Gus and the Starlight by Victoria Carless

Gus and the Starlight by Victoria Carless Published by HarperCollins Australia Guest author: Victoria Carless Victoria Carless writes about her wonderful middle-fiction novel, Gus and the Starlight for PaperbarkWords. Christmas gift idea Gus and the Starlight is a story about family, friendships and second chances. It’s set in a haunted drive-in movie theatre and features […]

The Silver Moth by Carol Lefevre

The Silver Moth by Carol Lefevre When ‘The End’ is a Beginning: writing a sequel to Elizabeth Goudge’s The Little White Horse Carol Lefevre As a child, when you truly bond with a book, some part of you never quite accepts that its final page is the end of the story. This was my experience […]

Noah Barleywater Runs Away by John Boyne

Noah Barleywater Runs Away by John Boyne Christmas gift / book review A recommended gift book for Christmas is Noah Barleywater Runs Away by John Boyne, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers (published David Fickling Books). Noah Barleywater Runs Away was the first book I was commissioned to review for the Weekend Australian in 2010. The book […]

Evie and Rhino

Evie and Rhino by Neridah McMullin, illustrated by Astred Hicks Published by Walker Books Australia Evie and Rhino is a beautifully written middle-fiction novel about a most unusual and significant friendship. Neridah McMullin tells us about Evie and Rhino and about her writing craft at PaperbarkWords: Why a Rhino? Until recently, rhinos weren’t really an […]

The Jammer

The Jammer by Nova Weetman Published by University of Queensland Press “I run my fingers along the ridges, feeling the warmth of the rock. I wish I could pluck it free and take it with me in my box of special things as proof that even when something is gone, an image of it can […]

The Worlds We Leave Behind by A.F. Harrold & Levi Pinfold

The Worlds We Leave Behind by A.F. Harrold, illustrated by Levi Pinfold (published by Bloomsbury) Author interview with A.F. Harrold ‘As the day had gone by he’d been a bottle caught in the river current, bobbing and vanishing and twirling this way and that, yes and no, peace and anger, forgiveness and revenge.’ (The Worlds […]

A Walk in the Dark Jane Godwin

A Walk in the Dark by Jane Godwin A Walk in the Dark by Jane Godwin (Lothian Children’s Books) is my favourite of Jane’s excellent novels. It is genuinely exciting and high stakes, in a realistic way. It is also layered and meaningful as the group of Year Nine students tackle the ‘dropping’, a prepared […]

Kate Gordon Whalesong

Whalesong by Kate Gordon (published by Riveted Press) Author interview with Kate Gordon “Threads. All the way through the ages. Binding us together. Threads made of blood and history and bearing hearts. And hope. That is what we are, Aberdeen. We are hope. Young people, young women, like you and me. We are hope. You […]

THE WINTRISH GIRL by Melanie La’Brooy

THE WINTRISH GIRL by Melanie La’Brooy Melanie La’Brooy writes about The Wintrish Girl, her debut novel for young readers for Joy in Books at PaperbarkWords blog. The Wintrish Girl explores high fantasy archetypes of identity, light and dark and the quest. It has moments of unexpected humour and layers of meaning that are perfectly integrated […]

No Words by Maryam Master

No Words by Maryam Master “Words have power.” (No Words by Maryam Master) Maryam Master’s debut children’s novel Exit Through the Gift Shop (illustrated by Astred Hicks) is shortlisted for the 2022 CBCA Book of the Year: Younger Readers category. No Words, her new children’s /middle-fiction novel is equally important and powerful. Not a memoir […]