Kids reviews
Dogger by Shirley Hughes
When I was a child, I had a special teddy called, imaginatively, Ted. Ted went everywhere with me until I lost him, aged 18, at a backpacker hostel in Rome. I was distraught (truthfully, I’m still up…
The Bravest Word by Kate Foster
Matt has just started a new year at school; he is surrounded by his mates, he adores soccer (and is the star player) and he is totally loved and supported by his parents. Matt has everything he needs…
Gus and the Starlight by Victoria Carliss
Eleven-year-old Gus has learned over the years not to get too attached to her home, friends or community as her family, for various reasons, is always on the move. But when they finally settle into a…
Mars Awakens by H.M. Waugh
Dee is from one of two colonies on Mars, Davinci and Newton. Like the majority of citizens of Davinci, Dee is a girl; Y’s (boys), being extremely rare. Dee is a gardener and works hard on the lightly…
Skandar and the Unicorn Thief by A.F. Steadman
‘Unicorns don’t belong in fairy tales, they belong in nightmares.’
They also need to be hatched. They can then only be tamed by the human who hatches them. Skandar has waited his whole life to take…
Katerina Cruickshanks by Daniel Gray-Barnett
Author and illustrator Daniel Gray-Barnett’s debut picture book followed the marvellously eccentric eponymous Grandma Z, and his latest book, Katerina Cruickshanks, is similarly unconventional and de…
The Way of Dog by Zana Fraillon
A little pup in a cage in a barn is at the very beginning of his life. Separated from his mother he longs for happiness and a family. That dream propels this adventure. As his story progresses, littl…
Whisper on the Wind by Claire Saxby
Dreams and breezes and moonbeams introduce us to a sleeping child, Ren, safe in her lighthouse home. As she sleeps, a whisper from her dream is carried by the wind across an aquatic dreamscape filled…
Milo Finds $105 by Matt Stanton
When Milo finds $105 on the road outside his house, his stepmum tells him ‘finders keepers’. But his mum, who is studying to be a lawyer, says he should ‘find who dropped it’ – and she has final say.…
The Wearing of the Green by Claire Saxby
The Wearing of the Green is the latest from award-winning local author Claire Saxby. Inspired by her own ancestry, Saxby explores the lives of young Irish girls who migrated to Australia in the 1850s…