Janeen's Jottings

Our two new Children's Laureates!

2011-12-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

Something wonderful has just happened!

We, in Australia now have two wonderful Children's Laureates; author/illustrator Alison Lester and author/storyteller Boori Monty Pryor and I was fortunate enough to be at the launch of this inaugural, momentous occasional. The launch was held in the beautiful historic house of Carclew overlooking Adelaide on the lovely, fine morning of Saturday 10 December.

We gathered in the original ballroom where Dyan Blacklock,

Publisher of Omnibus Books and Acting Chair of ACLA (Australian Children's Literature Alliance) welcomed everybody. She stood against a backdrop of banners featuring artwork by another member of ACLA, renowned artist and illustrator, and Director of Books Illustrated, Ann James. Magpies were the theme of Ann's Work; a wonderful Aussie icon.

Aunty Josie then gave the traditional Welcome to Country for the Kaurna people. Following that, Dyan introduced another respected and well-known Aussie icon, Noni Hazelhurst, as guest speaker.

Noni gave a speech of passion and drive, highlighting the need for positive change in the world of children and children's books and how we must all work harder for our children and their future. Having two Children's Laureates who will travel widely during their two year tenure, and raise the profile of children's literature and illustration both in the world of media and politics is a welcomed and timely event.

Noni's speech was deeply moving and certainly everyone in the room felt the intensity and sincerity of her words. ACLA will be putting her speech onto their website soon, so watch out for that!

After the Honorable Grace Portolesi formally announced the two Laureates, we were provided with a delicious morning tea. Outside, in the grounds of Carclew, we were entertained by the children from Kaurna Plains school who danced traditional dances and then Alison read her picture book, Noni the Pony (and jokingly thanked the key speaker for loaning her the name!) and Boori told stories - which featured didgeridoos, snot and flies!

I came away uplifted and joyous.

During these difficult times of publishing uncertainties, here was something of substance, support and hope.

Thank you to all involved with ACLA and best wishes to Alison and Boori!

word-pictures and poems

2011-10-05T20:23:00.000-07:00

word-pictures and poems

I love the excitement and anticipation that those two connected words create! I’d put them in the same category as the words surprise and serendipity!

But sometimes, word-pictures need a little teasing-out!

I prefer to read poetry to children without first showing the illustration or displaying it as I read from the magazine or book.

I want the children to listen to the poem.

Afterwards I have several questions.

Did this poem remind you of anything?

What were your thoughts as I read the poem?

What word-pictures came into your mind?

During a recent school visit, I read a published poem of mine, called Dancing Cat.

I held back from showing the picture, explaining that the illustration is only one person’s way of seeing the picture. I wanted the children to appreciate the fact that their own word-pictures were equally valid before offering another image. However, I also added that an illustration could also expand thoughts and ideas as well as displaying different media or techniques.

When I asked about word-pictures, one boy said he imagined a cat leaping in the air – which happens in the poem. It was a bald comment, without much detail. By gently questioning further, I was able to encourage the boy to offer more information. In the end, he said the cat had long brown-and white fur that swished and swayed as it leapt. Beautiful!

I heaped praise on the boy’s expanded comments, suggesting that now I could see the idea of his imagined cat, because of the word-pictures he gave back to me.

By now there were plenty of hands in the air. Here’s a few of mind-pictures from others in the class.

A pure white cat in a tutu leaping from a brick wall.

A brown cat in a pirate’s outfit.

A cat with fluffy black fur and eyes like stars.

It excited me to see how much richer the children’s mind-pictures were when they allowed themselves to offer extra details.

The teasing-out had paid off!

Meow!

camel trek

2011-08-11T00:57:00.001-07:00

And it is indeed a trek.

But a wonderful one, which is about to come to a halt in a leafy, semi-suburban park.

From my research into my award-winning information book, Hoosh! Camels in Australia,came the idea for a picture book about a very snotty camel, called Columbia. Gabe Cunnett was the illustrator for Columbia Sneezes! and he created a most unusual, bespeckled camel with an enormous hump.

