Wai Chim and The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling

The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling (Allen & Unwin) is a young adult novel for mature secondary students. It has an engaging heroine, a vibrant bustling restaurant setting, a difficult home situation, and some weighty themes. Thank you for speaking to Paperbark blog, Wai. I reviewed your first novel, Freedom Swimmer, for the Weekend […]

Here Comes Stinkbug! by Tohby Riddle

Inside the CBCA Shortlist This is the 30th and final of this year’s CBCA shortlisted books that I have written about for PaperbarkWords blog. I have included a synopsis and ideas to use in the classroom for each book. Congratulations to all the shortlisted creators and we look forward to celebrating the winners and honour […]

Malla Nunn and When the Ground is Hard

When the Ground is Hard (Allen & Unwin) is an original, ultimately empowering young adult novel. Thank you for speaking to Paperbark blog, Malla. Where are you based and why have you written a YA novel after a career writing crime fiction? I live in a weatherboard house in Sydney and write from my kitchen […]

The Mediterranean by Armin Greder

Inside the CBCA Shortlist The Mediterranean (Allen & Unwin) is a picture book for mature readers. It is not for reading pleasure. It is deliberately confronting, aiming to shock the reader with the terrible issue of dead refugees. The quote at the end of the book tells us that the story is based on the […]

Changing Gear by Scot Gardner

Inside the CBCA Shortlist Scot Gardner explores the young male experience with authenticity, most unexpectedly in the incomparable The Dead I Know, set in a funeral parlour, and most recently in Changing Gear (Allen & Unwin), which is very well written and engaging. Gardner hooks the reader into Changing Gear with some retrospective interaction between 10-year-old […]

The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars by Jaclyn Moriarty

Inside the CBCA Shortlist The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars (Allen & Unwin) is the stand-alone companion to The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone. It is set in the same fantasy world and Bronte and her friend Alejandro reappear at strategic times to help the protagonists, Findlay of the Orphanage School and […]

Brindabella by Ursula Dubosarsky & Andrew Joyner

Inside the CBCA Shortlist Brindabella (Allen & Unwin) is shortlisted in the Younger Reader category of the 2019 CBCA short list. This junior novel is intriguing and unpredictable. It opens with a sense of mystery, largely generated by the sensory descriptions. These create a great sense of place and include the river and valley and, […]

Noni the Pony Rescues a Joey by Alison Lester

Inside the CBCA Shortlist Noni the Pony Rescues a Joey (Allen & Unwin) is set in the Australian bush and is aimed at toddlers and children in pre-school and junior primary. It is told in simple rhyming text and its major themes are helping others and Australian native animals. Noni the Pony lives near the […]

Lenny’s Book of Everything by Karen Foxlee

Inside the CBCA Shortlist I have read all of Karen Foxlee’s books as they’ve been published, beginning with her novels for adults and young adults, The Anatomy of Wings and the stunning The Midnight Dress, a tale of a teenage girl’s murder where tension simmers exquisitely. It is an alluring, mesmeric mystery with a finely […]