These are the shortlisted and notable fiction books for 2021. Some of them are available in our eLibrary, we've included a link to borrow them.
Younger readers short listed books
Aster's good, right things
Kate Gordon I can’t let go of them – the good, right things—because if I do I’ll turn into a cloud and I’ll float away, and a storm will come and blow me to nothing."
Aster attends a school for gifted kids, but she doesn’t think she’s special at all. If she was, her mother wouldn’t have left. Each day Aster must do a good, right thing—a challenge she sets herself, to make someone else’s life better. Nobody can know about her ‘things’, because then they won’t count. And if she doesn’t do them, she's sure everything will go wrong. Then she meets Xavier. He has his own kind of special missions to make life better. When they do these missions together, Aster feels free, but if she stops doing her good, right things will everything fall apart? Read the first chapter here. Books you might also like...
We are wolves
Katrina Nannestad Sometimes it's good to be wild. Sometimes you have to be wild.
When the Russian Army marches into East Prussia at the end of the war, the Wolf family must flee. Liesl, Otto and their baby sister Mia find themselves lost and alone, in a blizzard, in the middle of a war zone. Liesl has promised Mama that she will keep her brother and sister safe. But sometimes, to survive, you have to do bad things. Dangerous things. Wild things. Sometimes to survive, you must become a wolf. Read or listen to the first chapter here. Books you might also like...
Bindi
Written by Kirli Saunders, illustrated by Dub Leffler Meet 11-year-old Bindi. She’s not really into maths but LOVES art class and playing hockey. Her absolute FAVOURITE thing is adventuring outside with friends or her horse, Nell. A new year starts like normal - school, family, hockey, dancing. But this year hasn’t gone to plan! There’s a big art assignment, a drought, a broken wrist AND the biggest bushfires her town has ever seen! Bindi is a verse novel for mid-upper primary students. Written ‘for those who plant trees’, Bindi explores climate, bushfires, and healing.
Read or listen to the first chapter here. Books you might also like...
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The stolen prince of Cloudburst
Written by Jaclyn Moriarty, illustrated by Kelly Canby Long ago, the little Prince of Cloudburst was stolen from the seashore by a Water Sprite. Now, ten years later, the prince has found his way home. The King and Queen are planning the biggest party in their Kingdom's history to welcome him. Meanwhile, on the other side of the Kingdoms and Empires, Esther Mettlestone-Staranise is looking forward to another year at Katherine Valley Boarding School. But she arrives to find a number of strange and unsettling changes. For one, her new teacher is rumoured to be an Ogre. Two mysterious students have joined the school, and one of Esther's classmates is an undercover Spellbinder. Most disturbingly, the mountains surrounding the school - usually a delight of glaciers, teashops, lakes and Faeries - are now crowded with wicked Shadow Mages. As secrets and dangers escalate, Esther must find the answers to several puzzles. Why is her teacher behaving so oddly? Which of Esther's classmates is the Spellbinder, and can they really protect the school from gathering hordes of Shadow Mages? Could the Stolen Prince of Cloudburst be connected? How can Esther - who is not talented like her sisters, nor an adventurer like her cousin, but just Esther - save her family, her school and possibly her entire world?
Read or listen to the first chapter here. Books you might also like...
The second book in the series, available from the Inaburra eLibrary-
The slightly alarming tale of the whispering wars Worse things
Written by Sally Murphy, illustrated by Sarah Davis When you’re part of the team the sideline is a place of refuge of rest of reprieve. But when you’re out of the team the sideline changes. Suddenly it’s the loneliest place of them all. After a devastating football injury, Blake struggles to cope with life on the sideline. Jolene, a gifted but conflicted hockey player, wants nothing more than for her dad to come home. And soccer-loving refugee, Amed, wants to belong. On the surface, it seems they have nothing in common. Except sport. A touching and inspirational story about the things that bind us all.
Read or listen to the first chapter here. Books you might also like...
The book of Chance
Sue Whiting Chance is a black-and-white thinker until she realises that sometimes there are shades of grey.
Chance is in Year 7 and thinks she has it all - a loving mother, dog Tiges, best friend and almost-sister next door. But when a reality TV team makes over her house, she discovers newspaper cuttings from the past that cause her to question the world as she knows it and everyone in it. Then she finds herself caught between two realities, identities and worlds. Face-to-face with the truth, Chance has a very difficult decision to make, which almost splits her in two. This powerful story explores what is true and what is fake in today’s world. And while Chance is all about the truth, she ponders whether "maybe being truthful was really just a big lie." Read or listen to the first chapter here. Books you might also like...
