16 Days of Activism Reads

Picture books:

This boy can!
This boy can be anything. A care-worker. A stay-at-home dad. A florist.
Showing boys all the very many things they can be when they grow up, this book is a playful romp through the world of jobs and vocations.

Jacob’s new dress
Jacob, who likes to wear dresses at home, convinces his parents to let him wear a dress to school, too.

I want to be a superhero
A little girl in a homemade blanket cape wants to be a superhero, and not just any superhero, she wants to fly! Breanna, the girl in question, is a younger version of author.
In the book this young Breanna asks her mum and Kabarli (nana) if wishing on a star will give her the special powers she wants. They say no, but Breanna's Pop says,'You never know unless you try,' so the four of them get in the car to find a shooting star. When the family reaches the beautiful double-page spread of Ambelin Kwaymullina's vivid and colourful Milky Way illustrations, Breanna sees a shooting star and wishes for flying powers ... but nothing happens. That's when her mother and Kabarli teach her that there's more to being a superhero than flying, and in fact doctors, lawyers, engineers and vets can all save the world in their own ways.

Respect
A tender, thoughtful story reminding us to respect others and respect ourselves. Part of the Our Place series which welcomes children to culture.

Tough guys (have feelings too)
Did you know wrestlers have feelings? And knights. Even superheroes and ninjas feel sad sometimes. In fact everyone has feelings - especially dads who love their children!
Children will love recognizing their feelings in Keith Negley's bold illustrations which accompany a fun-to-read-aloud narrative. Parents can joyfully engage with children in a light-hearted discussion about emotions and how they affect us all!

My shadow is purple
My Dad has a shadow that's blue as a berry, and my Mum's is as pink as a blossoming cherry. There's only those choices, a 2 or a 1. But mine is quite different, it's both and it's none.
A heartwarming and inspiring book about being true to yourself. This story considers gender beyond binary in a vibrant spectrum of colour.

Want to play trucks?
From Ann Stott and Bob Graham, the multi award-winning creator of Silver Buttons and A Bus Called Heaven, comes a story of friendship, perfect for any child who does not conform to traditional gender stereotypes.
Jack and Alex meet almost every morning in the sandbox at the playground. Jack likes trucks – big ones. Alex likes dolls – pink ones, with sparkles. And tutus. But Jack doesn’t want to play dolls, and Alex doesn’t want to play trucks. Luckily for Jack and Alex, the day is saved with a little bit of compromise and the easy acceptance that characterises true friendship... What about dolls who drive trucks?

Some boys
Your boy might like rough, tough, gentle or pretty stuff. He might wear shirts, skirts, hats or plaits. He might get sad sometimes, and mad sometimes. He might feel shy sometimes and want to fly sometimes! Some Boys says it's all good - all boys can be whoever they want.

I love my purse
Charlie loves the bright red purse that his grandmother let him have. One day, he decides to take it to school. First his father, then his friends, and even the crossing guard question him about his "strange" choice. After all, boys don't carry purses. They point out that they, too, have things they like, but that doesn't mean they go out in public wearing them. But Charlie isn't deterred. Before long, his unselfconscious determination to carry a purse starts to affect those around him. His father puts on his favorite, though unconventional, Hawaiian shirt to go to work; his friend Charlotte paints her face, and the crossing guard wears a pair of sparkly shoes.
Thanks to Charlie, everyone around him realizes that it isn't always necessary to conform to societal norms. It's more important to be true to yourself. With its humorous, energetic illustrations, this book is ideal as a read-aloud or as a story for emerging readers. It can also be used as a starting point for a discussion about gender roles

Be exactly who you are
Girls perform to fairy songs. Boys play football all day long. Boys yell 'Boo!' and run away. Girls like kittens and ballet. Except when they don't.
A lively and empowering reminder that you do not have to choose between dolls or robots, or pink or blue - you can be exactly who you are!

Mary wears what she wants
Once upon a time (but not too long ago), girls only wore dresses. And only boys wore pants. Until one day, a young girl named Mary had a bold idea: She would wear whatever she wanted. And she wanted to wear pants!
Inspired by the true story of Mary Edwards Walker, a trailblazing doctor who was arrested many times for wearing pants, this fresh, charming picture book encourages readers to think for themselves while gently challenging gender and societal norms.

Junior Fiction:

Tiger daughter
What I feel most days is that nothing is ever going to change. That my life won't even start, and that I'll be stuck like this forever. Wen Zhou is the daughter and only child of Chinese immigrants whose move to the lucky country has proven to be not so lucky. Wen and her friend, Henry Xiao - whose mum and dad are also struggling immigrants - both dream of escape from their unhappy circumstances, and form a plan to sit an entrance exam to a selective high school far from home. But when tragedy strikes, it will take all of Wen's resilience and resourcefulness to get herself and Henry through the storm that follows.