Some years later, the Onkaparinga Council in SA deemed Columbia worthy enough a character to be added as a metal sculpture to their wondrous Storyboard Walk, set up in Thalassa Park, Aberfoyle Park.

Thanks to the two sculptors involved, Dani Gacesa McLean and Trevor Wren, I now have more details about the project. Columbia will be constructed from 12mm thick mild steel and the palm tree leaves will be treated with a copper surface finish.

The palm tree will be 3m in height and Columbia will be just over 2m in height.

Columbia will join many other storybook characters in the park, and I hope all the children and adults who wander down the path will enjoy seeing the very sneezy, snotty camel!

Columbia will be unveiled to a huge fanfare of waving handkerchiefs on Saturday, September 3, 2011.

Threes in writing

2011-06-27T16:58:00.000-07:00

I love threes in writing.

Threes in lists. Threes as an action builder. Threes to mount suspense.

It’s all so satisfying.

First the set-up. Then the body. Then the climax.

Here’s a set up of threes from my latest ms, called What a Mouthful!

‘And courage and guts is also what it takes to stand up in front of hundreds of kids who have to sit and listen to you. From up on stage, you can hear their razor-like minds sharpening for the kill. Their elbows hovering to nudge each other. Their mouths bent, ready to guffaw into their chests.’

And here a three photos, with no apparent connection, apart from the fact that they are part of my writing and reading world.

How could I promote my passion of adults reading to kids?

Easy. Have a sticker made for the back windscreen of my car! Apart from promoting my website, it states Please read to your children every day!

Here’s Rosanne Hawke and myself in Port Augusta, South Australia. I launched her latest book, Taj and the Great Camel Trek, and because we’ve both written a number of camel books, we’re now known asThe Cameladies!

This dapper chap was snapped at the Kernewek Lowender, a festival in Yorke Peninsular, South Australia, celebrating the culture of early Cornish miners, who left Cornwall in the 1800’s to work in the copper mines. Notice the papier mache ‘hard-hat’ and the candle for light in the tunnels. I have researched and written a novel called Mined-Out (or Arthur Underground)about this period. It’s out at publishers at the moment.

Poetry Workshop

2011-04-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

Recently I ran poetry workshops for classes of schoolchildren from Year 3 – 7, as part of cultural program and competition called The Wacky, Sticky, Soaky, Flowy Thing, devised by SA Water, the State Library and the State Art Gallery.

My brief was to encourage kids to write and enter poems based on the theme of water.

I was given a free rein – any aspect of water was okay.

The first thing I did was set to work with my scissors – I found over 30 magazine pictures with some connection to water, and cut them out. My plans, however, about how I’d use the visual material as part of the poetry writing process were still hazy.

Tip 1: when trying to sort out problems in your head, start by doing something practical but somehow aligned to the project. I find it helps me get into the topic before I begin the nitty-gritty of planning it.

***

I collected poetry books from my own library shelves, as well as those from other libraries and a couple from the SA Water Education Unit Library. I chose appropriate poems – both mine and others. (see Flood in the Poetry Page of my website: www.janeenbrian.com)

Tip 2: poetry is meant to be read aloud. Provide examples where the class, groups or individuals can do so. Also, the use of examples is vital when discussing poetry – and can also be used as scaffolding for their own poems.

***

As in all writing, but especially in the concentrated, tight form of poetry, use of the senses must be emphasised.

Tip 3: I searched the Internet for Royalty-free water noises. One track provided approximately five minutes of water sounds; trickling streams, rushing rivers, rain on roofs, wild storm and crashing waves.

I thought I’d either use it as a background to the children’s writing or provide it as their only sensory motivator.

***

If you’re using a particular picture as part of a poetry-writing exercise, it needs to be large enough so the class can focus on any details you’re mentioning, or that takes their interest.

Tip 4: photocopy pictures and get them enlarged.

***

After much thinking and sorting, and clarifying a scaffolding process with my friend and writing colleague Lorraine Marwood, I began to devise the six one-and-a-half-hour poetry-writing sessions.

I tend to over prepare!

Tip 5: however, it can take the stress out of the actual session if you have more material than less.

