My Tiny Universe

A book for every kid who has ever felt different. From the multi-award-winning author of Exit Through the Gift Shop, No Words and Laughter is the Best Ending (winner of the CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers 2025).

Leif is named after a valiant Viking. But being a two-foot nothing, fraidy-cat kid with a thousand and one phobias is about as far from valiant as you can get. He's a Certified Science Enthusiast and has a brain as large and mysterious as the universe. He's not one of the cool kids at school. Or the geeks. He's not even one of the misfits. (Have you ever heard of a misfit who didn't fit in with other misfits?) Leif's different in every way, but especially because he was the first kid to be born with CIA (Climate Induced Anomalies).

He didn't have a single friend at West Hershey College, before Albie came along.

And that's when all the trouble really began.

About the Author

Maryam Master is an author, playwright and screenwriter who loves creating stories for young people. Her first novel, Exit Through the Gift Shop, was shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards, the CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers, the ABIA Book of the Year for Younger Children, and the South Australian Children's Literature Award.

Her second novel, No Words, was winner of the Children's Peace Literature Award and the Readings Children's Prize, and was a CBCA Notable Book for Younger Readers.

Her third novel, Laughter is the Best Ending, won the CBCA Book of the Year for Younger Readers 2025, the CBCA Shadow Judging 2025 and the State Library of NSW's Russell Prize for Humour Writing.