April 2025 Featured Reviews
Novel Insight on 27th Apr 2025
April 2025 Featured Reviews
Check out our favourite new releases from April.
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Below you will find 12 of our favourite new releases from April 2025.
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Featured Reviews
Goodnight Sheep
| Author: Sally Barton | Publisher: Fremantle Press | |
| Illustrator: Cherie Dignam | Release Date: 1 Apr 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781760993986 | Reading Age: 2 to 5 years |
Language Rating: No language concerns.
Novel Insight Short Review: Lilly May’s mother tells her to count sheep to help her fall asleep. However, the sheep that Lilly May counts are an active, noisy, bunch that keep her awake until she has had enough and must find some other way to get everyone to bed. An entertaining, rhyming bedtime story of a girl taking matters into her own hands, filled with bright and busy illustrations and countless details to point out.
My Mother’s Invisible Shield
| Author: R. A. Stephens | Publisher: Wombat Books | |
| Illustrator: Jasmine Berry | Release Date: 2 Apr 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781761111945 | Reading Age: 2 to 7 years |
Language Rating: No language concerns.
Representations: There is no depiction of a father in the book making the book also suit single parents of two children. The mother appears to work as a nurse or doctor.
Novel Insight Short Review: In this rhyming picture book, a child claims that their mother has an invisible shield. They describe how the shield always warns their mother whenever they’re approaching, and stops them from doing mischief. But if they ever want to get through the shield, all they have to do is ask to be picked up.
Tomato Sandwich
| Author: Caroline Magerl | Publisher: Walker Books Australia | |
| Illustrator: Caroline Magerl | Release Date: 2 Apr 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781760658045 | Reading Age: 3 to 11 years |
Representations: The girl lives with her father and grandfather.
Novel Insight Short Review: This is a wordless picture book leaving it up to the reader to assign words to the story. A young girl wants to eat a special cupcake, but is upset when she gets a tomato sandwich instead. Her grandfather takes her to an amusement park and they find a gift when they return home. A unique, engaging storybook that can be told differently each time.
Bigfoot vs Yeti: A Love Story
| Author: James Foley | Publisher: Fremantle Press | |
| Illustrator: James Foley | Release Date: 4 Mar 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781760994983 | Reading Age: 4 to 7 years |
Novel Insight Short Review: The bigfoot tribe and yeti tribe have a long rift—both physically and metaphorically—between them that causes fighting and slander. But one day a bigfoot and a yeti wander far along the rift to see if it ever ends. An unexpected romance ensures. An uplifting love story with a lesson of unity.
Ariana Treasure: The Lucky Shoes
| Author: Jacqueline de Rose-Ahern | Publisher: Wombat Books | |
| Illustrator: Karen Eramus | Release Date: 7 May 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781761111846 | Reading Age: 5 to 8 years |
Language Rating: No language concerns.
Representations: Ariana’s dad is not mentioned.
Maya’s family is from Sri Lanka, and the Kandyan dance she performs is a Sri Lankan dance.
Novel Insight Short Review: Ariana Treasure’s friend Maya wants to compete in an upcoming talent show, so her Seeya (grandpa) who is visiting from Sri Lanka can see her perform. But she doesn’t think she has any talents. Can Ariana find something in her family’s thrift shop, the Treasure Chest, to help Maya find her talent? A heartwarming story about overcoming your fears and finding your talents.
Sunny & Shadow
| Author: Helen Milroy | Publisher: Fremantle Press | |
| Illustrator: | Release Date: 4 Feb 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781760995119 | Reading Age: 7 to 11 years |
Language Rating: No language concerns.
Content Insight: Contains reference to dingoes being hunted and killed.
Representations: Contains representation of Aboriginal people, and older Aboriginal ladies as custodians of their culture and heritage. Addition reference to settlement and the Stolen Generations is included.
Novel Insight Short Review: Calla, like the rest of her people, has a special connection with animals, and the ability to speak to dingoes. Her favourite dingo is a cheeky young pup called Chichi. Calla takes care of Chichi and the dingoes, until one day her people are driven away and new settlers begin to hunt the dingoes. Chichi flees into a strange cave. When he emerges, he is in a completely different place and time. In this new time, he meets Sunny. When he follows Sunny home to meet her grandmother, they discover that Sunny’s grandmother is none other than Calla. A powerful story about courage and the Aboriginal connection to land and its creatures, written by a descendant of the Palyku people.
Diary of a Future Billionaire
| Author: Pamela Butchart | Publisher: Scholastic UK | |
| Illustrator: Wotto | Release Date: 1 Apr 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781761647741 | Reading Age: 9 to 13 years |
Representations: This book represents kids from different ethnicities and depicts them befriending each other. It also represents families from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Ben’s family faces hard financial times.
