Things A Map Won't Show You

Introduction

Susan La Marca & Pam Macintyre

Ernest Hemingway is reputed to have said his best work was a short story in six words:

'For sale: baby shoes, never worn.'

There's something appealing about an economical story, whether it be prose or poetry, written or visual; how writers, poets and illustrators can compress ideas, feelings, characters and settings into a few frames, lines and words.

The stories in this collection were selected with the curriculum in mind and for their appeal to Year Seven and Eight readers.

Writers were offered free range to choose genre, location or form. Contributing authors include established writers who will be familiar to many readers, along with some whose work might be met for the first time.

Some of the stories are playful, inviting us to see the world as a place of wonder and ambiguity, while others are set firmly in the day-to-day life of family, school, friendship and holidays. There are stories that take us to past times, to new shores, and inside diverse cultures, and others that are set in created worlds that excite imaginations.

Indigenous Australian voices, the voices of newcomers to Australian society, and voices from Asia and the Pacific region enrich the collection. Urban and rural Australia are the backdrop for both serious and humorous events. Stories from beyond Australia give readers an insight into the culture and lives of people from various countries on our region's map, and offer a different way of seeing the world.

Poems are included in this collection, some because they tell a story and others because they capture a moment or experience in the same way that a story does. Illustrated stories using photographs or a comic book format, or that play with fonts, demonstrate the importance of visual images to storytelling and the role powerful images can play in creating, extending and adding depth to a narrative.

We thank the writers for their stories and poems, and recommend their other works to readers, who are sure to find there the reasons we all read: to escape, to find new horizons, to see ourselves in a new light and, above all, for pleasure and delight.