Kindness as a Superpower The Kindness Project a middle grade verse novel by Deborah Abela Increasing in popularity, verse novels are a very important and innovative form. Of course, we have some standout verse novelists from the adult list with Dorothy Porter, Les Murray, Alan Wearne and others. Equally significant are our verse novelists for […]
Read More The Kindness Project by Deborah AbelaLook Me in the Eye by Jane Godwin Author Interview at PaperbarkWords “ ‘I can never spot the cameras,’ I say. ‘What, are you blind?’ says Mish. Maybe I am, I think. Blind to all the things Mish sees. Maybe we’re all blind. Who knows what anyone else is doing, saying, thinking?” (Look Me in […]
Read More Look Me in the Eye by Jane GodwinThe Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) Notable Books for 2024 have been announced. Follow the links to those books I have already reviewed or interviewed the author or illustrator at PaperbarkWords blog. NB I will add reviews and interviews here and on the Inside the 2024 Shortlist page on the blog (once the shortlist is announced) until the […]
Read More Inside the 2024 CBCA Notable BooksSmoke & Mirrors by Barry Jonsberg Author Interview at PaperbarkWords “ ‘I want to be a magician,’ I said. ‘That’s what I want to be. It’s all I want to be. I don’t know if I can earn a living from it. Maybe I can’t. But when I think about the future, that’s what I […]
Read More Smoke & Mirrors by Barry JonsbergThe Impossible Secret of Lillian Velvet by Jaclyn Moriarty (Allen & Unwin) “ ‘And what is this world?’ I asked. ‘It’s called the Kingdoms and Empires. It’s like our world, only more old-fashioned. Plus they have magic. The main thing to remember is that Shadow Mages are good and Spellbinders can bind Shadow Magic. Genies […]
Read More The Impossible Secret of Lillian Velvet by Jaclyn MoriartyThe Lost Library by Rebecca Stead & Wendy Mass ‘ “All of life is a mystery, in a way. And that makes every single one of us a detective.” … Evan sat there for a few seconds, looking at his desk. He was trying to solve a mystery, he realized: the mystery of the little […]
Read More The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead & Wendy MassThe Lorikeet Tree by Paul Jennings The Lorikeet Tree by Paul Jennings (published in Australia by Allen & Unwin and by Old Barn Books in the US) is nominated for the highly prestigious 2024 Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing. This extraordinary middle-fiction (middle-grade) novel only solidifies Paul Jennings’s outstanding reputation. Some of his previous books […]
Read More The Lorikeet Tree & the Carnegie MedalDirrarn by Carl Merrison & Hakea Hustler Illustrated by Dub Leffler Published by Magabala Books “Mia felt so far from home. Growing up in a remote outback community, she had still faced her share of bullies. She’s dealt with it in her own way then. Telling a teacher sometimes worked, other times a big brother […]
Read More Dirrarn by Carl Merrison & Hakea HustlerTiger Daughter by Rebecca Lim (Allen & Unwin) Book review by Joy Lawn When young teen Wen Zhou is stalked by two men at night, in Tiger Daughter by author and lawyer Rebecca Lim, she is caught between fear and rage. She is the daughter of Chinese immigrants and has been given a boy’s name because “it’s bad […]
Read More Tiger Daughter by rececca LimFleur Ferris, Seven Days & other books “It blows my mind to think what we do today matters – not just to us, but to those who come after us, to those who aren’t even born yet. It can impact someone one hundred years from now.” (Seven Days) All of Fleur Ferris’ novels (published Penguin […]
Read More Fleur Ferris and Seven Days
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