'Through the Break' in Worlds Next Door

Breakers rise like hulking sea eagles. They glide and swoop, then crash, tossing prey of bodies and boards on the sand, hissing to retreat and hurl again.

Shai has been coming all summer, catching three buses to stand at the shoreline, close his eyes, crunch warm shell grit between his toes. Like he did on his old island home. But here the water is restless, the swell unhampered by coral reef. Signs talk of rips. He watches surfers spear through waves on their way out back; Counts one…two…three…till they emerge, heads craning out to sea, the practised flick of their hair spraying spangles in the sunlight. He’ll be there with them…one day.

The poetic story ‘Through the Break’ appears in Worlds Next Door, an Australian anthology of speculative fiction stories for 9-13 year olds. Published by FableCroft Publishing and edited by Tehani Wessely, Worlds Next Door contains stories by 25 Australian authors, each illustrated by Australian artists. Many of the authors in the pages are award-winning and well-known writers of children’s fiction, and the anthology is compiled to be enjoyed by kids and adults alike.

To find out more about World’s Next Door (and access free downloads of stories, including 'Through the Break'), visit the book's page at Fablecroft Publishing.