There are some people who think stories about Martians, pens that speak, and one-eyed dinosaurs named Poopy aren’t true. But in the moment, when young people are writing them, they are the truest thing there is.
At Story Factory we believe these stories so much we’ve spent the last 10 years supporting young people to write them. Our favourites are collected here, along with the best poems and non-fiction reflections, and the winners of our 10th Anniversary Writing Prize.
These are pieces that fill a black and white day with colour: the strange machines, the birds named To’o and Bryan, the humour that young writers find in almost every situation. These are pieces to make young readers laugh, wonder and dream up worlds of their own.
Great writers are born in that shimmering moment when they start to imagine other worlds. This collection is 10 years of those early words and worlds, those first steps towards bringing new possibilities into being.