Books

*Shortlisted for the 2022 CBCA Book Awards: Early childhood*Age range 3 to 6It begins with a tiny seed growing inside a suitcase. With Amira's care, the tiny seed starts to sprout. Find out what happens when kindness flourishes . . ...

Age range 3 to 6Suzy's family has moved house and everyone is just TOO BUSY to play with her. Eager for someone to play with, Suzy puts up a 'Friend Wanted' advert.When Bear shows up he seems perfect for the job...Until he...

Age range 3 to 6Lucy sails across the sea, fixing and mending her small rickety raft, hoping to reach Far Away Island. But when a gigantic wave sweeps all the other children away, except Lucy, The Little Pirate Queen is determined to rescue everyone no...

Age range 9+Feisty detective editor, Scoop McLaren, is back and this time the mystery has her sailing into uncharted waters!When Fletcher, Scoop's childhood friend enters the Higgity Harbour top surfing competition, strange things start...

Age range 3 to 6Dandy and Dazza were different in so many ways. Dandy was a best in show sort of hound. Dazza was a rough and tumble sort of mongrel. Can these very different dogs ever be good friends?Teachers' notes available here

Age range 3 to 6Get lost in a mesmerising bushland performance. This dramatic ballet is sure to be met with thunderous applause.Teachers' notes available here

Age range 3+In the first book in the series, it is love that can change the world. Dominic takes Pedro the parrot under his wing, nursing him back to health, before releasing him back into the wild.Pedro the Puerto Rican Parrot is the first book in the...

Age range 6+Zinnia Jakes has won the Wildside Zoo's endangered animals competition with her cute tortoise cupcake idea! But when she does more research about tortoises, one of her classmates starts asking too many questions...

While out looking for the perfect Christmas tree, Matilda stumbles upon Santa in need of some assistance. But can a mouse save Christmas?

'If Captain James Cook discovered Australia - if John Macarthur planted the first seeds of its extraordinary prosperity - if Ludwig Leichhardt penetrated and explored its before unknown interior - Caroline Chisholm has done...

Silver is a struggling sorcerer. After failing his Eggs test, Silver is sent to work as a magician at the circus. Will Silver be able to prove he is a real sorcerer like Merlin?

Between the Pages is the story of two brave boys, Billy and Jack, and their exciting adventures in the rainforest. It celebrates the pleasures of reading, especially reading in bed.

Lucy has been training her pet ferret Flash for the annual Fastest Fearless Ferret Race. But as the competition approaches, Flash is nowhere to be found. Did he run away? Or was Flash ferret-napped?

Eddie Pipper loves his penguin. He is not a real penguin. He is not allowed one of those. Eddie has to make do with his special paper-maiche penguin. But what do the other kids think of his penguin when he brings him to school for show and tell?

On August 20, a group of young explorers were charged with a dangerous mission. They were to travel across wild country to deliver a valuable parcel. The journey would be punishing. It would test the resolve of the brave young explorers. Most of all, it...

Age range 3+ This quirky yet charming picture book takes a very positive spin on being different.One of the difficulties of growing up is not fitting in or feeling different. This book lovingly addresses these issues in a bright and positive way,...

Ernie Dunlop was determined to become a doctor from an early age. Born in Melbourne, he was fascinated with both medical science and physical challenges. Whilst studying medicine he earned the nickname 'Weary' and gained a reputation as a dedicated...

Age range 9 to 12Perse is back with a new adventure. Follow her holiday antics in her fabulous diary.Perse is set for a fun and exciting holiday, but there's just one catch. The girls' annoying seven-year-old next door neighbour, Dillon Pickleton, is...

This Aussie Heroes series introduces primary-aged children to heroes who have made a contribution to Australian society. Each hero has helped others in need and in turn shaped history.Six-year-old Helen Porter just wanted to sing on stage. As a child,...

Hate mail Broken windows Graffiti A missing galah What does it all mean? Hairy Legs, the foul-mouthed, but much loved, pet shop galah has been stolen. The residents of Tompkin Park are devastated. None more, than Britt Brady, whose orderly life is thrown...

