Wild Darling by Alexandra Moody

Wild Darling by Alexandra Moody (HarperCollins Australia) ‘Something about her expression hit me square in the chest. She never smiled or laughed when I was around. The way her eyes were sparkling now felt like discovering a rare hidden treasure. The thought stopped me short. Did I actually like making her laugh? She shook her […]

Suzy Zail & A New Kind of Beautiful

Suzy Zail & A New Kind of Beautiful (Walker Books Australia) “I want to be brave. But I just dropped the Wild Thing tag and I don’t need a new story: The Adventures of Brave Girl.” (A New Kind of Beautiful) Author Interview: Suzy Zail Suzy shares her thoughts about A New Kind of Beautiful […]

The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer & Tamara Moss

The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer & Tamara Moss Published by Penguin Books ‘Not that long ago, she would’ve said that her favorite thing was getting into the rhythm of the room, absorbing the puzzles. But now? “The people,” she said. “It’s so nice being around others who are as obsessed with escape rooms as […]

A Hat for Every Harriet by Jess Horn & Zoë Bennett

A Hat for Every Harriet by Jess Horn, ill. Zoë Bennett (Affirm Press, Simon & Schuster) A Hat for Every Harriet: Behind the Hats With great honesty and insight, Jess Horn writes about the genesis of her moving and wise, A Hat for Every Harriet, for Joy in Books at PaperbarkWords blog. And, as a […]

Terrible Tails: The Last Sipper by Adin Milo

Terrible Tails: The Last Sipper written & illustrated by Adin Milo (Berbay Publishing) “Nestled in a valley of mountains and surrounded by forests, the Terrible Tail Tavern sits along Old King’s Road … in the kingdom of Austerra.” (Terrible Tails: The Last Sipper) The Last Sipper is the first book in Adin Milo’s ‘Terrible Tails’ […]

A Loo of One’s Own by Eleri Harris

A Loo of One’s Own: A Mostly True Tale of Australia’s First Female Parliamentarians written and illustrated by Eleri Harris (Allen & Unwin) “Our story starts eighty years ago in Canberra, where all the cool stuff happens… On the first day of school … Wait! Parliament! Two women walked into Australia’s Parliament House. And came […]

Mine by Adam Ouston

Mine by Adam Ouston Transit Lounge “… considering the situation, which was in large part where the element of terror originated, the sense that there was something else happening, something bigger than him, a secret story beneath the apparent one, for which he had no words or even capacity for understanding, more mindbloggling than the […]

Peculiar Parents by Stephanie Owen Reeder and Ingrid Bartkowiak

Peculiar Parents by Stephanie Owen Reeder and Ingrid Bartkowiak (NLA Publishing) Peculiar Parents is shortlisted in the Eve Pownall non-fiction category of the 2026 CBCA awards. Author Dr Stephanie Owen Reeder writes about her well-named and impeccably researched and compiled book, Peculiar Parents, for Paperbark Words blog: Stephanie Owen Reeder on Peculiar Parents Peculiar Parents explores […]

We Saw What You Started & We Did It Anyway by Carla Salmon

We Saw What You Started & We Did It Anyway by Carla Salmon INSIDE THE CBCA 2026 SHORTLIST (Pan Macmillan Australia) “I’d assumed Jasper was joking, since it’s impossible to tell when he’s being serious or sarcastic. His thick Aussie drawl means all his sentences end with a cheerful upward inflection. But breaking into the […]

EIGHTY-NINE QUESTIONS FOR AFTER by Ashleigh Barton

EIGHTY-NINE QUESTIONS FOR AFTER by Ashleigh Barton Lothian Children’s Books Ashleigh Barton writes about her wise, compassionate middle-grade novel, Eighty-nine Questions for After for Joy in Books at Paperbark Words blog Eighty-nine Questions After – Unanswerable Questions Guest author post by Ashleigh Barton Eighty-nine Questions for After centres around Ester Star’s list of unanswerable questions. […]