***

One of the writing processes I used involved 5 steps:

1. Brainstorm a personal situation that involved water in any form.

2.Do a fast-write based on the ideas generated in the brainstorm.

3.Underline any phrases or ideas that may potentially become part of the poem.

4.Next set them down in poetry format – leaving the rest of the writing.

5.Shuffle those selected phrase - add, delete or expand to create the first draft of a poem.

I demonstrated.

First I began by brainstorming an idea on the board.

Next I explained my brainstorming and how each phrase was connected to the anecdote I intended using as the basis of the poem – about once being aboard a boat in a fog-bound bay in Hong Kong. I emphasised the sensory aspects, the details, and my feelings in that situation.

I then did a fast-write while the children did their brainstorming.

I held up my rough, scrawled page of fast-write, emphasising that at this stage we were creating a bank of thoughts and mind-images. I showed them how messy my page was. I didn’t stop to rub out or correct or check spelling. I wrote as I remembered - as clearly as I could.

They then did their fast-write while I began to underline any phrase or line that drew my interest. Later I wrote up several lines to show how I might begin the poem.

***

Several days later I looked at the writing I’d done at the workshop and decided, for my own interest, to proceed with the fog poem. Many drafts later I finished. Here it is:

Whiskery mist

Island boat moored in bay

breathing in-and-out grey morning tide

oily water licks its sides

while whiskery mist slips and slopes

down gangplank.

Island boat putters

sputters, nosing through

the dim shroud

of sea-meets-sky

a great soft cat with hushed paws

blurring, furring

furring, blurring till

a shriek rips the mist

fog horn

warns

danger!

Island boat heaves about, crouches

moors again

breathing in-and-out grey morning tide until

slowly

the great soft cat stretches and

slinks away.

-0-

A Rare and Wonderful Thing - A Children's Bookshop!

2011-02-16T15:35:00.000-08:00

Recently, while holidaying in Tasmania, I discovered a Children's Bookshop! Set in beautiful Launceston, Stories Bookshop has been lovingly created by Damian Morgan and partners, from an old warehouse. Because of its size, it had space to create 'rooms' which were both intriguing and beckoning.

While there I had a lovely chat with Damian who was both enthusiastic and realistic about the bookshop. As an ex-teacher and a published children's author, Damian, the bookseller, wears many hats and is concerned that three other bookshops in Tasmania have recently. He also doesn't carry as much stock as he did several years ago. Perhaps it's the digital changeover that's causing the downfall - or, more likely, he believes, the cheaper sales through internet.

As we chatted over coffee - yes, there's a cafe in the shop as well! - I couldn't help but be buoyed up by Damian's exuberance and positive attitude. Changes are afoot. We all know that, but somehow, I think that Damian and his crew will stay afloat to provide many more years of wonderful service to buyers and browsers of children's books!

ps. The sales desk is a boat!

Rhythm, rhythm, everybody’s got a bit of rhythm!

2010-12-13T17:42:00.000-08:00

Rhythm, rhythm, everybody's got a bit of rhythm!

What is it about a beat or a pulse that makes our fingers click, our head nod and our toes tap? And more to the point why do some people happily clap and dance as children and then suddenly stop, the rhythm in his/her body seeming to have evaporated? Is it that in our Western in order to be allowed to dance or sing or move creatively.

As an author or illustrator, were you aware of rhythm in your childhood? Did you clap and dance spontaneously and did your body movements flow on easily to language with the simple, enjoyable rhythms of nursery rhymes and beyond?

I believe that our inner bodies are like the sea, full of fluidity and movements, ebbing and flowing. We are made up of approximately 70% of water, so I feel that we are born to move rhythmically and that that movement may later affect our patterns of reading and writing.

While I haven’t conducted tests to prove this, I know that back in the days when I was teaching and used improvised movement in drama with my class, the energy that was released by the children’s movements often translated into a release of their free writing. And even further, the style of music played or enjoyed, often affected the style of their writing if we wrote immediately afterwards. Strong drumbeats produced strong, thudding pieces with short, tense sentences, whereas slower, more tranquil music seemed to produce more lyrical writing.

