Arthur and the Tiger (Sophie Beer, Puffin)
Thursday, 4 April 2019
Sophie Beer has a knack for creating books that simultaneously feel contemporary and vintage, which is sure to make them modern classics. In Arthur and the Tiger, Arthur is the son of...
Devil’s Ballast (Meg Caddy, Text)
Thursday, 4 April 2019
After escaping her violently abusive husband, Anne Bonny disguises herself as a boy and joins her lover, pirate captain Calico Jack Rackham, on his ship the Ranger. Anne fits in...
How it Feels to Float (Helena Fox, Pan)
Thursday, 4 April 2019
How do you find the will to live when you can’t even feel the ground anymore? Elizabeth Martin Grey—Biz—doesn’t know. All she knows is that she’s got one foot in...
Shauna’s Great Expectations (Kathleen Loughnan, A&U)
Thursday, 4 April 2019
Seventeen-year-old Shauna is the recipient of an Indigenous scholarship to an elite Sydney girls’ school. The expectations placed on her could be no higher than those she places on herself,...
Alex and the Alpacas Save the World (Kathryn Lefroy, Fremantle Press)
Thursday, 4 April 2019
Alex and the Alpacas Save the World is Kathryn Lefroy’s first novel. Part fantasy, part adventure, it reinvigorates the familiar good-versus-evil narrative with an original (if somewhat offbeat) setting and...
Sky (Ondine Sherman, Pantera)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
Fifteen-year-old animal lover Sky has had her world turned upside down. Her mum has died, she is sent to live with Aunt Paula (a virtual stranger who cries constantly and...
Our Little Inventor (Sher Rill Ng, A&U)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
Little Nell has been furiously working away at her desk, her room cloaked in gloom. But she’s finally finished her invention. Despite her younger brother’s scoffing, Nell is adamant that...
Wilam: A Birrarung Story (Aunty Joy Murphy & Andrew Kelly, illus by Lisa Kennedy, Black Dog)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
Wilam is an illustrated children’s book about Birrarung (the Yarra River) and some of the native animals that live nearby. Aunty Joy Murphy, a Wurundjeri Elder, is the author of...
Horse Warrior (Meredith Jaffé, Harbour Publishing)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
In this medieval fantasy for middle-grade readers, 11-year-old Maia is desperate to compete in the annual Tournament of Avenal, a showcase of riding and shooting skills. But girls are not...
Sherlock Bones and the Natural History Mystery (Renée Treml, A&U)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
Middle primary readers seem to have an unquenchable thirst for illustrated, funny novels, with kids devouring series after series of the ‘Treehouse’ books, ‘The Bad Guys’, and ‘Dog Man’. Renée...
Rebellion at Eureka (Alan Tucker, Scholastic)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
It’s 1854, and now that Alf is 13 years old and finally done with school, he wants some independence. But his mum has other ideas, moving their general store business...
The Honeyman and the Hunter (Neil Grant, A&U)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
When 16-year-old Rudra’s estranged grandmother arrives from India to reunite with her only daughter, it unlocks a side of Rudra’s family and culture that he never knew; born and raised...
The Secret Runners of New York (Matthew Reilly, Macmillan)
Thursday, 7 March 2019
A school for the children of the wealthy elite is not where you would expect a book about the end of the world to be set, but that's what Matthew...
Let Me Sleep, Sheep (Meg McKinlay, illus by Leila Rudge, Walker Books)
Thursday, 7 February 2019
The award-winning duo behind the animal adventure picture books No Bears and Once upon a Small Rhinoceros are back with a new book that tells the story of young sleep-deprived...
Baz & Benz (Heidi McKinnon, A&U)
Thursday, 7 February 2019
The titular Baz and Benz are a pair of owls: a small blue one and a larger green one. At the start of the book, they agree wholeheartedly that they...
52 Mondays (Anna Ciddor, A&U)
Thursday, 7 February 2019
52 Mondays is the latest middle-grade novel from Anna Ciddor, written in the same classic storytelling tradition as her previous work, The Family with Two Front Doors. A fictionalised account...
