Everything Under the Moon (ed by Michael Earp, illus Kit Fox, Affirm)

Everything Under the Moon: Fairy tales in a queerer light is a collection of insightful stories from a variety of authors, including Michael Earp, Alison Evans, Helena Fox, Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner, Will Kostakis, Jes Layton, Gary Lonesborough, Amber McBride, Abdi Nazemian, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Alexandra Villasante and Lili Wilkinson. Kit Fox has provided stunning illustrations to accompany delightful new takes on fairy tales that don’t just add queer characters to well-known fables but also examine the very fabric of their existence to show a more accurate reflection of our world. The book opens strong with a re-examination of Cinderella, full of twists and turns that keep the reader glued to the story, and doesn’t let up with evolutions of Snow White, Pinocchio and more. All people deserve representation, and this collection truly allows queer readers to find a piece of themselves in familiar tales. Featuring light and enjoyable stories and ones that are deeper, a little darker, and leave the reader with a desire to delve further into old stories with a modern lens, Everything Under the Moon will leave you wanting more in the best way possible. Celebrating and confirming queer love and identity, this collection deserves to be on shelves as much for its thought-provoking representation as it does for the fantastic writing within. Appropriate for readers aged 14 and up, this is perfect for fans of previous anthologies such as Growing Up Queer in Australia and Kindred: 12 Queer #LoveOZYA Stories. As a queer person myself, this is the anthology I wish had been available to me as a young adult. 

Books+Publishing reviewer: Anneliese Gates is a writer and works in a primary school library. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

Category: Reviews