In a supermarket once, I saw a little boy happily tapping on a cardboard box, his eyes shining and his body moving to his own created patterns. Up came his father and ordered him to stop. ‘It’s not a drum!’ he added crushingly. And the understated message to his young son . . .? You guessed it.

But here’s a different scenario.

Recently I returned home from a two-week holiday in Buenos Aires and while there, chanced to see a night street parade, only a block away from where we were staying.

Hundreds of drummers in different groups, all dressed in bright colourful outfits drummed and sweated their way along the cobblestones, led by men waving flags as large as sails and women wearing attire ranging from African cloth swathing to feathered bikinis; all dancing hard and happily for block after block.

Standing there, watching, camera poised, I could feel my blood begin to pulse until I could no longer keep still. I began to dance along with everybody else! As each drumming group passed by, bystanders followed, dancing and moving in a free, joyful, uninhibited way; children, adults and old folks alike.

It was obvious that the people were blissfully responding to the beat and rhythm that had been part of their cultural life for as long as they could remember, whether it be in music or dancing.

Let’s take that thought back to childhood. Hopefully, babies and toddlers grow up in an environment where there are songs and stories, but now, there are also lovely storytime/playtime/rhymetime sessions held at public libraries. At these sessions, toddlers independently clap and move to the rhythm of spoken nursery rhymes or action rhymes, while adults gently encourage the babies with their movements - singing or speaking as they do so.

Surely this provides an early awareness of the connection of movement and the spoken word and, moreover, might also set the basis for our children’s future love and enjoyment of poetry and the rhythm of literature.

And, if that is so, then let’s make certain we continue to embrace those rhythms at every opportunity- freely and joyfully!

Fast-track to the emotions

2010-11-02T15:35:00.000-07:00

I've recently enjoyed Deb Abdela's latest book, Grimsdon: a fantasy, set within a theme of climate control. Deb's work is rich in imagination and imagery as is the other book I constantly dip into - Lorraine Marwood's latest poetry anthology entitled A Ute Picnic. It is spare and powerful writing which has the ability to fast-track to the emotions.

A couple of weeks ago I spent time at a High School, speaking to Year 8 and 9 students. I read them one of my poems, called Flood and asked if any student could relate to the sense of powerlessness that a flood wreaked. One girl raised her hand and began to speak simply and clearly about how she felt when her parents said they were not only leaving their home, but their country, to migrate to Australia. Suddenly she began to cry. After a few moments, she regained control, told us she was happy here and didn't yearn to go back to her old home, but the memory of her as a young child and the sense of powerlessness had been triggered by the words in the poem.

The following day, I found myself in a similar situation - choking back a sob in front of a class of 40 Year 9's.

I was about to read a poem entitled Only Then, and was describing the background. It was at an Anzac dawn service many years ago. One man, bent with age and wearing medals which hung on clothes now seemingly too big for him, stood alone. He seemed almost too feeble to be there on that chill morning. But then came the first note of the bugle. The Last Post. From where I stood I saw the effort needed for his fingers to curl into fists, his arms to straighten and for him to stand as tall as possible - in the memory of those fallen.

It was at that point in the telling, that the memory of that man and his simple but respectful actions overwhelmed me and for a moment or two I struggled to go on. But the room was utterly silent. The atmosphere had changed too, as I read the poem, and after it. I felt I had truly shared something special.

Perhaps I had.

sheep food . . . and more!

2010-10-05T22:40:00.001-07:00

question: What food do you have at a launch which involves sheep?

answer: Laaamb-ingtons, of course!

Check out some pictures of the recent Victorian launch/celebration of my book Shirl and the Wollomby Show, illustrated stunningly by Kat Chadwick. The event was held at Readings, Carlton to coincide with the Royal Melbourne Show and was launched by Ann James, illustrator and co-director of Books Illustrated.

two naughty lambs!

