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Gus and the Missing Boy (Troy Hunter, Wakefield)
Released March 2024
Gus Green is his injured mother’s primary carer after she was involved in a car accident; he is also gay and overweight. A true crime fanatic with aspirations of one... Read more
Joy Moody Is Out of Time (Kerryn Mayne, Bantam)
Released March 2024
For two decades, Cassiopeia (Cassie) and Andromeda (Andie) Moody have understood their destiny. They are special, chosen and kept safe, spending most of their lives within the confines of their Melbourne home,... Read more
Unique: What autism can teach us about difference, connection and belonging (Jodi Rodgers, Hachette)
Released March 2024
Neurodiversity commentary often references the double empathy problem, the concept that (put simply) neurodivergent–neurotypical communication can be more challenging than communication between people with the same neurotype. A related concept—neurodivergent... Read more
My Heart (Katrina McKelvey, illus Deb Hudson, EK Books)
Released March 2024
My Heart by Katrina McKelvey is a picture book about a loving mother–child relationship. The mother character reflects on her feelings while pregnant, after birth and as she watches her... Read more
Kin: Family in the 21st century (Marina Kamenev, NewSouth)
Released March 2024
While women’s rights over their bodies continue to be depleted in the United States, Kin: Family in the 21st century presents the history of a related struggle: the right to... Read more
Alphabetter (Maura Pierlot, illus Jorge Garcia Redondo, Affirm)
Released March 2024
Alphabetter: A Better You and Me, from A to Z is a new educational picture book from Affirm Press, which published the popular Life Lessons for Little Ones series. Written by... Read more
To The River (Vikki Wakefield, Text)
Released March 2024
The Kelly family was always skirting trouble. When 17-year-old Sabine Kelly’s mum and sister die with seven other people in a mysterious caravan park fire, Sabine confesses to the crime... Read more
Look Me in the Eye (Jane Godwin, Lothian)
Released March 2024
Look Me in the Eye is the latest young adult novel by award-winning author Jane Godwin. The story centres around Bella, a 13-year-old girl who leads quite a wholesome, drama-free... Read more
Circles of Life (Gregg Dreise, Puffin)
Released March 2024
Circles of Life is a picture book in verse that shares the tradition, beauty and importance of Thank You Circles, or Gabayindah Guroos. These artworks are painted in layers to... Read more
Beatrix Bakes: Another Slice (Natalie Paull, Hardie Grant)
Released March 2024
Come a Saturday morning, the line for Beatrix Bakes, a cult North Melbourne café and bakery, would snake down the street. Its closure in 2022—a personal tragedy for this reviewer—even... Read more
The Rewilding (Donna M Cameron, Transit Lounge)
Released March 2024
Jagger Eckerman, the scion of a corrupt construction mogul and protagonist of Donna M Cameron’s second novel, blows his life up one morning by sending a fateful email whistleblowing the... Read more
The Independent Pea (Maree Coote, Melbournestyle)
Released March 2024
Maree Coote’s love of vegetables, indulged vibrantly in her 2023 picture book Letters for Lunch!, gets another airing in The Independent Pea. This time, it’s an invigorating story about the... Read more
A Secretive Century: Monte Punshon’s Australia (Tessa Morris-Suzuki, MUP)
Released June 2024
A Secretive Century by Tessa Morris-Suzuki is an illuminating biography that unveils the remarkable life of Monte Punshon, an Australian woman who lived from 1882 to 1989. From her conservative... Read more
Break the Curse (Shower Land #1) (Nat Amoore, illus James Hart, Puffin)
Released March 2024
The first in a new junior fiction series, Shower Land 1: Break the Curse is a fun, whimsical book that will appeal to kids who enjoy fantasy and humour plots.... Read more
Shining Like the Sun (Stephen Orr, Wakefield)
Released March 2024
Stephen Orr's Shining Like the Sun is like an Australian version of A Man Called Ove, with the same qualities of grit and humanity that made the Swedish novel so... Read more
What Happened to Nina? (Dervla McTiernan, HarperCollins)
Released March 2024
Nina and Simon are teenage sweethearts, but cracks are starting to show in their relationship. After a stint of long distance, they decide to get away to Simon's parents’ new... Read more
Saturday Is Pancake Day (Bernadette Green, illus Daniel Gray-Barnett, Scribble)
Released March 2024
In the lively domestic chaos of Saturday Is Pancake Day—a story that might make you relieved it’s not your turn for the washing up (or that you’re not attending the... Read more
Cool Water (Myfanwy Jones, Hachette)
Released March 2024
Myfanwy Jones’s Cool Water is a cross-generational novel about the inheritance of toxic masculinity. When Frank Herbert returns to Tinaroo for his daughter’s wedding, he can’t stop thinking about his... Read more
Thanks for Having Me (Emma Darragh, JOAN)
Released March 2024
Emma Darragh’s debut novel, Thanks for Having Me, is an intergenerational familial story that offers a glimpse into the lives of three women: Mary Anne, Vivian and Evie. It’s a non-sequential... Read more
The Great Housing Hijack (Cameron K Murray, A&U)
Released March 2024
Instead of your typical dense economics book, The Great Housing Hijack: The hoaxes and myths keeping prices high for renters and buyers in Australia uses a compelling narrative with analogies,... Read more
