Shortlisted - 2017 Aurealis Awards (Best Young Adult Short Story): One Small Step by Amie Kaufman, I Can See the Ending by Will Kostakis, Competition Entry #349 by Jaclyn Moriarty, First Casualty by Michael Pryor and Oona Underground by Lili Wilkinson

Winner - 2018 Australian Book Industry Awards (Older Children) Harnessing the power of the #LoveOzYA social media movement, this anthology features incredible short stories from ten beloved Australian YA authors. Overall, it’s a really terrific YA collection and lovers of YA will find so much to enjoy in this book.With brilliantly entertaining short stories from beloved young adult authors Amie Kaufman, Melissa Keil, Will Kostakis, Ellie Marney, Jaclyn Moriarty, Michael Pryor, Alice Pung, Gabrielle Tozer, Lili Wilkinson and Danielle Binks, this all-new collection will show the world exactly how much there is to love about Aussie YA. I focuses on starting a new high school, making friends, and all the awkwardness that comes with that. There is so much love for the Australian landscape in this little tale, the sights, scents and feelings are captured so perfectly I felt like I was breathing in Rachel’s memories. A story that explores the dislocating feeling of moving from the country to the city.

It was one of the shorter stories in the collection, but it has really stuck with me. A really touching and raw letter from a teen mum to her unborn child that also touches on 1st and 2nd generation migrant family dynamics. Girls in love in space, and excellent opener. She is grappling with the very relatable challenge of deciding what and where to study after graduating high school, and with her growing crush on her best friend. Zaida has grown up with the whole world watching her, a space-age celebrity, as the world clamors to know all about the first child on Mars. The perfect choice as an opening story, One Small Step focuses on the first child born on Mars. For me some of the memorable stories were: This will most likely be different for every reader, that’s the nature of collections. They are all stories which show the layers of Australia and the diversity of people within this country.Īs with all short story collections there were stories that stood out and stories which I felt missed the mark. There are stories that include characters with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ characters, characters of many races. There is contemporary, a little bit of YA romance (a love story or two), plus urban fantasy and sci-fi.

If you’ve never read a modern Australian YA book, this is the perfect place to dive in.ĭanielle Binks has done an excellent job of curating a selection of very different stories that are all united in their strength as narratives for young adult readers. If you are a #LoveOzYA fan you’ll spot stories from authors you love.

Wonderfully diverse, Begin End Begin showcases so many different ways to tell an Australian story.

Begin, End, Begin by Danielle Binks