A Kids' Year Series in Simplified Chinese

The A Kids’ Year series has been translated into Simplified Chinese and I’m over the moon.   

Starting with An Aussie Year in 2013 (EK Books), the series is still going strong. Knowing Chinese children can now explore these countries through the eyes of children their age, is a joy for me. We spent four years in Beijing when our kids were young, and I developed a real connection to Chinese children during our time there.  

The books come in a paperback set with a collective sleeve. It also includes a concertina scrapbook for kids to draw and write stories in – perhaps of their own traditions and customs – and a booklet featuring some of the facts from the series, including our own ANZAC Day.  

The production values are beautiful and I’m so grateful to Anouska Jones and EK Books and their rights team for securing this publication. And of course, the books were a team effort, with amazing illustrations by Tina Snerling (Lukas).

Click here to see a video of the books.

Plume Bookplates! Free download

Plume is bringing back the bookplate! He’s made one for Festival Seeker, but also Global Nibbler and World Explorer!

If you’d like a free pdf download of each one, just click the Festival Seeker image above.

Happy Pluming!

Plume Teachers' Notes!

Mega thanks to the amazing Tye Cattanach for this incredible teachers' notes for Plume: World Explorer. Seriously, they are some of the best I've ever read. Children will be totally inspired by these fab ideas.

Teachers, librarians, homeschoolers, parents and carers - check them out by clicking the image above, then clicking on READ MORE.

I Heart the World shortlists in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards 2021

Feeling kind of a whole lot more than a little bit euphoric [insert countless synonyms here!] to be shortlisted in the NSW Premier's Literary Awards for 2021 for I Heart the World - my heart may even be melting. This is for the Patricia Wrightson prize for children's literature. 

I'm so grateful to the State Library of New South Wales, the esteemed judges and to my amazing team at Hardie Grant Travel. We worked so hard on this book, and for me, this shortlisting is absolutely shared by my publisher Melissa Kayser, production editor Megan Cuthbert, editor Alice Barker and the rest of the team. 

Huge congrats to talents Bren MacDibble, Amelia Mellor, Sean Williams, Mike Barry and Martin Ed Chatterton for also shortlisting for the Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature. Honoured to be sharing this space with you! You can read the judges' comments for all titles right here.

 

 

a wee wintry update

Hello, peeps, how are you travelling? Are you keeping snug in our southern states?

If you are in Melbourne, I'm sending love. What a completely crappy time. I'm a Melbourne girl and have a half-tonne of friends and colleagues and family there - it's all so heartbreaking. How I wish I could sweep you all up and deposit you in the Maldives till Christmas.

It's raining here in Canberra, and this is when I'm most happy. It ever confounds me when people say they don't like it.

For me, as a child in perennially inclement Hobart, rain was comfort. It meant mud and earthworms, pink and wriggling on the surface before the inevitable deep dive. It meant a thriving veggie patch and an Irish-green lawn. It meant a bounty of peaches and plums and apricots on our trees.

Inside the house, it was foggy windows to paint on, warm spirals of baking from the kitchen, the cottony scent of mum's iron, thick socks and flannelette PJs - and any excuse to draw, craft, read, play with lego or dolls. Any excuse to snuggle.

Such deep comfort.

interview with @faithandflorals

If you have a deep fondness for books and tea and flowers and gardening, you're going to love - and I mean LOVE - the Instagram feed @faithandflorals. Leigh has crafted an exquisite visual tableau of flat-lay imagery and garden scenes to send your heart aflutter. Each one is so carefully considered and crafted - they are artwork in themselves.

Leigh recently contacted me about a giveaway for I Heart the World, and I was delighted to answer some interview questions, too. Don't you love it when interview questions surprise you? and delight you? because they're so different? I loved responding to these - and even better when each one was crafted into its own striking image. See them, below.

I Heart the World illustration roughs

In just two weeks, I Heart the World will hit stores, taking kids on a voyage around our globe, visiting far flung places and discovering our sights, sites, flora, fauna and the deliriously diverse people who inhabit our continents - from the Arctic to Antarctica, from Paris to Peru.