Janeen, Ann and Kat presenting.

two little listeners!

the grand Knit-Off!

the Shirl cut-outs in the shop window

The red, hot questions . . .Charlie and the Red Hot Chilli Pepper

2010-09-11T17:33:00.000-07:00

Hello and a big, red hot welcome to my dear writing friend and colleague, Sheryl Gwyther, whose Pearson chapter book,Charlie and the Red Hot Chilli Pepper, has just been released. It's a great story with plenty of problems, humour and determination woven throughout and perfect for the chapter reading age group!

I wanted to ask Sheryl more about the book and her writing in general.

Can you tell us what was the initial trigger for this story, and what are three other related ideas you used to help create or develop it?

That’s an easy question, Janeen. I love the look of chillies – their varied shapes and colours and gorgeous glossy skins, and I like growing them. Only problem is, I’m allergic to eating them!

When I decided to write a story about someone who was crazy about growing and eating chillies, young Charlie jumped into my head and the story took off.

What was your method in working on this book? Was it mainly plot or character driven?

I did have a strong vision about what Charlie was like, but I also had to come up with a plot that would keep the reader wanting to know how Charlie would solve her dilemma. Would she and her Habanero win with all the obstacles put in her way? Then it was a matter of imagining lots of situations where chillies could cause problems.

Were there any surprises that happened along the writing journey?

You bet your guacamole boots there was, Janeen! When I first began to plan this story, I didn’t realise how much fun it would be actually writing it. Charlie was such a strong character in my head, sometimes it was like I was thinking through her head, not mine. Very surprising!! I also got a very big surprise when a possum ate a chilli from the FIERY Habanero plant in my garden. I didn’t know possums ate chillies! Maybe that possum got such a shock it never ate a chilli again.

I learned a number of things while reading the story; for example, milk cools the mouth after eating hot, spicy food. Did you find you needed to do a lot of research?

I love researching for all my stories – partly because I enjoy researching and mostly because it’s good to know the ‘ins and outs’ of the subject matter – whether it’s about dinosaur fossils out in western Queensland (in my novel, Secrets of Eromanga), or learning to juggle when I wrote Princess Clown (I failed at the fourth ball toss), or some amazing things I found out about chillies while writing Charlie & the Red Hot Chilli Pepper.

Did you know that birds can eat the hottest chillies possible with no ill effects? Why? Because their internal system can cope with the chilli’s capsaicin (burn-factor chemical), the chilli seed passes through their gullet quickly and is dispersed further from the mother plant ... more chance of survival for the new chilli plants!

Of course, the reason why the chilli is so hot for everything else is to stop it being eaten and destroyed – the seed does not survive in the intestines of all other animals (including humans). Clever chillies! Clearly, my possum thinks he’s a bird.

I love the element of music in the story. Do you find music is an element that appears in your stories, or are there more predominant ‘Sheryl passions’ like art, geology or palaeontology?

Clever you, Janeen, to pick up another one of my passions! Yes, the element of music is present in many of the stories I write, even if I don’t mention it in the story. Music has rhythm, just like words and sentences.

Music also has colour and I like to bring ‘colour’ to stories – that’s the element that keeps a plot and characters interesting to the reader. I play music on my stereo while I write – from classical, to jazz, to Cuban, to rock and Celtic music. Some people need silence to write, I like music!

Charlie and the Red Hot Chilli Pepper is published by Pearson in their new series, Chapters. Tell us what it was like writing for the Educational Market.

I started writing chapter books for the Education Market late last year – it was a pleasant surprise. I’ve had two published for this market so far. No-one in those two publishing houses told me I had to use word-lists, nobody stopped me using longer, more complicated words that would challenge a child (like soufflé and circlet).

The books themselves are professionally produced, and I’m really happy with the end product. And best thing of all, I am delighted to be the author of chapter books – the first ‘real’ books that young readers tackle by themselves.

Princess Clown was the first book I wrote for the education market. Blake published it a month ago and I was thrilled with how it turned out. Sian Naylor’s illustrations are brilliant (and very clever!) and I love their extension activities in the back of the book.

Pearson did a fantastic job with Charlie and the RHCP too. The book’s illustrator, Richard Hoit has captured Charlie’s enthusiastic face and all the pictures are just right for the story. He even got the shape and colour right for the Habanero chilli on the front cover.

