Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Wednesday May 28th, 2025, to discuss the topic: South Asian Fiction
Many thanks to Mia from the Sun Bookshop for attending and providing recommendations and information on some new and upcoming release books.
We asked our members to share their favourite books South Asian Fiction reads.
As usual, we finished out session with attendees sharing what they have been reading lately.
Our next Online Book Club meeting is on June 26th and the topic of conversation is ‘Reading for Wellbeing’.
Disclaimer: The lists generated as a result of Book Club discussions are not, by any means, an exhaustive list of all titles or authors for each genre/category discussed. Nor will all titles be suitable for all libraries. We advise staff discretion when referencing these lists, to properly confirm individual title suitability for individual libraries, school and student’s needs. These are suggested titles only, shared by our members and inclusion on, or exclusion from, a list does not suggest SLAV endorsement or rejection of a title.
Tiger Daughter by Rebecca Lim
I Never Thought I’d End Up Here by Ann Liang (YA)
Two Sparrowhawks in a Lonely Sky by Rebecca Lim (YA)
The Loveboat, Taipei series by Abigail Hing Wen
The last tiger by Julie Riew (YA) (Release date July 29th)
Can’t I Go Instead by Lee Geum-Yi (Adult)
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon (YA)
There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon (YA)
From Twinkle with Love by Sandhya Menon (YA)
St Rosetta Academy series by Sandhya Menon (YA)
Nush and the Stolen Emerald by Jasbinder Bilan (MG)
Ajay and the Jaipur Moon series by Varsha Shah (MG)
The Parvanna series by Deborah Ellis (YA)
The Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay (YA)
Marikit and the Ocean of Stars by Caris Avendano Cruz (MG)
Two can play this game by Leanne Yong (YA)
The colours of home by Sally Soweol Han (PB)
Stay for Dinner by Sandhya Parappukaran & Michelle Pereira (PB)
The Boy Who Tried To Shrink His Name by Sandhya Parappukaran & Michelle Pereira (PB)
Lunch at 10 Pomegranate Street - Felicita Sala (PB)
Grandmother from the East, Grandmother from the West - Jacinta Liu & Freda Chis (PB)
My strange shrinking parents by Zeno Sworder (PB)
Detention by Tristian Bancks (MG)
The Year the Maps Changed by Danielle Binks (MG)
The surprising power of a good dumpling by Wai Chim (YA)
The Pull of the Moon by Pip Smith (MG)
They Called Us Enemy by George Takei (YA GN)
My Mother’s Tongues : A Weaving of Languages by Uma Menon & Rahele Jomepour Bell (PB)
Luli and the Language of Tea by Andrea Wang & Hyewon Yum (PB)
Growing up Asian in Australia by Alice Pung
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Laiu (YA Verse novel)
Graphic novels by Remy Lai
Our Family Dragon : a Lunar New Year Story by Rebecca Lim (PB)
Millie Mak Maker series by Alice Pung & Sher Rill Ng (MG)
The Girl With No Reflection by Keshe Chow (YA)
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang (YA)
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh (YA)
Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen (YA)
How To Free a Jinn by Raidah Shah Idil (MG)
The Rebel Skies Trilogy by Ann Sei Lin (MG)
The God and the Gumiho by Sophie Kim (YA)
Strike the Zither by Joan He (YA)
Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao (YA)
Nura and the Immortal Palace by M. T. Khan (MG)
Hero at the Fall by Alwyn Hamilton (YA)
Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton (YA)
The Kinder Poison by Natalie Mae (YA)
Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim (YA)
Six Crimson Cranes series by Elizabeth Lim (YA)
She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan (YA/Adult)
Aster’s next good thing by Kate Gordan (Release date June 4th)
Chronicles of a lizard nobody by Patrick Ness (Release date June 4th)
The foal in the wire by Robbie Coburn - verse novel
A Loo of One's Own: A Mostly True Tale of Australia's First Female Parliamentarians by Eleri Harris (Release date June 3rd)
The edge of everything by Miranda Luby
Drift by Pip Harry - verse novel (Release date July 30th)
Music camp by Penny Tangey (Release date June 3rd)
Everglade : Rise of the witch Book 1 by Kitty Black
Detective Beans series by Li Chen (MG GN)
The Butterfly Women by Madeleine Cleary
The Women by Kristen Hannah
Better Days Claire Zorn
Wandering Wild - Lynette Noni
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Stinkbug by Sinead Stubbins
The Only Branch on the Family Tree by Sheryl Clark
The Paperbark Tree Committee by Karys McEwan
Comes the night by Isabelle carmody
Birdy by Sharon Kernot
Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Tuesday April 29th, 2025, to discuss the topic: Enemies to Lovers
We asked our members to share their favourite books that are set in Melbourne.
