Simon & Schuster, 2025. ISBN: 9781761633881. (Age:Adult) Highly recommended.
In Antarctica there is a seed vault hidden in the Transantarctic Mountains, a replacement for the bombed Svalbard seed vault in the Artic. It is where all the world sends their seeds to be categorised and stored for a future time when man has destroyed everything. The seeds will be used to bring the Earth back to life.
Mitchell and Frances are two colleagues returning to the Anarctos Project in Antarctica. For Mitch returning to the stark white landscape, a place without people, it is like returning to the home he loves. For Frances, there is hopeful anticipation that her kelp application will mean the future inclusion of the marine plants she cares about. They are the committed ones returning to an environment they are very familiar with; they both know all the routines, how to get the chores done, and how to co-exist in the cold and isolation.
But strange things start to happen. Firstly there is a surprise ‘contaminant’, a cat found inside the top-secret building, and then gradually an accumulation of malfunctions, which means that the two of them are cut off, alone at the ends of the Earth. With unknown danger threatening them Mitch and Frances finding themselves confiding secrets that they wouldn’t normally share. They are both desperate to survive.
Bri Lee depicts a dystopian world visibly suffering from the effects of climate change. The Anarctos team is driven to save the planet. Mitch is vegetarian, a commited anti-natalist, refusing parenthood on moral and ethical grounds. However, his ex-wife Kate, the search and rescue helicopter operator, finds elation in rescuing people from the most dangerous situations. They both want to save the planet, but the essential conflict is between saving the planet from people or saving the planet for people.
The tension ratchets up as Mitch and Frances are forced to make drastic decisions in order to survive. Seed becomes a nail-biting suspense, where the reader is impelled to turn each page faster and faster to find out what happens next. It is an extraordinary novel which moves from a dystopian scenario to an intense examination of the human qualities of love, friendship, forgiveness, and acceptance.
The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney, the third instalment in the hugely popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series featuring a special movie themed cover, proves once again why readers can’t get enough of Greg Heffley’s chaotic life. Packed with laugh-out-loud moments, awkward situations and brilliant cartoon illustrations, this book continues the series’ winning formula while celebrating its ongoing popularity.
At the centre of the story is Greg, who once again finds himself dealing with the everyday disasters of growing up. From dodging responsibility to trying to impress people who barely notice him, Greg’s schemes are both ridiculous and oddly believable. One of the funniest subplots in the book begins when Greg receives a Christmas present from his uncle: a basketball hoop laundry basket. To Greg, this is not a gift - it’s a terrible hint that he’s now expected to do his own washing. What follows is a hilarious series of attempts to avoid laundry duty, including creative (and questionable) ways to rewear dirty clothes.
Greg’s problems don’t stop there. His dad becomes determined to toughen him up and even considers sending him to military academy. Greg’s frantic efforts to prove he’s brave and responsible lead to one ridiculous disaster after another. Add in his awkward crush on a girl who barely knows he exists, and readers are treated to a perfect storm of embarrassing and funny situations.
Kinney’s signature black and white cartoons perfectly complement the text, often delivering punchlines that make the jokes even funnier. The diary format, and balance between text and illustration, makes the story accessible and engaging; especially for reluctant readers or those building reading confidence.
The Last Straw feels almost like watching a stand-up comedy routine on the page. The humour is constant, the pace is quick and the situations are delightfully exaggerated, while still grounded in real childhood experiences.
Perfect for middle-grade readers, this book encourages laughter and reminds us that nobody has life completely figured out - especially not Greg Heffley…. although he would certainly beg to differ!
The Chateau on Sunset is written by bestselling, Perth based author Natasha Lester. With this book, Lester has shifted from historical fiction to modern historical fiction with The Chateau on Sunset being set in the 1950-1970ish time period rather than the 1900s-1940s period settings of her previous novels. Although The Chateau on Sunset is fiction it is based almost entirely on real events (for example the 16-year-old Natalie Wood affair with the 44-year-old Nicholas Ray (the director of Rebel without a cause) was conducted in a bungalow at the Chateau Marmont). The Chateau on Sunset is a fine example of the german term - gothic "bildungsroman" which is a literary genre of formation that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood. Aria Jones arrives as a 14-year-old girl in the 1950s and her maturation is followed through to her early twenties.
