By: Karen Comer
Grace Dalfinch is a talented violinist who longs to play contemporary music in bars, but her mum forbids her. James Crux is an aspiring street artist who promised his dad he wouldn't paint in public until he's finished school.
When Crux witnesses Grace's impromptu performance on a deserted tram, he's inspired to paint her and her violin; and when Grace stumbles across her portrait in a Melbourne alley by an anonymous street artist, she sets out to find its creator.
Grace Notes is a debut YA verse novel, set in one of the most locked-down cities in the world - Melbourne, 2020. For fans of Cath Crowley and Pip Harry.
By: Tristan Bancks
Twelve-year-old Nate Haddon and his twin friends, Dar and Juno, find a safe full of money and human bones in an old house that's sticking out of a rapidly receding lake amid the worst drought in history. Their mission to identify the body reveals secrets that will rewrite the history of their town and the story of their lives.
When Nate was five, his dad, a young cop, went missing just days before Old Scarborough was drowned beneath a man-made lake for a hydroelectric scheme. Old Scarborough's residents were promised new houses, jobs, tourist dollars and a fresh start, but hardly any of it materialised. Neither did Nate's dad. And he's not the only person to go missing from this bad-luck town.
Nate, Dar and Juno are forced on a dangerous journey to discover the truth in a town that wants the past to stay buried.
By: Briony Stewart
Gymnastica Fantastica! is a joyful and exuberant picture book about a child discovering and attempting new physical skills and putting on wonderfully imperfect shows for whoever will watch them.
Join Gymnastica, a small person with big energy, as they bend and balance, bounce and roll, attempt a cartwheel and a spectacular trapeze flip-out finale. Written in playful rhyming text and with brightly energetic and appealing illustrations, this is a book that kids and parents alike will find irresistible to read aloud and delight in its energy and humour.
By: Kelly Canby
Emit (whose parents turned back time to name him) is surrounded by busyness. Dad is too busy to read stories, Mum is too busy to play games and Emit's brother and sister are simply too busy doing nothing to do anything, at all. Emit tries everything he can think of to get more time, he tries to catch it, wait for it, but it's not until Emit tries to buy some time that he learns the secret which is, if you want time, you have to make it.
This vibrant new picture book by award-winning author and illustrator Kelly Canby is all about time - making it, losing it and subverting the whole darn concept.
By: Johanna Bell, Erica Wagner
Hope is a kookaburra singing the sun. Hope is the emu learning to run…
Let your imagination soar in this joyful ode to the world of birds and the healing power of nature.
Sparked by the Emily Dickinson poem 'Hope is the thing with feathers', this lyrical text accompanied by glorious mixed media collages reflects and celebrates the diversity, ingenuity and wonder of birds.
By: Isolde Martyn and Robyn Ridgeway, Louise Hogan (Illustrator)
Happy times, sad times, boom times and gloom times! From the First Peoples camp at the river crossing in the 1820s through to Carols by Candlelight at the showground in today's world, this is a decade by decade wonderfully illustrated story of a small country community.
Established in 1946, The Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) annual award aims to promote quality literature for young Australians, support and encourage a wide range of Australian writers and illustrators, and celebrate contributions to Australian children's literature.
The six categories in the CBCA Book of the Year Awards are Older Readers, Younger Readers, Early Childhood, Picture Books of the Year, Eve Pownall Award and New Illustrator.