February 2025 Featured Reviews
Novel Insight on 12th Feb 2025
February 2025 Featured Reviews
Check out our favourite new releases from February.
Welcome back everyone! We hope you all enjoyed you holiday break.
Below you will find 15 of our favourite new releases from February 2025.
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Featured Reviews
Brave In Every Which Way
| Author: Maddy Mara | Publisher: Affirm Kids | |
| Illustrator: Lauren Degraaf | Release Date: 28 Jan 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781922806772 | Reading Age: 2 to 5 years |
Language Rating: No language concerns.
Content Insight: Contains a scene depicting children as magicians/wizards with powers.
Representations: The children featured are of different races and ethnicities
Novel Insight Short Review: This book depicts the different kinds of bravery children can demonstrate and encourages the reader to try brave acts, whether big or small. A positive book about bravery suitable for little ones, parents and teachers.
No More Room in the Bed!
| Author: Deborah Abela | Publisher: Larrikin House | |
| Illustrator: Marina Verola | Release Date: 29 Jan 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781922804808 | Reading Age: 3 to 6 years |
Language Rating: No language concerns.
Content Insight: Contains aliens and a UFO.
Representations: Contains a single father (implied).
Novel Insight Short Review: When a bit of rain turns into a booming storm, a scared boy asks his dad whether there’s any room in his bed. Dad shuffles over to make room. Thunder and lightning continue until the dog and cat appear and climb into bed. Then, a family of rabbits shiver in fright, followed by a terrified horse outside the window. A herd of moose arrive in the hall, then a group of ballerinas, a school of piranhas, and a whale. Even a group of aliens appear seeking refuge from the storm. Each time, they shuffle over and make more room for each new addition. Until the bed begins to splinter and crack in two! A cute, outlandish story perfect for reading aloud on rainy nights.
Over or Under?
| Author: Pip Harry | Publisher: Lothian Children’s Books | |
| Illustrator: Hilary Jean Tapper | Release Date: 30 Oct 2024 | |
| ISBN: 9780734421807 | Reading Age: 3 to 6 years |
Language Rating: No language concerns.
Content Insight: Illustrations show Maisie tossed underwater struggling to get out until her dad pulls her onto the shore.
Representations: After getting stuck under a big wave, Maisie has a fear of getting back into the water. By the end of the book, she overcomes this fear.
Novel Insight Short Review: Maisie, a young girl, swims in the ocean with her father. He teaches her the difference between the waves, coaching her to dive over or under depending on the kind of wave. Maisie jumps over a few small waves, but when a big wave comes she is too scared to dive and is dumped onto the shore. Maisie finds the courage to try again until she is able to dive under the wave. An enjoyable, educational book about a quintessential Australian beach experience.
Lexie Moon & the Word Burgling Bungle
| Author: Melissa Garside | Publisher: Riveted Press | |
| Illustrator: Lauren Mullinder | Release Date: 29 Jan 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781763526037 | Reading Age: 7 to 11 years |
Language Rating: No language concerns.
Content Insight: Contains theft and some mild risk.
Representations: N/A
Novel Insight Short Review: Lexie Moon built her latest invention, the Vocabuliser, to help people—including her little sister—learn to say tricky words, like spaghetti and Worcestershire. She plans to enter it into this year’s invention competition, and secretly tests it on her family. But the device is stolen by infamous gadget thief, Gizmo Lightfinger, who sees other people’s inventions as his ticket to glory. Lexie and her Grandad must find the inventions before there is more chaos. A fun adventure mystery with lots of made-up words and inventions.
Monty and Mandy Take on Camp Spaloonka
| Author: Adam Wallace | Publisher: Larrikin House | |
| Illustrator: Dave Atze | Release Date: 29 Jan 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781922804921 | Reading Age: 7 to 11 years |
Language Rating: Low – butt x5, booger x1
Content Insight: Contains very mild comedic violence. Mandy throws an air horn out the window which hits the teacher in the face. Samson is launched into the sky by a ball and is shot by an arrow in the behind. The Loch Ness monster is seen when Samson lands in Scotland.
