September 2025 Featured Reviews
Novel Insight on 11th Sep 2025
September 2025 Featured Reviews
Check out our favourite new releases from our September Newsletter.
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Below you will find 12 of our favourite new releases from September 2025.
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Featured Reviews
Hello, Spring Baby
| Author: Jess Racklyeft | Publisher: Affirm Kids | |
| Illustrator: Jess Racklyeft | Release Date: 26 Aug 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781923135895 | Reading Age: 2 to 5 years |
Novel Insight Short Review: A baby bird is born in spring. The parents look on with love and care as their spring baby grows. This sweet story with lyrical language tells children about all the animals born in spring and also celebrates any spring baby, and is ideal for children aged 2 to 5.
Dear Broccoli
| Author: Jo Dabrowski | Publisher: Affirm Kids | |
| Illustrator: Cate James | Release Date: 26 Aug 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781923022102 | Reading Age: 3 to 6 years |
Novel Insight Short Review: Frank does not like broccoli. He writes a letter to his broccoli to complain, saying, ‘Dear Broccoli, you are on my plate again …’ Broccoli writes back to tell Frank that he is good to eat. An amusing, slightly educational picture book that’s ideal for ages 3 to 6.
Unicorn Post
| Author: Emma Yarlett | Publisher: Walker Books | |
| Illustrator: Emma Yarlett | Release Date: 1 Sep 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781529525175 | Reading Age: 3 to 6 years |
Content Insight: Contains fantasy elements and creatures. A little girl tries to find a home for a lost unicorn.
Novel Insight Short Review: A little girl is playing in her treehouse when a lost unicorn unexpectedly arrives. While singing cheerfully, she tries to help the unicorn find a home at the pet shop, the farm, the fun fair and an enormous fairytale castle. A sweet and colourful fantasy story about friendship for readers aged 3 to 6.
The Butterfly House
| Author: Harry Woodgate | Publisher: Affirm Kids | |
| Illustrator: Harry Woodgate | Release Date: 26 Aug 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781923135635 | Reading Age: 3 to 6 years |
Representations: Represents people who struggle with mental illness.
Represents various ethnicities and cultures in the illustrations.
Represents intergenerational friendships.
Novel Insight Short Review: Holly is curious about the house at the end of her street. It is overgrown and quaint-looking, and reminds her of a fairy house. But when she creeps closer to explore it, she sees an old woman in the window, and rushes away. Her mother tells her Miss Brown has been unwell, and her garden is overgrown. This explanation gives Holly empathy for Miss Brown, and she writes her a letter to say how much she loves her house. Miss Brown writes back, saying the house makes her sad because she hasn’t been able to take care of it while her brain was sick, so the butterflies that used to live in her garden have gone away. Holly begins a butterfly garden at school and decides to enlist her brother’s help to transform Miss Brown’s garden. A sweet and uplifting picture book about community and mental illness that’s ideal for ages 3 to 6.
Flute
| Author: Kasey Whitelaw | Publisher: Wombat Books | |
| Illustrator: Jenni Goodman | Release Date: 6 Aug 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781761112294 | Reading Age: 4 to 7 years |
Content Insight: Contains a fight between Flute and a tiger shark. She escapes without injury.
Novel Insight Short Review: Flute is a bottlenose dolphin. One day, while foraging with her party, Flute hears the thunderous roar of a boat propellor and swims toward it, only to be tossed around. The next thing she knows, she’s all alone and must find her way back home though obstacles. The back matter of this book features significant information about bottlenose dolphins and conservation. Flute is a real dolphin whom the author worked with as a marine biologist, and this picture book is a reconstruction of events from Flute’s life and other aspects she has observed about bottlenose dolphins. An uplifting story for young readers of a dolphin’s determined journey back to her pod.
Ariana Treasure: The Perfect Day
| Author: Jacqueline de Rose-Ahern | Publisher: Wombat Books | |
| Illustrator: Karen Erasmus | Release Date: 3 Sep 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781761111884 | Reading Age: 5 to 8 years |
Novel Insight Short Review: Ariana and her mum are helping Aunt Grace get ready for her big day—she’s getting married! Everything is perfect: perfect dress, perfect cake, perfect day. That is, until Ariana’s attempt to help goes horribly wrong. Can Ariana and her friends salvage the day? A sweet and hopeful early reader about coming up with solutions together and saving what seems to be unsavable, along with lovely black and white illustrations for ages 5 to 8.
Hannah Backwards
| Author: Kim Rackham | Publisher: Riveted Press | |
| Illustrator: Heidi Cooper-Smith | Release Date: 26 Aug 2025 | |
| ISBN: 9781764007139 | Reading Age: 6 to 11 years |
Representations: Izzi lives with her single mother.
Hannah’s new teacher has a deaf brother. She teaches her students Auslan.
Novel Insight Short Review: Hannah’s nana gives her a special stone with a spiral pattern she calls a worry. She tells Hannah to trace the pattern whenever she feels panicked, and the repetitive action will calm her worries. Hannah and her best friend Izzi are in the same class at school and love their teacher, Mr Spicer, who is fun and quirky. One day, Mr Spicer announces he is leaving to be the assistant principal at a new school. Hannah and Izzi are sad, but also worried that their new teacher won’t be as good or as much fun. Then Izzi tells Hannah that she is also leaving because her mum has a new job opportunity. Suddenly, Hannah is facing a lot of changes in her life. How will she cope? Throughout the story, Hannah uses the worry stone with varying degrees of success. Written in verse with effective illustrations, this is a gentle story about coping with change and is ideal for junior fiction readers.
