Alive and Kicking is a vibrant, eclectic collection that celebrates the short story in its many forms. It contains prose short stories, stories told in verse, short playscripts and stories told in comic-book form. Each story in the collection is enhanced by full-colour illustrations. The contributing authors include Richard Yaxley, Jeni Mawter, Michelle Williams and Dan Ashlin. David Maher's graphic short storied are a feature of the anthology.

As part of the English Alive program, the novel has a number of accompanying worksheets, found in the English Alive Teacher Resource Book Phase 1, covering language, reading, thinking strategies, and an overview of the novel.