Representations: Monty and Mandy are both implied to be raised by single mums.
Novel Insight Short Review: Monty and Mandy are excitable, mischievous and dim-witted best friends. At school camp, they take part in whitewater rafting and archery, unwittingly causing shenanigans along the way. But it’s the talent show they really want to enter— will they come up with a routine that will win them the trophy? A humorous, fast-paced read for readers who like Anh Do.
The Deadly Fang
| Author: Adam Wallace | Publisher: Scholastic Australia | |
| Illustrator: James Hart | Release Date: 1 Feb 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781761521515 | Reading Age: 7 to 11 years |
Language Rating: Low – fart x1, butt x1
Content Insight: Contains some crude humour. Sir Bradbury’s pants fall down and he runs off in his underwear. King Bad Dragon is sitting in his underwear mending his dragon onesie when the Deadly Claw comes crashing through his roof.
Mentions of magic and magical creatures such as dragons and shape-shifting creatures.
Representations: N/A
Novel Insight Short Review: Back in the day, Super Epic Dragon reigned over the queendom of Ticklebrook, and life was good and magical, with dragons and people living in harmony. When he died, the magic and crops withered and everyone became miserable. To return Ticklebrook to its former glory, the queen announces a tournament for a hero to collect the treasures left behind by Super Epic Dragon: its fang, eyeball, wing, and nostril. A boy called Arlo and a girl called Julia join the quest together. Will they be able to find the treasures and make Ticklebrook great again? An enjoyable series with a medieval, magical twist for junior readers who love adventure stories.
We Do Not Welcome Our Ten-Year-Old Overlord
| Author: Garth Nix | Publisher: A & U Children | |
| Illustrator: N/A | Release Date: 29 Oct 2024 | |
| ISBN: 9781761180491 | Reading Age: 9 to 13 years |
Language Rating: No language concerns.
Content Insight: Contains science fiction and fantasy themes. Characters try to prevent an alien invasion and are affected by mind control.
While playing D&D, characters often fight to kill bad guys. Killing Eila and Aster is discussed.
Contains off-page animal cruelty and animal death. There is a description of the death of a kangaroo.
Representations: Eila knows Latin, Greek, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.
It is also implied that the Benisons may be Indigenous.
Novel Insight Short Review: Set in an alternate Australia in the 70s, a group of young children, including 12-year-old Kim Basalt and his friend Bennie and their sisters, start a game of Dungeons and Dragons. While out one night, Kim’s sister, Eila, discovers a glowing sphere. The sphere, Aster, is capable of learning, healing, hurting, and mind control, and Kim becomes increasingly concerned that Aster is perhaps part of an alien invasion. A fascinating sci-fi adventure about a group of kids trying to prevent an alien invasion for fans of Stranger Things.
Popcorn
| Author: Rob Harrell | Publisher: Piccadilly Books | |
| Illustrator: N/A | Release Date: 4 Feb 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781835870877 | Reading Age: 9 to 13 years |
Language Rating: Low – butt x4, good lord x2, poop x2, crap x1, heck x1, ass x1
Content Insight: Contains some crude humour of butt scratching, burping, pee and farts.
Contains bullying. Gene hits Andrew in the face with his backpack, rips off Andrew’s collar in the hallway, choking him and causing him to hit his head, makes rude comments about Andrew’s socioeconomic status, and insults his absent father._@Contains injury. During gym, Andrew is hit in the face with a basketball causing a nosebleed.
Representations: Andrew has anxiety and is implied to have OCD, with tics and a need for order and cleanliness. Comic strips are used to illustrate how anxiety and panic attacks feel to him.
Andrew sees a therapist, who helps come up with strategies to help him: breathing exercises, sketching, and visualizations for his anger.
Andrew wears glasses.
Andrew’s grandma, ‘G’, has Alzheimer’s.
The school is made up of a diverse range of kids and teachers of different races and ethnicities. Andrew’s best friend, Aisha Jones (Jonesy), is black.
Andrew’s mother is a single mother. His parents are divorced, and his father, who has anger issues, moved five years ago and didn’t stay in contact. Their family has financial issues.