Black cockatoo
Black Cockatoo is a vignette that follows Mia, a young Aboriginal girl as she explores the fragile connections of family and culture. Mia is a 13-year-old girl from a remote community in the Kimberley. She is saddened by the loss of her brother as he distances himself from the family. She feels powerless to change the things she sees around her... until one day she rescues her totem animal, the dirran black cockatoo, and soon discovers her own inner strength. Black Cockatoo is a wonderful small tale on the power of standing up for yourself, culture and ever-present family ties.

Polly and Buster
Who ever heard of a witch and a monster being friends? Everyone knows that witches don't mix with monsters. Witches are educated, clever, sophisticated. But monsters? Monsters are just uncouth. Some are even dangerous. But Polly the witch and Buster the feelings monster have been best friends forever. It's the sort of friendship that makes your heart squeeze with happiness. Somehow, they've managed to keep their friendship a secret. Until one day, when everything changes ...

Pie in the sky
When Jingwen moves to Australia, he feels like he's landed on Mars. Making friends is impossible, since he doesn't speak English, and he's stuck looking after his little brother Yanghao. But Jingwen knows how to make everything better. If he can just make all of the cakes on the menu of the bakery his father had planned to open -- and complete the dream he didn't have time to finish -- then everything will be okay. Sure, he'll have to break his mother's most important rule about not using the oven when she's at work, keep his little brother from spilling his secret, and brush up on his baking skills, but some things are worth the risk.

Jamie
Jamie Rambeau is a happy 11-year-old non-binary kid who likes nothing better than hanging out with their two best friends Daisy and Ash. But when the trio find out that in Year Seven they will be separated into one school for boys and another for girls, their friendship suddenly seems at risk. And when Jamie realises no one has thought about where they are going to go, they decide to take matters into their own hands, and sort it all out once and for all. As the friends' efforts to raise awareness eventually become a rooftop protest against the binary rules for the local schools, Jamie realises that if they don't figure out a way forwards, they might be at risk of losing both their friends forever.

The ship we built
A fifth-grader whose best friends walked away, whose mother is detached, and whose father does unspeakable things, copes with the help of friend Sofie and anonymous letters tied to balloons and released.
Includes a list of resources related to abuse, gender, sexuality, and more.

The lottery rose
Georgie Burgess doesn’t talk about the abuse that he receives from his mother and her boyfriend. Even though he’s constantly getting into trouble at school, he continues to hide his hurt, refusing to tell anyone what life is like at home. Instead, he finds escape between the pages of books depicting beautiful gardens and flowers. When Georgie wins a small rosebush in a supermarket lottery, he gives it all the love and caring he’s never had. Soon after, his life begins to change when child services remove him from his mother’s care and look for a new, safe home for him. But all the while, Georgie still needs to find a home for his rosebush, and through the people he meets, he slowly learns what it means to be loved and accepted.

Young adult fiction:

The gilded ones
We all have a choice. Are we girls, or are we demons? Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in Otera, a deeply patriarchal ancient kingdom, where a woman's worth is tied to her purity, and she must bleed to prove it. But when Deka bleeds gold - the colour of impurity, of a demon - she faces a consequence worse than death. She is saved by a mysterious woman who tells Deka of her true nature: she is an Alaki, a near-immortal with exceptional gifts. The stranger offers her a choice: fight for the Emperor, with others just like her, or be destroyed...

The hate U give
Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighbourhood where she was born and raised and the her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed.

Girl made of stars
This is a gripping story about facing hard truths in the aftermath of sexual assault. Mara and Owen are as close as twins can get, so when Mara's friend Hannah accuses Owen of rape, Mara does not know what to think. Can her brother really be guilty of such a violent act? Torn between her family and her sense of right and wrong, Mara feels lost, and it does not help that things are strained with her ex-girlfriend, Charlie. As Mara, Hannah, and Charlie come together in the aftermath of this terrible crime, Mara must face a trauma from her own past and decide where Charlie fits into her future. With sensitivity and openness, this timely novel confronts the difficult questions surrounding consent, victim blaming, and sexual assault.

Our wayward fate
The only Asian person at her school in Plainhart, Indiana, Ali Chu ignores the clueless racism from her classmates and teachers. When Chase Yu's family arrives in town, Ali tries to ignore the 'they belong together' whispers, but they develop a friendship rooted in competitive martial arts, joking in two languages, and, most importantly, pushing back against the discrimination they face. When Ali's mom forces her to end the friendship, she uncovers secrets about her family and Chase that force her to question everything she thought she knew about life, love, and her unknowable future. -- adapted from jacket.

