Your Kid's Favourite Read 2023
Our famous wrap-up lists are here
Every year we gather the Your Kid’s Next Read community together and ask them a question – what was your kid’s favourite read this year?
And then we make lists. Lots and lots of lists. The kind of lists that make festive season gift-buying much, much easier, no matter which young reader you might be buying for.
Here they are.
Your Kid’s Favourite Read 2023: Picture Books
Your Kid’s Favourite Read 2023: Chapter Books
Your Kid’s Favourite Read 2023: Junior Fiction
Your Kid’s Favourite Read 2023: Middle Grade
Your Kid’s Favourite Read 2023: Young Adult
This year, Team YKNR has also made a list of our own.
The last official podcast episode for the year drops next week on 13 December, and we dragged Allison Rushby in for an Office Christmas Party. As the #qualitywaffle got wild, each of us nominated our own top 10 favourite reads for the year.
Don’t miss episode 133 for the full list.
In fact, subscribe to Your Kid’s Next Read podcast wherever you listen, because we have a very special mini-series airing over summer. If you’ve ever wanted to go behind the scenes of the Australian children’s publishing industry, to find out exactly what a publisher does, or how a book designer creates a great cover, or what makes a terrific illustration, this one is for you.
UPDATES FROM TEAM YKNR
A big, heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you for being part of Your Kid’s Next Read in 2023. We’ve had another epic year, adding this newsletter and our new website to the Your Kid’s Next Read line-up.
We simply love spreading the word about brilliant books, mostly from Australian authors and illustrators, and helping to nurture the young readers in your lives.
Stay tuned for exciting updates in 2024.
HELLO FROM MEGAN DALEY
Megan is an award-winning teacher-librarian working in Brisbane, the author of Raising Readers: How to nurture a child’s love of books, and co-host of the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast. She is also a sought-after public speaker, literary judge, and editor of the anthology ‘Teacher, Teacher’. More about Megan here.
December hasn't quite panned out how I imagined, as seems to happen to me rather a lot! We've been building a new house for an unspeakably long time and it looks like it may soon be ready – and so there’s a for sale sign out the front of our old house and an auction date pre-Christmas.
Have you ever packed up 20 years worth of books? I am culling books as I go and have various piles – some will go to younger nieces and nephews, some to charity, some to school to add to the library, and many, many piles of 'unable to part with'. The book packing really is undoing me.
So we are packing (mostly books), prepping for Christmas, it's peak bee season, four kids from 8-15 on holidays and we have one house on the market and one house needing to have decisions like 'which way does the tile go' made.
Tis the season to be jolly, joyful...and pack.
MEGAN’S BOOKMARK REVIEWS
Each month, I share full reviews of two outstanding books that have crossed my desk. Bookmark these for your young readers.
‘The Story Orchestra: The Planets’ by Jessica Courtney Tickle
The Story Orchestra series is extremely popular in my Prep - Year Three library. They bring classical music to life for children through illustrated retellings of classic ballet, opera and program music stories paired with 10-second sound clips of orchestras playing from their musical scores – as in 'push a button and play the music'. Interactive books are ever-popular.
'The Planets' is a tale is about a brother and sister who adventure deep into our solar system. Our story begins one night as Helen and Tim get ready for bed in their new space rocket bunk beds... but sleep will have to wait as they magically blast up, up, up into the glittering night sky, leaving planet Earth far below them.
We follow as they blast deeper into our solar system, exploring the dazzling stars and astounding planets along the way, and then head home.
At the back of the book, there is a short biography of the composer, Gustav Holst, with details about his composition of The Planets. Next to this, you can replay the musical excerpts and, for each of them, read a discussion of the instruments, rhythms and musical techniques that make them so powerful. A glossary defines musical terms.
Also available from the Story Orchestra series: Four Seasons in One Day, The Nutcracker, and more.
‘Stand up Ferran Burke’ by Steven Camden
This one came highly recommended to me by a Year Eight student who remembered how much I loved verse novels when they were in my primary school library.