Both Charlie and the RHCP and Princess Clown are available from the publishers on the internet. Some schools already have copies and Charlie could also be in some bookshops by now.

I’m having a book launch in October for Charlie and the RHCP in Brisbane – everyone is welcome! It’s at Black Cat Books in Paddington, Brisbane on 22^nd October, 2010, at 6pm. Phone: 07 3367 8777

What are you writing now?

I have several stories 'on the boil'. Three are longer novels and one is a shorter length to suit the 9-10 age group. I'm enjoying writing this story - Fangus Fearbottom is a young vampire who would rather eat bananas than drink blood, so he's having heaps of funny adventures.

I'm hoping to develop it into a series as I have lots of ideas that could cause conflict for poor Fangus (I wonder how he will solve his banana-dilemma?)

Thank you so much for inviting me to talk on your blog, Janeen. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it! If any of your readers would like to know more about writing chapter books, I’ve written a blog on the subject.

Here is the link for it on the Kids Book Review site. http://kids-book-review.blogspot.com/2010/08/guest-post-on-writing-perfectly.html

OTHER LINKS:

Princess Clown http://www.blake.com.au/Gigglers-Blue-2-Princess-Clown-p/9781741646481.htm

Charlie and the Red Hot Chilli Pepper http://www.hi.com.au/bookstore/bmoredetail.asp?idVal=2645/6381/44682

Secrets of Eromanga

http://sherylgwyther4kids.wordpress.com/books/secrets-of-eromanga/

For more information on my writing and art work:

www.sherylgwyther.net

http://sherylgwyther.wordpress.com

http://sherylgwyther4kids.wordpress.com

Thanks Sheryl, for such great answers and best wishes for your terrific book. By the way, I am also a lover of the shape and shine of chillies!

the yellow breezes . . .of poetry

2010-08-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

Many school visits of late and treks around the suburbs and hills reminds me that our native wattle is such a great emblem. What varieties and what blazes of colour.

During my school sessions, I often began using an iddy-biddy poem of mine about wattle. Because it related to the current season, I thought it might help kids become more aware of their environment.

Also it was a fun, interactive way to begin.

The whole poem is:

Yellow breezes

bring the sneezes

all from fluffy, wattle, treeses.

I wrote all but the last three words on the board and left the kids curious, while I talked about yellow breezes. Can we see breezes? Can we see the wind? If not, what can we see? And why a colour breeze? At that point some worked out that wattle trees were somehow involved. I then spoke about choosing the right words for the job. How to tighten the line of a poem by connecting only two main words to create a word picture.

We then moved on to bring the sneezes; the meaning of which they worked out fairly easily. Then rhyme was mentioned.

The last part was interesting. We tapped or clapped the rhythm of the whole poem and I emphasised that we’d need words that were consistent with that pattern. What words could we use? What would be appropriate to the context of the poem? If they gave me a one syllable word, for example, fun, I wrote it up, and read the last line using that word, so the children could hear the difference in beat, before asking for another suggestion. I urged them also to consider the meaning of the poem.

Finally they completed the first two words, fluffy and wattle, but became stuck on the last word. I talked about playing with words and how you can make up words as long as the meaning is not too obscure. When someone offered treeses, there was a mixture of reactions. Some children latched on quickly, others not so fast. But lots of, ‘Ahh! I get it’ or ‘I was going to say that!’

I write both rhyming and non-rhyming poetry, but through this little poem I was able to talk about quite a number of aspects of writing; keeping it tight and simple, using spare, important adjectives, and breaking a rule or two - just for fun!

the tandem camel blog

2010-08-16T15:52:00.000-07:00

Link to Dee White's blog http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com/ to read about the research of my two camel books, Hoosh! Camels in Australia and Columbia Sneezes!

Thanks Dee, for hosting me.

Don't forget to check out my camel blog; . . .then and afterwards

. . .then and afterwards

2010-08-16T00:52:00.000-07:00

Every book has its own story. The one the author intended to be read. But what are also fascinating are the countless mini-stories that occur as you, the author, create that one book.

