have compiled this collection of The 100 Best Albums of All Time. Album ‘best of’ lists are frequently published,... Read more
Dark Horse (Honey Brown, Michael Joseph)
Released May 2013
On Christmas morning a biblically epic storm traps Sarah Barnard and her horse on the (nominally Tasmanian) Devil’s Mountain. Sarah finds shelter and supplies at an abandoned workmen’s camp and... Read more
