Transit Lounge, 2025. ISBN: 9781923023420. (Age:Adult, young adult)
In the small town of Naples, “the air perfumed with incense and weed”, there is a pattern to life as the girls in the park watch their children and distribute drugs from their prams. Outside the Potters Gallery, where Hilda Maskey sells her mosaic creations, dealers sit on the bench in the sunshine where information is exchanged and fortunes can be told by Serenade Theodora, the town’s glamorous mystic. Then of course there is the pub and club for more alcohol, drugs and information exchange for “in small towns words take hold faster than flames” p5. Flames there have been, as Eric Lunarzewski’s newly built house on Gayle Reynolds’ land near the Maskey family property has recently burned down for a second time. It is widely believed that drug lord, George Maskey is responsible, and the assumption does nothing to harm his reputation as a hard man even though he is crippled, the result of a motor bike accident. Service station proprietor Gayle Reynolds, Eric’s lover, is searching for news of her son Duncan who stole drug money from the Maskeys and she is sure they are responsible for his disappearance. At the centre of it all is Rodney; weasel, runt, neglected child of a dead addict mother, working for the Maskeys, growing their dope and living in the forest. Self-sufficient Rodney, reader of library books, friend of Duncan, is so much part of the town’s fabric that he is overlooked and underestimated.
Naples is a microcosm of grief, love, loyalty, power, influence and salvation. The townspeople get on with life, trusting no one. The complex characters are flawed, George, “not much of a farmer, fell into dealing”. Hilda, “everyone expected a lot of me, but I never let myself become a junkie”, people who have lost their way, acting to survive, facing the consequences of the lives they have carved out for themselves.
The shifting timeline and perspectives are masterfully managed with humour and compassion as the author cleverly withholds details, trickle-feeding morsels that make sense of characters’ decisions and relationships. I thought the ending was rather too neatly wrapped up, maybe because I was more interested in the excellent storytelling and not ready to give it up.
Themes Family, Drug use, Small town life.
Sue Speck
Whatever the weather, we're in this together by Jessica Braithwaite and Rebecca Ralfe. Illus. by Laura Bee
Albert Street Books, 2025. ISBN: 9781761182297. (Age:3+) Highly recommended.
Channel Nine weather presenter, songwriter and parent Jessica Braithwaite has teamed with Rebecca Ralfe, a Cairns-based children’s book author and anthropologist to create a wonderful rhyming story about our Australian seasons. With detailed vibrant illustrations by NZ illustrator Laura Bee, this engaging story showcases all facets of our seasonal weather.
The bright and colourful cover and clever endpapers that capture two different seasons in the same location, are the perfect introduction to a delightful narrative about the weather and how families enjoy their time together.
I love your smile when the sun shines bright, when magpies sing in the morning light. I love your hug when thunder rumbles, clouds roll in and raindrops tumble.
The accessible text creatively flows across the double pages and reflects the weather of the day with emphasis on some key words. For example, the windy words WHOOSH across the page, the thunder R U M B L E S, the Lightning splits the sky in two.
The repetition of the words 'Whatever the weather, we’re in this together' encourages early word recognition and reinforces the connectedness of family.
The CBCA Book Week theme for 2026 is Symphony of Stories and Whatever the weather, we're in this together has an accompanying lullaby song that you can listen to on Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, or most other music streaming services. Youtube clip: Whatever The Weather, We're In This Together
This is a positive and heartwarming read that will appeal to early years children both at home and school. With Seasons being an important topic in both early learning centres and schools, Whatever the weather, we're in this together will be a valuable resource to have on hand.
This gorgeous picture book shares a simple yet engaging story about a last canoe made by Bapa, the author’s grandfather. Bapa takes his family on what will be their last canoe journey before his three daughters leave to attend school in the city. It is a long journey for them to connect with Country and create memories for the future.
The narrative begins with Bapa making a large canoe out of the Kapok tree that will be big enough to fit the family of five. During the journey, the family sing songs, fish, listen to stories and take in the stunning country that surrounds them. They visit their extended family and camp, cook periwinkles over the campfire and listen to Bapa tell stories under the stars. Travelling some more the family spends months together before the three girls must go to a new school far away. Bapa symbolically sets the canoe free and the family know that changes are ahead for them.
The vibrant illustrations are bold in colour and perfectly reflect the gentle telling of the story. The use of repetitive text is an important part of early years reading and the placement of the words and at times how they move across the page helps to reinforce meaning and understanding. A delight book for schools and public libraries.