Creating books lend itself to all sorts of serendipitous happenings, in all forms. Have you ever discovered a piece of information that seems to have been sitting around simply waiting for you to unearth it? Has there been an odd comment uttered innocently in an everyday conversation that somehow gave you a whole new slant on your book? Or have you discovered an object that evoked an idea - or was perfect in some other way? Claire Saxby once found a soft toy, blue whale in the gutter. She’d searched seriously in shops and other venues for just such a thing to use in an activity for her picture book, There Was an Old Sailor, but had had no success. What are the chances of that happening?

These mini-stories are endlessly fascinating to us as writers and readers. They’re like barnacles that adhere, one by one, to the main jetty pole, adding to its shape and texture.

But equally intriguing is what happens to our books afterwards? I don’t necessarily mean at the launch or during those rigorous inroads of self-promotion. I mean the ones you don’t expect, the the surprises that add another layer or two to your fully completed written book.

Perhaps you never expected your book to turn up written in Braille? Or that your story would become a film. Or that a letter arrives from a stranger, explaining that your book was the first one their child had read from beginning to end.

My camel books, the award-winning, information book Hoosh! Camels in Australia (ABC Books, 2005) and the picture book Columbia Sneezes! (Omnibus/Scholastic, 2008, illustrated by Gabe Cunnett) now have several such legacies. As such, they have consciously or subconsciously enriched the book for me.

They’ve also demonstrated that while each book itself is tangible and complete, they still pulse with possibilities.

Let me share a couple of afterwards stories with you.

During the research of Hoosh!, I was extremely grateful to the knowledge of Peter Seidel, Executive Officer of the Central Australian Camel Industry Association. He answered zillions of my layman type questions by phone or email, met me in Adelaide for an interview and provided me with industry information and photos. After the book’s publication, Peter proudly offered Hoosh! as a business gift, to many of his clients in US, Japan and Saudi Arabia, buyers of fine, disease-free Australian camels for the prestigious camel racing circuit.

Hoosh! also found a place in a display case in the South Australian Museum travelling exhibition called Australia’s Muslim Cameleers; Pioneers of the Inland, 1860s – 19303. The exhibition has travelled to many capital and regional cities in Australia since 2007 and is still on the move!

A copy of Hoosh! was placed in a little travelling bag, organised by the Quorn School Community Library, to celebrate ‘Reading @round the Region in 2006. The bag also contained other camel bits and pieces such as the picture book, Little Humpty, photos from Pichi Richi Camel Tours and a pattern to knit a little camel, like Clive! This ‘camel bag’ was sent to outback and remote schools and libraries in the far north of SA for children and parents to use in their reading time.

In 2006, Hoosh! brought home an Honour Award in the Eve Pownall section for Information Books in the Children’s Book Council of Australia Awards.

Later young children devised a song with a string of verses, each including a fact discovered while reading Hoosh!

To the tune of ‘Go, Alice, Go!’ the first verse is:

Hoosh, the camel, has one hump.

Go, dromedary, go,

Boom! Boom! Boom!

(lots of fun, especially if you swing your rear from side to side like a camel in the last line!)

And from Hoosh! evolved the picture book, Columbia Sneezes! It grew from a story devised by my grandson and I about a little soft toy camel I’d bought while doing fieldwork at The Voyages Camel Cup in Alice Springs.

Columbia spawned an amazing camel construction made entirely of balloons at the CLIC (Children’s Literature in the Centre) Festival in 2008! And a permanent sculpture is to be made of Columbia and set in a Storyboard Walk in a park in South Australia.

None of these eventualities could’ve been foreseen. But what joy it is to see your work remain malleable and to appear in various ways and venues previously unimagined.

There’s another bonus too. I’ve looked over those happy legacies again. And do you know, they could spark off a few self-promotional ideas for other books!