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Younger readers notable books
The secret library of Hummingbird House
Julianne Negri Watch a talk by the author
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The January stars
Kate Constable Watch the January Stars first chapter
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The heartsong of Wonder Quinn
Kate Gordon |
Zoe, Max and the Bicycle Bus
Steven Herrick |
Across the risen sea
Bren MacDibble Watch the author read parts of the book
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Haywire
Claire Saxby |
The republic of birds
Jessica Miller |
When this bell rings
Allison Rushby |
The fire star
A.L. Tait |
Beyond belief
Dee White |
The year the maps changed
Danielle Binks |
Her perilous mansion
Sean Williams |
The mummy smugglers of Crumblin Castle
Pamela Rushby Watch the book trailer
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Older readers shortlisted books
Note: Books in this category are for mature readers and some may deal with particularly challenging themes including violence and suicide.
Note: Books in this category are for mature readers and some may deal with particularly challenging themes including violence and suicide.
When rain turns to snow
Jane Godwin Lissa is home on her own after school one afternoon when a stranger turns up on the doorstep carrying a baby. Reed is on the run - surely people are looking for him? He's trying to find out who he really is and thinks Lissa's mum might have some answers. But how could he be connected to Lissa's family - and why has he been left in charge of a baby? A baby who is sick, and getting sicker... Reed's appearance stirs up untold histories in Lissa's family, and suddenly she is having to make sense of her past in a way she would never have imagined. Meanwhile, her brother is dealing with a devastating secret of his own.
Scan to watch an interview with the author.
Books you might also like...
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Metal fish, falling snow
Cath Moore Dylan and her adored French mother dream of one day sailing across the ocean to France. Paris, Dylan imagines, is a place where her black skin won’t make her stand out, a place where she might feel she belongs. But when she loses her mother in a freak accident, Dylan finds herself on a very different journey: a road trip across outback Australia in the care of her mother’s grieving boyfriend, Pat. As they travel through remote towns further and further from the water that Dylan longs for, she and Pat form an unlikely bond. One that will be broken when he leaves her with the family she has never known.
Books you might also like...
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The lost soul atlas
Zana Fraillon Twig is all alone after his dad goes missing. But when he meets Flea, a cheerful pickpocket, the pair become fast friends. Together, Twig and Flea raise themselves on the crime-ridden streets, taking what they need and giving the rest to the even-poorer. Life is good, as long as they have each other. But then Twig wakes up in the Afterlife. With just a handful of vague memories, a key, a raven, and a mysterious atlas to guide him, he tries to piece together what happened, and to find his way home.
Books you might also like...
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Where we begin
Christie Nieman Seventeen-year-old Anna is running into the night. Fleeing her boyfriend, her mother, and everything she has known. She is travelling into the country, to the land and the grandparents she has never met, looking for answers to questions that have never been asked. For every family has secrets. But some secrets - once laid bare - can never be forgiven.
Borrow on the Inaburra eLibrary (Year 9 and up)
Books you might also like...
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The end of the world is bigger than love
Davina Bell She said we didn’t know what the world out there had become. We had been alone there so long on that tiny island, in that tiny church.
But in the night, I couldn’t bear it. My chest beat like wings. Identical twin sisters Summer and Winter live alone on a remote island, sheltered from a destroyed world. They survive on rations stockpiled by their father and spend their days deep in their mother’s collection of classic literature—until a mysterious stranger upends their carefully constructed reality. At first, Edward is a welcome distraction. But who is he really, and why has he come? As love blooms and the world stops spinning, the secrets of the girls’ past begin to unravel and escape is the only option. Books you might also like...
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Peta Lyre's rating normal
Anna Whateley 'I'm Peta Lyre,' I mumble. Look people in the eye if you can, at least when you greet them. I try, but it's hard when she is smiling so big, and leaning in. Peta Lyre is far from typical. The world she lives in isn't designed for the way her mind works, but when she follows her therapist's rules for 'normal' behaviour, she can almost fit in without attracting attention. When a new girl, Sam, starts at school, Peta's carefully structured routines start to crack. But on the school ski trip, with romance blooming and a newfound confidence, she starts to wonder if maybe she can have a normal life after all. When things fall apart, Peta must decide whether all the old rules still matter. Does she want a life less ordinary, or should she keep her rating normal?
Books you might also like...
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Older readers notable books
Please don't hug me
Kay Kerr The author talking about this book
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Future girl
Asphyxia Author signing about the book (with subtitles)
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When it drops
Alex Dyson |
Catch me if I fall
Barry Jonsberg |
Loner
Georgina Young |
Deep water
Sarah Epstein |
The F team
Rawah Arja |
The left-handed booksellers of London
Garth Nix |
Before the beginning
Anna Morgan |
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