Nature books full of unique animals and plants from land, sea and sky are very popular with children. When the information and images are divided into colourful sections, the interest is piqued even more. The Colours of Nature is a striking non-fiction book that will be sure to engage a new audience.
With a handy contents page at the beginning, the first chapter looks at how the colours living things see are formed using a clever diagram to enable understanding. The following chapters are broken into colours with an array of creatures and plants, clearly labelled with some accessible facts to read and share. On a double page spread after each colour is discussed, further information is given about specific aspects of nature. For example, mentioned on one of the green pages is information about algal bloom and how it poisons huge number of sea life - very relevant for South Australian readers in 2025. In the pink section is information about the Boto, freshwater dolphins of the Amazon River who are born grey but turn pink as they grow. These dolphins are endangered due to the poisonous metal mercury used by gold mines polluting the freshwater. Throughout the book are fascinating facts about colours such as blue being one of nature’s most mysterious colours and that orange used to be known as yellow-red and the word ‘orange’ was first used to describe a fruit before it was used as a colour word.
This book is both a fascinating and interesting read, using colourful and vibrant images to complement the informative text. It must be noted that the Australian koala mentioned on the grey colour pages is incorrectly labelled as a koala bear. The author does however mention in the information below the koala’s image that it is not a bear but a marsupial.
Although 15th in the publication order in the Penric and Desdemona series, Testimony of Mute Things is a novella in which Lois McMaster Bujold takes Learned Penric and his demon Desdemona back to a time when he was young. The most recent book in the series that I had read was Adventure of the demonic ox where Penric was happily married with children who were asserting their independence, so it took me a few pages to adjust to picturing a young Penric, supporting the Princess-Archdivine Llewen of Martensbridge, who is adjudicating a dispute in the border town of Occo. When Penric discovers that a woman’s death is suspicious, he and Des are determined to find the murderer and uncover the strange circumstances leading to her death.
The world building is wonderful as Bujold brings to life the complexity of trying to arbitrate peace settlements and petty jealousies between Temple hierarchies. As always Penric and Desdemona’s characters are fascinating and the mystery that they set out to solve is one that mystery lovers will enjoy.
Although Testimony of Mute Things can be read as a stand-alone, readers new to the series will want to read Penric’s demon, the first book, and no doubt will continue with others in the series.
Dreaming by Adam Goodes and Ellie Laing. Illus. by David Hardy
Allen & Unwin, 2025. ISBN: 9781761065095. (Age:3+) Highly recommended.
The fifth book in the series, Welcome to our country sees a young girl seeing back in time to the early Dreaming where the rainbow serpent is building the land on which we live.
The whole series is designed to inform children, parents and educators, to include them in the story, to help them appreciate the history and stories of Aboriginal people. Muda is the Adnyamathanha word for the cycle of life, the past, present and future. And Adam Goodes uses this word in his story.
The book explores Indigenous cultures using a child’s voice. The young girl tells us that at night when she is dreaming, she looks back over many generations to the time when the land is being moulded, rivers created, grassy plains made for the animals to graze. Forests were made for the birds and honey ants, and possums.
Muda is not just in the past, but is here and now, not just now but into the future, with stories shared between generations.
In her Muda law men came down to teach about the country. They showed people how to use the landscape, where to find water, giving rules for people to behave, and they are still there, watching that we know what is right and what is wrong.
In her Muda she sees her place in the family, she sees a future where her stories are passed on as a guide for those still to come.
The young girl sums up the story:
“In my Muda, the Ancestors are never far, and I can see how I fit and who I am”.
This is a joyful, inviting story, showing how dreaming fits into this girl’s life, and how it has been passed down to her, and how her stories will pass it on to the future. The past, present and future is not just for this child, however, but for everyone, Indigenous and non indigenous, old and young.
The bright inviting illustrations show a modern family, living in the suburbs, going to the beach surrounded by high rise apartments, but still solidly linked to the land, with wonderful full page illustrations of the desert landscape, and the night sky, the mountains and Wilpena Pound.
The publication's page has an explanation of the word, dreaming, and how it is used in this story. And the 17 pages of teacher’s notes on the website, offers lots of ideas for using this book in the classroom.
An inviting introduction and reading of the book can be seen here.
Crocodiles do not like the toilet by Ali Rutstein & Niña Nill
Bright Light, 2025. ISBN: 9781761213960. (Age:3+)
Manu is off to day care when Dad reminds him to use the toilet when he is there. He tells Dad that he does so much that he forgets. Dad tells him that even crocodiles must stop what they are doing and use the loo, as he kisses Manu’s snout and gets a friendly flick of its tail. At day care the children shuffle aside to let Manu and his tail into their circle.