After Matilda eats some magical jelly babies that her grandfather has brought back from a boating trip to the Bahamas, she acquires the powers of invisibility. Her power lasts for a period of only 30 days. Ages 4-8

Age range 3 to 6Ava wears a different coloured dress for each type of day - red dress for hot days, a purple dress for rainy days and a blue dress for cold days. One whistling, whirly, windy morning, Ava and her puppy want to go out and play. But...

Matilda is extraordinary in everything she does but never more than when she eats the special food her grandfather brings her from his travels. The beans from Tibet allow her to fly through the air, the spinach from Spain gives immense strength and even...

Jake and his friends are a wildcard entry in the most famous race in the solar system - the Rocket Battles. Beating champion racers is not going to be easy...

Books one to four in this carefully researched series cover the development of the necessary grammatical knowledge, from the early years to the end of junior school in a practical and readily accessible form. These contain write-in activities.The Growing...

Eve is staying with her grandmother and her only choice in playmate is Oscar, the boy from next door. The lure of the forbidden attic in her Nan's house proves too much for Eve and Oscar and they sneak upstairs to explore. When Eve finds a small...

Many of us gain inspiration, solace, beauty and a sense of wonder from our interactions with nature, and writers have long plumbed and explored these depths.At the same time as many of us tune in to natural landscapes, our environment is imperilled as...

Charities play an outsize role in the social, cultural and economic life of the nation, delivering goods and services on which lives depend. To effectively serve their communities, charities also participate in politics: campaigning for changes to law...

In 1975, as Gough Whitlam's government hurtled towards its demise, a nineteen-year-old arts student at the University of Melbourne, Kim Carr, began a long march.Raised in an avowedly blue-collar household headed by his boilermaker father, Carr eschewed...

This publication accompanies New Zealand collective et al.'s first Australian survey exhibition at Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA). The exhibition marks the largest presentation of the artists' work outside New Zealand since representing the...

Violence against women and children is a national crisis. Nearly a decade has passed since family violence was first declared a national emergency in 2015, and yet communities are still taking to the streets to demand greater leadership and action, and...

Successive governments have claimed that despite (or because of) Australia's 'droughts and flooding rains', we are a world leader in water management. They have highlighted such successes as the 2004 National Water Initiative, robust water rights,...

An idealist as well as a pragmatist, and someone who believes passionately in equality, democracy and empowerment, Race Mathews has inspired and mentored many.Race was principal private secretary to Gough Whitlam in the lead-up to Whitlam's election as...

Popular culture has mythologised the Dunera Boys but who were the real men who sailed on the infamous ship, and how did the voyage transform their lives?Art historian Tonia Eckfeld draws on a deeply personal history to tell the story of her father and...

*Victorian Community History Awards : History Publication Commendation*Save Our Sons tells for the first time the full story of the Save Our Sons movement of Australian women who banded together to oppose conscription during the Vietnam War.In 1965,...

Whenever anyone tells you that only the big parties or star candidates have a chance of winning a seat in federal parliament, just say 'Cathy McGowan'. Running as a community-backed independent candidate, Cathy won the previously safe Liberal seat of...

Navigating obsessions, commemorating loved ones, cooking a meal, drinking with friends, picking at our bodies, reckoning with our choices, finding ways to connect, finding ways to exist in a world that doesn't always accommodate us. Rituals give shape to...

Ken Inglis was one of Australia's most creative, wide-ranging and admired historians. During a scholarly career spanning nearly seven decades, his humane, questioning approach - summed up by the recurring query, 'I wonder...' - won him a large...

The story of the 'Dunera Boys' is an intrinsic part of the historyof Australia in the Second World War and in its aftermath. The injustice these2000 men suffered through British internment in camps at Hay, Tatura and Orangeis well known. Less familiar is...

Geoffrey Blainey is often described as Australia's greatest livinghistorian, a writer whose prolific output includes such iconic books about thecountry's past as The Tyranny of Distanceand Triumph of the Nomads.However, Blainey has also been a...