Review search
Living on Stolen Land (Ambelin Kwaymullina, Magabala)
Released July 2020
From the title alone to the direct and unabashedly confrontational language, Living on Stolen Land does not equivocate on its message, which is to reiterate the history of settler colonialism... Read more
Stars Like Us (Frances Chapman, Hardie Grant Egmont)
Released July 2020
Sixteen-year-old Australian music student Liliana is missing her home, family and friends while on exchange at exclusive Henley-on-Thames Music Academy in London. When the opportunity arises to join a secret... Read more
The Fogging (Luke Horton, Scribe)
Released July 2020
Luke Horton’s debut novel opens with its narrator Tom having a panic attack on the plane that is taking him and his girlfriend Clara from Melbourne to Bali. With Tom... Read more
A Lonely Girl is a Dangerous Thing (Jessie Tu, A&U)
Released July 2020
Somewhere between wetting her pants during a standing ovation and sleeping with her conductor, violinist Jena Chung finds herself lonely. Set against a backdrop of Sydney suburbs from Willoughby to... Read more
The Snowman’s Wish (Sophie Masson, illus by Ronak Taher, Dirt Lane Press)
Released July 2020
With The Snowman’s Wish, Sophie Masson and Ronak Taher have crafted a soft tale about the passage of time and the beauty in the world. Mr Snowman, a kindly soul... Read more
Metal Fish, Falling Snow (Cath Moore, Text)
Released July 2020
Fourteen-year-old Dylan blames herself for her mum’s recent tragic death. Left alone with her mum’s boyfriend Pat, Dylan has no choice but to leave her hometown and join him on... Read more
The Secret Library of Hummingbird House (Julianne Negri, Affirm Press)
Released July 2020
Julianne Negri’s debut middle-grade novel The Secret Library of Hummingbird House is sure to entice young readers with its effervescent premise and hook. It tells the story of Hattie, a... Read more
The Details: On love, death and reading (Tegan Bennett Daylight, Scribner)
Released July 2020
Tegan Bennett Daylight knows a thing or two about reading. As a writer, critic and creative writing lecturer, Bennett Daylight has a careful eye for detail and knows how it... Read more
Littlelight (Kelly Canby, Fremantle Press)
Released July 2020
A tyrannical leader, an oppressive wall and a courageous girl come together in this timely fable for preschoolers. When bricks start disappearing from the protective wall that surrounds their town,... Read more
The Friendly Games (Kaye Baillie, illus by Fiona Burrows, MidnightSun)
Released June 2020
It’s great to see so many books telling true stories of inspiring young people and overlooked yet defining moments in the lives of different communities. The Friendly Games unearths one... Read more
I Shot The Devil (Ruth McIver, Hachette)
Released September 2021
Richell Prize-winner Ruth McIver’s debut crime thriller is a powder-keg with a slow burning fuse that has you racing to figure out which of the shadowy, unreliable suspects ‘did it’—and... Read more
The End of the World is Bigger Than Love (Davina Bell, Text)
Released June 2020
Davina Bell’s first young adult novel is unlike anything else written for the target audience. This becomes clear almost immediately upon beginning the book, when the identical twin protagonists, Summer... Read more
Henry Turnip (Chloe Jasmine Harris, Walker Books)
Released June 2020
Henry Turnip is a panda who likes strawberry jam sandwiches with the crusts cut off, reading about the ocean, and his seven sets of blue-striped overalls. He dislikes mess, too... Read more
The Dark Tide (Alicia Jasinska, Penguin)
Released June 2020
The island city of Caldella is sinking, and the only way to hold back the tide is through an annual ritual sacrifice performed by the cold, distant Witch Queen. When... Read more
Eloise and the Bucket of Stars (Janeen Brian, Walker Books)
Released June 2020
For nearly 13 years Eloise Pail has dreamed of a family and life outside the orphanage. But year after year Eloise is left under the watchful gaze of Sister Hortense,... Read more
Change Starts with Us (Sophie Beer, Little Hare)
Released June 2020
This brightly coloured and accessible book sets out to empower young children and familiarise them with ways in which even the littlest of us can have an impact our world.... Read more
What Zola did on Monday (Melina Marchetta, illus by Deb Hudson, Puffin)
Released June 2020
Melina Marchetta is a novelist we normally associate with award-winning young adult fiction, and more recently her adult novels Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil and The Place on Dalhousie.... Read more
The Trials of Portnoy: How Penguin brought down Australia’s censorship system (Patrick Mullins, Scribe)
Released June 2020
Starting even before Federation and lasting until the early 1970s, the Australian government controlled what Australians could read. Yet today, as Patrick Mullins recounts in this scintillating account of the rise and fall of Australian... Read more
Father of the Lost Boys (Yuot A Alaak, Fremantle Press)
Released June 2020
This shocking story should be better known: the attempt of more than 20,000 orphaned boys and thousands more refugee followers to survive amid the terrifying atrocities of the Second Sudanse... Read more
The Rain Heron (Robbie Arnott, Text)
Released June 2020
Ren has retreated from the world. After the country is torn apart by a coup, she hides herself away on a mountain, barely seeing another living soul beyond the animals... Read more
