Review search
Lucky’s (Andrew Pippos, Picador)
Released November 2020
2002: Emily steps off the plane in Sydney, still reeling from an unexpected marriage breakdown. She’s here to write an article for the New Yorker about Lucky’s, a once-beloved mid-century... Read more
Ernie’s Journey (David Woodland, Berbay)
Released November 2020
David Woodland’s debut picture book Ernie’s Journey is unmistakably influenced by his award-winning cinematic background. Its visual detail and narrative novelty are rich, and the absurd adventures of its eponymous... Read more
Scary Bird (Michel Streich, Scholastic)
Released October 2020
A lively little book, Scary Bird puts diversity, adjustment and acceptance into an understandable parable for little listeners (though plenty of big listeners would also do well to pay attention... Read more
Little Jiang (Shirley Marr, illus by Katy Jiang, Fremantle Press)
Released October 2020
Born under a confluence of inauspicious signs and hitherto haunted by all manner of hungry ghosts, it’s difficult for Mei to dismiss her aunt’s firmly held belief that she is... Read more
Infinite Splendours (Sofie Laguna, A&U)
Released November 2020
Miles Franklin–winner Sofie Laguna’s fourth novel tells the story of Lawrence, a boy from a small western Victorian town near the Southern Grampians mountain range. Lawrence has a special, spiritual... Read more
The Boy, the Wolf and the Stars (Shivaun Plozza, Puffin)
Released October 2020
Young readers with an insatiable hunger for adventure will love The Boy, the Wolf and the Stars, a timeless new novel from Shivaun Plozza. A departure from her writing for... Read more
How to Make a Bird (Meg McKinlay, illus by Matt Ottley, Walker Books)
Released October 2020
For those children who revel in the natural environment, particularly fossils and bones, How to Make a Bird is a delight. According to the young girl protagonist, you will need... Read more
A Different Kind of Seeing (Marie Younan, Scribe)
Released October 2020
This is a simply told tale of an extraordinary life. Marie Younan’s memoir unravels twin narratives: being blind in a seeing world and being part of a displaced people. For... Read more
Living With the Anthropocene (ed by Cameron Muir, Kirsten Wehner & Jenny Newell, NewSouth)
Released October 2020
‘You’re not alone’ is one of the key threads in this collection of essays. That and ‘deep grief’ for what we know and don’t know is being lost, with many... Read more
Rural Dreams (Margaret Hickey, MidnightSun)
Released October 2020
Rural Dreams, like its name implies, is a short story collection deeply rooted in country Australia. Reading it you can practically smell the dry grass, eucalyptus and stale pub carpet.... Read more
Future Girl (Asphyxia, A&U)
Released October 2020
The events of Future Girl play out in a future Melbourne that is eerily plausible. Food has been largely replaced by recon, an all-in-one food replacement that is marketed as... Read more
A Letter to Layla: Travels to our deep past and near future (Ramona Koval, Text)
Released October 2020
Ramona Koval’s latest book is really a quest story: in it she sets out to find how humanity got to where we are now, and where we are going. In... Read more
Aussie STEM Stars: Fiona Wood (Cristy Burne, Wild Dingo Press)
Released October 2020
‘Aussie STEM Stars’ is an exciting new narrative nonfiction series that celebrates experts in the fields of science, maths, engineering and technology. Book one centres on the story of Fiona... Read more
Loss Adjustment (Linda Collins, Awa Press)
Released October 2020
The unimaginable horror of losing a beloved only child to suicide concentrated Linda Collins’ mind, producing this extraordinary book. The pain of her loss suffuses every page, but she writes... Read more
All Our Shimmering Skies (Trent Dalton, HarperCollins)
Released October 2020
Backdropped by the 1942 bombing of Darwin, Trent Dalton’s All Our Shimmering Skies is a macabre, dreamlike fable interrogating greed and intergenerational trauma. At the age of seven, gravedigger girl... Read more
Piper Picks the Perfect Pet (Caroline Tuohey, illus by Nicky Johnston, Ford St)
Released October 2020
From the alliterative title alone, you know this picture book must be read out loud to the little ones. Piper Picks the Perfect Pet even rhymes, which will add to... Read more
This One is Ours (Kate O’Donnell, UQP)
Released October 2020
In her second novel, Kate O’Donnell, author of Untidy Towns, delivers an insightful and earnest coming-of-age story brimming with humanity. This One is Ours takes readers on a romantic overseas... Read more
It’s Been a Pleasure, Noni Blake (Claire Christian, Text)
Released October 2020
Claire Christian’s first adult novel is billed as a contemporary romantic comedy and while there is a delicious romance plot, the true love story is between the eponymous protagonist and... Read more
Soar: A life freed by dance (David McAllister, Thames & Hudson)
Released October 2020
As both a star principal dancer and tenured artistic director, David McAllister is a reliable chronicler of Australia’s recent ballet history. In his memoir Soar, McAllister records his early years... Read more
Bindi (Kirli Saunders, illus by Dub Leffler, Magabala)
Released October 2020
Multi–award winning author and poet Kirli Saunders turns her talent to junior fiction with this wonderfully engaging verse novel, which won the inaugural WA Premier’s Daisy Utemorrah Award. Eleven-year-old Bindi... Read more
