Review search
Naynay and the Mermaid (Tasma Walton, illus Charmaine Ledden-Lewis, Scholastic)
Released October 2025
Naynay and the Mermaid is a beautifully told and visually striking picture book by accomplished actor and author Tasma Walton, a proud Boonwurrung woman from Melbourne. Naynay is asked to keep... Read more
Riots (Fiona Skyring, UWA Publishing)
Released October 2025
Renowned Australian historian Fiona Skyring returns with Riots, a captivating nonfiction book that unearths a chapter of ANZAC history rarely spoken of today. Skyring takes readers back to the turbulent... Read more
Ningaloo: Australia’s Wild Wonder (Tim Winton, illus Cindy Lane, Fremantle)
Released October 2025
Ningaloo, written by award-winning author Tim Winton and illustrated by Cindy Lane, is a beautifully designed nonfiction picture book about the Ningaloo Reef off the West Coast of Australia. Called... Read more
Elizabeth Harrower: The Woman in the Watch Tower (Susan Wyndham, NewSouth)
Released October 2025
In Elizabeth Harrower: The Woman in the Watch Tower, journalist and author Susan Wyndham offers a sympathetic and illuminating exploration of the life and work of one of post-war Australia’s... Read more
The One Remaining (Paula McLean, Fearless Press)
Released October 2025
Paula McLean’s The One Remaining is a quiet, affecting novel about memory, silence and the long shadow of a sister’s disappearance. When successful novelist Hilary Mason discovers a stack of... Read more
Spud and Snowball and the Fancy Fish (Spud and Snowball #1) (Judith Rossell, ABC Books)
Released October 2025
Mischief abounds in Spud and Snowball and the Fancy Fish, Judith Rossell’s new illustrated junior fiction chapter book, which introduces us to the adventures of two charming but chaotic cats. When... Read more
The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done (Clare Stephens, Atlantic)
Released October 2025
The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done is a sharp and unsettling novel that makes you reconsider every online interaction, bad review, snarky comment or quick judgment. Journalist Ruby Williams wants... Read more
I’d Rather Be a Cat (Laura Bunting & Philip Bunting, Scholastic)
Released October 2025
Laura and Philip Bunting’s charming I’d Rather Be a Cat is a fun, rhyming addition to the corpus of picture books about being comfortable in your own skin. With a... Read more
Do We Deserve This? (Eleanor Elliott Thomas, Text)
Released October 2025
Do We Deserve This? by Eleanor Elliott Thomas (The Opposite of Success) follows twenty-something underachiever Bean Halloway, who buys a lottery ticket for her mother, only for it to win... Read more
Boobs (Lisa Portolan & Amanda Goff, Echo)
Released October 2025
Boobs is an exploration of all things breasts. Combining personal insight with research, Amanda Goff (Misfit: The Unravelling of Samantha X) and Lisa Portolan examine the ways that breasts are perceived, augmented... Read more
Arsenic Flower (Dakota Feirer, Hachette)
Released October 2025
Dakota Feirer’s Arsenic Flower carves meaning from masculinity and memory. Tender and intimate, this debut poetry collection finds harmony in two contradictory realities: the harm of the Australian colony and... Read more
Be(wilder): Journeys in Nature (Darryl Jones, NewSouth)
Released October 2025
Ecologist Darryl Jones (Curlews on Vulture Street) travels across Australia and the world to study the lives of wild animals in urban environments and how humans and non-human animals can comfortably... Read more
A Great Act of Love (Heather Rose, A&U)
Released October 2025
Heather Rose's A Great Act of Love follows Caroline, an upper class widow who leaves London in the late 1830s to undertake a long and dangerous journey to Van Diemen’s... Read more
The Legend of Jessie Hickman (Mark Greenwood, illus Frané Lessac, NLA)
Released October 2025
The Legend of Jessie Hickman is a beautifully crafted nonfiction picture book that tells the remarkable true story of a 20th century Australian circus performer turned bushranger. Written by Mark... Read more
Seed (Bri Lee, Summit Books)
Released October 2025
Bri Lee’s Seed is a suspenseful literary thriller that asks urgent, existential questions: What does it mean to leave an impact on the world? Is it too late to halt... Read more
Catch (Sarah Brill, A&U Children’s)
Released October 2025
Sarah Brill’s Catch is a heartfelt and quietly thrilling coming-of-age novel. The story follows 16-year-old Beth as she navigates the upheaval of her older sister’s surprise pregnancy, the quiet chaos of... Read more
The Peach King (Inga Simpson, illus Tannya Harricks, Lothian)
Released October 2025
Nature writer Inga Simpson (The Thinning, Willowman) and award-winning artist Tannya Harricks (Mallee Sky) have created a modern classic in The Peach King – an exquisite book destined to be... Read more
Average at Best (Astrid Jorgensen, S&S)
Released October 2025
Average at Best is one of those rare books that sneaks up on you with its funny and effortless voice, as well as its emotional depth. It doesn’t try to... Read more
The Underworld (Sofie Laguna, Penguin)
Released October 2025
Sofie Laguna’s The Underworld is an introspective, bittersweet coming-of-age tale that follows a 15-year-old Martha Mullins in 1970s Sydney from adolescence through to university, focusing on her female friendships, her... Read more
Very Impressive for Your Age (Eleanor Kirk, A&U)
Released September 2025
In Very Impressive for Your Age, Eleanor Kirk brings insight, wit and dark humour to her sharply drawn portrait of a young woman whose carefully imagined future vanishes overnight. Evelyn... Read more
