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Believe in Me (Lucy Neave, UQP)
Released September 2021
Bet is a Sydney-based veterinarian raised in Adelaide by her single mother, Sarah. When Bet starts questioning her gender, identity and place in the world, she begins to put together the... Read more
Treasure in the Lake (Jason Pamment, A&U)
Released September 2021
Friendship, hidden cities and all-round adventure lie at the heart of Jason Pamment’s immersive graphic novel Treasure in the Lake. Sam and Iris have been best friends since they were little, but as the two... Read more
Let’s Eat Weeds! (Annie Raser-Rowland & Adam Grubb, illus by Evie Barrow, Scribble)
Released September 2021
I can’t think of anything more anxiety-provoking than helping children decide which weeds are safe to eat. But Adam Grubb and Annie Raser-Rowland tackle the task with humour, zeal and... Read more
Maxine (Bob Graham, Walker Books)
Released September 2021
A ‘companion book’ for Bob Graham’s beloved Max (which was 20 years old in 2020!), Maxine does stand alone but is not as rich if you haven’t first read Max, as it... Read more
My Friend Fox (Heidi Everett, Ultimo Press)
Released September 2021
This memoir from mental health recovery advocate Heidi Everett is a thoroughly real and stunningly evocative retelling of her life as a person with diagnosed mental illness. Everett tells the... Read more
Anything But Fine (Tobias Madden, Penguin)
Released September 2021
Anything But Fine is the young adult debut of Tobias Madden, who works in publishing and is part of the #LoveOzYA community. Like his main character, Luca, Madden grew up... Read more
The Magpie Wing (Max Easton, Giramondo)
Released September 2021
Max Easton’s The Magpie Wing is a moving portrait of a city and region undergoing enormous change, told through the perspectives of three unique, sympathetic and vulnerable characters. The book... Read more
Private Prosecution (Lisa Ellery, Fremantle Press)
Released September 2021
Lawyer-turned-writer Lisa Ellery uses her knowledge and experience in the legal sector to round out detailed judicial proceedings in her debut thriller, building a believable foundation for the tense drama... Read more
how to make a basket (Jazz Money, UQP)
Released September 2021
‘don’t forget this place / where life begins / tell it to the bubs to pass onto theirs / when strangers come / when other trees fall’ Jazz Money writes... Read more
Road Tripping with Pearl Nash (Poppy Nwosu, Wakefield)
Released September 2021
Since her 2018 debut Making Friends with Alice Dyson, shortlisted for the Adelaide Festival Unpublished Manuscript Award and the Readings Young Adult Book Prize, Poppy Nwosu has been creating protagonists that are a... Read more
Happy Hour (Jacquie Byron, A&U)
Released September 2021
Three years after her husband’s death, 65-year-old artist Frances Calderwood has developed a drinking problem and squirrelled herself away from human contact. However, the cocoon built by the quirky, acerbic... Read more
Sold Down the River (Scott Hamilton & Stuart Kells, Text)
Released September 2021
Once upon a time, Australian farmers traded thousands of megalitres of water for something as simple as a slab of beer. Then the economic mood changed. The 1980s brought political leaders... Read more
The Song of Lewis Carmichael (Sofie Laguna, illus by Marc McBride, A&U)
Released September 2021
Lyrical, mesmerising and full of heart, The Song of Lewis Carmichael by Sofie Laguna, complemented by the soft, detailed pencil drawings of Marc McBride, is a beautiful middle-grade adventure story... Read more
The Things We See in the Light (Amal Awad, Pantera Press)
Released September 2021
This book opens with Sahar arriving on her best friend Lara’s doorstep in Newtown, and it’s apparent Sahar has changed a lot since Lara last saw her. Once a shy,... Read more
A Trip to the Hospital (Freda Chiu, A&U Children)
Released September 2021
Freda Chiu’s first picture book, aimed at children aged three to seven, provides a friendly introduction to the idea of hospitals and what might happen in them. Largely informational rather... Read more
An Insider’s Plague Year (Peter Doherty, MUP)
Released August 2021
Laureate Professor Peter Doherty is one of the most well placed individuals to write a walk-through of the past year and a half of pandemic life. A Nobel Prize-winning immunologist... Read more
The School for Talking Pets (Kelli Anne Hawkins, illus by Beth Harvey, HarperCollins)
Released September 2021
With her debut middle grade novel, The School for Talking Pets, Kelli Anne Hawkins brings us a delightful tale that is reminiscent of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Mysterious Benedict Society. Rusty Mulligan is... Read more
Half My Luck (Samera Kamaleddine, HarperCollins)
Released August 2021
The first winner of HarperCollins’ Matilda Children’s Literature Prize is a warm-hearted and authentic coming-of-age story about the impact of race and place on our sense of self and belonging.... Read more
Dark as Last Night (Tony Birch, UQP)
Released August 2021
It’s a deceptively simple premise: two young brothers bond over a newfound love of bike riding. But as ‘Bicycle Thieves’ unfolds, a sweet yet dark and sorrowful undercurrent starts to... Read more
Recipe for a Kinder Life (Annie Smithers, Thames & Hudson)
Released August 2021
If you’ve had the good fortune to dine at Trentham’s du Fermier, where much of the food served is grown on chef/owner Annie Smithers’s own property, Babbington Park, in the... Read more