Novel Insight Short Review: It’s school photo day for seventh grader Andrew. With his mother starting a new job and his grandmother, ‘G’, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, he has a lot on his plate. As the day continues, every small thing goes wrong and Andrew’s anxiety escalates. Fighting off a panic attack, he tries to get through the day without his anxiety kernel popping. A humorous, sensitively-written book about how it feels to experience anxiety and panic attacks that would appeal to fans of Remy Lai’s books.
Amari and the Despicable Wonders
| Author: B. B. Alston | Publisher: Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing | |
| Illustrator: N/A | Release Date: 3 Sep 2024 | |
| ISBN: 9781761211973 | Reading Age: 9 to 13 years |
Language Rating: No language concerns.
Content Insight: Contains supernatural beings. These include magicians, ghouls, monsters, fairies, ghosts, and goblins. Peek-a-Boo the ghost is given permission to haunt Jayden through the book. Elsie is a weredragon and can shift between human and dragon forms. Harlowe is a faun whose magical ability forces others to do her bidding. Jayden can communicate with animals.
Contains mild violence & scenes of peril. Dylan destroys the evacuated London Bureau. Dylan magically conjures a hurricane in Atlanta, flooding the streets and causing building damage. The discovery of anti-magick obliterates the magicians in the room at the time. Dylan steals the time stone and uses its anti-magick to destroy everyone in the room, including Prime Minister Merlin.
Contains bigotry against ‘undesirable’ supernaturals, such as those who aligned with the Moreaus, called ‘unwanteds’, and magicians, including Amari and Moreau, which is intensified when Dylan takes over the League of Magicians and wages war against the Bureau.
Representations: Amari, Quentin, their mother, and their friend, Jayden, are black.
Novel Insight Short Review: Amari, Jayden and Elsie are in hiding with Amari’s older brother, Quentin, who has recently woken from a magical coma. Now leading The League of Magicians, Dylan threatens a war between the League of Magicians and The Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. When Amari discovers Dylan has harnessed a secret magical ability hidden in wonders throughout the world, she and her friends work together to stop him, meeting new allies along the way. An engaging magical fantasy series that would appeal to fans of Nevermoor, Harry Potter and Percy Jackson.
Dylan Alcott Game On
| Author: Dylan Alcott and Fiona Regan | Publisher: ABC Books AU | |
| Illustrator: Nahum Ziersch | Release Date: 4 Dec 2024 | |
| ISBN: 9780733343209 | Reading Age: 9 to 13 years |
Language Rating: Low – bum x1, bummer x2, fart x1, heck x1, idiot x5, jerk x3, nerds x1, Oh my God (Oh God) x4, sheesh x3, shoot (used as shit) x1, stupid x4, sucks x4, wee x1
Content Insight: Bullying & ableism: Charlie calls Dylan a cripple when Mr Foot asks him to swap lockers. Charlie calls Dylan a dud player when they are participating in volleyball rotations. Jacob puts the tablet on the fridge so Dylan can’t get it to work on his DJ mix. Jacob’s friend Zander makes a disabled joke about Dylan, and Jacob asks him to leave their house. Rizwan is unkind about Dylan’s disability and his inability to dance, mosh or crowd surf. At lunchtime, he and Hannah go to the basketball courts to play, and Charlie and Virat from his class make fun of his ability to play basketball in a wheelchair, but he shows them that he has a talent for the game. Hannah’s new friends tease her about her height and sick mother and practice without her.
Accessibility issues: Dylan needs to use ramps to take the long way around the school, and only one toilet has wheelchair accessibility. The science benches are too high for Dylan and he is unable to participate in experiments. In HPE, the teams leave out Dylan, unsure whether he can play volleyball. On the first day, Dylan is assigned a locker at the top but is able to swap.