The Chateau Marmont very much existed and still exists at 8221 Sunset Boulevard and it was a place where rising and falling Hollywood stars and starlets resided and partied. Marilyn Munroe, Grace Kelly and Bette Davis regularly stayed at the Chateau Marmont. Lester depicts the neon skyline surrounding the Marmont including the famous 20 foot high neon silhouette of Beryl Wallace over the Hollywood studios, and the famous pharmacy/drugstore frequented by stars - Schwab's Pharmacy.
The Chateau Marmont is known for its gothic architecture, its private bungalows and as a discreet Hollywood hideaway for celebrities. It is a character itself in this book (quite sentient) reminiscent of other great houses in literature including the great house, Thornfield Hall, where Jane Eyre falls in love with Rochester. Aria Jones is orphaned as was Jane Eyre. The Chateau Marmont is similar to Thornfield Hall as it is a large, spooky house redolent with nasty secrets. Like Jane falling in love with Rochester, Aria falls in love with Theo Winchester (a mysterious wealthy rock singer). Both girls fall in love with a man far above their own station in life. Both weddings are interrupted by the presence of former wives/partners, one is confined to an attic/ the other is kept in one of the bungalows at the Chateau Marmont. Both Jane Eyre and Aria Jones flee to safeguard their integrity and to achieve for themselves in life. Jane inherits a fortune/Aria - well it is best to not give away too much of the plot. It is enough to say that Aria Jones' life mirrors Jane Eyre's life but is placed in a different era and context. Aria Jones is certainly a feisty survivor.
The glitz and glamour and the dangerous and tawdry side of the Golden Age of Hollywood are the subject of The Chateau on Sunset. The strongest parts of the book are when the action occurs within the Chateau. As Aria plots her life's course in glamorous locations beyond the Chateau, something big drops away for the reader. The Chateau looms large and is missed.
Although it may seem unlikely that a lonely, innocent orphan girl could win the friendship of worldly girls, exhibit so much boldness and become an almost agony aunt rescuing starlets from lecherous Hollywood movie directors and exacting lasting revenge and although it seems unlikely that such a girl could catch the eye of Theo Winchester, this is fiction. This is unashamedly a reworking of Jane Eyre, placing the classic story into modern historical times.
Like Jane Eyre, The Chateau on Sunset is told through the first person perspective of the heroine Aria. The reader is drawn into her perspective through her sassy thoughts and reactions - open at any page and it is evident eg..."The door of the turret bursts open. Holy shit! Why at the most crucial junctures of my life does someone burst into the turret?" (p.175)
The Chateau on Sunset is a romp of a book- full of mystery and secrets that will keep the reader captivated.
Themes Sexual abuse/scandal in the Hollywood entertainment industry, Loyalty, Friendship, The Jane Eyre story, Revenge and redemption, Romance.
Wendy Jeffrey
Green Cities by Sheila Boudreau. Illus. by Katy Dockrill
University of Queensland Press, 2026. ISBN: 9780702271175. (Age:10-14 years) Highly recommended.
Green Cities: How green infrastructure helps heal the planet is a fascinating look at a growing movement of providing a possible solution to climate change issues. Written by a Canadian university lecturer, landscape artist and urban planner who specialises in green infrastructure, this very green looking book is an excellent introduction for upper primary - early secondary students to show how positive action is being taken to future-proof cities against climate change. This new edition has been adapted for the Australian market but does use examples from all over the world.
Presented in a traditional nonfiction format, with a contents page, an introduction, four clearly defined chapters, and a concluding section featuring a detailed glossary, selected resources, and an index, this book offers accessible information supported by softly muted illustrations. Although the text is substantial, it is thoughtfully spaced and enhanced with bold headings and visual features such as coloured text boxes, quote circles, large images, and labelled diagrams to engage the reader’s attention
The introduction, A Green Way, gives a brief overview of what we already have in our cities and what this book hopes to achieve. Each of the four chapters provides further information, ideas, examples of green architecture already happening across the world and how readers can play a part in greening their cities.
