October 2025 Featured Reviews
Novel Insight on 21st Oct 2025
October 2025 Featured Reviews
Check out our favourite new releases from our October Newsletter.
Welcome!
Below you will find 12 of our favourite new releases from October 2025.
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Featured Reviews
Neighbourhood Nest
| Author: Sarah Jane Lightfoot | Publisher: Affirm Kids | |
| Release Date: 30 Sep 2025 | ||
| ISBN: 9781923046818 | Reading Age: 3 to 6 years |
Novel Insight Short Review: Magpie finds an extra egg in her nest. To find the origin of the egg, Magpie visits all the different neighbourhood nests in nesting season and the birds with their different eggs. A sweet story with beautiful pictures about the eggs and nesting styles of various birds that is ideal for ages 3 to 6.
One Koala, One Hundred Trees
| Author: Leesa Allinson | Publisher: Wild Dog | |
| Illustrator: Heather Potter and Mark Jackson | Release Date: 26 Aug 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781742036854 | Reading Age: 3 to 6 years |
Novel Insight Short Review: When a little girl finds an injured koala with a joey in her pouch, she is determined to help. With the help of a wildlife carer and animal hospital, the koala is okay. This inspires her and her family to look out for all the other koalas too. A beautifully illustrated book about Australian wildlife written in support of the Australian Koala Foundation that’s ideal for children aged 3 to 6.
Juniper’s Painting
| Author: Catherine Bauer | Publisher: Wombat Books | |
| Illustrator: Jennifer Horn | Release Date: 1 Oct 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781761112409 | Reading Age: 3 to 6 years |
Representations: Juniper’s father is not mentioned within the story.
Novel Insight Short Review: Juniper is stuck inside on a stormy day, watching the sea from her window. She loves to play on the beach and wishes she could go out there. However, her mum tells her to play inside. She tries to occupy herself with her teddy and doll house and other toys, but it’s just not the same. Eventually, her mum asks her to paint a picture for her. Juniper decides to paint the sea just as she loves it on a sunny day! With energetic language and interesting illustrations, this is sure to be a favourite with young readers.
Where Shall We Travel Today?
| Author: Kristin Martin | Publisher: MidnightSun Publishing | |
| Illustrator: Nicky Johnston | Release Date: 1 Jul 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781922858542 | Reading Age: 3 to 6 years |
Representations: Contains characters of varied ethnicities.
Novel Insight Short Review: The children of a neighbourhood come together, transforming their backyards into varied environments. Every day, they imagine they are in a new place. A cute, colourful story about friendship and community that’s ideal for ages 3 to 6.
The Giant
| Author: Sophie Masson | Publisher: MidnightSun Publishing | |
| Illustrator: Lorena Carrington | Release Date: 1 Aug 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781922858658 | Reading Age: 4 to 7 years |
Novel Insight Short Review: A giant has slept for so long that everyone has forgotten who he is. They don’t know his name or how good a friend he once was. The giant is devastated until two brave children come forward, reassuring the giant that they have heard how kind he was. A charming story about friendship and not judging a book by its cover that’s ideal for ages 4 to 7.
Matilda’s Frog Trouble
| Author: Kate Gordon | Publisher: Wombat Books | |
| Illustrator: Tamlyn Teow | Release Date: 1 Oct 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781925563887 | Reading Age: 7 to 11 years |
Content Insight: Contains contextually expected historic racism towards Chinese people in Australia.
Representations: Contains an interracial relationship between an Irish woman and a Chinese man.
Contains different ethnicities as one of Matilda’s friends has Chinese heritage, another has Indian, Scottish and Indigenous Australian heritage, and Matilda has Irish heritage.
Novel Insight Short Review: Matilda has travelled all around the world, made tonnes of friends and visited many amazing places. However, her favourite place is her aunt and uncle’s cattle station at home in Australia, with its beautiful nature and little creek filled with frogs. When Matilda returns to the station after being at boarding school for a year, she’s unsure how to act around her friends. They are so different and haven’t seen each other in so long. How does she talk to them? Matilda’s cousin gives her an old tin with a Chinese character on it, which has a beautiful comb inside. She says that her dad found it on the property. Matilda is curious about where it came from and does some research. When a frog leads her and her friends into a cave, Matilda finds more than she bargained for. A moving story about history, friendships, mysteries, romance and tiny, green frogs for junior fiction readers.
Runt and the Diabolical Dognapping
| Author: Craig Silvey | Publisher: A & U Children | |
| Illustrator: Sara Acton | Release Date: 30 Sep 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781761181597 | Reading Age: 7 to 11 years |
Content Insight: Contains injuries and vomiting. Max tries to zip line off a roof but gets caught and breaks his arm. Bonzer Bill drops a rotten egg inside the Sydney Opera House, causing the audience to faint and vomit in disgust.
Contains mild romantic themes.
Representations: LGBTQIA+ representations, divorced families and different cultures.
