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Australian picture books for international friends
If you have family or friends living overseas you’re likely already thinking of what to get them for this Christmas this year so you’ll have time to send them via the slow post. And an Australian picture book is a wonderful gift to send to little friends who have homes in other countries.
I’ve put together some of our children specialists’ favourite recommendations for books that feature Australian animals, landscapes, classic stories, Indigenous culture, and cities.
I was feeling spoilt…
Our top picks of the month for book clubs
For a conversation about art vs. parenthood…
Transit by Rachel Cusk
Rachel Cusk’s follow-up to her critically-acclaimed 2014 novel, Outline, is equally astonishing and bold as she delves deeper into the themes raised in the first book. In the wake of family collapse, a writer and her two young sons move to London. Here, they attempt to construct a new reality for themselves. Transit captures the human longing to both inhabit and flee one’s life with remarkable restraint and…
Our children's and YA top ten bestsellers of the week
Artie and the Grime Wave by Richard Roxburgh
Apocalypse Meow (The Bad Guys Book 4) by Aaron Blabey
Do Not Open This Book by Andy Lee and Heath McKenzie
We Found a Hat by Jon Klassen
Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Book 2) by Rick Riordan
Library of Souls (Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Book 3) by Ransom Riggs
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
The Good People by Hannah Kent
Fight Like a Girl by Clementine Ford
Music and Freedom by Zoë Morrison
The Boy Behind the Curtain by Tim Winton
The Girl on the Train (film tie-in edition) by Paula Hawkins (including non film tie-in edition)
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
The Four Legendary Kingdoms by Matthew Reilly
Neighbourhood by Hetty McKinnon
We have three brilliant Australian…
What we're reading: Hannah Kent, Rainbow Rowell and Ali Smith
Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on or the music we’re loving.
Amy Vuleta is reading Autumn by Ali Smith
I’ve just picked up this latest novel from Ali Smith. I read and loved How to be Both last year, and had a number of full, very rich discussions about the book with two of the book club groups I host at our St Kilda…
We test out recipes from Grown & Gathered
Earlier this week we roadtested six different recipes from Grown & Gathered – a gorgeous new how-to book from Matt and Lentil Pubrick all about growing, gathering, nurturing and cooking your own food. Matt and Lentil came by to share our dishes with us, and select the best one. Here are the results…
Stella Charls made Caponata (pg. 284):
I love chopping fresh tomatoes. It makes me feel like I’m part of an extended Italian family because as I chop…
Beloved classics, continued posthumously
Gone are the days when the death of a favourite author meant that readers had to farewell beloved characters and resign themselves to a future of re-reading. Here is a collection of lost manuscripts and authorised sequels that continue the stories of much-loved literary characters after the author’s death.
The Tale of Kitty-In-Boots by Beatrix Potter with illustrations by Quentin Blake
Discovered in the archives at the Victoria and Albert Museum more than a century after it was written, Beatrix…
Ideas for spooky (and not so spooky) Halloween fun
It’s almost Halloween and for all you naysayers out there, here’s a timely reminder of why we love this holiday!
1. Lots of kids love the giddy thrill of being scared, and Halloween really is the best time for spooky fun.
2. Halloween, which is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, is a holiday with a long history of fascinating stories and strange traditions to delve into.
3. If you spent hours making a costume…
Guardian children’s fiction prize shortlist 2016
The shortlist for this year’s Guardian children’s fiction prize has been announced. Congratulations to UK authors Tanya Landman and Alex Wheatle, US author Brian Selznick and Melbourne’s own – Zana Fraillon!
The four books on this year’s shortlist will transport young readers all over the world, and across time.
Tanya Landman’s Hell and High Water is a heart-stopping tale of a young man’s attempt to clear his father’s name set in eighteenth-century England. Alex Wheatle’s Crongton Knights is a funny…
Baillie Gifford Prize shortlist 2016
The £30,000 Baillie Gifford prize (formerly known as the Samuel Johnson prize) is the UK’s most prestigious award for nonfiction writing.
This year’s shortlist includes books from Belarusian writer and Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich, Pulitzer Prize-winning cultural critic Margo Jefferson, Franco-British lawyer Philippe Sands, QC, and Libyan writer Hisham Matar.
Chair of Judges Stephanie Flanders, says: ‘Of the many superb books on the longlist, these are the four books that each of us [judges] would be happy so see…
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