Our History: A House Divided
| Author: Clare Hallifax | Publisher: Walker Books | |
| Release Date: 1 Aug 2025 | ||
| ISBN: 9781760658991 | Reading Age: 9 to 13 years |
Language Rating: Low
Content Insight: Contains injury and illness.
Contains some discussion of young love.
Representations: The rights and accepted social roles of women in the 1970s are described. A woman whose marriage is in trouble comes and stays with the Costellos. Marginalised women are represented here.
Opposing political parties are depicted. People with opposing views are still shown to be friendly with each other.
Novel Insight Short Review: In a world filled with politics, Juliet Costello lives a surprisingly ordinary 1970s life with her two best friends, Ness and Robbie. But when a political uproar turns lives upside down in Canberra, she discovers that friendship is possible in spite of differences, and that nothing is more important than the people’s right to choose. That, after all, is democracy. An engaging book with thoughtful discussion on politics and people’s rights, mixed with a fun story about a twelve-year-old growing up in the 1970s that is ideal for middle fiction readers.
Harper Wells: Renegade Timeline Officer
| Author: Bethany Loveridge | Publisher: Wombat Books | |
| Release Date: 3 Sep 2025 | ||
| ISBN: 9781761112928 | Reading Age: 9 to 13 years |
Content Insight: Contains mild violence.
Contains magic and time travel.
Representations: Harper lives with her single father after her mother’s disappearance.
First Nations peoples are acknowledged, specifically the Wiradjuri, Dharug, Wanaruah, Turrbal and Darkinjung people. A Welcome to Country is featured.
Chinese culture and Japanese-heritage people are featured.
Novel Insight Short Review: Harper’s mum went missing six years ago. Since then, Harper’s dad has been overly cautious of her. But Harper finds a way to rebel against him when she finds herself in Perth in 1868 after sleeping in a new bed made from Wollemi pine that Dad found in an op shop. There, Harper meets a girl named Edith Cowan and a Timeline Officer from the World Office of Timeline Officials. Harper has unwittingly come into possession of another Timeline Officer’s Wollemi Bed and is tasked with ensuring Edith Cowan’s life plays out to plan. Meanwhile, Timeline Officers are going missing, and it seems like there is more at play. A fascinating time travel adventure with valuable information about Australian history, including the first female parliamentarian, Edith Cowan, in a story that’s ideal for middle fiction readers.
We Saw What You Started
| Author: Carla Salmon | Publisher: Pan Australia | |
| Release Date: 1 Jul 2025 | ||
| ISBN: 9781761566790 | Reading Age: 12+ years |
Language Rating: Low
Content Insight: Contains a small kiss near the end of the story.
Representations: Divorced families.
Novel Insight Short Review: Every year, the tiny Australian coastal town of Red Sands hosts the surf lifesaving championships. Otto and his brother have just moved from California to Red Sands with their mother, but the town begins to turn on him as several purposely lit fires point to Otto, already running from another fire in California, where he’d also been a suspect. Milly, the daughter of the surf club’s owner, is determined to prove herself as a better club captain. But she has to beat her brother Jasper in the championship’s Ironman event for her father to take her seriously. In the lead-up to the championship, Otto and Milly work together to uncover who is really responsible for these deadly fires. A contemporary mystery about rivalry, friendship and belonging that’s ideal for junior high readers.
A Guide to Falling Off the Map
| Author: Zanni L Arnot | Publisher: Lothian Children’s Books | |
| Release Date: 26 Aug 2025 | ||
| ISBN: 9780734423597 | Reading Age: 12+ years |
Language Rating: Medium
Content Insight: Contains kissing and sexual references.
Contains a low level of violence.
Contains alcohol consumption and smoking and a refernece to drugs.
Contains reference to suicide.
Representations: LGBQTIA representations. A character uses they/them pronouns.
Single mother family represented.
One character has a health issue that causes dizziness and double vision.
Novel Insight Short Review: Vinnie lives with her father in Murwillumbah and loves acting. She dreams of moving to New York to audition for Juilliard. Vinnie’s mother, Aggie, recently took her own life after suffering from MS, and Vinnie struggles to talk about this event, keeping her feelings and emotions inside. Roo, her childhood friend, knows that she’s struggling with Aggie’s death and tries to get her to open up about her feelings. Aggie and Roo’s mother, Carla, were college friends. Recently, Vinnie has started showing symptoms of MS, and she’s terrified to see a doctor because she doesn’t want to suffer like her mother did. To distract from their grief and the other drama in their lives, Vinnie and Roo decide to go on a road trip in Aggie’s Kombi. A tender, messy and authentic romance novel about two teens falling in love just when things start to fall apart that’s ideal for junior high readers.
This Season’s Draft
| Author: Jason Gent | Publisher: A & U Children | |
| Release Date: 2 Sep 2025 | ||
| ISBN: 9781761181696 | Reading Age: 13+ years |
Language Rating: Medium
Content Insight: Contains underage drinking and smoking.
Contains sexual activity.
Contains the death of a parent.
Novel Insight Short Review: Six young adults aged 17 to 18 are passionate about AFL footy. Five males set their goal on being selected for the draft. Their families are important to them, driving them to do the best they can. The story is told over the span of a year, divided into the four seasons, as each character shares their story. The last character, Beth, describes the challenges of dating a footballer and deciding what’s best for her present and future life. A contemporary story about family, friendship, sport and hope that’s ideal for junior high readers.
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We hope you enjoyed these insights into some special new releases from November.
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