Bec Kavanagh
Bec Kavanagh is a bookseller at Readings Kids.
Reviews
Dark as Last Night by Tony Birch
In Dark as Last Night, Tony Birch celebrates stubborn women and gentle men. Like the poem by Anne-Marie Te Whiu that lends the collection its title, these stories speak to violence and vulnerability,…
The Newcomer by Laura Elizabeth Woollett
When Judy Novak’s daughter, Paulina, doesn’t show up for lunch, it doesn’t mean anything but further frustration for Judy, who is used to her daughter’s failings. Later, after Judy has called and cal…
Echolalia by Briohny Doyle
While Briohny Doyle’s second novel Echolalia is less overtly end-of-days than her first (The Island Will Sink), it still carries a sense of desolation that speaks to Doyle’s preoccupations with domes…
A Million Things by Emily Spurr
Emily Spurr’s A Million Things is an enthralling, devastating debut. Shortlisted for the Unpublished Manuscript Prize in the 2020 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards, this is a story about love, fami…
Grown by Tiffany D Jackson
In Grown, a book about a talented young singer whose big chance to succeed comes at a price, Tiffany D. Jackson reminds readers that the conflicting pressures we put on teenage girls can have disastr…
Show Me Where It Hurts by Kylie Maslen
In Kylie Maslen’s generous debut collection of essays, Show Me Where It Hurts, she invites the reader into her experience of chronic pain. Hers, not anyone – or everyone – else’s: ‘I only hope that o…
The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
Will Stanton is the seventh son of the seventh son, unaware that his life is about to change forever. As the snow falls, and Christmas approaches, Will begins to notice that the world around him is s…
Welcome to Your Period by Yumi Stynes, Melissa Kang and Jennifer Latham
Yumi Stynes is right when she says that ‘ Dolly Doctor’ was once the only place to which you could turn for honest advice on bodies and your periods. Thankfully, finally, we’re starting to see greate…
Secrets of a Schoolyard Millionaire by Nat Amoore
Do you remember being a kid and imagining all the things you would do if you had a million dollars? Tess Heckleston, schoolyard entrepreneur, is always trying to make money, so when her dodgy next-do…
The Honeyman and the Hunter by Neil Grant
‘How do we find the place where we belong?’ asks Neil Grant in his newest YA novel, as he follows Rudra Solace from a beachside fishing village on the Australian coast to a sunken village in India. R…
Catch a Falling Star by Meg McKinlay
Twelve-year-old Frankie Avery knows that sometimes things fall when they’re not supposed to. When the small plane that’s carrying her dad across Australia falls from the sky, Frankie loses her father…
The Dog Runner by Bren MacDibble
The people who survive when the world turns upside down are the first ones who learn how to walk on their heads.
Ella and her brother Emery are learning to survive in a world that’s been tipped ups…