What are some of your special during and afterwards stories?

a picnic of poetry

2010-08-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

Today we welcome poet and children’s author, Lorraine Marwood. Lorraine’s recent poetry highlights have been the publication of the verse novels Ratwhiskers and Me, and Star Jumps. Star Jumps is certainly leaping high! It’s a Notable in the 2010 CBCA Awards, shortlisted for the Speech Pathology Awards and more recently, shortlisted in the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. But today we celebrate Lorraine’s latest publication from Walker Books; an anthology called A Ute Picnic – and other Australian Poems.

Whose idea was it to create this anthology, yours or the publishers? Both, this collection has taken awhile, a few years actually. My publisher is a great fan of poetry and that's the spark to ignite a book like this.

I love the title – taken from one of the poems. Does it have any special significance for you?

Yes 'A Ute Picnic' was one of my first prose/poetry ventures. It was first published in School Magazine and was the forerunner for the style of my latest verse novels 'Ratwhiskers and Me' and 'Star jumps.' It also explored a real occurrence on a farm- during hay harvest when a ute picnic would have to be taken to my husband several kilometres away- no corner stores way out in the country.

We experience many senses when we read your poems. How many senses are in play when you are first collecting ideas?

Now that's an interesting question! I love to find an atmosphere, a perspective that is uniquely mine and the senses provide a way into this especially sound- I also add a sixth sense- emotion- or personal involvement with the topic of the poem- this ensures there's some emotional content for the reader also.

In a recent interview about verse novels with Sally Murphy, you spoke of ‘propelling the bare bones of the story.’ Your poems are rich bare bones. Tell us how you pare down.

I also wanted to be an artist (as well as an author) when I was younger... so making an art work with words is very important. Keeping to the essentials of poetry like strong details, strong nouns and verbs helps paint that spare richness, then it becomes part of my style, my poetic voice. My family often tells me that I say some strange things- its the way my brain works!

In Star Jumps you wanted children to experience the reality of farm life, as opposed to the romantic version. Were you thinking in those terms with this collection as well? Tell us how the collection evolved.

A lot of these poems come from fragments of my writing journal written over a decade and more- I really wish I'd started my journalling a long time before that- but life was hectic on a dairy farm with six kids and I suppressed my writing for so long. Yes I wanted the real touches of life on a farm to come through, the real grit, the real epiphanies, the real thread of umbilical chord tied from farming family to the seasons of dairy farm. One really observes weather, insect life, plant life, changes in a detailed way when one's livelihood and lifestyle are intertwined with the land.

Some poems were just sitting there in my note books, waiting to be plucked- they needed dusting down, shining up to make them convey their own message- others were written from a few words which immediately re-evoked the situation for me- for example- the poem called 'A Joke' was a real incident that happened- well all the poems in this collection are real life incidents.

What is your favourite place for writing poems from your notes or ideas? Now it’s at the kitchen table- wherever inspiration happens- after writing whenever I could with a big family- I can nearly write anywhere. Well nearly.

I must add that the dedication for this book goes to my great writing friends Janeen and Claire- both poets and both great encouragers along the twists and turns of the writing landscape.

Thanks Janeen for such perceptive questions and the opportunity to come and visit your blog.

Thanks Lorraine. We wish you well with this next wonderful, poetry offering. I am a great fan of your work!

begun but not finished

2010-07-06T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to my first blog post. Hope you enjoy it and visit often.

At a recent children's literary event in Adelaide, a boy told me about his ten stories. At least he'd begun ten stories. None were completed. What could he do? Does this scenario sound familiar? How many of us begin with a white fire idea only to have it fizzle out or us lose interest? What to do indeed. It was obvious the boy had set a pattern for himself. He'd grabbed something and taken it to a point and no further. My advice - because he asked for it- was to finish at least one piece. It didn't matter whether it was good, bad or ugly. It was the completion that was vital. Without giving a piece a shape he wouldn't be able to review it, rewrite it, or decide not to continue with it. I told him about bum glue; how we sometimes have to sit tight and work through the hard parts of writing. If we get up from the seat or give up all the time, we're going to be left feeling unsatisfied. That's not to say, we can't have lots of ideas in notebooks or waiting in line on computers. That's different.

I hope the boy now only has nine story beginnings.

What do you think?