While you wait for this armchair voyage, here is a peek at the many illustrations that went into the book. I produced over 1000 separate images for my Australia Map and added another few hundred for the World Map.


Many of these illustrations were included in I Heart the World but there are many more new ones - probably another few hundred. Yes, this book is BIG! Literally and figuratively.


You'll see here the watercolour images I created before scanning and finishing in Photoshop, then draping over the pages of the book. Many of the sheets here has illustrations on the back, too, and this is only some of the grand total. I could perhaps make a carpet with them all.


Hope you enjoy this peruse, and look out for I Heart the World in stores soon. You can also order online right here.

Happy peeking...!

I Heart the World COVER REVEAL!

I Heart the World. Because I do. Travel. Diversity. Culture. Flora and Fauna. Food. It's all here, in my first massive format book.

An Aussie Year / A Kiwi Year in paperback

After a fabulous 6 years in print, the bestselling An Aussie Year is now out in a luscious paperback version... with an updated cover in a divine Outback Orange! It will be so lovely to see the book in the hands of new generation of little ones now aged 6 (and up).

A Kiwi Year is also now in paperback with a delectable kiwifruit green cover. Both updates made by my gorgeous friend and A Kids' Year series illustrator, Tina Lukas (once Snerling).

I still have such a fondness for this series (there's also Canada, England, Scotland, Texas and New York), and have ever been inspired with the way children react to the kids featured in each book, and their localised year, from events and festivals to traditions, food, games, toys and everyday life in the place they call home.

Look out for the books in a shop near you, or online, or ... win a copy! I have to sets of these books to give away. Just head to my Instagram account to enter! Hurry, ends Sunday 3 November 2019.

week four of my May Gibbs Children's Literature Trust Fellowship - A Productive, Creative Outpouring

My final week in Adelaide was my most productive yet. I called it 'A Productive, Creative Outpouring' in the Fellows' Journal. I really put my head down and finished all the stories for my junior fiction series. I also sketched up some more line drawings and did a little more on my ABC book.

I made a point of walking a lot, too, snapping some more photos of stunning local architecture. This block of flats, below... heavenly. It had a history, complete with plaque, but I forgot to take a photo of it, so can't tell you much more. But couldn't you imagine this as a grand old family home with picnics on the lawn?

week three of my May Gibbs Children's Literature Trust Fellowship - Hello! Inspiration!

Week three! Getting there! If you're wondering about the Kate Greenaway book in the image above (who wouldn't!?), it was part of a silent auction of beautiful books during the MGCLT High Tea (read about it here). The lovely Mary Wilson, Patron, agreed to allow me to buy it after I'd got distracted and didn't put a bid in! How unusual of me to get distracted. Anyway--I adore this book.

Also in the image is a massive chocolate frog from Haigh's (from the Trust), and a lovely gin and tonic inspired by my hotelier daughter and her adoration for beautifully balanced cocktails. It has orange and rosemary in it. The orange is freshly squeezed from the orange tree outside the little cottage I stayed in. There's also gum blossom branches from the High Tea--they lasted until the end of my stay; I adored them. You'll also notice a pine cone--one of many I collected from the lawns of a nearby park, and the Fellows' Journal, which I wrote in, drew in and read from cover to cover, marvelling at the experiences of my previous Fellows--all, incidentally, with major similarities to my own journey. So very interesting.

In the journal, I called week three 'Hello! Inspiration!'

May Gibbs Children's Literature Trust High Tea + Scotch College visit

We all have those events that will stay for us a lifetime, and during my MGCLT Creative Time residency in Adelaide, I had one of those.

The gorgeous women at the Trust organised a beautiful high tea in honour of my Fellowship (and in celebration of May Gibbs!) at the Lenzerheide Restaurant in Hawthorn. Around 60 of us sipped champagne and gathered in the sun-strewn conservatory for a divine high-tea style lunch.

The MGCLT Chair, Julie Wells, introduced me, then I spoke about both May and my Mamie journey. It was a bit of an emotional speech and what a thrill to have fellow May Gibbs-adorers in the room, nodding and smiling and sighing as I spoke. I signed copies of Mamie afterwards, and had some beautiful conversations, including one woman who made me cry! (in a good way).