Our next Online Book Club meeting is on Wednesday May 28th and the topic of conversation is ‘South Asian Fiction’.
The Nevermoor Series by Jessica Townsend
Well, That Was Awkward by Rachel Vail (love triangle)
The Flipside by Shawn Johnson
Keep It Together, Keiko Carter by Debbie Michiko Florence
Just Be Cool, Jenna Sakai by Debbie Michiko Florence
Choose Your Own Happily Ever After series
Show Us Who You Are by Elle Nicoll
Stuck up & Stupid by Angourie and Kate Rice (a modern re-working of Pride & Prejudice)
Better than the movies by Lynne Painter
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
The Powerless Trilogy by Lauren Roberts
The Cruel Prince series by Holly Black
Six of Crows series by Leigh Bardugo
The Maven and Reeve series by A. L. Tait
I Hope This Doesn’t Find You by Ann Liang
A Way Home by Emily Bewin (more a friendship than a romance)
Lady’s Knight by Amie Kaufmann & Meagan Spooner
The Geography of Me and You by Jennifer E. Smith
P.S. I Like You by Kasie West
This Dream Will Devour Us by Emma Clancey
Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Stars and Smoke by Marie Lu
The Dagger and the Flame by Catherine Doyle
Fallen Academy by Leia Stone
Wandering Wild by Lynette Noni
The Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard
Renegades by Marissa Meyer
Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin
Nightweaver by R.M. Gray
Cruel is the Light by Sophie Clark
The Crimson Moth by Kristen Ciccarelli
Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray
The Kinder Poison by Natalie Mae
Legend by Marie Lu
A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
One Day in December by Josie Silver
One Night on the Island by Josie Silver
Assistant to the Villain series by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Love On The Air by Ash London
Only Branch of the Family Tree Sherryl Clark
Stuff I'm Not Sorry For by Maxine Beneba Clarke
Music Camp by Penny Tangey
How to Survive 1985 by Tegan Bennett Daylight
Letters to the Lost by Brigid Kemmerer
The Surface Trials by H.M. Waugh
The Pull of the Moon by Pip Smith
Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith
Classic romance authors
Jane Austen – Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey
Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre
Emily Bronte – Wuthering Heights
Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet
Elizabeth Gaskell – North and South
E.M. Forster – A room with a view
Daphne du Maurier - Rebecca
YA romance fiction
Unnecessary Drama – Nina Kenwood
Between Us – Clare Atkins – (refugees)
Cloudwish, Wildlife, Six Impossible things – Fiona Wood
Looking for Alibrandi – Melina Marchetta
Authors of romance
The Fault in our stars by John Green
Jenny Han – challenged / banned
Collen Hoover – challenged / banned from many school collections
Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer
CBCA Shortlisted books
Some of the shortlisted books from 2024 come to mind as being in this category. Particularly Grace Notes by Karen Comer and Inkflower by Suzy Zail. There are challenging relationships and family dynamics, misunderstandings, despair, and finding peace / love/ and resolution. Maybe you can think of other award winning titles – long list or short list.
“I’m not really here” by Gary Lonesborourgh.
Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Thursday March 20th, 2025, to discuss the topic: Books Set In Melbourne
We also held a discussion about how we are dealing with students requesting school libraries to purchase books that may contain content that is not suitable for all readers, particularly books popular on Book Tok.
Our next Online Book Club meeting is on Tuesday April 29th and the topic of conversation is ‘Enemies to Lovers’.
Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Wednesday February 19th, 2025, to discuss the topic: Reads For Non-Readers
We asked our members to share their favourite reading ideas for Non-Readers, as well as general tips & tricks for encouraging Non-Readers to try a book.