Mrs Kevat asks the class to eat their fruit, then go to the toilet and wash their hands. She offers to help Manu take off his tail, but he declines, happy just to wash his hands. That done he rushes to the sandpit to join the dinosaur battle. He does feel a little squirmy, but is too engrossed in his game to do anything about it. He plays with Maya and has a little accident. Mrs Kevat helps him change into some dry clothes, and when Manu goes back the game it is over. He plays after lunch, swinging his tail with the music. He feels squirmy again and realises that he does not want to miss out any games if Mrs Kavet had to change him again. So he asks Ravi to hold his tail while he goes to the toilet.
All is well, because when he gets back the game is still going and he joins in. He has learnt that going to the toilet does not mean missing out with his friends. This is another in the series, Personal Problems, targeting things which children may find difficult to talk about. The series includes, stories about riding a bike, having a bath and going to day care.
Each is brightly illustrated by Nina Nill, showing children involved in a range of activities with their friends. Plenty of colour and movement will attract the readers who will recognise lots of things they know well.
And Manu’s crocodile costume will encourage young readers to make one themselves.
Themes Crocodiles, Toilet, Day care.
Fran Knight
Handbooks for Little Humans: Compassion by Zanni Louise. Illus. by Kim Drane
Compassion is imagining how someone else feels and wanting to help them.
This simple yet powerful sentence sums up this delightful first book in a new series for young children. With the title Handbooks for Little Humans, this first smallish picture book about compassion is an easy to follow resource to guide both adults and children in engaging in meaningful conversations about things that are important in daily life.
Beginning with examples of what compassion might be and then flowing onto what does compassion feel like, the accompanying vibrant illustrations, diagrams and graphic-style images will help reinforce the ideas being discussed. It is important to note that the feeling of compassion can be different from one person to the next.
Ideas for discussion and examples are given throughout the book that young readers will be able to relate to. These include walking around in someone’s shoes, how to show compassion, as well as asking for help from a trusted grown-up. There is valuable insight about self-compassion that is gently shared plus an opportunity to reflect on what has been learnt about compassion.
Early years educators and parents will find this book about compassion a valuable tool that will support emotional literacy both in the classroom and at home. The second book in the series Handbooks for Little Humans: Confidence is due out late November 2025. Two further books in the series will be released in 2026: Handbooks for Little Humans: Integrity and Handbooks for Little Humans: Inclusion.
A fabulous resource for home, school and public libraries.
In this intriguing and puzzling book children with different skills and talents follow the style of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot to piece together clues and solve big and small mysteries. Using a combination of story telling and logic puzzles and mazes, we follow their deductions as they solve five separate cases.
This is a book for kids who love solving puzzles. There is usually a short narrative introduction to a problem-solving activity page, with several puzzles for each case. The need to use a pencil to fill in the details on the puzzle pages perhaps precludes this book from finding an easy home on library shelves (too many young readers would find it hard to prevent themselves from leaving their mark). But this would make a wonderful gift for the logical reader who finds joy in solving a mystery or puzzle. The Agatha Christie connection has the sanctioned approval of Agatha Christie Ltd, and there is a brief biography of the well-known mystery writer at the end of the book (after the solutions to the logic puzzles). Kids aged 9-11 (with a little tenacity and logic-enthusiasm) will enjoy the challenge of this book. The reading demands are not high, but the logic puzzles can be stretching, but not impossible for this age group.
Turbo Turtle is fourth book in Gregg Dreise’s series Scales and Tails which includes Fast Fish, Super Snake and Lethal Lizards. This vibrantly illustrated and engaging new release cleverly shares a tale of how a fast impatient lizard became a slow moving turtle.
After hatching from its shell, a lizard explores its environment searching for his parents. Taken by an eagle, he struggles to get free and loses his tail in the process. Falling to the ground he is saved by Clever Man – Biamme, who vows to look after the lizard he names Warrabah until he can find his family. Biamme and Warrabah travel the land looking for his family with Biamme using his magic to allow Warrabah to be turbo-charged in search. But Biamme stresses to Warrabah that he must obey the Elders from different places and ask permission to hunt and be on their Country during his journey.