Trust Patron Mary Wilson closed the proceedings, and I presented her with an original watercolour--one of the versions of Mamie (before I decided on the final version for the book). This one (pictured above) is much more traditional in style, and includes gumnuts and gum blossoms. The piece will be housed in the Burrow residency in Norwood.

It was amazing to catch up with and meet people I'd only ever heard about over the years. Also loved seeing fellow author/illustrators Janeen Brian and Sally Heinrich. It was also a joy to have my friend Jane Brummitt and a group of her friends there to share in this special day.

Pictures speak a thousand words, so I'll wrap up this beautiful event with some photos, showcasing just how lovely and memorable it was. Thank you to the ladies at MGCLT.  What a joy it was.

week two of my May Gibbs Children's Literature Trust Fellowship - Hitting My Stride

My MGCLT Creative Time Fellowship gained momentum in week two. In the Fellows' Journal, I called it 'hitting my stride'. And I did. Much of that striding was performed in local cafés and can I just say the coffee is GOOD in Adelaide. My favourite spots were the Lion Hotel, First Pour (where my junior fiction series magically poured forth--'scuse the pun) and St Louis, all in North Adelaide. Oh, and the Art Gallery of South Australia's café in the city. Below is my view at the window at First Pour. I always sat here.

It was a much busier week, with lots of skittling around, working on several things including a new idea for an alphabet book. I collect ABC books, and creating one has been on my bucket list for about eighty-five years. I didn't want to just 'do one'. The right idea had to appear. And it did. Below is a peek at one of the images from the book, and I worked on a few more during my residency.

week one of May Gibbs Children's Literature Trust Fellowship - Dithering 101

I'm baaaack! Where to begin? This Week One post will likely be all over the shop--I just have so much to tell you. It was the most unexpected month away, and of course--it went in a gumnut heartbeat.

I've been wading though a million photos and I'm still not unpacked. It's already 2 December and there's nary a Christmas bauble in sight in our house (quelle horreur!). I'm melting the butter in a ray of afternoon sunshine as I type, because my annual Christmas cake is two months late.

Since arriving home yesterday, I've cuddled and yabbered with my kids, performed repotting surgery on two fiddle leaf figs, put on three loads of washing (ironically, most of it not mine), walked straight past the mountain of ironing without batting an eyelid (I'm a changed woman), picked up a custom-made gift for my dear friend Sylvia, drank champagne with my husband in celebration of signing for my first junior fiction series, got a heavenly night's sleep, and have completed a flurry of 'omgihaveboughtnoxmasgifts' online shopping (feeling awfully guilty, I'm committing to shopping local for the rest).

This afternoon I'm finishing the Christmas cake and prepping the goodies for tomorrow's Mamie (author copies were waiting for me when I got home!) window installation at Harry Hartog bookstore. Then I'm meeting my dear friend Sylvia (she is leaving me for another town) for coffee.

Australia map--the entire thing!

Okay, can't wait a moment longer. Here's the entire Australia map! (Hardie Grant Travel, Dec 2017.)

I hope enjoyed this peek at my latest dream project. It's one of those endeavours I didn't want to end.

Keep an eye out for the map in shops and online, in time for Christmas.

If you would like some close-ups, see...

Queensland
Northern Territory and South Australia

Australia map peek II

Today I thought we could head over to the Northern Territory, for a peek at my Australia map (Hardie Grant Travel, Dec 2017). From honey ants to dilly bags, bush tomatoes and sacred sites, this is a territory of vast beauty and cultural significance.

Then, I thought we could meander south...

...to South Australia. From the Painted Desert to vineyards, lofty ranges, the Nullarbor Plain and the vast Southern Ocean, this is yet another state of extremes.

Stay tuned for a peek at the entire thing!

See...
Queensland
Northern Territory and South Australia
The entire map!

a dream project - Australia map!

We all have dream projects, do we not? And sometimes they are curious things. For me, it's been a Christmas book, a map, an ABC book, a book about balloons, among others. Don't know why it's been these particular things; it just has.

