Reading lists for older teen and young adult readers:
Diverse Cultures
Lemons in the Chicken Wire
Alison Whittaker
At times sensual, always potent, Lemons in the Chicken Wire delivers a collage of work that reflects rural identity through a rich medley of techniques and forms. It is an audacious and lyrical poetry collection that possesses a rare edginess and seeks to challenge our imagination beyond the ordinary.
I Am Malala
Malala Yousafzai
When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. While riding the bus home from school, she was shot in the head at point-blank range and few expected her to survive. Malala’s miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley to the halls of the United Nations.
Yassmin’s Story
Yassmin Abdel-Magied
At 21, Yassmin found herself working on a remote Australian oil and gas rig; she was not only the only woman but a Muslim with a Sudanese-Egyptian-Australian background. This is the story of how she got there, where she’s going, and how she wants the world to change.
Not Just Black and White
Lesley and Tammy Williams
Lesley Williams was forced to leave her family at a young age to work as a domestic servant. Lesley never saw her wages – they were kept ‘safe’ for her. She was taught not to question her life, until desperation made her start to wonder. So began a nine-year journey for answers.
The Big Black Thing
Sweatshop
The Big Black Thing: Chapter 1 is the first issue in a new series of prose and poetry by emerging and established writers from Indigenous, migrant and refugee backgrounds.
Growing Up Asian in Australia
Alice Pung (ed)
Asian-Australians have often been written about by outsiders, as outsiders. In this collection by well-known and emerging writers they tell their own stories with verve, courage and a large dose of humour. Tales of leaving home, falling in love, coming out and finding one’s feet show us what it is really like to grow up Asian, and Australian.
Laurinda
Alice Pung
At exclusive girls’ school Laurinda, a trio of girls called the Cabinet seem to have power over everyone. Lucy Lam is a scholarship girl who battles to keep her identity and integrity as she finds her way in this new world of privilege and opportunity.
Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean
Kirsty Murray, Payal Dhar and Anita Roy (eds)
An intercontinental collection of speculative stories, in prose and graphic form, with contributions from India and Australia that include a nursery story with a twist, a futuristic take on reality TV, a play script with tentacles – and much more.
Sister Heart
Sally Morgan
A young Aboriginal girl is taken from the north of Australia and sent to an institution in the distant south. There, she slowly makes a new life for herself and, in the face of tragedy, finds strength in new friendships.
Grace Beside Me
Sue McPherson
Fuzzy Mac’s life is mundane and profound: teen rivalry and awkward romance sit alongside the mystery of Nan’s visions and a ghostly encounter. This is her story – and that of the oddballs around her.
Looking for Alibrandi
Melina Marchetta
Josephine Alibrandi is seventeen and in her final year at a wealthy girls’ school. This is the year she meets her father, the year she falls in love, the year she searches for Alibrandi and finds the real truth about her family – and the identity she has been searching for.
Am I Black Enough for You?
Anita Heiss
In this deeply personal memoir, told in her distinctive, wry style, Anita Heiss gives a first-hand account of her experiences as a woman with an Aboriginal mother and Austrian father, and explains the development of her activist consciousness. Read her story and ask: what does it take for someone to be black enough for you?
Although Australia is made up of people of many cultures, faiths and nations, the extent of that diversity is still greatly under-represented in the stories we read. Many of the stories we see, read and hear come from white perspectives, and for Australia’s history and cultural diversity to be acknowledged, we need to be reading more stories from Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander authors, and those from varied cultural backgrounds. This list seeks to tip the scales in order to highlight the reality and diversity of Australian society, and to offer a starting point for young people struggling to find characters, stories and language they can relate to.
Most of the texts are ‘Own Voices’, meaning they are authored by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writers or those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, whose personal experiences inform their work or whose central protagonist/s share their identities. Tags relate to the characters in the story.
Resources
- 100 Story Building
Creativity and literacy for children and young people in Melbourne - Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
Supporting and empowering people seeking asylum to maximise their own physical, mental and social wellbeing. - Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
Promoting knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, traditions, languages and stories, past and present. - Behind the Wire
Stories from Detention - Centre for Multicultural Youth
A not-for-profit organisation supporting young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds to build better lives in Australia - First Nations Australia Writers Network
Advocacy and resources for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander writers and storytellers - Footscray Community Arts Centre
A community-engaged contemporary arts centre in Melbourne’s west. - Immigration Museum
The home of Victoria’s migration stories - Indigenous Literacy Foundation
Reducing the disadvantage experienced by children in remote Indigenous communities by lifting literacy levels and instilling a lifelong love of reading - Love OzYA: Diversity in YA Text
A starting point for thinking about diversity in OzYA. - Magabala Books
Australia’s oldest independent Indigenous publishing house - Sweatshop
Western Sydney Literacy Movement - We Need Diverse Books
Promoting diversity of multiple forms in children’s literature and publishing
Thinking Points
- What does being ‘Australian’ mean to you?
- How are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds represented in the books you read, films you watch or other media you encounter? Are they represented often enough?
- What do the lives of the people around you look like? Do they all come from families, communities or backgrounds that look, sound or behave like yours?
- How do you feel when you read books that don’t reflect the realities of your life or your friends’ lives?
- What message do you think it sends to readers when certain segments of the population are missing from the books they read?
- When has a book or another piece of writing helped you understand someone different from yourself? How did it change your thinking about people who are different, or live differently, from you?
- How do these writers challenge stereotypes about Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people or those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds?
- How are the experiences of the authors woven into the works on this reading list? How does the author’s lived experience inform the characters and setting and help them write with nuance and depth, rather than relying on stereotypes? How do you think the book would change if the author didn’t have personal experience to draw on?
- Where do you see characters in these texts pushing back against multiple stereotypes?
- How do characters from different cultural backgrounds interact with each other in the book? Are their interactions positive or negative? In these moments, do you think the author is reflecting reality, highlighting a particular issue, or imagining a better world? What are the benefits of each of these approaches?