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Picture Book Month Bonus: The Cockatoo Crew #1 and #2 – Lora Inak. Illustrations by Kruti Desai.
UWA Publishing RRP: $15.99 This is a brilliant new JF series that all kids will eagerly engage with and enjoy. The whole is set in Cockatoo Hill English Language School and casts a group of eight culturally diverse, enthusiastic and delightful refugee kids as main characters. Despite their differences in experiences, cultural backgrounds, language and…
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The Silken Thread – Gabrielle Wang
Penguin Australia July 2025 This beautiful new novel from former Laureaute and multi-award winner, Gabrielle Wang, is an absolutely outstanding, and almost mystical, exploration of East meets West. It is not a time-slip but rather a shift in the universe, from Chongming Island in China to Melbourne, Australia, with two very different young people crossing…
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Parrot Palace – Susanne Gervay with Pooja Mathur. Illustrated by Sarah Tabassum.
Big Sky Publishing Imprint: Little Big Sky March 2025 ISBN: 9781923300088 RRP: $12.99 When I had an email from the wonderful Susanne Gervay last year, asking if I would write teaching notes for a new book, quite naturally I was delighted. And when I first read Parrot Palace, I was even more delighted. This is…
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Afloat – Kirli Saunders/Freya Blackwood
Hardie Grant October 2024 Imprint: Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing/Little Hare ISBN:9781760505899 Price:AU$24.99, NZ$27.99Page When two award-winning creators join forces we can expect astonishing results, and here is the proof of that. Roam the water with me. We are here to learn.Here to spin wisdom, to grow … Gunai woman, Kirli Saunders, uses the traditional practice…
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Cheese! – Felice Arena. Illustrated by Beatrice Cerocchi.
Affirm Press September 2024 AUD RRP $22.99 ISBN 9781922992833 Did someone say cheese? Yes, please! Some Brie? Mais oui! Ooh la la, how fancy! Don’t forget the smelly ones: There are quite a few! Stilton, Limburger and Stinking Bishop, too. First da pasta, now da cheese! Of course! one can’t have the one without the…
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It’s Boba Time for Pearl Li! – Nicole Chen
Harper Collins Australia This was a delightful read and has lots of layers to explore for any astute reader. I have to say I’m not personally a fan of boba[bubble] tea but was willing to try it when The Kid was keen to. As it turned out, neither of us really went for it. But,…
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The Riding Gallery – Sally Murphy. Illustrated by Martina Heiduczek
Walker Books Australia July 2024 ISBN13:9781760657345 Australia RRP:$16.99 New Zealand RRP:$18.99 Yes, I said not so long ago that I’m not a huge fan of verse novels, and there are only a few exceptions. Sally Murphy’s are one of those rare anomalies. Each one is so utterly absorbing, with such beautiful narrative flow that I…
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Countdown to Yesterday – Shirley Marr
Penguin Australia January 2024 I love Shirley Marr’s description of herself ‘as having a Western Mind and an Eastern Heart‘, and the success of her books for middle grade readers that explore the experiences of children living in this mix of cultures is self-evident. Her narratives not only speak to the children of Asian heritage…
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Finding My Bella Vita: A story of family, food, fame and working out who you are – Pia Miranda
Hachette SEP 27, 2023 | 9780733649837 | RRP $34.99 I only quite recently re-watched Looking for Alibrandi, thoroughly enjoying it all over again, so was keen to read and review this memoir, simply on the strength of Pia’s amazing presence as Josie Alibrandi. And I was not disappointed, because her memoir is every bit as fresh, quirky and memorable as…
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