This year, the magical dream project pixies fluttered in from a nearby wood, and granted two creative wishes--and one of them was a map.

A map! Hyperventilating.

This one is called Australia and it was some delightful journey, traversing--yet again--our big, beautiful land, exploring and learning even more about this incredibly diverse continent. I worked closely with the amazing Emily from Hardie Grant Travel to create this enormous--nearly 1.5 metres wide!--wall map. And I loved each and every minute. Very soon I'll be working on the packaging design, for a December 2017 publication.

Created with ink, watercolour and digital artwork, the map features flora, fauna, icons, sights and sites, along with Indigenous rock art sites and shipwrecks. There's also a key with over 250 labels, and fun facts dotted around in yellow spots.

I'm delighted to share the map with you, starting with our beautiful Sunshine State, Queensland. I'll take you through a peek at a few states, with a final glimpse at the entire map.

Huge thanks to commissioning editor Melissa Kayser for approaching me with this truly divine project. A major tick on the Dream Project list.

See...

Northern Territory and South Australia
The entire map!

A Kiwi Year/A Canadian Year gadding about the globe

in Little Angel magazine

It's so lovely to see A Kiwi Year and A Canadian Year gadding about the interweb, scaling snow-covered mountains and hopping trout-laden streams. Seems kids everywhere are as enamoured as Tina Snerling and I when it comes to travel, exploring new places, and the joys and mind-expansion of multiculturalism.

Here are some of the jaunts the books have taken. Thank you to everyone for these lovely reviews! I hope your kids enjoy this romp around two of the most incredible countries on earth.

in New Idea magazine

A Canadian Year/A Kiwi Year on Literacy, Families and Learning

A Canadian Year/A Kiwi Year on Kids' Book Review 

A Kiwi Year on The Children's Bookshop, NZ

A Kiwi Year on The Bottom Shelf

Review A Canadian Year/A Kiwi Year on Just So Stories

Review of A Canadian Year on Hip Little One

Review of A Canadian Year/A Kiwi Year on Reading Time

Review of A Canadian Year/A Kiwi Year on In the Good Books

unremarkable moments

You know those magical moments--those really magical moments--that are literally just a moment? A snapshot that stays with you forever, on multiple levels, and elicits an intense flood of emotion where you are sent back in time... you can feel the temperature of the air, the breeze on your skin, the rain on your face, the water lapping around you, the aroma of coffee--it's as though you've been snatched up and tossed back into the past.

I'm not talking about Big Moments like babies being born or plucking choux buns from your wedding cake--I'm talking of unremarkable moments. The ones that seem so enormous because they WERE so unremarkable, yet they hold such magic in them--perhaps because they were a skerrick of time when you were so purely happy. When you were doing nothing more than smiling.

Not thinking. Just being.

Here is one of mine, Paris, 9 January 2013 when Riley threw a balloon (he had found lolling along the street) into the Seine. We had been walking in the rain, crossing the Pont de Sully towards l'Ile Saint-Louis--on the hunt for ice cream, and he just lobbed it into the sky.

It was one of those moments where time stood still. And it was so overwhelmingly beautiful. I don't know why.

It was nothing and it was everything.

Do you know what I mean?

I have others--particularly a time in the ocean off Langkawi Island (Malaysia), floating on my back, staring above at the palm trees swaying overhead and feeling nothing but the present moment. Pure happiness. Nowhere to be. Nothing to think about other than telling myself 'remember this moment, remember this moment'. And I do.

What unremarkable moments do you remember? I would so love to know.

A Scottish, English, New Yorker, Texan Year

It's so lovely to see books 2 through 5 in the A Kids' Year series powering along. These books took a lot of dedication and a lot of work, and a lot of falling in love all over again with these amazing places! Remember, if you can't book a flight to the other side of the world right now, you can always travel through the pages of a book ...

I particularly love these reviews on The Mummy Project:

Scotland and England

Texas and New York

I wonder which two destinations will be next in the series??? Two more out in 2017. Post a guess in the comments below, if you like.