Hollowpox & the Magical Jessica Townsend

I was privileged to interview Jessica Townsend about her new book Hollowpox: the Hunt for Morrigan Crow, third in the Nevermoor series of nine books (Hachette Australia), in time for today’s book publication. I have outlined her responses here. Thanks for speaking with PaperbarkWords, Jessica. Hollowpox is a magical sounding title. But what is it […]

Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall

Inside the CBCA Shortlist “On the highest rock of a tiny island at the edge of the world stands a lighthouse. It is built to last forever, Sending its light out to sea.” Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall (Hachette Australia) is shortlisted for the 2020 CBCA Picture Book of the Year Award. This picture book […]

The Boy Who Steals Houses by C.G. Drews

Inside the CBCA Shortlist “I had nowhere to go, he wants to say. I’m the boy of nothing and nowhere. I’m invisible and forgotten, a thief of dust and cobwebs and house keys.” (The Boy Who Steals Houses) The Boy Who Steals House by C.G. Drews (Orchard Books/Hachette Australia) has been nominated for the prestigious […]

The Strangeworlds Travel Agency by L.D. Lapinski

“You could travel to places you could never have imagined, see worlds on the edge of the multiverse. You could watch blue suns rise over mountains of red glass, see flowers the size of houses, hear the crunch of the ground as dragons hatch from hidden caverns …” (The Strangeworlds Travel Agency) Thank you for […]

The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ugly Animals by Sami Bayly

Inside the CBCA Shortlist The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ugly Animals (Lothian Children’s Books) is a fascinating and beautifully designed book that is garnering enthusiastic response from young and older readers, as well as in book awards. Natural history illustrator Sami Bayly has selected animals that seem to be ugly but she has found beauty in […]

There Was Still Love By Favel Parrett

I treasure Favel Parrett’s debut novel Past the Shallows and have found There Was Still Love (Hachette Australia) to be similarly gemlike and told with shards of pain and love. It explores three generations of a family living in Prague and Melbourne in a fragmentary and episodic style with several points of view. These all […]

Cicada by Shaun Tan

Inside the CBCA Shortlist Shaun Tan has won major Australian and international awards, including the Astrid Lindgren Award and an Academy Award for The Lost Thing. Australian authors and illustrators are breaking ground on the world stage in their portrayal of refugees and the displaced. (I have written about some of these books in Raising […]