Q&A with Pip Smith on The Pull of the Moon

Coralie is thirteen years old and lives on Christmas Island, where sea birds circle the sky and the seasons are marked by the migratory patterns of crabs. But life on the island isn’t always paradise. During a fierce tropical storm, a fishing boat carrying eighty-nine asylum seekers crashes into the island’s cliffs. Coralie locks eyesContinue reading “Q&A with Pip Smith on The Pull of the Moon”

Review: Exploring healing in Jade Timms’ ‘Golden’

Golden is a warm-hearted optimistic story about friends and friendship and art and beauty—and the power of letting yourself be loved… When you work in the juice bar of your small coastal town. When your twin brother is the fun one with all the friends. When something happened a year ago that you can’t talk about,Continue reading “Review: Exploring healing in Jade Timms’ ‘Golden’”

Author interview | Neal Shusterman explores All Better Now and a virus of happiness

We sit down with Neal Shusterman to discuss his latest Young Adult novel, All Better Now, which speculates on what could happen if there was another pandemic, but this time, of a virus that brings contentment to its recoverees. We have a lot to talk about including what a happiness virus would really entail, andContinue reading “Author interview | Neal Shusterman explores All Better Now and a virus of happiness”

Q&A with Miranda Luby about her new release, The Edge of Everything

Miranda Luby’s new novel The Edge of Everything is a heartfelt portrayal of grief, a tender romance, and a tribute to a very special Australian bird. Miranda is an author, journalist, copywriter and animal lover living on Victoria’s Surf Coast. She has won several awards for her short stories, and her journalism features in publicationsContinue reading “Q&A with Miranda Luby about her new release, The Edge of Everything”

Bonus Episode: Growing Out of Y.A. Fiction

This week, we get on the mic to discuss an unexpected identity crisis: we seem to be growing out of Young Adult (YA) fiction. We try to define what exactly YA is (a tough job!) and what we still love about books in this category, as well as grapple with why we no longer gravitateContinue reading “Bonus Episode: Growing Out of Y.A. Fiction”

Never, Not Ever: A quintessential teenage romance with a psychological layer

Tilly navigates grief over her grandmother’s death, family lies, and unreciprocated love on her sixteenth birthday. “Never, Not Ever” explores teenage identity and emotional growth through challenges and family dynamics.

Review: The ‘White Noise’ Of Grief And Change

Fifteen-year-old Emma is woken up by her dad’s nightmares. Again. On Friday evenings they go running at East Point Reserve to escape. Escape the ripples of grief that still chase them three years after her mum’s death; escape Emma’s autism diagnosis; escape her dad’s work as an emergency room doctor. At school, Emma has wonContinue reading “Review: The ‘White Noise’ Of Grief And Change”

Emma Lord: Grief, Trauma, and the Apocalypse l Author Interview

Priscilla and Elise sit down with Emma Lord to discuss her debut novel, Anomaly. The novel follows teenager Piper Manning, who wakes up after an apocalyptic pandemic alone – and with an uncontrollable power. We talk about the depiction of grief and PTSD, Piper’s isolating experience in the aftermath of a pandemic, Anomaly‘s cast ofContinue reading “Emma Lord: Grief, Trauma, and the Apocalypse l Author Interview”

Review: Dead Letters and Found Families Abound in Return to Sender

After three years away, seventeen-year-old Brodie McKellon has returned to live with her eccentric grandmother above the last remaining Dead Letter Office – the place letters go when no one is left to claim them. Soon, Brodie is consumed by an unsolved mystery – the unclaimed letters of a group of teens who seemed toContinue reading “Review: Dead Letters and Found Families Abound in Return to Sender”

What is left unsaid in Sharon Kernot’s ‘Birdy’

Maddy is mute. Since the Incident she has barely spoken. And now she and her mother and brother are staying in a farmhouse on an old apricot orchard not far from town. It’s a chance to rest and recuperate – or a way to hide further away from the world. Alice is waiting. Since Birdy,Continue reading “What is left unsaid in Sharon Kernot’s ‘Birdy’”