· Chapter 1: Cities: A great Invention that Could Be Even Better · Chapter 2: Nature First: Creating Greener Cities · Chapter 3: Going Green: Green Infrastructure in Action · Conclusion: Making Our Future even Greener
In Chapter 2, pages 16-17, the topic: Learning from Indigenous Knowledge discusses how for over 60,000 years, First Nations Peoples have lived in harmony with Country which encompasses land, sea, sky, living things, knowledge systems, cultural practices and responsibilities associated with each area. Being connected to Country can enable people to understand things differently and take greater responsibility for nature and the ongoing effects of climate change. The author suggests that governments would be wise to include First Nations voices in future planning decisions.
Green Cities would be a valuable addition to schools and public libraries.
Themes Renew Urban Spaces, Climate Change, Green Infrastructure, Nature, Relationships, Sustainability, First Nations Knowledge, Engineering.
Kathryn Beilby
Dog stayed by Tammy Forster & Margeaux Davis
Allen & Unwin, 2026. ISBN: 9781761181191. (Age:3+) Highly recommended.
Young readers will quickly grasp the loneliness of the old man, as he waves his cane at people, blows his nose when they try to speak to him. He doesn’t like looking at old photographs, or cooking, or sleeping in his large bed. Children will readily sympathise with the old man sleeping alone, cooking for himself and having no one else in his house. And hope for something to change.
And it does. One day a salesman stops at his house. Blowing his nose, the man sees him off his property, telling him to take his scruffy dog with him. But the dog stays. And each day when Mr Hindbottom goes about his chores, the dog is there. One evening a scrap of food is thrown from the window and the dog eats it. This keeps happening over the next few nights, and as the days become cooler, an old quilt is added to the giveaways. One day the old man takes the dog into the bathroom to give the dog a bath, figuring that if the dog is going to stay then at least he can smell nice.
Dog teaches the old man when it is the best time to take a walk, and what treats are the best. Mr Hindbottom teaches the dog when to run, and how to pack as he puts things into the ute for an excursion. And soon people came to see Mr Hindbottom, and he never blows his nose as they speak. But too, he begins to have less energy, he can no longer walk to the letterbox, and seems content to stay in his pyjamas all day.
When he is no longer there, all sorts of things happen at the house, but the dog stays, sure he will love no one else.
But the new owners look at the old scruffy dog and take him as their own, a new season in his life begins.
A charming tale of the changes in life, of life and death, to the seasons of life, the phases, and times of transition. Children will love the warmth between the old man and the dog, and be heartened that the dog will have another person to love.
The change in his circumstances leads him to another phase in his life.
The lovely illustrations match the warmth of the story, giving a loving treatment to the old man, his boredom and loneliness sympathetically shown. Children will readily see snatches of the wife, now no longer there: photos on the wall, her knitting wool next to her empty chair, the handmade quilt, two placemats at the table, her book and creams still on the bedside table next to her empty bed space. All these and more are wonderfully shown, not needing words, but adding to the text. And astute readers will see the difference between the first and last endpaper.
Drake is sneezing, Drake is sick. Can his friends help cure him, quick?
Drake is a little dragon who cannot control his sneezes. When he is put to bed with a bad cold his friends give him a hot broth but it is so hot that when he sneezes, he sets a fire truck alight. Mary has a great idea and makes him a cold concoction but when he sneezes, he covers Mary with snow. Finally when he tries a moderate brew, bubbles come out of his bum, and then Drake decides that bubbles are fun and everyone goes out to play.
This is a great early reader that has many uses. An adult can read it aloud to a young child, getting them to predict the rhyming words at the end of each sentence and try and predict what is going to happen. They could then begin to read along with an adult. The large print and humorous, brightly coloured illustrations are a boon for the beginning reader who could read the story alone. There are instructions for the adult on how to use the book, guidelines for drawing Drake and a list of new words to learn.
This is a series that appeals to children and has a place in a home and school library.
Pat Pledger
Gross Things Animals Eat by Dr Claire Stevens & Adele K Thomas
Children love a book where there may be a hint of grossness happening! Gross Things Animals Eat will delight readers young and old with its fascinating facts about the eating habits of the animal kingdom. Written by vet Dr Claire Stevens, this colourfully presented book, packed with entertaining gross facts and delivered with plenty of humour, including all the farts, poo and vomit young readers desire, is sure to be enjoyed again and again.