Initially Warrabah did as he was asked but his impatience led to the Elders of each Country meeting with Biamme and demanding that Warrabah is punished for not respecting the Lore. Biamme protects Warrabah with his magic and as the spears of the Elders are thrown, he changes into a turtle and is forever to live in the water.
Turbo Turtle is a fascinating story with an important lesson to be learnt about facing the consequences after making a mistake. The expressive and detailed illustrations in true Gregg Dreise style are simply stunning and the illuminating lime green used on the cover is a standout.
Teacher notes are available on the Magabala website.
Themes First Nations Culture, Belonging, Permission, Country, Respect, Traditions, Consequences.
The front cover introduces us to the main character in this story, one very cross cat who does not like Christmas: his eyes glare out at the reader, the ears are flat, the whiskers making a cross over his face.
Cat likes to feel comfortable and safe, but one time he does not feel happy with life is Christmas. He does not like the decorations, he hates the silly presents, the sticky food, the noisy visitors who come to stay, especially when they move into his special places. He tries to tell his family, but they don’t take any notice, just shove him out into the cold wet snow after he pulls down the Christmas tree.
He yowls at the moon from a high branch in the tree, and the clouds part. He loves looking at the moon and the stars, and is happy with the world, but as the clouds move together again, it begins to rain, leaving him wet and bedraggled. He walks past the leftover presents, the remains of the feast, the baubles and bunting, to go back inside. He jumps onto a lap and is wonderfully received. The girl asks him where he has been. It is not Christmas without Cat, she says, offering him his present. Christmas has changed, and he loves his new favourite place, getting the attention he wanted.
A charming story of a turnaround as Cat hates Christmas, but when he is included in the gift giving, his attitude changes.
Kids will love reading about the trappings of Christmas, seeing what Cat’s house looks like at this time of the year, comparing it with their own. The illustrations are wonderful, giving a clear idea of how Cat feels with the simple change in his eyes, whiskers or ears, adding lots of laughs to the reading of this story. I loved the dachshund with his snowman outfit, the favourite green chair being taken over by the dog, and the places where Cat causes minor disasters, and over all the wonderful surly looking Cat, daring us to open his book.
A great read aloud, the story is a marvellous look at Christmas from the animals’ point of view.
12-year-old twins, Pearl and Patrick, are talented young people. Pearl is a daring and brave science genius, and Patrick is less confident and a history guru, but they both hide their brilliance. Pearl has used her ‘science-smarts’ to create a time-travel device that sends the twins on a journey into the past. The challenge in time-travel is the desire to change the past to protect the future, but in doing so, will they create a complete mess-up of reality or make an improvement? The organisation TIME (The Interdimensional Misconduct Enquiry) takes these ethical dilemmas seriously, and Pearl and Patrick are confronted by the logic to never change anything - good or bad. Another time traveler seems to be creating ripples in time, and Pearl and Patrick must confront the problems that are created while also addressing their own personal concerns - Pearl has a desire to be recognised and appreciated, and Patrick feels the need to feel brave while still valuing his esteem of history (and maybe even survive the taunts of the class bully). And all of their adventures must happen in secret - even from their family. Can time heal all their struggles, or are they likely to continue in the time-loops of mistakes?
This is a glorious story … I loved every minute of my reading journey, both back in time and into the present. The challenge of writing about time travel is handled brilliantly by the authors, and there is a logical understanding of the possibilities and impossibilities of time travel. The flavour of a Sri Lankan culture for the twins is also unique and appealing - food culture and some history is highlighted. Thank you to Martin Seneviratne for highlighting his own understanding of his family’s culture, mythology, and history. But it is all the journeys into the historical past that are fascinating, with their ethical dilemmas. Would you prevent the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand? This and other time-travel journeys give wonderful insights into history. But there is also a considerable esteem given to scientific investigation in the story as well.
This will be a much-loved adventure where kids use their brains in amazing ways. Readers aged 11-14 with a desire to exercise their own intelligence will love this book (I hope there are more Chrono-loop adventures to follow). It does require some mental gymnastics to follow time-travel logic, but it is worth it!
Themes Time travel, History, Science, Twins, Bullying, Sri Lanka - Culture and history.
Carolyn Hull
Snowed in at the Wildest Dreams Bookshop by Gracie Page
Fans of The Wildest Dreams Bookshop will be thrilled to have another stand-alone romance set in the picturesque seaside town of Fox Bay in Cornwall. Ivy’s first term at art college has been disappointing. Unable to afford to live in the college’s residential accommodation, she must travel to college and hasn’t made any friends. What is worse – she has lacked inspiration for her art and is failing her course. She returns to Fox Bay, with a job in The Wildest Dreams Bookshop, but feels isolated and depressed. Then Trip, a bright optimist, always cheerful and seeing the best in people, making friends with little effort, wants her to show him the sights of the town and when they work together on the school’s annual show, sparks begin to fly.
