Don't tell Sky News: it's a kids' picture book smashing gender stereotypes

Beaty Rubens. Bodleian Library Publishing. $59.99.

Between 1922 and 1939, British households were transformed by the advent of radio. This immensely readable history records that an Australian contribution to voice on the airwaves came from singer Dame Nellie Melba. Press baron Lord Northcliffe asked Melba to do the first live broadcast of a concert but she refused, saying "My voice is not a subject for experimentation". A thousand quid changed her mind and in June 1920, in Chelmsford, Melba sang into a microphone made from a cigar box and was heard in Europe and Newfoundland. Soon even the King was broadcasting. The "radio craze" was on.

Edited by Amanda Dunn. Thames & Hudson. $34.99.

Was ever a book better timed than this? And in an age of mis- and disinformation and social media superficiality, was ever a book needed more? As the country prepares to go to the polls, The Conversation serves up a comprehensive collection of specially commissioned essays from a stable of academic experts that take the reader from the basics of Federal Parliament, the constitution and how government works through to the challenges facing our democracy and the politics of the present, where a final chapter titled "Between the bloodless and the nasty" sets the scene for this year's political showdown.

Hamish McDonald. Black Inc. $36.99.

As the globe spins into Trumpian instability and China becomes increasingly assertive, the way Australia relates to its own Pacific backyard is perhaps more important than ever. Veteran correspondent and editor Hamish McDonald immerses himself in Melanesia, visiting Fiji in the east, Papua New Guinea in the west, and places such as Vanuatu, New Caledonia, the Solomon Islands and Bougainville in between. McDonald aimed to travel "as much as possible at ground and sea level, listening to local voices about their transition from the customary life into modernity". The result is a blend of observations, interviews, politics, history and analysis.

Alison Pouliot. NewSouth Books. $49.99.

Who'd have thought fungi could be so ... fabulous? Ecologist and environmental photographer Alison Pouliot has a focus on fungi and her pictures take us across continents and hemispheres. Pouliot presents fungi "as a visual journey, shining a light to guide you through this cryptic kingdom of enigmatic organisms". Exquisite images are interspersed with intriguing essays. Chapter names such as "Suitors and assassins" and "Parasols and oddballs" provide a clue that it isn't all dry science, either. This festival of fungi encompasses the cute and the creepy and reminds us that fungus is a vital component of life on Earth.

Jennifer Bain, illustrated by Scott Stuart. Affirm Press. $19.99.

"A long time ago, people believed that men were stronger and smarter than women, and that certain things were only for boys, and other things were just for girls. These ideas shaped the way people lived. It's called the Patriarchy." This picture book aimed at four-to-eight-year-olds is billed as "a guide to smashing gender stereotypes". Nobody tell the after dark commentators at Sky News! It strives to explain unconscious bias or "the trick", as former primary school teacher Jennifer Bain and illustrator Scott Stuart label it. They put the concept in simple terms, such as: Boys can wear pink. Girls can be strong. Calling stereotypes a "trick" may raise more questions than it answers but this book could be a useful starting point for parents trying to articulate gender equality.

Kate Alice Marshall. Macmillan. $34.99.

From the US author of What Lies in the Woods (2023) and No One Can Know (2024) comes a chilling new psychological thriller. When Theodora Scott accompanies her charming new boyfriend to Idlewood, his wealthy family's winter retreat in the wilderness, she is plagued by threatening text messages and stunned to find a photo of herself as a child taken at Idlewood. She soon realises all is not as it seems with this powerful and secretive family or her fragmented memories of her earliest years. Is her life now in danger? And how long will that blizzard rage on outside the remote cabin?

Maria van Lieshout. Allen & Unwin. $26.99.

This compelling graphic novel follows Amsterdam teen Annick as she explores her family history after her grandmother's cancer diagnosis. Investigating the only surviving items from her oma's childhood - five prints of buildings around the city, each signed by "Emma B" - Annick learns about life in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Her quest is interwoven with the 1943 story of Emma Bergsma, who courageously helps the city's Jewish children avoid the concentration camps. Intended as a visual history lesson for teens, Dutch-American Maria Van Lieshout brings the danger and heartbreak alive for all ages by blending photos of wartime Amsterdam and real Dutch Resistance heroes into her illustrations.

Beth O'Leary. Quercus. $32.99.

What happens when you get stuck with a one-night stand longer than one night? That's what Beth O'Leary is proposing with her latest romance, Swept Away. Lexi is looking for no-strings-attached fun, while Zeke is looking for love, but both get more than they bargained for when the houseboat they were staying on drifts out to sea overnight. With rom-com gems such as The Road Trip and The Flat Share - both of which have been made into Paramount+ series - O'Leary knows how to write sharp, funny and at-time intense stories, and Swept Away is no exception.

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