Representations: Disabilities & accessibility: Gemma’s little brother has cystic fibrosis and struggles to breathe. He needs a high-energy diet. Dylan has been in a wheelchair since he was born. Dylan, Hannah, Yusuf and Gemma go bowling, but Yusuf cannot focus on the game and gets distracted by the arcade games. He feels overwhelmed by the flashing lights and loud noises. Dylan sees Yusuf drawing on the walls. Yusuf is upset and unsure which class to attend next. There is a sensory room at the school which Yusuf uses. Dylan’s family live near a beach with an accessible beach mat that helps him move smoothly on the sand.
Darwinism: Hannah talks about the Big Bang theory during Science class.
Non-binary representations: Kerr, the HPE teacher, uses they/them pronouns, and Nik, a classmate, uses they/them pronouns.
LGBTQIA+: Nik has a boyfriend and is singing a song at the talent show about him but is concerned that he might break up with him.
Family Structure: Hannah’s mum is a single mother. Dylan comes from a traditional family structure.
Novel Insight Short Review: It is the last day of the summer holidays, and Dylan Alcott and his best friend Hannah sit in the backyard enjoying ice cream while chatting about what they imagine Year Seven will be like at Fairwood High School. He is excited that his friends Gemma and Yusuf from primary school will also attend high school with them. He is looking forward to his new adventure but feels anxious about moving to different classes and being able to get around the new school in his wheelchair. This book is an enjoyable, thought-provoking story that encourages children to realise that everyone has struggles and that life can look different for other people.
Ghostlines
| Author: Katya Balen | Publisher: Bloomsbury | |
| Illustrator: N/A | Release Date: 7 Jan 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781526663870 | Reading Age: 12+ years |
Language Rating: Low – bloody x1, God x2, gosh x2, guts x1, oh my goodness x2, naked x1, pee (wee) x2, shut up x1, stupid x17
Content Insight: Contains depictions of alcohol. People drink at the pub.
Contains different family structures. Tilda’s family is a traditional family structure. Albie lives with a single mother.
Contains supernatural elements. Ramsay believes he saw a ghost hovering on the fort of the secret island. Rowan tells Tilda about Davy, the ghost boy who died on the island and still haunts it today. Tilda believes she sees the ghost during the storm and can feel his icy fingers on her. It is later revealed the story is made up by locals.
Representations: Features local traditions of a small island community. Each year, the island residents celebrate the silent season, when the puffins and tourists leave the island, by lighting bonfires. They call this event Burning Bright Night.
Novel Insight Short Review: Tilda lives on the small island of Ayrie with her mother and father. The island is known for mating puffins, and tourists visit during nesting season. Her brother left home the year before and lives on the mainland. Tilda misses him and feels sad they are not as close anymore. People rarely move to Ayrie, so Tilda is surprised to learn a boy, Albie, and his mother, Maggie, have moved to the island. After a rocky start, she and Albie soon became friends and experience many adventures together. Ghostlines is an adventurous tale of friendship, community and forgiveness ideal for teen readers.
When We Flew Away
| Author: Alice Hoffman | Publisher: Scholastic US | |
| Illustrator: N/A | Release Date: 1 Oct 2024 | |
| ISBN: 9781761640230 | Reading Age: 12 to 15 years |
Language Rating: No language concerns.
Content Insight: Contains mild violence and death. Jews are beaten and arrested for no reason. The descriptions are not graphic, but the content is still confronting. Anne’s grandmother dies, and grief is shown.
Contains mild romance. Anne, a thirteen-year-old, is depicted in love with an older boy, and they wander the city together alone.
Representations: Contains Jewish culture.
Set during World War II in Holland.
Novel Insight Short Review: It’s 1940 in Amsterdam. 11-year-old Anne Frank and her older sister Margot can buy ice cream when they want. They can sun themselves on the roof of their apartment. They can meet up with friends and walk the streets unafraid. And Anne is full of dreams for the future. She attends a special school that focuses on the arts. Her family escaped from Germany, and Holland is a place of freedom and respect. Anne plans to be an actor or a writer and to live in California one day. But when the Germans overthrow Holland, all that changes. A powerful story that honours the experiences of the Jews during World War II and all that they lost, with excellent historical research.
Into the Wild
| Author: Hayley Lawrence | Publisher: Scholastic AU | |
| Illustrator: N/A | Release Date: 1 Feb 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781761522116 | Reading Age: 12 to 15 years |
Language Rating: No language concerns.
