Review search
Ned Kelly’s Secret: From Boy to Bushranger (Sophie Masson, Scholastic)
Released July 2012
Hugo Mars, our brash young narrator, and his father, a principled researcher for author Jules Verne, live a privileged life in Paris in the late 1800s. In search of stories... Read more
I, Wolf (Matt Boyd, ABC Books)
Released June 2012
In the wake of Twilight and the paranormal romance that followed, it’s nice to see a grittier style of paranormal fiction coming through that expands its readership to include those... Read more
Things My Daughter Needs to Know (Dilvin Yasa, Pan Macmillan)
Released July 2012
Worried about the world that her two-year-old daughter has inherited, Dilvin Yasa decided to write a guide to help her child navigate the tricky world of modern womanhood. The book... Read more
Who You Are Is What You Do: Making Choices about Life after School (Heather McAllister, Wilkins Farago)
Released June 2012
This innovative approach to careers counselling functions as a personal workbook for young people who are getting ready to start out in the working world. Aimed at students who are... Read more
Team Human (Justine Larbalestier & Sarah Rees Brennan, A&U)
Released July 2012
Individually, Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan have produced some of the wittiest, sharpest youngadult fiction on the market. Working together, they have managed to inject new life into the... Read more
Silhouette (Thalia Kalkipsakis, Hardie Grant Egmont)
Released June 2012
Seventeen-year-old Scarlett loves being the centre of attention. A ballet dancer at the National Academy of Performing Arts, Scarlett works hard to be the best and is sure to make... Read more
Dragon Hunter (Nazam Anhar, Scholastic)
Released June 2012
Baran is used to hardship. There isn’t a day that goes by in his isolated mountain village in which he isn’t mocked for the disappearance of his father. His only... Read more
Broken (Elizabeth Pulford, illus by Angus Gomes, Walker Books)
Released June 2012
Zara is trapped in a coma following a tragic accident. She can hear all that is going on around her but is entombed in her subconscious—where she is left to... Read more
Pennies for Hitler (Jackie French, HarperCollins)
Released June 2012
It’s Germany, 1939, six months after the Kristallnacht attacks on the Jews, but life for 11-year old Georg is full of promise under the Führer—until his father, an English university... Read more
The Ghost at the Point (Charlotte Calder, Walker Books)
Released June 2012
Dorrie has always lived at Ned’s Point with her grandfather, where she relishes the simple things: barefoot wanderings with her cat Poppy and fishing and exploring the bush on her... Read more
The Forgotten Pearl (Belinda Murrell, Random House)
Released June 2012
The Forgotten Pearl is the latest historical fiction offering from Belinda Murrell (The Ruby Talisman, The Ivory Rose). Poppy is an outgoing child who adores her home in Darwin, her... Read more
Dingo: The Dog Who Conquered a Continent (Jackie French, HarperCollins)
Released July 2012
When Loa’s childhood friend marries a stranger from another tribe, he is frustrated and angry at being stuck between childhood and manhood. Determined to find a wife—and a life—of his... Read more
Arkie Sparkle: Treasure Hunter—Code Crimson (Petra James, Pan Macmillan)
Released July 2012
Arkie Sparkle knows what she wants to be: a treasure hunter just like her globetrotting parents. So when her mum and dad are kidnapped, Arkie follows a cryptic ransom note... Read more
Sophie Scott Goes South (Alison Lester, Viking)
Released June 2012
As well as being one of the inaugural Australian children’s laureates and an ambassador for the National Year of Reading, Alison Lester recently travelled to Antarctica; Sophie Scott Goes South... Read more
The Terrible Suitcase (Emma Allen & Freya Blackwood, Omnibus)
Released July 2012
This delightful picture book from first-time author Emma Wood and award-winning illustrator Freya Blackwood tells a charming and poignant story about the challenges of fitting in. On the first day... Read more
The Red Wheelbarrow (Briony Stewart, UQP)
Released June 2012
The Red Wheelbarrow is a picture book with a difference; there are no words and there are two different stories depending on which side of the book you pick up.... Read more
The Sex Lives of Australians: A History (Frank Bongiorno, Black Inc.)
Released July 2012
Frank Bongiorno’s The Sex Lives of Australians: A History is an important and fascinating account of Australia’s past through the lens of sex. With the kind of minute detail and... Read more
The Forrests (Emily Perkins, Bloomsbury)
Released May 2012
Dorothy Forrest is seven years old when the Forrests move from New York, with dwindling money, to New Zealand. At the opening of the novel, Frank, the father, is capturing... Read more
The Lost Woman (Sydney Smith, Text)
Released June 2012
Reviewing a memoir with this much disturbing content is challenging, but I highly recommend this book for the strength and courage of the author’s voice, and the beauty of her... Read more
The Kingdom and the Quarry: China, Australia, Fear and Greed (David Uren, Black Inc.)
Released June 2012
Australia’s relationship with China is at the forefront of public discourse yet it is portrayed in wildly different ways. On the one hand China is the foundation of our prosperity... Read more