This was particularly topical as the Australia Reads research report, Understanding Australian Readers : Behavioural Insights Into Recreational Reading has just been released, with lots of research backed ideas about helping different categories of readers overcome barriers to reading.
Strategies for Engaging Non-Readers
Have a ‘just for fun” shelf near some comfortable seating options. Suggested books for this shelf would include Guiness Book of Records, books of short facts, quick sports reads, Where’s Wally books.
Posters or bookmarks such as ‘If you liked this book…. Try this one too’
Read the first chapters of books to students to hook them into the story
Students like to read books that are recommended to them by their peers or buddy’s
Ask the students for their recommendations for books to add to the Collection
Read with a Mate (like having a gym buddy) – students choose books for each other and then read to each other before they then read independently. This way they keep each other accountable for their reading. Give students questions or interview students to help develop a book list of books they may be interested in. Then, based on the answers to the questions, give the students a limited list of books they can choose to read. Based on a program at Brisbane Grammar School,
Make reading a social experience.
Run competitions.
Have a Borrowing Loyalty Card – similar to a café coffee card. When a student borrows enough books to complete a card they get a small prize, such as a sticker. Could also link to House points if this is a thing at your school.
Give out bookmarks to use as reading trackers
Started Year 10 cohort with a focus on rediscovering the will, skill, and thrill of reading. These are particularly sporty students.
Encourage students to listen to audiobooks
Suggest the graphic novel version of a popular book or of books their friends are reading.
When speaking to students ask them what they like about their favourite characters to help with book recommendations.
Older teens often prefer adult books – Year 10 and up enjoy books by Liane Moriarty, Jane Harper etc
Encourage teachers to also read when their class has reading time to model reading behaviour.
Look at ways to encourage parents to model reading at home.
Suggest non-readers try verse novels. They are quick to read, fast-paced and include lots of white space.
Hold a parent information evening about the benefits of reading, a wide reading program, and emphasise reading for fun.
Graphic novels and Manga are a great way to encourage reluctant readers.
Try suggesting Choose your own Adventure books
Develop a ‘Grab, Sit, Read’ Collection next to comfortable seating options
Sports books – Fiction, Biographies, graphic novels, non-fiction
Try shelving Fiction and Non-Fiction books of particular interest together – for instance, I have all my Sporting books shelved together – Non-Fiction, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Biographies. I also have my Law and True Crime Non-Fiction books shelved with my Mystery & Suspense Fiction books. Has proven very popular with students and increased the borrowing of these areas.
Book Series Suggestions
The ‘My Story’ series of books
The ‘Australian Girl’ series of books
The ‘Royal Diaries’ series of books
The ‘I Survived’ series of graphic novels
The ‘Wings of Fire’ series of graphic novels
The Illuminae series by Jay Kristoff & Amie Kaufmann
The ‘Minutes of Danger’ series Jack Heath
The ‘Maze Runner’ series by James Dashner
The ‘Hunger Games’ series Suzanne Collins
The ‘Divergent’ series by Veronica Roth
The ’Once’ series by Morris Gleitzman
The ‘Harry Potter’ series by J.K. Rowling
The ‘A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder’ series by Holly Jackson
The ‘Don’t Call Me Ishmael’ series by Gerard Bauer
James Patterson Bookshot books – short books under 150 pages
The ‘Can you survive?’ series
The ‘You Choose Monster Hunt’ series
Anthony Horowitz Legends series
The ‘Heidi’ series by Johanna Spyri
The ‘Where’s Wally?’ series
Hi Lo Graphic Novels by Judd Winick
Author Suggestions
Tristan Bancks
Jack Heath
Garth Nix
John Green
Jacqueline Wilson
Stephen King
Felice Arena
Non-Fiction Suggestions
The Guiness Books of Records books
DK non-fiction books – have great illustrations and small, digestible chunks of text
Wednesday Warriors : Doing it for the jumper (the St Pat’s Ballarat tradition) by James Gilchrist
Fatal Faults - Challenger explosion by Erin Braun
Individual Book Suggestions
The Summer I turned Pretty by Jenny Han
Mike by Andrew Norris
The Face On The Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
The Tea Dragon Society by Kay O’Neill (younger readers graphic novel, with cute dragons)
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Enemy by Charlie Higson
Billy Lemonade by Sarah J. Maxwell (short and emotional)
What We Are Reading!
