Ned Kelly's head - and my book

Ned Kelly's head may still be missing but my forthcoming, non-fiction picture book, called Meet Ned Kelly,  is well and truly found and identified.

A commission from Random House, the book will be one of a series for 5 - 7 year olds and is due for release next February, 2013.

It's a stunner of a cover, don't you think?

Thanks Matt Abram!

a win for 'picture-poetry-three'

Blue skies. Leafy bowers. Great excitement. It's the Adelaide Writers week and on Saturday 3rd March, the Premier of SA, Jay Weatherill, announced the 10 winners of the 2012 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature.

I was thrilled to win the Carclew Fellowship, a fellowship of $15,000, which goes towards developing three projects; an historical picture book, a picture-poetry book (which Anne Spudvilas will illustrate) and an anthology of children's poems.

ps. I'm the one in black at the front!

when you're out and about . . .

When you’re out and about . . .

When you’re out and about in South Australia, during this year, the National Year of Reading, you might spot two reading icons which, I have great pleasure in sharing, relate to two of my picture books.

One is the now completed metal statue of Columbia camel, plus swaying palm tree, blown by the force of one of Columbia’s sneezes. Derived from Columbia Sneezes! the statue is situated in the Storybook Path in Thalassa Park, Aberfoyle Park, along with other statues including a pelican from Colin Thiele’s Storm Boy and tiled mosaic ‘storyboard’ of Phil Cummings’ Goodness Gracious!

You’ll have to be quicker to notice the other icon. It’s the cover design from my picture poetry book about Australian birds and animals, called Silly Galah! It now decorates the back of The Charles Sturt Library van, which is painted pink and called Pinky!

So if you’re out and about you might just notice one or the other. Either way, it’s a nice reminder that both came from books.

Anyone have any other ‘reading’ spin-offs they could share? They might even be yours!

Author’s note: Columbia Sneezes! was illustrated by Gabe Cunnett and Silly Galah! by Cheryll Johns.

Our two new Children's Laureates!

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

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

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

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.