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Ottilie Colter and the Narroway Hunt (Rhiannon Williams, Hardie Grant Egmont)
Released July 2018
The Colter siblings have learned to look after each other in the dangerous Brakkerswamp, so when Ottilie’s brother Gully is kidnapped under mysterious circumstances, it falls to her to save... Read more
Duck! (Meg McKinlay, illus by Nathaniel Eckstrom, Walker Books)
Released July 2018
Duck!, from award-winning writer Meg McKinlay, is perhaps the most delightful picture book to feature a drawn-out play on a single word. The clues, laid out expertly in Nathaniel Eckstrom’s... Read more
The Geography of Friendship (Sally Piper, UQP)
Released July 2018
The romantic notion that female friendships are made of irrevocable bonds that can sustain all manner of hardships and joy is at the centre of Sally Piper’s The Geography of... Read more
The Peacock Summer (Hannah Richell, Hachette)
Released July 2018
Hannah Richell’s third novel, The Peacock Summer, is a vivid tale stretching across 50 years. It tells the story of Lillian and her granddaughter Maggie, set against the intimidating backdrop... Read more
When Elephants Fight (Majok Tulba, Hamish Hamilton)
Released July 2018
When Elephants Fight is a novel that really packs a punch. Majok Tulba has previously written about the realities of the Sudanese civil war in his 2012 novel, Beneath the... Read more
The Knowledge Solution: Politics (ed by Michelle Grattan, MUP)
Released July 2018
In The Knowledge Solution: Politics, editor Michelle Grattan presents a range of views dissecting today's most pressing political problems. A heavy artillery of top-brass contributors such as Paul Kelly, Peter... Read more
Boy Swallows Universe (Trent Dalton, Fourth Estate)
Released July 2018
The debut novel from award-winning journalist Trent Dalton is a harrowing coming-of-age tale set against the street-level drug trade in 1980s Brisbane. Boy Swallows Universe follows Eli Bell from ages... Read more
The Nowhere Child (Christian White, Affirm Press)
Released July 2018
Sammy Went was a toddler when she disappeared from her home in Kentucky 28 years ago. Kim Leamy is an Australian photography teacher living a fairly unremarkable life until a... Read more
The Orchard Underground (Mat Larkin, Hardie Grant Egmont)
Released May 2018
The Orchard Underground is a funny and intriguing debut that’s mercifully free of a ‘tween’ sensibility but never patronising to its upper-primary readers. The story is fresh and strange: the... Read more
Bab Sharkey and the Animal Mummies: The Weird Beard (Andrew Hansen & Jessica Roberts, Walker Books)
Released May 2018
Parents will likely be familiar with The Chaser’s Andrew Hansen, but this wacky new series is a departure from his satirical brand of humour. The book opens with the Unpharaoh:... Read more
Red House, Blue House, Green House, Tree House! (Jane Godwin, illus by Jane Reiseger, Affirm Press)
Released May 2018
Young children love listening to rhyming text. Even though they may not understand rhyming, they enjoy the sounds of the rhymes and the rhythm of the words. These kinds of... Read more
Whisper (Lynette Noni, Pantera Press)
Released May 2018
Subject Six-Eight-Four (aka Jane Doe) has been locked up in an underground facility and experimented on for over two and a half years as part of a mysterious ‘program’. In... Read more
Benny Bungarra’s Big Bush Clean-up (Sally Morgan, illus by Ambelin Kwaymullina, Magabala Books)
Released June 2018
Benny Bungarra’s Big Bush Clean-up is an animal tale with a strong environmental message. When Benny Bungarra investigates some strange noises in the bush, he comes across different animals that... Read more
Under My Bed (John Dickson, illus by Guridi, Berbay)
Released May 2018
Most people will remember the spine-tingling feeling of lying in bed at night and imagining there are monsters in their bedroom—and the comfort of realising that they’re safely snuggled up... Read more
Lifel1k3 (Jay Kristoff, A&U)
Released May 2018
Set in a savage post-apocalyptic California (or Kalifornya as it’s remembered now), Lifel1k3 (Lifelike) follows 15-year-old Eve, who makes a living building robots out of scraps and using them to... Read more
Bonesland (Brendan Lawley, Text)
Released May 2018
Sixteen-year-old Bones Carter has a lot going on. With his obsessive-compulsive tendencies, anxiety, germ-phobia, separated parents and regular harassment at the hands of his older brother Trav and school bully... Read more
The Singing Seal (Merv Lamington, illus by Allison Langton, Affirm Press)
Released June 2018
The first book in Affirm Press’ new ‘True Animal Tales’ series is an amiable and accessible glimpse into the cheeky imagined world of the real-life New Zealand fur seal who... Read more
It’s Hard to Love a Tiger (Anna Pignataro, Scholastic)
Released June 2018
Kittens and cats are so passé; how much more fun would it be to have a pet tiger instead? The cover—with its smiley little blonde girl trying to affix a... Read more
The Peacock Detectives (Carly Nugent, Text)
Released June 2018
Eleven-year-old Cassie Anderson, Peacock Detective, like all great detectives, is good at noticing things. She notices the scratches in the corner of the cage when the peacocks William Shakespeare and... Read more
The Learning Curves of Vanessa Partridge (Clare Strahan, A&U)
Released May 2018
Vanessa Partridge is a clever, talented and awkward teen facing her final year of high school in the midst of hormonal adolescence. She’s full of thoughts about kissing and sex... Read more
