Penguin Books Australia

An unforgettable collection of short fiction, poetry and comic art from Australia and beyond . . . 

A boy who tries to fly, a cricket game in a refugee centre, a government guide to kissing, the perils of hunting goannas, an arranged marriage, an awkward blind date, a girl who stands on her head, an imprisoned king and a cursed Maori stone . . . 

Sometimes funny, sometimes dramatic, always...

In 1939, the families in a remote Jewish village in Romania feel the war close in on them. Their tribe has moved and escaped for thousands of years - across oceans, deserts, and mountains - but now, it seems, there is nowhere else to go. Danger is imminent in every direction, yet the territory of imagination and belief is limitless.

'Wouldn't it be funny if they were real?'
'Shiny red men?'
'What if I were the sane one and everyone else was mad?'

One night, the shiny guys visit fifteen-year-old Colin Lapsley.  They don't speak, but Colin can read their thoughts.  They want him to pay for the terrible thing that he has done.  When the shiny guys won't go away, Colin is admitted to ward 44.  Ther he discovers...

A NOISE CAME FROM INSIDE THE TRAP.  IT DIDN'T SOUND PLEASED AT ALL.
GRRRRRRRR.

Something's been taking sheep from the farms near Nullambine National Park.  Could it be the legendary Nullambine Puma?  When Mission fox set a trap to find out, they catch a whole lot of trouble . . . 

IT LOOKS LIKE THEIR  SNEAKIEST  MISSION YET . . .

JORDAN WATCHED THE BABY ZEBRA FOR A FEW SECONDS.  ITS EYES WERE CLOSED.  'SOMETHING'S WRONG,' HE SAID.

Harry and Jordan Fox are on a chairlift ride at Nullambine Zoo when they spy a baby zebra in danger.  It looks like a Code Bright Red mission.  Can they outrun a charging zebra and outsmart a river of hippos in time to save the baby's life?

IT LOOKS LIKE THEIR  STRIPEY-ESST...

It's not easy  saving the world  from your  crazy alien  neighbours, but that's what Zeke and Eppie Have to do  today .
So far  they've been turned into an  egghead, catapulted through the air  in an enormous bra, plopped into a  ginormous   ice-cream  and then d ragged through space  in a stocking.

For millennia, Cassiel was a powerful Djinn-until she was exiled to live among mortals.  Now the threat of an apocalypse looms, and Cassiel is in danger of losing everything she has come to hold dear . . . 

As the world begins to fall apart around her, Cassiel finds herself fighting those she once called her own: the Djinn.  With Warden Luis Rocha and the rescued child Ibby by her side...

When Abby enjoys a memorable night with a delicious 22-year-old, she easily waves him out of her life the next morning.  She doesn't have time for these sorts of distractions.  And he's only 22, after all!  A child.  But the charming young Marcus isn't going to let her get away that easily.  He knows what he wants and takes it upon himself to prove that age is irrelevant where...

We all have secrets . . .

Jodie Garrow is a teenager from the wrong side of the tracks when she falls pregnant. Scared, alone and desperate to make something of her life, she adopts out the baby illegally – and tells nobody.

Twenty-five years on, Jodie has built a new life and a new family. But when a chance meeting brings the adoption to the notice of the authorities, Jodie becomes caught...

'Likely to become the essential short work on modern Australia' Don Watson

'Megalogenis is Australia's best explainer … A brilliant read' Annabel Crabb