Tobias Madden, Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell, Penguin Books, August 2022, 384 pp., RRP $19.99 (pbk), IBSN 9780143777397 Take a Bow, Noah Mitchell is an endearing and heartfelt YA coming of age romance. The characters are charming and likeable, ridiculously cringey and most definitely relatable. Tobias Madden explores themes of bullying, body image, lying and manipulation, queer relationships, and new friendships. Seventeen-year-old gamer Noah Mitchell is in love with his best and only friend. A boy he has never met in person, and it seems he will never meet. This boy goes by the name of ‘MagePants69’ in the Spire…
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Penny Harrison (text) and Virginia Gray (illustrator), Wild Bush Days, Midnight Sun Publishing, 32 pp., RRP $29.99 (hbk), August 2022, ISBN 9780987380906 Wild Bush Days weaves together the story of a 1900s circus performer turned Lady Bushranger, with the story of two modern-day adventurers following her trail. As the young girls explore the mountains, they follow whispers on the wind and sense the bushranger’s presence. The stories run parallel to show the adventurous spirit is timeless. The story is told with lovely evocative language and imagery. Penny Harrison’s words bring the mountain setting alive with history and adventure. The story…
Belinda Murrell, The Silver Sea, Penguin Random House, August 2022, 288 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781761045554 Second in the Tuscian series inspired by the Italian Renaissance, The Silver Sea can also be read as a stand-alone novel. Sophie, the protagonist of the story lives in contemporary Australia but is over visiting her nanna in Kent, England while her mum and brother are at a summer school for geniuses in Oxford. When she wakes one morning to find her grandmother missing and Baccio the magic cat arrives to inform herthat her grandmother and grandmother’s sister, Caterina Rossellana are in grave…
Scott Stuart, My Shadow is Purple, Larrikin House, May 2022, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781922503817 This is the follow-up to the gender-affirming My Shadow is Pink (our review is here) in which a little boy learns to take pride in his love of tutus and other ‘girl’ things that don’t seem quite so appealing to his blokey dad. In this book, the main character identifies with some ‘girl’ things and some ‘boy’ things. In a strange climax, featuring a school dance, the child’s teacher attempts to force them to choose which side of the gender binary they align…
Paul Venzo and Prue Francis (text) and Cate James (illustrator), The Great Southern Reef, CSIRO Publishing, May 2022, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781486315314 The authors of The Great Southern Reef are Paul Venzo, who teaches literature and writing for children and is the Course Director of the Literary Studies, Children’s Literature and Gender and Sexuality Studies majors at Deakin University; and Prue Francis, who is a Senior Lecturer in Marine Science and Professional Practice in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences and the Course Director of the Bachelor of Marine Science at Deakin University. Both want to…
Mette Jakobsen, The Snow Laundry, Angus & Robertson, July 2022, 304 pp., RRP $19.90 (pbk), IBSN 9781460762080 The Snow Laundry is not for the faint of heart. This dark and twisted novel paints a bleak picture of a not-too-dissimilar world. Mette Jakobsen explores themes of Government control, brutality, and survival of the fittest but also friendship, teamwork and hope. In a dystopian world, much like our own and yet entirely different, cities are on lockdown and the homeless youth have been rounded up and forced to do hard labour in the Towers. Children are treated like hardened criminals. Violence is…
Louie Stowell, A Bad God’s Guide to Taking the Blame (Loki #2), Walker Books, August 2022, 288 pp., RRP $16.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781529501223 When Thor’s hammer goes missing, everyone thinks that Loki is the one to blame, which he believes is mightily unfair, as he’s turned over a new leaf and become good. To clear his name, he must find the beloved hammer, uncover the real thief, and, most importantly according to Loki, force everyone to admit that they were wrong! A Bad God’s Guide to Taking the Blame is the second in the series of Louie Stowell’s entertaining series…
Sibéal Pounder, Neon’s Secret Universe, Bloomsbury, July 2022, 224 pp., RRP $14.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781408894149 What a zany chapter story. This is the real story behind unicorns, not the ones we usually recognise. They are not the horse-like creatures with horns that we know. They were just created by Greg to distract humans. Instead, they are magical beings living on the planet and they look just like everyone else. Neon Gallup uses her found battered green lipstick to find her way into this new land. Neon had started wearing only black, so she doesn’t stand out, and finds herself in…
Daniel Gray-Barnett, All the Colours of our Rainbow, Affirm Press, May 2022, 10 pp., Board Book, RRP $19.99 ISBN 9781922711854 In the lead-up to Pride Month in June, All the Colours of Our Rainbow by gay dad and author/illustrator Daniel Gray-Barnett was released by Affirm Press. It’s a personal follow-up to Grandma Z which earned Gray-Barnett the CBCA’s Best New Illustrator award. Gray-Barnett was inspired to create the book by his own life experience. He and his partner were engaged while waiting for same-sex marriage to be legalised. They then became the first couple to lodge their intent to marry…
Janeen Brian (author) and Ann James (illustrator), I’m a Dirty Dinosaur Hide and Seek, Puffin, 10 pp., RRP $16.99 (board book), August 2022, ISBN 9780143777427 I’m a Dirty Dinosaur Hide and Seek is a fun lift-the-flap book for the very young. It follows I’m a Dirty Dinosaur , but this time in board book format, including the lift-the-flaps feature. The simple interactive format sees the Dirty Dinosaur looking for his friends. Each page includes a fun rhyme and two flaps to search under. Little ones will enjoy lifting the flap and responding when they find the friend, or other animals underneath. On the final page,…