It did not disappoint! 'Stand Up Ferran Burke' is a verse novel as unique as the boy at its heart.
In his mind, Ferran Burke is many things But to everyone else he is just one, Emile Burke's little brother and Emile is all about himself. Now Ferran is stepping into the new world of high school alone and needs to learn quickly how to survive. New allies. New enemies. New feelings. New passions.
A time capsule coming-of-age story spanning five years of one boy's life as he navigates the chaos trying to find himself. Friends. Fights. Family. Food. Full of heart and emotion, the book is peppered with images and notes which add a rich texture to the narrative.
HELLO FROM ALLISON RUSHBY
The award-winning, bestselling author of many, many books for children and adults, Allison Rushby’s novels are firm favourites in the Your Kid’s Next Read community. Her latest illustrated junior fiction series, The Wish Sisters, is fast gaining fans. More about Allison R here.
Bookmas has reached a feverish pitch here at YKNR. We’re right in the middle of our Twelve Days of Bookmas giveaway and the line-up is AMAZING to say the least. There’s still a week to go, so visit the Facebook group for your chance to win!
There’s no denying the YKNR giveaways are a LOT of work – particularly when we roll out 12 in a row! – but it’s so worth it and such a fun way to begin the holiday season!
When I’m not Bookmassing, I’m out and about speaking at my last few author events for the year. I’ve been getting so many lovely comments about The Wish Sisters – The Christmas Wish – I’m so glad little readers are loving the naughty gingerbread people who bite just as much as I loved writing them.
HELLO FROM ALLISON TAIT
Writing as A. L. Tait, Allison is the internationally published, bestselling author of three middle-grade series: The Mapmaker Chronicles, The Ateban Cipher and the Maven & Reeve Mysteries. She is an in-demand speaker, a writing teacher for kids and adults, and co-host of the YKNR podcast. Her new novel THE FIRST SUMMER OF CALLIE McGEE is out now. More about Allison here.
I’ve been putting the finishing touches on our summer mini-series, called ‘Behind The Books’, and hard at work creating all of those YKNR book lists… and I confess I’m looking forward to taking a bit of a YKNR break and focussing on writing.
One thing I love about writing is the opportunity to go ‘somewhere else’ at the drop of a hat – if only in my head – and the world I’m creating in this current story is so absorbing I never want to leave. Fortunately, Book Boy Jr is more or less self-sufficient these days and I’m only called upon for lifts, aka ‘supervised driving hours’.
Time really does go so quickly…
Speaking of which, there’s only a week or so to go on my signed copies special offer.
If you’d like to buy one of my novels (or a bundle), personally signed to your young reader and posted to your door with a bonus postcard, bookmark or mini book cover card, you’ll need to order before 14 December. Hit the red button for details.
PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS
The data is in! Our top 10 most popular podcast episodes for 2023 are…
Thanks to all our listeners for another wonderful year. We’d love to hear what your favourite episode is – leave a comment!
DECEMBER BOOKMAIL WINNER
Each month, we’re giving away a prize pack consisting of some of the brilliant bookmail sent to us for the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast. One winner* is chosen from our full subscriber list by random draw and announced here!
There are SIX books in the DECEMBER prize pack.
The DECEMBER bookmail giveaway winner is … Sarah Muizarajs
Congrats! We’ll be in touch by email.
Want a chance to win next month? All you have to do is subscribe.
See you in 2024!
We’ll be back again in January with news, updates and more. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy celebrating the festive season in whatever way you love most – and we hope the young readers in your life have a new favourite book in hand!
Allison T, Allison R and Megan
*Australian mailing addresses only. Prize consists of one copy of each book pictured, sent as a pack to the winner by Australia Post. Winner will be contacted by email and prize must be claimed within 14 days or a redraw will take place. You must be subscribed to the YKNR newsletter by midnight (AEDST) the night before publication each month to be eligible to win. No correspondence will be entered into.