Content Insight: Contains danger and injury. Birdie becomes seriously injured by a tree branch impaling her shoulder. Ted is found in a terrible state after falling from a cliff.
Representations: Ted’s mother implies that Ted may be bisexual.
Ted and Birdie are from traditional families. Silas is being raised by his father after his mother left them. Olive is being raised by her father after her mother recently died. Knox’s parents split up recently and he splits his time with them.
Novel Insight Short Review: Silas, Knox, Birdie, Olive and Ted enter into a competition in the Blue Mountains to prove that teenagers can survive, should the world of technology end tomorrow. Each are assigned a crucial role in the team and must work together to make it to the finish line and win the prize of a trip to Mt Everest Base Camp. The adventure soon turns into a fight for survival after a disagreement and a deviation from the plan. Everyone plays a part in the disaster and must work together to get out alive. A tense, exciting tale of survival in the Australian Blue Mountains for young adult readers who enjoy stories with historical detail.
I Am Not Jessica Chen
| Author: Ann Liang | Publisher: HQ Young Adult US | |
| Illustrator: N/A | Release Date: 29 Jan 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781038900388 | Reading Age: 12 to 15 years |
Language Rating: Medium – f*ck x3, b*tch x1, God x3, sh*t x2, crap x1, damn x1
Content Insight: Contains fantasy elements. Jenna’s wish on a shooting comes true with her waking up in Jessica’s body. She later muses whether this was the universe playing a trick on her.
Contains injuries. Jenna is thrown from a horse and hurts her arm, causing it to bleed. Jenna steps on a stick, causing her to bleed.
Contains reference to bullying and harassment within the school. These include an old PE teacher leaving the school after harassing a student, a student doxxing her friend and throwing raw eggs and chicken blood on her locker, two boys fighting over a girl, one ending up with a broken nose and the other a fractured arm.
Representations: Jenna and Jessica are Chinese-American and their families speak Chinese at home.
Celine is implied to be a lesbian. She mentions dating a model the summer before.
Novel Insight Short Review: Jenna is crushed to learn she has not been accepted into any of the Ivy League colleges she applied to—including Harvard, where her perfect cousin, Jessica, is attending. At a family dinner, Jessica, Jenna, with her crush, Aaron Cai, spy a shooting star in the sky. Jenna wishes she could be Jessica and awakens the next day in Jessica’s house in Jessica’s body. However, she soon realises that Jessica’s glamorous life is different from what she expects, and that her own existence is at threat of disappearing for good. A vivid, reflective body swap story about jealousy and self-worth for those who have ever wished to live out someone else’s life.
A Language Of Dragons
| Author: S. F. Williamson | Publisher: HarperCollins GB | |
| Illustrator: N/A | Release Date: 1 Jan 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9780008652296 | Reading Age: 15+ years |
Language Rating: Medium – sh*t x2, f*ck x7, bloody hell x3, b*tch x1, bastard x1
Content Insight: Contains mild kissing scenes between two boys and a girl and a boy.
Contains scenes of torture and cruelty. One boy breaks the arm of a girl trying to get information from her. A crowd stampedes and a girl is described as covered in blood and with lifeless eyes.
The dragons can speak and communicate telepathically.
Representations: Contains a gay character who has a relationship with another boy.
Contains reference to religion. God is mentioned in a legend. A character is training to be a priest, possibly Roman Catholic. Creation is described as truth.
Class systems are described along with related prejudices.
The main character comes from a traditional family.
Novel Insight Short Review: In an alternate 1923 London, protests break out against the Peace Agreement, which enforces harmony between dragons and humans while creating a human class system. Vivien Featherswallow, aspiring to study dragon languages, has her plans derailed when her parents are arrested for aiding the rebellion. After freeing a dragon, Viv sparks a civil war between the government and the Dragon Queen on one side, and the rebels on the other. A thrilling epic blending fantasy and political intrigue with interesting characters for fans of Fourth Wing and the Scholomance trilogy.
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