“Do I look like a fool-fool country gal? Is that because I’m only fifteen? Or because I’ve left school without finishing? Because I’m not doing a skilled job? Or is it just because I’m from Jamaica? (Louisa in The Enigma Game) I knew The Enigma Game by Elizabeth Wein (Bloomsbury, 2020) was going to be […]
Read More The Enigma Game by Elizabeth WeinI was first aware of Ian Trevaskis’s writing through his picture book Edge of the World (illustrated by Wayne Harris). This is a superb work. Ian’s new novel for young people, Of Boys and Boats (Ford St) is a very special book based on the author’s own early years in Geelong. Set in 1956 during […]
Read More Of Boys and Boats by Ian TrevaskisThe Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams The poppies burgeoning from a small wooden suitcase on the cover of Pip Williams’ The Dictionary of Lost Words (Affirm Press) beguile the reader into this well-told story of words, Oxford, history and the changing role of women. Esme’s mother Lily has died and she is being […]
Read More The Dictionary of Lost WordsThank you for speaking to PaperbarkWords, Aminata. Rising Heart is Aminata’s memoir (co-written with Juliet Rieden, published by Macmillan Australia). Aminata grew up in Sierra Leone, West Africa, and experienced the horrors of war, kidnapping and rape during the country’s 11-year civil war. She was brought to Australia as a refugee because her safety was […]
Read More Rising Heart by Aminata Conteh-BigerInside the CBCA Shortlist The Happiness Box (Walker Books Australia) is written by a formidable pair of Australian picture book creators, Mark Greenwood and Andrew McLean, whose illustrations are in pen and watercolour. An adult character, Griff (Sergeant Griffin), features. He is a prisoner of war in Singapore when surrender is imminent but is moved […]
Read More The Happiness Box: a wartime book of hope by Mark Greenwood & Andrew McLean
