Lower Secondary Fiction 2023

OCTOBER

The Rebels of Mount Buffalo

By Helen Edwards

Its 1998 and Clara and her parents are staying at the Mount Buffalo Chalet for the Centenary celebra ... Read More

The Lost Library

By Wendy Mass & Rebecca Stead

This warm, delightful middle grade has it all - a mystery, a pop-up library, ghosts, a cat that prot ... Read More

Arkspire

By Jamie Littler

Glorious, powerful, magic; a city of twists, turns and tricksters; extraordinary secrets which only ... Read More

The Lonely Lighthouse of Elston-Fright

By Reece Carter

Being a Lightkeeper is Very Serious Business. Nobody in Elston-Fright believes in magic anymore. Wel ... Read More

The Broken Rainbow

By Tasma Walton
Illustrated by Samantha Campbell

“Nerra, you are the next Deep Time Traveller, as your great-grandmother was before you.” When Nerra’ ... Read More

All the Way Down

By Stewart Foster

A life-affirming story about friendship, adventure and self-belief, from the award-winning author of ... Read More

SEPTEMBER

This Camp is Doomed

By Anna Zobel

A run-down camp in the woods.No phone reception.Ten students with untested powers . . .Céline is see ... Read More

Royal Blood

By Aimee Carter

Kicked out of her American boarding school, Evan is sent to live with her estranged father, the King ... Read More

Murder in Velvet

By Sarah Wynne Illustrated by Laura Barrett

13-year-old Grace loves her new charity shop coat.In fact, it’s perfect. Except for one tiny thing.W ... Read More

Dirrarn

By Carl Merrison
Illustrated by Hakea Hustler

Mia could hear the squarks of her Jarriny before she saw them. Her eye’s had flicked to the sky in s ... Read More

Alex: Through My Eyes

By Rosanne Hawke
Illustrated by Lyn White

Alex sighs at the dusty brown landscape. Drought is second nature to him - but how much longer can h ... Read More

AUGUST

The Detective's Guide to Paris

By Nicki Greenberg

1920s Paris bursts to life in this captivating return to the world and characters of Nicki Greenberg ... Read More

The Quest for the Galleon of Time

By Tanya Hunter

The year is 1738 and eleven-year-old Tobias Crane is forced to leave his home to work as a ship’s la ... Read More

The Fortune Maker

By Catherine Norton

In a world captivated by the temptation of fortune telling, twelve-year-old orphan Maud Mulligan fin ... Read More

Leonardo Forever

By Richard Yaxley

In the summer of 1465, fourteen-year-old Annalisa de Torriano reluctantly travels with her family to ... Read More

JULY

Being Jimmy Baxter

By Fiona Lloyd

A gently funny yet powerful coming-of-age middle grade novel about surviving the odds, unlikely frie ... Read More

Saving Charli

By Di Walker

Who are you when your other half is gone? Twelve-year-old Charli knows no other way of being than as ... Read More

Timefire

By Nean McKenzie

In the scorching summer of 2033, Gilbert Black is accused of being a firebug, just like hismother wa ... Read More

Out of This World

By Sonya Spreen Bates

Hali Greengard thinks she's a freak. She's a twin from Hexa, a planet where twins are always Daka to ... Read More

Girls Change the Game – First Game Back

By Gabrielle Gloury
Illustrated by Michael Hyde

The Westpark Scorpion Under 14 Girls are back! After their first season, they showed the footy world ... Read More

JUNE

A Giant's Trek

By Nick Stella

Ash isn’t the biggest giant living in Haven-Home. He’s not even as big as his twin brother, Oak,who’ ... Read More

MAY

The Sparrow

By Tessa Duder

A powerful new historical novel from one of New Zealand's best-loved YA authors. In September 1840, ... Read More

The Key to Rome

By SOPHIE MASSON

Ancient Roman province of Britannia, AD 84. Twelve-year-old orphan Livia has to keep a promise made ... Read More

APRIL

The Mud Puddlers

By Pamela Rushby

What lies hidden in the mud? What might happen if you look at it too long? And what will happen if y ... Read More

Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy

By Angie Thomas

Internationally bestselling superstar author Angie Thomas makes her middle grade debut with the laun ... Read More

MARCH

Uncle Xbox

By Jared Thomas

Nooooo,’ I yelled and then Mum ran into the room in panic.‘What is it, what is it?!’ she yelled, sha ... Read More

Indigo in the Storm

By Kate Gordon

"We are the storm and the stillness." Indigo Michael isn't like other kids. And her mum isn't like o ... Read More

The Boy Who Didn't Want to Die

By Peter Lantos

The Boy Who Didn’t Want to Die describes an extraordinary journey, made by Peter, a boy of five, thr ... Read More

FEBRUARY

Tumbleglass

By Kate Constable

Thirteen-year-old Rowan is helping her older sister Ash paint her bedroom when she discovers a myste ... Read More

The Stars Did Wander Darkling

By Colin Meloy

A suspenseful and atmospheric horror perfect for younger fans of Stranger Things and Neil Gaiman, fr ... Read More

The Lorikeet Tree

By Paul Jennings

A sister and brother face the hardest year of their lives and discover the healing power of nature i ... Read More

Running With Ivan

By Suzanne Leal

Yearning to escape the new family he never wanted, thirteen-year-old Leo Arnold is transported to wa ... Read More