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
Cold Truth by Ashley Kalagain Blunt
The Safe Keep by Yael van der Wouden
James by Percival Everett
The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas
Playground by Richard Powers
Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks
The Wolves of Greycoat Hall series by Lucinda Gifford
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
The 113th Assistant Librarian by Stuart Wilson
Books by Anne Tyler
Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Thursday October 14th, 2024, to discuss the topic: Desert Island Reads.
We asked our members to share their favorite Desert Island Reads. Contributed titles are split into Picture Books, Middle Grade Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, and Adult Fiction.
Many thanks to Deb at The Younger Sun who is an invaluable resource, providing many recommendations. The staff at The Younger Sun are incredibly knowledgeable, and would be happy to help you with any book-buying needs!
Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Thursday October 10th, 2024, to discuss the topic: Historical Fiction.
We asked our members to share their favorite Historical Fiction books. Contributed titles are split into Picture Books, Middle Grade Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, and Adult Fiction.
Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Wednesday August 7th, 2024, to discuss the topic: Bookshops and Libraries. This is a topic close to every reader’s heart, so we were eager to dive into everyone’s recommendations.
We asked our members to share their favorite Fiction and Non-Fiction titles to do with bookstores and libraries. Contributed titles are split into Adult, Books for Students (covering Middle Grade and Young Adult, with additional info provided) and Picture Books.
Penguin Books supported this session! They sent three new books (in this meeting’s theme) to one lucky school who participated in the event. A massive thanks to everyone at Penguin Books for helping us encourage reading!
Thanks again to everybody who joined and gave us so many great recommendations.
Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Thursday June 20th, 2024, to discuss the topic: STEM. We often view STEM and reading as separate disciplines, but how, where and why do they cross over?
We asked our members to share their favorite Fiction and Non-Fiction titles that relate to STEM topics. As always, you had so many wonderful contributions to share with us and we had a great deal of fun! We anticipated a bit of a struggle for people to find interesting STEM-related books, but fortunately we were completely mistaken and we ended up with a very long list! We also had quite a few recommendations that involved quite complex language or explored difficult concepts, so we have split the Young Adult section into two: VCE and above, and 12+, for more clarity around suiting titles to the appropriate students!
Huge thanks to everyone who joined us for our SLAV online Book Club on Wednesday May 15th, 2024, to discuss the topic: Pets and Animals. There are so many iconic books featuring animals that we were absolutely inundated with book recommendations from many attendees, which is always a good sign! We had everything from pet dogs, to horses and wolves, to dingoes and whales, and pirate’s parrots. We even had some pets join our session; two cats and four dogs.
Our lovely members really brought their all with a flood of recommendations, with many new texts suggested alongside some classics and little-known titles. It was so lovely to hear the experiences shared between members who’d read the same books.
We absolutely encourage you to reach out to the wonderful Deb at The Younger Sunas an invaluable resource, for further information and recommendations. The staff at The Younger Sun are incredibly knowledgeable!
“Cozy Reading Dogs” by Enokson is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Our thanks to those who were able to join us for our SLAV online Book Club on Wednesday March 20th, 2024, to discuss the topic: Award winners. We all purchase award winners for libraries but what are the titles that really work with young people?
We asked our members to share relevant Award Listings they have found to be successful in helping them choose titles for their libraries. As always, you had so many wonderful contributions to share with us and we had a great deal of fun!
This was our second book club meeting for 2024, and we want to say a very special thank you to all who attend and contribute to these informal and informative meetings. It was also the final book club meeting for our wonderful outgoing Executive Officer – Dr. Susan La Marca. We thank Dr. La Marca for her wonderful and tireless contributions to making our SLAV online book club such a valuable resource for our members. We also welcomed our new incoming Executive Offficer – Pam Saunders. We very much look forward to Pams future book club topics and meetings. Find details about our next meeting HERE.
Padlet with Links to Awards discussed can be found HERE.
The School Library association of Victoria respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Victoria and pay respect to the ongoing living cultures of First Peoples.
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