Beginning with how often animals eat, this page provides some surprising facts. For example, humpback whales eat every six months, Galapagos turtles eat once a year and cows every four hours. Following on from this, the next few pages let readers know that eating dirt is very common. Many animals do it including birds, gorillas, wallabies, deer, tapirs and zebras. Dirt is full of nutrients that animals need to stay healthy.
And now comes section that is sure to be discussed with great mirth. Poo! Many animals eat poo including kangaroos, rabbits and elephants who actually eat their own poo. Baby koalas eat their mother’s poo. Household pets like rabbits, dogs and guinea pigs eat their own poo too. Poo provides many nutrients just like dirt and also gets rid of toxins in their bodies.
This fascinating book goes on to discuss decomposing animals like vultures, garbage guzzlers such as bin chickens, blood sucking monsters like leeches, bone chewers such as giraffes, skin eaters like leopard geckos, vomit eaters like skua seabirds, wood eaters such as termites and perhaps the most unusual tear eaters - moths and butterflies suck the tears of various animals straight from their eyes!
The bold, glossy illustrations in full colour work brilliantly with the accessible, well-spaced text, speech bubbles and Fun facts with the tiny page corner warnings adding a fun touch children will love. This is a great read that will capture children’s interest.
With its tactile cover, readers will love reciting the title of this book, while following the four words 'up, down, over and through' using the equipment displayed. A celebratory invitation to explore their surroundings outside, children will see and use whatever equipment is there to use, not necessarily manufactured equipment but things in their environment giving the same pleasing challenge.
The readers follow the children playing on such equipment, a playground with many interesting and diverse features. There are nets to climb, castles to explore, bridges to cross, stairs to climb, roundabouts to turn on, slides to slide on, places to hide, sand to play in, boxes to stack. In rhyming pairs of lines, the text refers to the two families meeting at the playground and the two friends having adventures over the equipment. They go up, down, over and through all the pieces of equipment before them, while the last part of the story has them in the sandpit where they talk about top, bottom, empty and full, big and small, fast and slow.
This is an easy book introducing words to younger readers, and they will be further interested in predicting the rhyming words. Bright inviting illustrations support the text, making this a useful book to have in the classroom.
Narm-Jaap: A Flinders Street Station History is part of the Our Lands Indigenous History series about Australia’s most iconic landmarks and the land on which they are built. The first book in the series Tubowgule: A Sydney Opera House History is a 2026 CBCA Notable in the Eve Pownall Award category.
This fascinating book offers a glimpse of the past and how Naarm (Melbourne) became the place where Flinders Street Station would be built. Originally people from the Kulin Nation would meet at Narm-Jaap (Queen’s Wharf) where tea-tree scrub grows along the Birrarung (Yarra River). It was here the various groups would meet and yarn, trade resources and hold ceremonies. They lived off the land harvesting tadpoles and eels, hunting kangaroos and possums and moving inland in the cooler months when the Birrarung would flood.
In 1803 British colonisers decided that this place Naarm (Melbourne) would make the best spot for a settlement. Over time white settlers took over the land and forced the First Nations Peoples onto reserves further inland. They built numerous structures including the Flinders Street Station. This iconic building grew from a small station with one platform to a huge construction begun in 1901 and completed 1910. Over the following years the building has been adapted and enlarged to cope with a growing population.
Narm-Jaap: A Flinders Street Station History is beautifully presented with a glorious embossed cover depicting a family on Country, with the outline of Flinders Street Station subtly and cleverly outlined in the background. Inside, the glossy pages showcase detailed illustrations that add great visual interest and depth to the narrative, complementing the accessible and informative text.
Narrative nonfiction picture books offer an engaging and skilful way to introduce young readers to significant historical events, helping them understand how the past continues to shape the world they live in today. This book will be a valuable resource for a school and public library.
Bat Brikson, the adopted son of Adeline and Joab of the Cattenveldt tribe is less than two centimetres tall, lives in Groundlands and wants to fly beyond the grass to the world above.
Bat has never really fitted in; he looks different and he has different dreams to the other Groundlands residents. Bat wants to be high and join the Drakkonbarqs who ride dragon(flies), live in the treetops, and are feared by most of the people in Bat’s village. Then there are the Bittenklore, the other ground dwelling tribe who although are not the enemy they are essentially the ruling class of the Groundlands.