Magpie
It has been a long time since Alice has felt safe. Because of him. Ross. But now she, Mum and her little brother Henry have finally moved far away, where Ross will never find them. It's a fresh start, Mum says. This time, she is never going back. Slowly Alice starts to build a life for herself, at a new school with new friends. But she can't escape the feeling she is being watched. That he might be lurking, waiting to ruin everything again. That Mum might be about to break her promise. That, just when Alice is starting to feel safe, everything will be taken away from her.

This is my truth
Best friends Amani and Huda are getting nervous about their GCSEs - and their future beyond school, which they're both wildly unprepared for. Shy, quiet Amani has an outwardly picture-perfect family - a father who is a successful TV presenter, a loving mother, and an adorable younger brother - while confident and impulsive Huda has grown up with over-affectionate foster parents who are now expecting a baby of their own. Both girls are jealous of each other's seemingly easy life, without realising the darkness or worries that lie underneath. Then Huda witnesses Amani's father hitting her mother, and Amani's biggest secret is suddenly out. As Amani convinces Huda to keep quiet by helping her with her own problems, a prank blog starts up at school, revealing students' secrets one by one. Will this anonymous blogger get hold of Amani's secret too? Will Huda keep quiet?

Non-Fiction:

Consent laid bare
You are a fourteen-year-old girl at a party. You are drunk. All your friends are drunk. A boy is pressuring you to have sex. You don't really want to, but you don't know how to say no. You really want him to like you. So you say yes, at least you think you say yes. You can't remember. What you do remember is the shame that follows. This scenario plays out across Australia, every weekend. We know because in 2021 Chanel Contos invited girls and women to provide testimonials of their most negative sexual experiences. The nearly 7000 responses described behaviour that is, at best, chronically anti-social and, at worst, constitutes rape. Virtually none of these instances has been reported, let alone prosecuted, but as a result of Chanel's advocacy, single-sex schools are going co-ed, laws have changed across Australia, schools have amped up their sex ed and politicians have been forced to act.
"Consent Laid Bare" is a conversation starter that will help young women feel less alone, less likely to feel pressured into sexual encounters that they don't want, less ashamed if they find themselves in a tricky situation, and more inclined to hold their perpetrators to account in the moment and afterwards. It will help young men understand that there is a point where pressuring behaviour becomes criminal. It is the book we wish wasn't necessary, but that we know is absolutely crucial reading.

#MeToo and you: everything you need to know about consent, boundaries and more
The #MeToo movement has changed the way many people view the world, but how well do tweens understand it? Middle-grade readers are ready to learn about consent, harassment, and abuse, as well as healthy boundaries in all their relationships. #MeToo and You includes essential terminology, from consent to assault, from just plain yes to just plain no. Author Halley Bondy explores the nuances of emotions, comfort, and discomfort in sexually charged and emotionally abusive situations. Detailed scenarios, both real and hypothetical, provide valuable examples of what's acceptable and what is not, along with tools to help everyone treat others appropriately and to stand up for themselves and their peers.

Respect: everything a guy needs to know about sex, love and consent
An all-encompassing guide to help guys navigate sex, relationships, and consent in the post-#MeToo world. The world has changed, and the revelations of the #MeToo movement have raised serious questions about how men are raised to understand consent and their own sexuality. Respect is the first guide to sexual health and relationships built around consent. Inti Chavez Perez draws on his vast experience as a sex educator to lay out how to build positive, respectful relationships with friends and partners, and how consent factors in at every stage from introducing yourself to having healthy sexual relationships with others, all with the same frankness that guys have talking about sex with their friends. From gender identity and sexual orientation to body image and sexual health and more, Respect tells you everything you should know, and everything you would want to know--a book for guys to learn from and then go back to.

Muddy people: a memoir
At the turn of the millennium, Soos is growing up in an eccentric household with a lot of rules. No bikinis, despite the South-East Queensland heat. No boys, unless he's Muslim. And no life insurance, not even when her father gets cancer. Soos is trying to discover how to balance her parents' strict decrees with having friendships, crushes and the freedom to develop her own values. With each rule Soos comes up against, she is forced to choose between doing what her parents say is right and following her instincts. When her family collapses, she comes to see her parents as flawed, their morals based on a muddy logic. But she will also learn that they are her strongest defenders.

Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's invisible life
Looking for wonder and some reprieve from the everyday, Anna Funder slips into the pages of her hero George Orwell. As she watches him create his writing self, she tries to remember her own. When she uncovers his forgotten wife, it's a revelation. Eileen O'Shaughnessy's literary brilliance shaped Orwell's work and her practical common sense saved his life. But why, and how, was she written out of the story? Using newly discovered letters from Eileen to her best friend, Funder recreates the Orwell's marriage, through the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War in London. As she rolls up the screen concealing Orwell's private life she is led to question what it takes to be a writer -- and what it is to be a wife.

Eggshell skull
EGGSHELL SKULL: A well-established legal doctrine that a defendant must 'take their victim as they find them'. If a single punch kills someone because of their thin skull, that victim's weakness cannot mitigate the seriousness of the crime. But what if it also works the other way? What if a defendant on trial for sexual crimes has to accept his 'victim' as she comes: a strong, determined accuser who knows the legal system, who will not back down until justice is done? Bri Lee began her first day of work at the Queensland District Court as a bright-eyed judge's associate. Two years later she was back as the complainant in her own case. This is the story of Bri's journey through the Australian legal system; first as the daughter of a policeman, then as a law student, and finally as a judge's associate in both metropolitan and regional Queensland-where justice can look very different, especially for women. The injustice Bri witnessed, mourned and raged over every day finally forced her to confront her own personal history, one she'd vowed never to tell. And this is how, after years of struggle, she found herself on the other side of the courtroom, telling her story. Bri Lee has written a fierce and eloquent memoir that addresses both her own reckoning with the past as well as with the stories around her, to speak the truth with wit, empathy and unflinching courage. Eggshell Skull is a haunting appraisal of modern Australia from a new and essential voice.

"You just need to lose weight" : and 19 other myths about fat people
In "You Just Need to Lose Weight," Aubrey Gordon equips readers with the facts and figures to reframe myths about fatness in order to dismantle the anti-fat bias ingrained in how we think about and treat fat people. Bringing her dozen years of community organizing and training to bear, Gordon shares the rhetorical approaches she and other organizers employ to not only counter these pernicious myths, but to dismantle the anti-fat bias that so often underpin them.

Misogynation : the true scale of sexism
One hundred years since some women were first given the right to vote, we are still struggling to get to grips with the true extent of gender inequality that continues to flourish in our society. In this collection of essays, originally published in the Guardian, Laura Bates uncovers the sexism that exists in our relationships, our workplaces, our media, in our homes and on our streets, but which is also firmly rooted in our lifelong assumptions and in the actions and attitudes we explain away, defend and accept. Often dismissed as one-offs, veiled as 'banter' or described as 'isolated incidents', Misogynation joins the dots to reveal the true scale of discrimination and prejudice women face.

Men who hate women : the extremism nobody is talking about
Imagine a world in which a vast network of incels and other misogynists are able to operate, virtually undetected. These extremists commit deliberate terrorist acts against women. Vulnerable teenage boys are groomed and radicalised. You don't have to imagine that world. You already live in it. Perhaps you didn't know, because we don't like to talk about it. But it's time we start. In this urgent and groundbreaking book, Laura Bates, founder of The Everyday Sexism Project, goes undercover to expose vast misogynist networks and communities. It's a deep dive into the worldwide extremism nobody talks about. Interviews with former members of these groups and the people fighting against them gives unique insights on how this movement operates. Ideas are spread from the darkest corners of the internet - via trolls, media and celebrities - to schools, workplaces and the corridors of power, becoming a part of our collective consciousness. Uncensored, and sometimes both shocking and terrifying - this is the uncomfortable truth about the world we live in. And what we must do to change it.

Junior Non-Fiction:

Talking about relationships
There's two sides to every story. In Relationships, you will read two sides to the dilemmas, sticky situations or issues that children sometimes have to face when interacting with others. Encouraging you to put yourself in someone else's shoes to see why they have reacted in a certain way or said certain things, will help you to understand why different point of view arise in the first place and why your perspective might cloud your judgement or stop other seeing your point of view. It will help you to find ways to positively and proactively resolve situations, deal with your emotions and maybe even change your mind. Relationships tackles situations including: parents not trusting you, sibling conflicts, stepfamilies, evolving friendships, peer pressure and frenemies. The book includes top tips for dealing with your emotions and conflict resolution.

Finding Nevo
Meet Nevo: girl, boy, he, she, him, her, they, them, daughter, son, teacher, student, friend, gay, bi, lesbian, trans, homo, Jew, dyke, masculine, feminine, androgynous, queer. Nevo was not born in the wrong body. Nevo just wants everyone to catch up with all that Nevo is. Personal, political and passionate, Finding Nevo is an autobiography about gender and everything that comes with it.