Novel Insight Short Review: After Annie and Runt win the Krumpets Dog Show, they become local celebrities. The mayor of the newly revitalised Upson Downs, Barry Casserole, announces the town will host a Tournament of Champions, a dog show featuring winners from all over the world, including Annie and Runt. The next day, Runt is missing, and a ransom note appears on the town noticeboard. Annie must enter the tournament in order to discover the devious dognapper and win back her beloved fur friend. The sequel to the phenomenal bestseller Runt is about friendship and family and is ideal for junior fiction readers.
Promises and Other Lies
| Author: Sue Whiting | Publisher: Walker Books Australia | |
| Release Date: 1 Sep 2025 | ||
| ISBN: 9781760658649 | Reading Age: 9 to 13 years |
Content Insight: Contains descriptions of bushfires and the physical damage that is caused. One fire fighter is killed in a fire.
Contains mild violence. Two children are attacked by a woman with a piece of wood. They sustain injuries, and one is knocked unconscious.
Representations: The mother of one of the main characters is divorced and has remarried. Another character is a single mother. There are culture representation such as a Malaysian/Chinese family.
Inludes a smoking ceremony.
Novel Insight Short Review: Fletch and Immie are 13-year-old best friends, both still carrying the scars of a bushfire that tore through their town, Wangaroo Bay, a year ago. Fletch’s home was destroyed, forcing him to move across town with his parents and older half-brother. Immie’s father, a volunteer firefighter, lost his life in the fire, and she now lives with her grandparents while struggling to cope with her grief. Then, one day, an anonymous caller reports to the police that the fire was no accident, that someone from Wangaroo Bay had deliberately lit it. The town is thrown into turmoil as rumours spread. Immie’s grief is brought back to the surface, and Fletch begins to worry, noticing that his family appear to be hiding a troubling secret. A captivating mystery about grief and friendship set in small-town Australia that’s ideal for middle grade readers.
Rivet Boy
| Author: Barbara Henderson | Publisher: Affirm Kids | |
| Release Date: 30 Sep 2025 | ||
| ISBN: 9781923419148 | Reading Age: 9 to 13 years |
Content Insight: Contains mention of alcohol and smoking.
Contains violence and reference to death.
Representations: This story is set in Scotland during the late 1800s.
Japanese and American characters are mentioned.
There are references to Christianity, church and prayer throughout.
Novel Insight Short Review: When 12-year-old John Nicol’s father is crushed to death by a falling ship boiler because of a loose rivet, he must drop out of school and get a job to support his mum and younger sibling. He begins working in a workshop, making rivets for the construction of the Forth Bridge. Soon, he is promoted to working on the bridge itself. He is assigned to Mr Murdoch’s cruel work gang. When John is pushed from the bridge, he miraculously survives and goes on to foil a dangerous plot. An engaging historical story based on real events about John Nicol, a boy who was one of the few briggers to survive falling off the Forth Bridge and is ideal for middle fiction readers.
Now She’s Dead
| Author: Roselyn Clarke | Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire | |
| Release Date: 12 Aug 2025 | ||
| ISBN: 9781464223488 | Reading Age: 15 to 18 years |
Language Rating: Medium
Content Insight: Contains violence and death.
Contains reference to sex and hook-ups.
Novel Insight Short Review: A year ago, Mandy’s best friend, Sara Ellis, died in a tragic wayward firework explosion. Told in dual storylines of the present day and the days leading up to Sara’s death, Mandy knows more about the incident than she told the police, and believes that she killed Sara. As the days leading up to Sara’s death are replayed, snippets are revealed. Before Sara’s death, Mandy hit her on the head with a rock. But Mandy never meant to kill her, and she saw a mysterious woman speaking with Sara in the bush after she left. A twist-filled mystery that keeps readers guessing that’s interesting for senior high readers.
Last Chance Joey
| Author: Meredith Resce | Publisher: Rhiza Edge | |
| Release Date: 1 Oct 2025 | ||
| ISBN: 9781761112614 | Reading Age: 14 to 18 years |
Language Rating: Low
Content Insight: Contains very mild violence.
Representations: Joey’s mother is single.
Indian character.
Harry and Joey have an intergenerational friendship.
Novel Insight Short Review: Joey is an angry young man heading down a self-destructive path. After being expelled from another school, his mother sends him to live with his great aunt in the country. Joey is asked to help an old man called Young Harry. It takes one day for him to realise this life might have more to offer him if he stops behaving like a self-entitled jerk. Besides, there’s very little phone coverage or internet in the country, and Harry’s old house doesn’t even have electricity. What else can he do but learn about life from a man who has lived a long one? Joey makes a couple of friends: a girl who lives on the next farm to Harry and a boy from India who doesn’t fit into the close-knit community either. Just when Joey thinks he might make a new life for himself, his past mistakes catch up with him. He doesn’t know how he can prove that he’s a changed man, but Harry needs him, and Joey refuses to let go of this new life without a fight, not when he’s finally found a reason to stay. An uplifting story about second chances and overcoming adversity suitable for young adult readers.
Thank you for supporting us, these authors, and the publishers by reading this newsletter.
We hope you enjoyed these insights into some special new releases from November.
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