Our latest blog posts
Kids review Rivertime by Trace Balla
Trace Balla is this year’s winner of the Readings Children’s Book Prize 2015 for her debut graphic novel, Rivertime. Here, we share some reviews from her fans…
– Review by Maddy, age 11
– Review by Ava, age 6
– Review by Jonah, age 8
– Review by Verity, age 6
Find out more about the Readings Children’s Book Prize here.
What we're reading: Hadley Freeman, Milan Kundera and Ilka Tampke
Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on or the music we’re loving.
Amy Vuleta is reading Skin by Ilka Tampke
There’s something deeply satisfying about spending an entire day in bed reading a fantasy novel. It’s an entirely irresponsible adult indulgence!
I picked up Ilka Tampke’s debut novel Skin last weekend with mild curiosity, but found myself glued to where I sat, pyjama-clad, up in…
Interviews with our work experience students
Over the next few weeks we’re participating in a work experience program with students from high schools across Melbourne. Here, Jenny Liu tells us about her favourite books.
How would you describe your taste in books?
I mostly gravitate towards fantasy books, in particular those with interesting magic and strong lead characters. I also enjoy reading science fiction, survival and historical fiction – I’ll read most genres within fiction really. That being said, I don’t particularly enjoy romance books. I…
Our favourite books of 2015 (so far)
Our staff share the best books they’ve read so far this year, including new releases and older titles just discovered.
Alan Vaarwerk, Editorial Assistant of Readings Monthly:
This will come as no surprise to anyone who’s heard me raving about it for the past six months, but I was so excited to get my hands on Kelly Link’s Get In Trouble, the American writer’s first collection for adults in ten years. The collection’s tightly-written and astonishing short stories…
Announcing the winner of the 2015 Readings Children’s Book Prize
The winner of the Readings Children’s Book Prize 2015 is… Rivertime by Trace Balla!
The Readings Children’s Book Prize recognises and celebrates books that families love reading together, or that children read under the covers with a torch late into the night because they can’t bear to put it down – books they tell their friends about. It also aims to raise the profile of debut and on-the-rise Australian children’s book authors.
Rivertime is a tender and beautifully illustrated tale…
See inside Rivertime by Trace Balla
Congratulations to Trace Balla who was named the winner of this year’s Readings Children’s Book Prize for her debut book, Rivertime. Find out more about Trace Balla’s win here.
See below for a sneak peek at some pages from inside Rivertime.
Image credit: Excerpt from Rivertime by Trace Balla, published by Allen & Unwin.
Find out more about the Readings Children’s Book Prize here.
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
The Mindfulness Colouring Book: Anti-Stress Art Therapy for Busy People by Emma Farrarons
The Lost Swimmer by Ann Turner
Blood Year - Terror and the Islamic State by David Kilcullen (Quarterly Essay 58)
Forever Young by Steven Carroll
The Strays by Emily Bitto
Gut: the Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Under-Rated Organ by Giulia Enders
Enchanted Forest by Johanna Basford
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
June highlights in children's and young adult books
A word that keeps coming up when we talk about YA is resilience. Melbourne writers Fiona Wood (Wildlife) and Gabrielle Williams (The Guy, The Girl, The Artist and His Ex) spoke very movingly about resilience as a theme of their recent work during a Readings event. Visiting US author Laurie Halse Anderson also used the phrase ‘Resilience Lit’ to describe what she writes (The Impossible Knife of Memory and Wintergirls), as a response to…
What we're reading: Annie Baker, Giulia Enders and Nova Weetman
Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on or the music we’re loving.
Emily Gale is reading Frankie and Joely by Nova Weetman
One of the things that has struck me while observing my children develop is how good they are at making, and keeping, friends. They did not get this from me. I always found friendship tricky to navigate, especially in my early-to-mid teens, and…
Five terrific graphic novels for teens
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! Ballister Blackheart is a Super Villain and Nimona is a shapeshifter who’s determined to be his Evil Sidekick. Opposing them is Ballister’s arch-nemeisis and also, former BFF Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin, a Hero who works for the Institution of Law Enforcement and the shadowy (is she evil?) Director.
Nimona is a smartly funny and subversive fantasy epic from Noelle Stevenson (also known as Gingerhaze!). It’s full of diverse, complicated characters with lots…
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