When Bat gets the chance to ride a moth and adventure into the world of the Drakkonbarq he is swept into a world he couldn’t even have imagined existed but there is danger here too and although he feels more at home in the trees he still must face his fears and find out who he really is.
This is a magnificent book and one that needs to be read slowly and quietly to really understand the true wonder of the story. Although ‘little people’ stories have been around for a long time, this adventure fantasy feels less like a fantasy and more like a discovery of a world within the human world. I loved the worlds of Bat and his friends both old and new and the gentle tension that comes from finding new places and trying to fit in while also trying to find out who you really are. This was one of those books that you can’t put down and need to read “just one more” chapter to find out how the story develops and ends.
This would make a brilliant class novel or read aloud for upper Primary classes but would also be enjoyed as an independent read for readers who will take the time to really engage with the wonder and magic of this story.
The night tiger by Sherryl Clark & Hannah Sommerville
Allen & Unwin, 2026. ISBN: 9781760113421. (Age:3+) Highly recommended.
As the day ends and the setting sun fills the window with red, a boy finishes his meal and plays with mum before he goes to his bedroom. Outside, darkness has fallen and a single star glitters in the sky. The cat jumps onto his bed but the boy cannot close his eyes. Shadows climb over the walls, the boy worries about what might be there in the darkness. He stands by the window and watches the silver-grey outside, hears twigs scratching the glass and bats flying in front of the rolling clouds. The moon casts a pale light over the garden as the boy climbs out of the window, and into the garden.
Once outside he becomes the night tiger.
He stares into the eyes of the black cat, and they pounce. The boy leaps and growls, and vanquishes the shadows. He watches the owl take off from the tree, the tiger flying after him. Coldness grips him, the black cat hisses and the spell is broken. He turns his back on the moon and climbs through his bedroom window. He snuggles down with the cat beside him and dreams of being the night tiger, bouncing, pouncing, while he sleeps.
This lovely story of imagination, of adventure, of courage will appeal to all children, as they recognise the dreams they also have of being brave, daring, of being heroic and bold, of overcoming fears. In our dreams we can be all we want to be. Beautifully evocative, layered words are accompanied by illustrations that take the breath away. Who hasn’t snuggled in bed worried by the shadows or what might lie in a dark corner of the room. Sommerville creates a dark, menacing background which reflect the boy’s fears, and as he climbs out of the window, he becomes the strong, silent, bold tiger, as the moon offers some light. The dark garden becomes a playground for the tiger and the black cat, as they pounce and bounce through the grass.
I love the image of the tiger behind the tree, on one side still the boy, then passing behind the tree he emerges as the tiger, and the contrast between the safe room with mum, compared with the darkness of his bedroom. And the endpapers, the first showing the house and garden at sunset, compares neatly with the last endpaper later at night, with everyone asleep.
Themes Fear of the dark, Courage, Adventure, Tigers.
Fran Knight
Sharks Up Close by Aidan Green
Wild Dog Books, 2026. ISBN: 9781742037264. (Age:5+) Highly recommended.
Any library can never have enough shark books. They are so popular with young readers and this newly released hardcover edition of Sharks Up Close will be flying off the shelves! The full page colour photographs are a highlight and combined with small chunks of accessible text, this will be a nonfiction book borrowed time and time again. Each shark captured in film is clearly labelled and while there is the most well known – the Great White shark - there are also lesser known ones shown including the Sand Tiger shark, Lemon shark, Ocean Whitetip shark and the Goblin shark.
Throughout the book the interesting facts are presented in large font either black or white depending on the darkness of photographic background. Did you know:
· There are over 500 species of sharks alive today - the smallest being the Dwarf Lantern shark at 20cm and the largest being the Whale shark that can grow up to 18m · Scales are called dermal denticles and are more like teeth than scales · For First Nations People living in coastal areas, sharks can represent totems, ancestors and sometimes gods. · Humans are responsible for the death of approximately 100 million sharks each year. · The largest shark to ever live was the megalodon which lived between 3.6 and 20 million years ago. It could grow up to 20 metres in length
For both teachers and students, this book serves as an excellent model for factual report writing, offering clear coverage of habitat, features, life cycle, diet, and a range of engaging additional facts.
