Spirit of the Crocodile

NOTABLE BOOK: 2026 CBCA Book of the Year, Younger Readers
SHORTLISTED: 2025 Children’s Book Prize, Queensland Literary Awards
HIGHLY COMMENDED: 2025 Prize for Children’s Literature, Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards

The crocodile’s eyes were yellow, slit by a vertical pupil. The creature remained perfectly still, but it throbbed with life. Ezra felt goosebumps in spite of the afternoon heat, and took a few steps back.
‘Is that thing looking at you?’ asked Mason.
‘Nah. How could it be?’Twelve-year-old Ezra is an ordinary boy who lives on Saibai, an extraordinary Australian island. He loves a laugh, he loves his family, and – almost more than anything – he loves a dare.

But when one of his dares goes wrong, Ezra realises he needs to make some decisions about helping out and measuring up. He learns that there’s more than one way to look at, well, nearly everything.

And as ever-increasing climate disasters threaten Saibai, Ezra and his best mate Mason must draw on their resilience and courage to help the community survive a massive out-of-season storm.

Set in today’s Torres Strait, Spirit of the Crocodile is a captivating novel that explores the importance of culture, community and place to a carefree kid on the cusp of growing up.