Our #LoveOzYA Month is fast approaching! If you don’t already know, we’re going to be hosting a #LoveOzYA Bingo Challenge throughout December. If you don’t know how that works, check out this post!

We hope you’ll all get involved – it’s going to be a lot of fun, and if that isn’t incentive enough, there’s also prizes to be won!

Below are just some of the books you might choose to read for each category. This isn’t an exclusive list, so feel free to read anything else you feel fits in each category, as long as it’s YA and written by an Aussie author! Though we’re a bit lenient on the “Aussie” thing – if they’ve ever lived in Australia for a period of time or are seen as a #LoveOzYA author, that’s good enough! We’re not demanding to see birth certificates!

If you have any recommendations for any of the below squares, please comment them down below and we’ll add them to the list!

Once you’ve made you TBRs, we’d love to see them, so please link them down below as well and we’ll share them across our social media!

Written by two or more Aussie authors

• Illumninae
• Gemina
• #LoveOzYA Anthology
• Take Three Girls
• Zeroes

Set in your state

(or if you don’t live in Australia, a state you’d like to visit)

• Frankie
• Gap Year in Ghost Town
• Untidy Towns
• Secret Science of Magic
• Every Breath
• When Michael Met Mina
• Girl Defective
• Songlines
• It Came From The Deep
• The Sidekicks
• Saving Francesca
• Before You Forget

Shortlisted for the Gold Inky Award

• Nevernight
• Frankie
• My Sister Rosa
• Words in Deep Blue
• The Bone Sparrow
• One Would Think the Deep
• The Flywheel
• Illuminae
• Sister Heart
• Green Valentine
• Cloudwish
• Nona & Me
• Head of the River
• The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl
• Razorhurst
• Zac & Mia
• All This Could End
• These Broken Stars
• The Whole of My World

Strong friendship element

• Take Three Girls
• Queens of Geek
• The Build-Up Season
• #LoveOzYA Anthology
• Akarnae
• Life In Outer Space
• Saving Francesca
• Frankie and Joely
• Songlines

A book you’d like to see adapted

• Illuminae
• Every Breath
• Queens of Geek
• Arkanae
• The Sidekicks
• Gap Year in Ghost Town
• The Boundless Sublime
• Songlines

Part of a series

• Tomorrow, When the War Began
• Illuminae
• Every Breath
• Akarnae
• Sabriel
• Valentine
• A Corner of White
• Chasing The Valley
• Songlines

Written by an Indigenous author

• Becoming Kirrali Lewis
• Sweet Guy
• Songs That Sound Like Blood
• Ruby Moonlight
• Grace Beside Me
• Rise of the Fallen
• Calypso Summer
• The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf

Set in the past

• Japser Jones
• Freedom Swimmer
• A Waltz for the Past
• Razorhurst
• When We Were Two
• Nanberry
• Freedom Ride
• The Girl, the Guy, the Artist, and His Ex
• Steal my Sunshine
• The Shark Caller
• The Things We Promised
• The Book Thief
• Becoming Kirrali Lewis
• Looking For Alibrandi
• The Blue Cat

Mental health representation

• Beautiful Mess
• Queens of Geek
• Looking For Alibrandi
• Saving Francesca
• The Protected
• The Pause
• The Other Side of Summer
• Waer
• Breathing Under Water
• The Things I Didn’t Say

Male protagonist

• Gap Year in Ghost Town
• Life in Outer Space
• The Sidekicks
• The First Third
• The Beauty is in the Walking
• Everything Is Changed
• The Piper’s Son
• The Dead I Know
• The Pause
• Six Impossible Things
• Waer

Young (under 25) author

• Girl Saves Boy
• All This Could End
• Night Swimming
• Breathing Under Water

Marginalised protagonist

• When Michael Met Mina
• Does My Head Look Big in This
• Queens of Geek
• Laurinda
• Night Swimming

Set in a small town

• Night Swimming
• A Shadow’s Breath
• One Would Think the Deep
• Words in Deep Blue
• Breathing Under Water
• Black
• In the Skin of a Monster
• Inbetween Days
• Friday Brown
• Songlines
• May Day Mine

Debut novel

• Untidy Towns
• Frankie
• Yellow
• Our Chemical Hearts
• The Flywheel
• Pink
• Every Breath
• Risk
• Creepy & Maud
• All I Ever Wanted
• Songlines

Includes an Indigenous character

• Sister Heart
• The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf
• Two Ways Strong
• Becoming Kirrali Lewis
• Sounds That Sound Like Blood
• Calypso Summer
• Sweet Guy
• Ruby Moonlight
• Grace Beside Me
• Rise of the Fallen
• Njunjul the Sun
• Nona & Me
• The Build-Up Season
• My Girragundji
• Calypso Summer
• Becoming Kirrali Lewis
• Songlines

Set after high school

• Summer Skin
• Remind Me How This Ends
• No Limits
• Wreck
• The Intern
• Inbetween Days
• Songlines

Published by a small press

• Untidy Towns
• Ida
• Because of You
• The Stubborn Seed of Hope
• Everything is Changed
• Becoming Aurora
• This is Shyness
• The Undercurrent
• The Road to Winter
• Carousel
• Frankie and Joely
• Heart of Brass
• Songlines
• Sanguine

A book you relate to

• The Flywheel
• Night Swimming
• Queens of Geek
• The Sidekicks
• Remind Me How This Ends
• Saving Francesca
• Looking For Alibrandi

#OwnVoices

• The First Third
• The Sidekicks
• Laurinda
• The Flywheel
• Pink
• Does My Head Look Big in This
• When Michael Met Mina

Aussie speculative fiction

• Illumanae
• Gap Year in Ghost Town
• Lady Helen
• The Undercurrent
• Yellow
• Akarnae
• Finnikin of the Rock
• Disruption
• Zeroes
• Razorhurst
• The Astrologer’s Daughter
• Sea Hearts
• The Other Side of Summer
• Chasing The Valley
• If I Wake
• Disruption
• Waer
• Songlines
• Yellow

2017 release

• Gemina
• No Limits
• Untidy Towns
• Queen of Geeks
• The Love Interest
• Wreck
• #LoveOzYA Anthology
• Gap Year in Ghost Town
• Ida
• Valentine
• Draekora
• Ballad for a Mad Girl
• The Secret Science of Magic
• Remind Me How This Ends
• Night Swimming
• Take Three Girls
• A Shadow’s Breath
• Nexus
• Godsgrave
• The Dream Walker
• The Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares
• In the Dark Spaces
• This Mortal Coil
• Exchange of Heart
• Beautiful Mess
• The Build-Up Season
• My Life as a Hashtag
• Unearthed
• Sanguine

Queer romance

• The Flywheel
• Clancy of the Undertow
• Night Swimming
• Ida
• Long Macchiatos and Monsters
• Queens of Geek

Self published

• Ora’s Gold
• No Limits
• Heart of Mist
• The Bureau of Time
• The Wrong Girl
• Rory

Set in the city

• Frankie
• Gap Year in Ghost Town
• Every Breath
• The Secret Science of Magic
• When Michael Met Mina
• The Yearbook Committee
• My Life as a Hashtag

Good luck, and if you need any more help or have any other suggestions, please leave a comment down below!

Graphics sourced from Winged Graphics, GraphicsDish, Dainty Doll Art,  Carousellerie Creative, OpiaDesigns, and ArtCreationsDesign.