AustLit logo

AustLit

image of person or book cover 8383337628479801691.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Sugar Town Queens single work   novel   young adult  
Issue Details: First known date: 2021... 2021 Sugar Town Queens
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'From Los Angeles Times Book Prize Award winner and Edgar Award nominee Malla Nunn comes a stunning portrait of a family divided and a powerful story of how friendship saves and heals.

'When Amandla wakes up on her fifteenth birthday, she knows it's going to be one of her mother's difficult days. Her mother has had another vision. This one involves Amandla wearing a bedsheet loosely stitched as a dress. An outfit, her mother says, is certain to bring Amandla's father back home, as if he were the prince and this was the fairytale ending their family was destined for. But in truth, Amandla's father has long been gone—since before Amandla was born—and even her mother's memory of him is hazy. In fact, many of her mother's memories from before Amandla was born are hazy. It's just one of the many reasons people in Sugar Town give them strange looks--that and the fact her mother is white and Amandla is Black.

'When Amandla finds a mysterious address in the bottom of her mother's handbag along with a large amount of cash, she decides it's finally time to get answers about her mother's life. What she discovers will change the shape and size of her family forever. But with her best friends at her side, Amandla is ready to take on family secrets and the devil himself. These Sugar Town queens are ready to take over the world to expose the hard truths of their lives.' (Publication summary)

Teaching Resources

Teaching Resources

This work has teaching resources.

Teachers' notes via publisher's website.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Crows Nest, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Allen and Unwin , 2021 .
      image of person or book cover 8383337628479801691.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 320p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 3 August 2021
      ISBN: 9780525515609

Other Formats

Works about this Work

Young Readers Give Their Verdicts for the Children's Book Council of Australia's Shadowers' Choice Awards Rosemary Bolger , 2022 single work column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , August 2022;

'For the first time, the best Australian children's books of the year have been decided by the young people reading them.' 

[Review] Sugar Town Queens Monique Harris , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: The Horn Book Magazine , September / October vol. 97 no. 5 2021; (p. 100)

— Review of Sugar Town Queens Malla Nunn , 2021 single work novel
Malla Nunn, Sugar Town Queens Olivia Muscat , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 7-13 August 2021;

— Review of Sugar Town Queens Malla Nunn , 2021 single work novel

'Is there any better feeling than reading a book that makes you feel as if you’re discovering all over again the singular magic of telling? Sugar Town Queens drew me in, dismantled my heart and then put it back together. It’s a stunning young adult book from the multi-award-winning author Malla Nunn, whose debut YA novel When the Ground Is Hard (2019) was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and won a swag of international prizes.'  (Introduction)

Malla Nunn, Sugar Town Queens Olivia Muscat , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 7-13 August 2021;

— Review of Sugar Town Queens Malla Nunn , 2021 single work novel

'Is there any better feeling than reading a book that makes you feel as if you’re discovering all over again the singular magic of telling? Sugar Town Queens drew me in, dismantled my heart and then put it back together. It’s a stunning young adult book from the multi-award-winning author Malla Nunn, whose debut YA novel When the Ground Is Hard (2019) was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and won a swag of international prizes.'  (Introduction)

[Review] Sugar Town Queens Monique Harris , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: The Horn Book Magazine , September / October vol. 97 no. 5 2021; (p. 100)

— Review of Sugar Town Queens Malla Nunn , 2021 single work novel
Young Readers Give Their Verdicts for the Children's Book Council of Australia's Shadowers' Choice Awards Rosemary Bolger , 2022 single work column
— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , August 2022;

'For the first time, the best Australian children's books of the year have been decided by the young people reading them.' 

Last amended 12 Oct 2022 14:07:05
X