Novel Insight Short Review: When ten-year-old Ben watches television personality The Tank talk about becoming a billionaire, he decides this is his chance to change his life. From dog walking to selling pizzas, Ben tries different approaches to starting his own business. However, when Ben discovers his father has been laid off and they can’t afford the rent on their apartment, things become urgent. He and his friend Bilal need to make one thousand pounds before Ben’s family is evicted. But with Ben’s can-do attitude and a couple of good friends, he cannot help but succeed—and come that little bit closer to achieving his dreams. A fun and engaging read about a boy following his dreams to help his family.
Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow
| Author: Jessica Townsend | Publisher: Lothian Children’s Books | |
| Illustrator: | Release Date: 30 Apr 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9780734421029 | Reading Age: 9 to 13 years |
Language Rating: No language concerns.
Content Insight: Contains references to magical and supernatural beings, such as spirits, ghosts and ghouls.
Contains minor violence.
Representations: Morrigan’s aunt, Lady Miriam, has a wife called Winifred. Conall had a husband who died. Miss Cheery has a girlfriend called Roshni.
Novel Insight Short Review: Morrigan Crow, secretly apprenticed to the banished Wundersmith, Ezra Squall, learns new skills in the Wundrous Arts, though she fears what will happen when everyone finds out about this clandestine arrangement. Thrust into the Silver Society, where the opulent families of Nevermoor live, Morrigan must unravel a puzzling wedding murder, a mystery dragonrider, and the secrets of her past as the clock ticks closer to a new age of surprises and sweeping change. Filled with magic, murder and mystery, Silverborn is an exciting new addition to a ‘wundrous’ series. This is the fourth book of the Nevermoor series.
On Gallant Wings
| Author: Helen Edwards | Publisher: Riveted Press | |
| Illustrator: | Release Date: 2 Apr 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781763526051 | Reading Age: 9 to 13 years |
Content Insight: Contains description of war, including themes of violence and death and division.
Contains bullying and racism, as a result of the Pearl Harbour bombing.
Representations: This book describes the role of woman and animals involved in WWII, as well as the experiences of soldiers.
Novel Insight Short Review: 13-year-old Ava lives in Darwin in 1941, with her family, who train homing pigeons. With her father fighting in the air force, Ava wishes for the war to end and him to come home. When the military police also take her best friend Kazuo away to an internment camp for Japanese-Australians, she is left lonely. She learns about the war from letters from her brother, Kazuo, and her father, and tries to make the best of her life when she is eventually evacuated from Darwin. A beautiful WWII story highlighting the lives of those fighting and at home, particularly the essential part that homing pigeons played in the war effort.
Dating and Dragons
| Author: Kristy Boyce | Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE US | |
| Illustrator: | Release Date: 1 Apr 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9780593899205 | Reading Age: 12 to 15 years |
Content Insight: Contains kissing.
Contains discussion of fantasy elements.
Representations: Sloan is non-binary.
Quinn’s grandmother is a key character.
Novel Insight Short Review: Quinn has had terrible experiences with past romances and her old friends have made her life difficult, so starting a new friendship group is scary. It’s even more unnerving when Quinn realises the nice boy she talked to on the first day, Logan, is part of their gaming group and likes her too. However, this is made complicated by the fact that their group doesn’t allow any in-house dating. A cheesy, fun and easy romance where the protagonists become friends before anything more, with a cute ending. A sequel to Dungeons and Drama that can be read as a stand-alone story.
This Dream Will Devour Us
| Author: Emma Clancey | Publisher: A & U Children | |
| Illustrator: | Release Date: 29 Apr 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781761181221 | Reading Age: 14+ years |
Language Rating: Low
Content Insight: Contains descriptions of kissing.
Contains alcohol and drug usage.
Contains mild violence.
Representations: LGBTQIA+ representation
Contains single parents.
Novel Insight Short Review: Nora is a hard-working high school student with aspirations to join the ranks of Dream Engineers and wield the magic of levic. Levic, the drug developed and controlled by the famous Lamour family, has the power to change lives. And save them. Nora wants to do the latter and when she is chosen in a lottery to attend the yearly Dream Gala with the two brothers of the Lamour family, Henri and Remy, she realises she can make a difference. Only problem is she didn’t enter the lottery and now that her brother is ill, she must find a way to save him while navigating the treacherous world of the extremely wealthy. A captivating story with a thrilling combination of romance and a twisting plot.
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We hope you enjoyed these insights into some special new releases from November.
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