Lerner Publisher Services is proud to announce its newest publisher partner—Walker Books Australia! Walker Books Australia, based in Sydney, Australia, has been producing award-winning books for decades. Don’t miss these 6 new single titles, with many more exceptional picture books, middle grade, and young adult novels to come in the future!
Color Makes the World Go Round
By Christopher Nielsen
On sale 10/1/24
Imagine a rainbow without color, or flamingos, or red shoes. What about a zebra? Oh . . . hmmmm. This whimsical, layered exploration through color celebrates that variety, diversity, and difference create joy.
Christopher Nielsen invites you to imagine a world with color . . . and without. Cleverly juxtaposing illustrations, he shows how color makes our world wonderful. Deceptively simple, this is a book that can spark discussion about difference and the richness and depth it adds to life.
The Big Flappy Ears: A Mini and Milo Book
By Venita Dimos, illus. by Natashia Curtin
On sale now!
Mini’s ears are bigger than big and huger than huge . . . but she has a problem. They aren’t very good at listening. When Mini misses out on the excursion, she realizes that maybe her ears aren’t the problem after all. It’s not the size or shape of your ears that count, but how you use them!
This series follows the adventures of Mini and Milo as they navigate friendship and all its ups and downs—competitiveness, managing inner voices, learning to listen, and communicating effectively.
Jelly-Boy
By Nicole Godwin, illus. by Christopher Nielsen
On sale now!
What happens when a jellyfish falls in love with a plastic bag she mistakes for a jelly-boy? Jelly-Boy is different. He is big and strong. And not as wobbly as the other Jelly-Boys. By the time Jelly-Girl discovers the dangerous truth about her new friend, it may already be too late.
This is an inventive approach to tackling a conservation issue that is plaguing our world: too much plastic in the ocean. Told in a kid-friendly and humorous way, this is a story with the potential to encourage dialogue around an important issue.
The Mailbox Tree
By Rebecca Lim and Kate Gordon
On sale now!
With sea-levels rising, and the land deforested, over-mined, and affected by bushfires and drought—Tasmania is increasingly marooned, its people abandoned. Nyx’s father wants them to leave while they still can, but for Nyx, West Hobart is all she’s ever known and where her mother is buried. She seeks solace in the single surviving tree near her home—an 80-foot pine that has defied all odds. Bea, too, finds solace in the tree, and facing a move to the mainland herself, leaves a despairing note, wedged into a hole in its trunk. Nyx finds the note and writes back. But Nyx and Bea don’t realize how special their tree truly is . . .
Saltwater Boy
By Bradley Christmas
On sale 10/1/24
When Dad goes to jail, Matthew and his mom move to the coast, so mom—an artist—thinks she can renovate her late father’s old place to sell it to get them back on their feet. Matthew strikes up a friendship with Old Bill, an Indigenous man who becomes a father figure to him and teaches him how to find pippis and catch fish (and to make a few dollars from it). Dad gets out on parole and moves back in with the family, but his anger fractures the newfound peace, and everything is once again at stake, and in peril.
Inkflower
By Suzy Zail
On sale now!
Lisa’s father has six months to live and a story to tell about a boy sent to Auschwitz—a boy who lost everything and started again. It’s a story he has kept hidden—until now.
But Lisa doesn’t want to hear it because she has secrets too. No one at school knows she is Jewish or that her dad is sick, not even her boyfriend.
But that’s all about to change. And so is she.
To learn more about Walker Books Australia, visit their website, check them out on Facebook, Instagram, and X, and view their books on lernerbooks.com.