2024 children's highlights
Still looking for the right book for the young reader in your life? Here are some of our favourite junior and middle grade books from 2024!
Adventures you don't want to miss
Batthew Aromascent and the Missing Corpse Flower by Ella Mulvey and John Roebuck
The first dazzling book in an exciting new adventure mystery series about the rich world of fragrance, starring a young Nose named Batthew Aromascent, whose parents disappeared under mysterious circumstances ...
When the world’s largest and most pungent flower goes missing right before its grand unveiling, the smell-mad city of Candlenut is in uproar. Luckily, Batthew Aromascent, 11-year-old heir to the famed Olfactory Fragrance House, and his best friend, Lavender, are on the case.
Batthew and Lavender have just three days to track it down before the flower wilts and dies, along with any clues as to his parents’ whereabouts. But are they prepared for what they’ll find in the darker corners of the fragrance world? For ages 9+.
Read our staff review here.
Hazel’s Treehouse by Zanni Louise and Judy Watson (illus.)
Hazel is nine years old, as long as her bunk bed and as kind as a marshmallow. She and her friends – Odette, a pademelon, Walter the wombat, Tiny, a honey possum and Poky, an echidna who changes colour depending on Hazel’s mood – live together in a treehouse in the bush. Every day brings new adventures, sometimes mistakes ... and always, always, imagination and friendship.
Acclaimed author, Zanni Louise and illustrator Judy Watson have created an Australian 'Winnie-the-Pooh' in this delightful, whimsical celebration of childhood. For ages 5+.
Read our staff review here.
The Sugarcane Kids and the Empty Cage by Charlie Archbold
Gloria, the talkative eclectus parrot, is missing from the animal sanctuary, and Anna the massive Australian scrub python has vanished from her enclosure at the library. Have they escaped? Or were they stolen?
When Andy and the Sugarcane Kids hear about an illegal native-animal trade, they know they have to investigate – and fast! Gloria and Anna are not only much-loved residents of their small coastal town in far north Queensland, but they also have very particular care needs – their lives could be in danger!
Andy, Eli, Harvey and the twins, Bernie and Fletch, along with Eli's trusty sausage dog Washington, have their eyes on a prime suspect – the Hench, the mean new canteen lady who is behaving very strangely. Can the Sugarcane Kids follow the clues to discover what is going on? Will they find Gloria and Anna in time? And what unexpected dangers lie in wait for them? Find out in this exciting new Sugarcane Kids adventure! For ages 8+.
Read our staff review here.
Fantasy to get lost in
Landovel by Emily Rodda
From the legendary Emily Rodda comes an epic adventure unlike any you've read before.
Derry knows no other life than that of a captive on Cram's Rock, shunned by the other young prisoners for being Cram's poison taster. Until the day everything changes, when a traveller arrives, on the run from the sinister El executioners. She leaves Derry with a magical notebook full of secrets, secrets that might hold the key to Derry's destiny – and his past.
Once you enter Landovel, you won't want to leave. So let Emily Rodda, bestselling author of Deltora Quest, take you on the whole thrilling adventure! For ages 10+.
Read our staff review here.
We Do Not Welcome Our Ten-Year-Old Overlord by Garth Nix
All Kim wants to do is play Dungeons & Dragons with his friends and ride his bike around the local lake. But he has always lived in the shadow of his younger sister. Eila is a prodigy, and everyone talks about how smart she is, though in Kim's eyes, she has no common sense. So when Eila finds an enigmatic, otherworldly globe which gives her astonishing powers, Kim not only has to save his sister from herself, he might also have to save the world from his sister!
With his trademark creeping menace and a strong sense of 1970s nostalgia, bestselling fantasy author Garth Nix has expertly crafted this pacy and exciting standalone middle grade novel. For ages 10+.
Read our staff review here.
The 113th Assistant Librarian by Stuart Wilson
Oliver Wormwood is sure his new job in the library will be boring. Until he learns that books hold great power – and danger.
By the end of his first day, Oliver has witnessed a death, been frozen by a book, met a perplexing number of cats, and fought off a horde of terrifying creatures.
With only a mysterious girl called Agatha to show him the ropes, Oliver needs to learn fast . . . if he wants to live longer than the 112 assistant librarians before him. For ages 9+.
Books to make you laugh
The Pinchers and the Diamond Heist by Anders Sparring, Julia Marshall (trans.) and Per Gustavsson (illus.)
The first in a funny chapter book crime series about a well-behaved child who doesn’t fit in to his family of criminals – featuring a prison break, a diamond heist and a lie that saves the day.
Theo is good at most things. He can almost count to a thousand, knows several French words and can operate the washing machine. But he can't lie or steal.
“You must try harder,” says his mother sternly.
The Pincher family love to steal things. It’s what they are born for! When his parents leave to visit the diamond exhibition, Theo's heart sinks. After breaking Grandma out of prison (his little sister needs someone to read her bedtime story), Theo sees no alternative but to stop his parents stealing the diamond ... For ages 7+.
Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody by Patrick Ness and Tim Miller (illus.)