Themes Sharks, Features, Life Cycles, First Nations, Facts, Photographs.
Kathryn Beilby
The hair of the pigeon by Mohammed Massoud Morsi
UWA Publishing, 2026. ISBN: 9781760803247. (Age:16+) Highly recommended.
Morsi’s novel reveals the struggles of Palestinian refugees in Syria, living in the Yamouk camp, not the refugee tents that you might imagine but a large haphazard suburb of structures that have accumulated over time. The lives of the inhabitants have been upended by the conflict in the Middle East, ‘hopeful souls cast by fate as fodder to the beast of politics and power’. It is where Ghassan’s childhood begins, his friendship with thick-skinned Badawi, and nascent love for Sama, she of the swirling dark hair and the flock of homing pigeons.
At its heart this is a love story, told from Ghassan’s point of view. But he is reticent person; Sama describes him as different, his mind always elsewhere. Morsi allows his thoughts, sudden memories, and dreams to drop into the story, just as they do in life. Through them Ghassan (and the reader) gains insight into the emotions and events that thread his life.
Everything in Ghassan’s world is disrupted, people torn apart, people hurt, betrayed and killed. Most harrowing are the chapters about his capture and torture in Sednaya prison the ‘Human Slaughterhouse’, notorious during Assad’s regime. For those that flee, there is the desperation of escape by overloaded boats, at the mercy of thrashing waves and hostile naval craft.
The joy in this story is the sense of shared humanity, of people caring for each other, the friendship that burgeons in the loneliest places. They are characters that we can all relate to, creating an understanding that we all have the same hope and dreams, ‘our living oneness’. It is a profoundly moving account, one which is built from stories lived and experienced, and descriptions that reflect Morsi’s observant eye as photographer, journalist and now writer.
The hair of the pigeon is the well-deserving winner of the 2025 Dorothy Hewett Award.
Themes Syria, Love, War, Refugees, Humanity, Endurance, Kindness, Redemption.
Helen Eddy
Sophia and Gracie to the rescue by Kate Waterhouse. Illus. by Sally Spratt
Sophia is the fastest horse in town and Princess Gracie is her best friend. They are both in need of a holiday and decide to go away together. Then disaster strikes and their holiday is interrupted by a cyclone. The two friends must work together to save the day, using their unique skills and connections to support those who have been affected by the disaster.
This is a beautifully illustrated picture book with many fine details in the images. The story is told in rhyme that at times does follow the cadence required to make it flow. There are times when the words chosen requires the reader to force the rhyme which breaks the flow of the words.
Overall, this book is brilliant for young children who like animal stories and seeing the main characters helping those who have been impacted by a disaster or other misfortune. I loved the interplay between Sophia and Grace and the amazing illustrations, the horses are truly brought to life by the incredible artwork of Sally Spratt.
Sophia and Grace to the Rescue is the third book written by Kate Waterhouse that follows the adventures of these two horses and would be a wonderful addition to any home library. This series of books can be read aloud, although I do recommend reading it first to work out where you will need to adjust your flow or pronunciation to make the rhymes work.
Integrity is important. It helps us to make good decisions. And making good decisions means we feel good about ourselves.
Integrity is not an easy word to explain to young children but with the thoughtful examples shared - Have you ever given up your bus seat even though your legs are tired? Have you ever picked up litter that wasn’t yours? Or owned up to squiggling on the carpet? – children will begin to grasp the idea.
The first concept discussed in the book is about values that are important: respect, honesty, helpfulness, tidiness, fairness, manners, loyalty, hard work and keeping promises. This provides a valuable opportunity for discussion where children can add their own. From these values, children learn that values guide their actions and how they might respond to different situations. Examples are given throughout to help further encourage understanding of the concept of integrity and importantly, that integrity does not necessarily need to be rewarded, it can happen when a good decision is made.
The vibrant and engaging graphic novel style scene centred on the finding of a packet of dropped jellybeans, beautifully demonstrates the concept of integrity. It may lead to a perfect teaching/learning moment when children could create their own artwork to share with others about a situation that involved integrity.
