Our latest blog posts
What we're reading: Jessica Townsend, Jane Harper & Melissa Lucashenko
Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.
Ellen Cregan is reading Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
This week I’ve been reading Jessica Townsend’s hotly anticipated children’s fiction book. I don’t often get around to reading middle fiction, so when I do, the book has to be extra special, and this book is definitely extra special.
Morrigan Crow is…
10 historical YA novels I love
I haven’t always been a reader of historical fiction and in fact, for much of my reading life I would have told you that I actively disliked it. Fortunately I came to my senses around a decade ago, aided by some top-notch historical YA.
The very best historical YA fiction introduces the reader to young characters they can’t help but relate to on the most fundamental level, nestled into times and ways of life that are unfamiliar, dramatic and often…
Recommended children's fiction from emerging Australian writers
It’s been a brilliant year for Australian children’s books. Here is a sample of 12 middle fiction reads (ages 8-12) from exciting, fresh voices to suit young readers with all kinds of interests.
Lintang and the Pirate Queen by Tamara Moss
The spirited and determined Lintang dreams of leaving her home to travel the high seas. When she defends her home from a deadly mythie attack on the same day the infamous Captain Shafira visits her island, she finally gets…
New novels that show the world from a child's perspective
Writing from a child’s or teenager perspective might sound simple, but getting it right is notoriously difficult. Here are five new novels that feature compelling and authentic young voices.
How Saints Die by Carmen Marcus
How Saints Die portrays adult breakdown through the eyes of a brightly imaginative and irrepressibly curious child. 10-year-old Ellie lives with her fisherman father, Peter, on the wild North Yorkshire coast. It’s the 1980s and her mother’s breakdown is discussed only in whispers, with the…
Strong female characters who embrace their femininity
The ‘strong female character’ trope is a familiar one. Ass-kicking, gun-toting, take-no-prisoners women like Ripley from Alien or Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games trilogy tend to be where our minds go when we hear the phrase: strong female character.
While characters like Ripley and Katniss are examples of this character type at its best, this trope has also led to characters who are boring and formulaic, and worse, it also plays into the whole poisonous issue of gender equality…
Vale Agnes Nieuwenhuizen
We were deeply saddened to learn of Agnes Nieuwenhuizen’s death last week. Our children’s bookseller Mike Shuttleworth, who worked with Agnes for many years, reflects on her work and lasting legacy.
Agnes died suddenly on 14 September in Woodend, Victoria. A champion of youth literature in Australia and tireless advocate of reading, she leaves a deep and lasting impression on Australian culture.
Before young adult literature had the cachet it enjoys today, Agnes was driven by her vision of giving…
Voss Literary Prize longlist 2017
The longlist for the 2017 Voss Literary Prize has been announced.
Launched in 2014, the Voss Literary Prize is awarded to the best novel published in Australia in the previous year, and is dedicated to the memory of historian Vivian Robert Le Vaux Voss.
The full 2017 longlist is:
All These Perfect Strangers by Aoife Clifford
Dodge Rose by Jack Cox (Read our review)
Our Magic Hour by Jennifer Down (Read our review)
Our children's and YA top 10 bestsellers of the week
The 91-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
A Tale of Two Kitties (The Adventures of Dog Man Book 2) by Dav Pilkey
Pig the Star by Aaron Blabey
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
Spooky Weird! (Weirdo Book 9) by Anh Do and Jules Faber
Maybe by Morris Gleitzman
Whimsy & Woe (Whimsy & Woe Book 1) by Rebecca McRitchie and Sonia Kretschmar
The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon
…
Our top 10 bestsellers of the week
Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh
Extinctions by Josephine Wilson
Moral Panic 101 (Quarterly Essay 67) by Benjamin Law
On Doubt by Leigh Sales
A Legacy of Spies by John le Carré
What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton
The Choke by Sofie Laguna
The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz (translated by George Goulding)
The Dry by Jane Harper
Ostro by Julia Busuttil Nishimura
A new cookbook from Yotam Ottolenghi and his long-time…
What we're reading: Shaun Prescott, Donna Tartt & David Lynch
Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.
Jo Case is reading Lynch on Lynch by David Lynch and Chris Rodley
My spare time is pretty much entirely absorbed with thinking about Twin Peaks: The Return right now (and anyone who wants to discuss the ending should bail me up). On Monday night, I fell asleep listening to A Twin Peaks Podcast’s post-mortem…
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