YA
My Brother, Finch by Kate Gordon
Kate Gordon is one of those authors who makes you feel things, all sorts of things. She notices the big and the small moments in life and she draws all of your senses into the worlds she builds for her characters. Kate is not afraid to confront pain and darkness, and yet, she does so…
Read MoreEsme in the Limelight by Kate Gordon
If you know me, you will know that Kate Gordon is one of my favourite authors and human beings. If you haven’t read any of the books in this beautiful companion series, you must run out now and get them all. Anyone who has read the other books will have been waiting eagerly for this…
Read MoreThe Letterbox Tree by Rebecca Lim & Kate Gordon
The Letterbox Tree is by two of my favourite Australian authors, Rebecca Lim and Kate Gordon. As you’d expect from two such talented writers, this upper middle-grade/lower YA novel takes some extremely difficult and very real topics and wraps them up in a warm story of found friendship, self-belief and hope. The story is centred…
Read MoreWhat We All Saw by Mike Lucas
Witches only exist in stories. Everyone knows that. But what if the stories are real? FOUR FRIENDS. FOUR TRUTHS. ONE NIGHTMARE. If you wander into the wood …If you hear scratching sounds from the Old Quarry …If you go too close to the edge … WATCH. OUT. Shortlisted for the Young Adult Readings Prize 2022…
Read MoreSelfie by Allayne L. Webster
Author Allayne Webster is funny. She’s also a brilliant writer, with an ability to draw you within a character’s mind and heart immediately, and to immerse you within their world. I have read a number of her other books, including the brilliant, Sensitive. Her writing style is light and engaging and with Selfie, I couldn’t…
Read MoreGrace Notes by Karen Comer
Karen Comer’s debut, Grace Notes, is a masterpiece of a YA verse novel, about what happens when the paths of a young busking violinist, Grace, and an aspiring street artist, Crux, collide during the covid-19 pandemic. Set in one of the most locked-down cities in the world – Melbourne, during 2020. This song has a…
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