Ivanhoe Swift Left Home at Six (Jane Godwin, illus by A Yi, A&U)
Thursday, 7 February 2019
Despite his parents’ concerns, Ivanhoe Swift leaves home at the age of six to see the world for himself. And so begins a dreamlike journey of self-discovery and gaining independence....
You Must Be Layla (Yassmin Abdel-Magied, Penguin)
Thursday, 7 February 2019
Thirteen-year-old Layla has landed a scholarship at a prestigious private school where no one looks like her. She’s a creative kid who loves singing and making jewellery, but many of...
Underdog: #LoveOzYA Short Stories (ed by Tobias Madden, Nero)
Thursday, 7 February 2019
Following the success of its predecessor Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology, new anthology Underdog celebrates up-and-coming writers of Australian young adult fiction, with submissions received via an open call-out....
Stella the Unstoppable: The Talent Show Fiasco (Richard Newsome, Affirm)
Friday, 9 November 2018
Richard Newsome is known for action-packed adventure tales like his Text Prize-winning ‘Billionaire’ series, but his newest series, ‘Stella the Unstoppable’, is a little bit of a departure. Aimed at...
Fish Kid and the Lizard Ninja (Kylie Howarth, Walker Books)
Friday, 9 November 2018
Bodhi is a boy who travels the world with his parents (a scientist and a photographer) as they study marine environments, in this case the Galapagos Islands. He would much...
Gorski’s Bitemare (Robert Favretto, illus by Danny Willis, Ford St)
Friday, 9 November 2018
Gorski Dragonovski lives with his mum and dad and his sister Drusella. Their home is a castle outside of town and they sleep all day, in coffins. Gorski and his...
Tilly Maguire and the Royal Wedding Mess (Emma Grey, HarperCollins)
Friday, 9 November 2018
Author Emma Grey declares this gloriously soapy book an ‘unapologetic fairytale’. Grey has fun with classic fairytale elements as well as modern pop culture: indeed, the book features run-ins with...
Melody Trumpet (Gabrielle Tozer, HarperCollins)
Friday, 9 November 2018
Melody’s parents are world-famous musicians (and narcissistic bores) who expect their only daughter to have inherited their incredible talent, but poor Melody can’t play any instruments and sounds like a...
The Day We Built the Bridge (Samantha Tidy, illus by Fiona Burrows, MidnightSun)
Friday, 9 November 2018
Samantha Tidy and Fiona Burrows take the creation of a national icon, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and strip it back to a streamlined, succinct story of a need, an idea...
Yahoo Creek (Tohby Riddle, A&U)
Tuesday, 30 October 2018
In this imaginative work, Tohby Riddle delves into the mystery of the yahoo (or the yowie, as it is commonly known today). Reported sightings of these large, hairy beasts were...
Queen Celine (Matt Shanks, Walker Books)
Tuesday, 30 October 2018
Matt Shanks’ latest picture book introduces us to Celine Beaufort. Celine lives a fairly ordinary life, doing ordinary things, but sometimes she gets to be the queen of a very...
Mallee Sky (Jodi Toering, illus by Tannya Harricks, Walker Books)
Tuesday, 30 October 2018
The Australia of Mallee Sky is a familiar one—wide, red-brown, drought-stricken, unforgiving, yet strikingly beautiful—but never a cliche. The book avoids patronising children, instead welcoming them into a mature literary...
Lottie and Walter (Anna Walker, Picture Puffin)
Tuesday, 30 October 2018
Following in the tradition of her previous works Mr Huff and Florence, Anna Walker once again pays tribute to the creativity and resilience of children in this tale of a...
The Tales of Mr Walker (Jess Black, illus by Sara Acton, Puffin)
Thursday, 4 October 2018
Mr Walker is a golden labrador who has been hired as the Melbourne Park Hyatt’s canine ambassador. Based on his real-life counterpart, this middle-grade chapter book comprises four beguiling vignettes...