Hannah's hope : how I dealt with abuse
This book, aimed specifically at Australian children age 10+ or teenagers who are not strong readers, was written with input from child protection, education and counselling professionals. Hannah explains what abuse is, and how to get help if the reader or somebody they know is being abused. This book aims to help children and young people who have been abused to know they are not alone, that it is okay to have whatever feelings they have, and that things will get better. Hannah provides useful information about what supports and strategies helped her to re-build her life following abuse. She writes of feeling proud of herself for overcoming great challenges. The book contains cartoon pictures and is equally appealing for boys and girls.

Pink, blue, and you! : questions for kids about gender stereotypes
Is it okay for boys to cry? Can girls be strong? Should girls and boys be given different toys to play with and different clothes to wear? Should we all feel free to love whoever we choose to love? In this incredibly kid-friendly and easy-to-grasp picture book, author-illustrator Elise Gravel and transgender collaborator Mykaell Blais raise these questions and others relating to gender roles, acceptance, and stereotyping.

What is masculinity? Why does it matter? and other big questions
Masculinity is being discussed more than ever before, in a range of contexts. People talk about 'toxic masculinity', claim that there is a crisis in masculinity or argue that we need to 'reclaim masculinity'. There have always been many ways of being a man, and many people who have claimed that there are correct and incorrect ways of being a man. This important and timely book looks at the big questions surrounding definitions of masculinity, and discusses where ideas of masculinity have come from and the effects of gender stereotyping. The authors and contributors share their experiences of and perspectives on masculinity and invite readers to think for themselves about the issues involved.

Adult Fiction:

The angry women’s choir
Once in a while, everyone needs to be heard. Freycinet Barnes has built herself the perfect existence. With beautiful children, a successful husband and a well-ordered schedule, it's a life so full she simply doesn't fit. When she steps outside her calendar and is accidentally thrown into the generous bosom of the West Moonah Women's Choir, she finds music, laughter, friendship and a humming wellspring of rage. With the ready acceptance of the colourful choristers, Frey learns that voices can move mountains, fury can be kind and life can do with a bit of ruining. Together, Frey and the choir sing their anger, they breathe it in and stitch it up, belt it out and spin it into a fierce, driving beat that will kick the system square in the balls, and possibly demolish them all.

Girl, woman, other

The dictionary of lost words
In 1901, the word 'Bondmaid' was discovered missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. This is the story of the girl who stole it. Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the 'Scriptorium', a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Esme's place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word 'bondmaid' flutters to the floor. Esme rescues the slip and stashes it in an old wooden case that belongs to her friend, Lizzie, a young servant in the big house. Esme begins to collect other words from the Scriptorium that are misplaced, discarded or have been neglected by the dictionary men. They help her make sense of the world. Over time, Esme realises that some words are considered more important than others, and that words and meanings relating to women's experiences often go unrecorded. While she dedicates her life to the Oxford English Dictionary, secretly, she begins to collect words for another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words. Set when the women's suffrage movement was at its height and the Great War loomed, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. It's a delightful, lyrical and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words, and the power of language to shape the world and our experience of it.

The family doctor
Paula is a dedicated suburban GP, who is devastated by the murder of a friend and her children by their estranged husband and father. Stacey and the children had been staying with her after fleeing his control, and Paula is haunted by the thought that she couldn't protect them when they most needed it. How had she missed the warning signs? How had she failed to keep them safe? Not long after, a patient with suspicious injuries brings her anxious young son into Paula's surgery. The woman admits that her husband hurts her, but she's terrified to leave for fear of escalating the violence, and defeated by the consistent failures of the law to help her. Can Paula go against everything she believes to make sure one woman is saved, one child spared? She isn't motivated by revenge. She's desperately trying to prevent a tragedy . . .

An undeniable voice
1907 London. As the winds of change sweep across the world in the new century, Hannah Rainforth and her friends take to the streets to fight for the vote for women. Now is not the time for quiet argument - the country will only listen when it's forced to, and the women join the suffragette movement, putting their bodies, reputations and personal safety on the line to achieve lasting change for women. But dark clouds of war and sinister forces are gathering on the horizon and Hannah is desperate to protect those she loves the most. Faced with the loss of her home, her livelihood and even her family, Hannah risks everything to ensure their survival - and to achieve the vote for women, which is now a matter of national urgency. As the country is plunged into war and deadly bombs are devastating the city and the north, Hannah and women across the nation join the home war effort to galvanise the nation - their worth cannot be challenged now and their fight for recognition will transform the future forever.