The trope of grumpy versus sunshine is managed well by Gracie Page, making Ivy the antisocial character and Trip the guy full of happiness. The reader can identify with Ivy whose dreams of leaving a small town and shining in a new environment are shattered, while Trip’s optimism is alluring. However there is a small cloud over Trip’s reason for being in Fox Bay that is subtly written by the author and readers will enjoy getting to know the backgrounds to the characters.
Snowed in at the Wildest Dreams Bookshop is an engrossing rom com that will have readers quickly racing through the book, eager to see how Ivy’s life and art progresses while enjoying the cheer and friendliness of Trip. This is a feel-good book, perfect for holiday reading and fans of Lynn Painter and Jenny Han. Readers may also enjoy Grumpy darling by Alexandra Moody.
Today is the day when the narrator is set to go to the beach and fish with Nana. The map on the endpapers gives readers an impression of where the story takes place. We see the names from Broome to Wyndham, driving past the Kimberley, along the highway between Perth and Darwin. Readers will have a good idea of where the child and her Nana live, having heard of several of these major towns and states.
When she wakes, the car is packed with the rods and bait, and some snacks to eat along the way. The rhyming lines encourage younger readers to predict the word set to rhyme at the end of the second line. And a series of numbers gives the readers an introduction to using numbers and the multiples. So we have one dog staring at the child with his two eyes. They will see two slimy frogs with four shining eyes, three jabirus and their six eyes, and so on. Multiples are used throughout the story building up to the ten friends (twenty eyes) meeting the girl and her Nana at the last page.
Bright full page illustrations are clear and full of colour. Each double page highlights another section of their journey, starting with the boab trees, then on to the frogs, jabirus and green tree snakes, crocodiles, kangaroos, dragonflies, ants, and then galahs. Each of the animals is large, giving the readers a wonderful closeup view rather than something that is part of the background.
The text uses descriptive words to support the illustration: so we have grateful jabirus, slithering snakes, cunning crocodiles and noisy galahs amongst others. Readers will learn that these words can make a difference to how we see the animal, and suggest other adjectives which could be used.
Themes Aboriginal themes, Journey, Grandparents, Western Australia, Broome, Wyndham, Family.
Channelling a life led by many busy adults, the story of Jacinda Ardern sees her work more crowded and involved, when she becomes Prime Minister of New Zealand.
This fun loving book takes Jacinda and her daughter, Neve, through their work for the week. Monday is day care and Neve gets dresses, stomping her feet, not wanting to go. But Mum agrees that some days she doesn’t want to go to work either.
Neve has a good day at day care and loves it when Mum comes home and reads her a book.
Tuesday sees a day at home with Dad, and Mum’s homecoming is fashioned wit a hug. Wednesday sees her at day care, and again on Thursday which is painting day. Neve cannot understand why Mum gets a little cross as it is Dad who does the washing. On Friday Mum comes home early, giving time to play a favourite game: hide and seek.
Saturday sees the family take a picnic to the playground, although a little dog steals some of their food. And Neve takes issue with having to go to bed early. When she grows up she says bedtime will be later.
On Sunday, Mum takes out her very large briefcase and starts her work, caring for all the people just like Neve, who settles down next to her with her own busy work.
This charming story shows the strong relationship between members of the family as they navigate their lives around Mum’s work.
With an emphasis on hugs, doing things together, asking and answering questions, and having routines, a loving family is modelled for readers. They will see a dancing Mum, a Dad who hugs, a Mum who reads stories, a child who works with her mother as she settles down to her Sunday work, a picnic family, a loving family which makes the child the centre of their days. Sometimes Neve questions decisions, or stamps her feet, but each time, things are explained, hugs given and love radiates around them all.
The lovely illustrations show a smiling happy family, holding out their arms for a hug, or holding hands, being together, laughing, smiling and child centred. Mum’s shoes and oversized briefcase are tossed aside as Jacinda reads Neve a story, her shoes can again be seen as she hides in the game of hide and seek. Readers will love following Neve’s week, comparing it with their own, centred around child care, school and parents’ work.
Themes Family, Relationships, Humour, Love, Prime Ministers, New Zealand.
