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The Dream Walker (Victoria Carless, Hachette)
Released July 2017
In her debut novel, Victoria Carless explores isolation, hope and grief through the surreal and distortive lens of dreams. Sixteen-year-old Lucy Hart feels lost in the isolated fishing village of... Read more
The Vampire Knife: The Witching Hours Book One (Jack Henseleit, Hardie Grant Egmont)
Released August 2017
As a bookseller, recommending horror for the middle-grade fiction crowd is a difficult balancing act: not scary enough and the kids will switch off; too scary and the adults will protest. Thankfully the publication of The Vampire... Read more
Musical Markus: Super Moopers Book One (Fiona Harris, illus by Scott Edgar, Five Mile)
Released August 2017
Markus is a Mooper who loves to sing loudly and constantly! Unfortunately, most of the Moopers in Moopertown find this, well, annoying. Poor Markus. Who wouldn’t feel sorry for him... Read more
I Just Ate My Friend (Heidi McKinnon, A&U)
Released August 2017
Making friends can be hard but keeping them can be even harder. Especially if you’ve just eaten your friend, like the nameless monster in Heidi McKinnon’s debut picture book. The... Read more
Feathers (Phil Cummings, illus by Phil Lesnie, Scholastic)
Released August 2017
If we could all fly around the world like the sandpiper in Phil Cummings and Phil Lesnie’s latest picture book, we would see how many people are experiencing extreme hardships... Read more
Stubborn Stanley (Nathaniel Eckstrom, Scholastic)
Released August 2017
Stanley is a messy-haired, freckly boy in red overalls. Depicted on the cover, he has his arms crossed in a determined stance and his name cleverly spelt out with various... Read more
The Build-up Season (Megan Jacobson, Penguin)
Released August 2017
Megan Jacobson’s The Build-up Season is a confronting but compelling exploration of domestic violence and the legacies of abuse, set against the gathering storm clouds in the ‘build-up’ to Darwin’s... Read more
Sparrow (Scot Gardner, A&U)
Released August 2017
Scot Gardner’s latest YA novel is a story of survival in both the wilderness and the city. Leaping from an exploding boat into crocodile-infested waters, the boy who never speaks... Read more
Exchange of Heart (Darren Groth, Penguin)
Released August 2017
Canadian Munro Maddox is on an exchange program to Brisbane for one reason only—to leave behind the demons he’s been carrying around since the sudden death of his younger sister... Read more
Stitches and Stuffing (Carrie Gallasch, illus by Sara Acton, Little Hare)
Released August 2017
Loving relationships are so important in children’s lives. It doesn’t seem to matter if the relationships are with humans, animals or toys—they are all a vital part of growing up.... Read more
Gaolbird (Simon Barnard, Text)
Released August 2017
Simon Barnard’s latest convict story for children presents a boisterous slice of Australian colonial history using lairy illustrations and a persistent and multi-stranded narrative. Unlike his meticulous, information-loaded CBCA Award-winning... Read more
The Traitor and the Thief (Gareth Ward, Walker Books)
Released August 2017
In a steampunk alternate England, the life of 14-year-old petty thief Sin changes when he is recruited to join a secret school for young spies tasked with preventing an alternate... Read more
Hark It‘s Me, Ruby Lee! (Lisa Shanahan, illus by Binny Talib, Lothian)
Released August 2017
This light-hearted, lesson-filled picture book from Lisa Shanahan (author of Bear and Chook and Big Pet Day) perfectly matches Binny Talib’s simple-yet-vivid illustrations. Talib uses specific shades of blue, yellow,... Read more
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie: Questionable Histories of Great Australians (Ben Pobjie, Affirm Press)
Released August 2017
Ben Pobjie’s latest book Aussie, Aussie, Aussie continues in the same satirical vein as Error Australis: Australian history made palatable with a dose of snark and good humour. The subtitle... Read more
Gravity Well (Melanie Joosten, Scribe)
Released June 2017
Thirty years ago, American astronomer Carl Sagan described a photo of our planet as a blue dot: ‘That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone... Read more
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree (Shokoofeh Azar, Wild Dingo Press)
Released August 2017
A reimagining of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and its aftermath, Shokoofeh Azar’s The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree expertly traces the travails of a family of five during one of... Read more
Wellmania: Misadventures in the Search for Wellness (Brigid Delaney, Nero)
Released July 2017
Wellmania takes on the industrial wellness complex, a billion-dollar industry that mainstreams and monetises ancient traditions for affluent consumers. Feeling depleted from decades in the fast lane, journalist Brigid Delaney... Read more
Her (Garry Disher, Hachette)
Released August 2017
Well-known crime writer Garry Disher has delivered a slower, more intimate read with Her, a novel that spans 10 years, from 1909 to 1919, set in outback Australia. Her is... Read more
Lady of the Realm (Hoa Pham, Spinifex Press)
Released June 2017
Lady of the Realm is the eighth book by writer and founder of Peril Magazine Hoa Pham. The novella follows the story of a young Vietnamese girl, Lien, who seeks... Read more
The Town (Shaun Prescott, Brow Books)
Released August 2017
Shaun Prescott’s debut novel is a story of absences, holes and disappearings. An unnamed narrator arrives in an unnamed town in the central west of New South Wales. As he... Read more