Zeke and Daniel have just been made hall monitors by Principal Wombat. This has nothing to do with the fact that they are monitor lizards. And never mind the fact Alicia, the only other monitor lizard in the school, is also a hall monitor.
Somehow, the three hall monitors must impose order on arrogant lions, excitable seals and super-relaxed pandas. And worst of all, there is Pelicarnassus! A pompous giant pelican and the son of a major supervillain, who inexplicably has it out for the lizards. Can the hall monitor lizards and their new friend, a blind, fearsome red-tailed hawk, protect their school from all manner of outlandish threats? For ages 9+.
Read our staff review here.
Big Trouble with Angry Chairs by Lachlann Carter and Douglas Holgate (illus.)
The first adventure in this riotously funny and absurd hybrid graphic-fiction series that smashes together the spookiness of The Twilight Zone with the craziness of Adventure Time!
Maddie & Clare live in a quiet, palm tree-lined dead end with their dad and pet chicken. It’s not a place where not much happens, except for the odd small incident. Like a mass uprising of angry chairs. And the appearance of a prehistoric mutant fart gas. And an invasion of killer pineapples.
But other than that, things are pretty boring in Dead End. You can see why Maddie and Clare have to make their own fun …
From storytelling mastermind Lachlann Carter and Last Kids on Earth illustrator Douglas Holgate comes this hilarious and action-packed series for ages 6+.
Special stories about friendship, family and identity
A Small Collection of Happinesses by Zana Fraillon and Stephen Michael King (illus.)
An unforgettable story of friendship, hope and happiness from renowned Australian writer Zana Fraillon.
When Ada arrives on the day of the Great Summer Storm, it is like the wind had picked her up and blown her in – walking stick and all – and dumped her right at the front gates of number 9 Hawkhurst Lane.
Unfortunately, Ada is not the kind of neighbour Hettie was hoping for. Cranky, impatient and a hater of cats, Ada has no intention of making friends.
But as the summer unfolds, Hettie and Ada discover they have more in common than they think. Could their unlikely friendship be the missing piece they never knew they needed? For ages 7+.
Read our staff review here.
To and Fro by Anton Clifford-Motopi
Most kids meet their parents when they're born. All they need to do to impress them is poop, sleep and make goo-goo ga-ga sounds. But I'm twelve. None of that is going to impress my father.
Sam thinks he's a weird-looking white kid with an afro. He lives with his white mum (annoying but not smelly) and brown dog Trevor (smelly but not annoying). He's never met his father. He just knows that his father is black.
But a surprise visit has Sam questioning who he really is. Is he a white kid with a black dad? Or a black kid with white skin? Or half-black and half-white?
Not only does Sam want to know these answers, he has to know them to finish his annoying homework and perform in the school concert. But how can he make his outside match his inside if he doesn't know who he is?
A delightfully funny story about family and identity, and what it means to be truly Sam. For ages 11+.
Read our staff review here.
Stella & Marigold by Annie Barrows, Sophie Blackall (illus.)
Stella, who's seven, is kind, a good storyteller, and ponders big questions like, what do animals think of people? Marigold, at four, tells imaginative stories (her mother calls them fibs) and likes to wear her favorite Halloween costume year-round.
Stella and Marigold do all the regular things – like going to school, playing, getting sick sometimes, and visiting the zoo – but even the most regular things have a secret side. Sure to delight fans of Ivy and Bean, these adventure tales – animated with full-color illustrations of the sisters' encounters with magical bathrooms, snow monkeys, dream lions, howling wolves, a lost Vice President, and much more – are filled with vibrant characters, creative storytelling, and a whole lot of laughs. For ages 6+.
Sporty books that kick goals
Jy Goes for Gold by Carl Merrison, Hakea Hustler, Jy Farrar and Samantha Campbell (illus.)
I'm about 35 metres out from the goal and, running on instinct, I do a snap kick of the ball. I watch as the footy flies through the air.
Will it bend enough?
I can hear the roar of the crowd but my focus is on that red ball. It flies through the big white sticks.
It's a goal!
I'm Jy Farrar and the dream I had to play professional footy since I was a kid in outback Halls Creek has finally come true.
Let me tell you the story of how I got here – about my mates, my family, growing up in the Kimberley around the bush and the red dirt and spinifex and goannas, playing footy and going to boarding school far away from home.
A footy adventure story based on Jy Farrar's life, by award-winning authors Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler. For ages 8+.
Doubles Disaster by Ash Barty, Jasmin McGaughey and Jade Goodwin (illus.)
TOP SECRET! This is the PRIVATE diary of Ash Barty, future tennis SUPERSTAR! So don't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you... Okay?!
Ash's dreams have come true – she's going to Tennis Camp for two whole weeks! It will be so much FUN. On the first day, Ash meets her friend Zia, the coaches are great, and she's having the best time ... until the end-of-camp competition is announced. It's a DOUBLES tournament. Who will Ash get paired with? But that's not her only worry: there's a mean kid, plus a talent show to deal with!
Will Ash's tennis camp dream turn into a disaster? For ages 8+.
