Plume: Christmas Elf Christmas Party Book Launch!

Well well well - my first book launch in many years. Any excuse to have a Christmas party, I say!

Plume and I hope you can join us at @thebookcowkingston on Sunday 15 October at 11am, to celebrate the fourth book in the Plume series - Plume: Christmas Elf (@hardiegrantbooks).

There will be a book reading and signing, goodie bags and festive mylar balloons for the kids, and a balloon wall and photo props to have your photo taken with Plume - yes, he will be there!

Kids will take home colouring sheets, and there's a lucky door prize of some of the treasures found in the book.

Spots are limited, so RSVP early - follow this link (or search on Eventbrite) to reserve a spot but may I ask my local friends to email the store directly to book a spot because this link has a registration limit of just 25 people. helloATbookcow.com.au

Ho ho ho - it's Christmas in October! Hope to see you there.

May Gibbs' Legacy at the National Centre for Australian Children's Literature

I loved visiting National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature Inc. recently and writing up this blog post on the legacy of May Gibbs at the Centre. Click here to read the entire piece.

Chief Minister's Reading Challenge School Visits 2023

Thanks to Dionne and Nic at the ACT Government Education Directorate for organising my two recent school visits for the ACT Chief Minister's Reading Challenge, and for their hard work every year on this amazing initiative. It's an honour to be an ambassador for the Challenge (since 2016). 

Cover Reveal - Plume: Christmas Elf!

I'm delighted to share the cover for Plume: Christmas Elf, book 4 in the Plume picture book series. I feel this is the most enchanting Plume book of all and I hope it brings a little bit of magic to your family this Christmas.

Out in Australia/New Zealand on 4 October, you can pre-order by clicking the link below. Ho ho ho!

Plume: Christmas Elf (Book 4)
(October 2023, Hardie Grant Explore, hardback: $24.99, 9781741177923)
PRE-ORDER

4 October Aus/NZ
17 October USA + Canada
19 October UK

Plume: Christmas Elf is a sparkly picture book that celebrates the joy and magic of Christmas around the world – all wrapped up with a visit to Santa’s workshop in the North Pole.

It’s Christmas in Antarctica and our favourite travelling penguin is popping with festive excitement. There are gifts to wrap, cards to write, fairy lights to untangle and gingerbread to bake. 

Ava of the Albatross Express is extra busy. The penguins are buying up big, decking their halls with the biggest and best gifts of all. But things go awry when Ava arrives with terrible news. Santa’s workshop is in trouble and toy production has stopped! 

With a little help from his penguin friends, Plume is off to the North Pole. Can he help Santa and make children's wishes come true?

Join the adorable Plume as he decks the ice halls with joy this Christmas. 

The fourth title in Tania McCartney’s fantastical travel series that is the perfect Christmas gift for children aged 4 to 7 years, and everyone else, too.

#plumethepenguin on social media. 

Wildlife Compendium of the World

Just one week till Wildlife Compendium of the World publishes in Australia and New Zealand. Click the cover above for more info, including dates for US/Can and the UK. I'm so proud of this book. I hope you and the children in your life love learning more about our incredible faunal world.

Dorrie Window is GO!

Dorrie window is go!

Huge thanks to Harry Hartog Bookseller Woden Westfield for this superb space, yet again. Dorrie and Blinky feel so at home here among the glorious book and gifts!

Thanks to Caitlin and Jemima for helping me sort this install. And to Emma at HarperCollins Children's Books Australia for sorting the image printing. Ever thanks to my divine publisher Lisa Berryman HarperCollins and editor Evie Tonelli (now publisher!) for this beautiful Dorrie journey.

I’ve left some signed copies of the book instore, so do pop in if you’d like one. Or seven.

See more about Dorrie right here and see my Instagram for a video.

Dorrie event at the State Library of New South Wales

Join me at the State Library of NSW on Friday 21 April for a journey through the illustrations in Dorrie - my picture book on the life of Dorothy Wall, creator of Blinky Bill.

We’ll do a book reading, then will compare illustration styles with Dorothy’s works. There’ll also be some of her original artwork on display!

Kids will also enjoy an illustration tutorial on some of Australia’s most beautiful plants and animals. My little Blinky Bill toy from the 1970s may help out, too.

There will be some Dorrie colouring sheets to take home and I’ll be signing some books, too.

The event runs from 11:30am to 12:30pm. Head to the State Library of NSW website for more info and to book.

Cover reveal! Wildlife Compendium of the World

I'm delighted to reveal the cover to my upcoming tome, Wildlife Compendium of the World! This book was some years in the making and is a true labour of love. What a joy it was to research and write about these extraordinary animals from every continent on Earth, and to draw each one in all their incredible, adorable, unique and sometimes terrifying glory!

Dorrie - cover reveal!

After the huge joy of writing on the life of May Gibbs (Mamie, A&R/HarperCollins Children's Books Australia, 2018), it made perfect sense to craft the story of Dorothy Wall – multi-talented artist and book creator, whose similarity to May is astonishing yet her life and works are far less known. You may know her as the creator of Australia’s iconic cheeky larrikin – Blinky Bill.

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!

Wonderful Shoes on Play School Story Time!

Emma and I are overjoyed to have Wonderful Shoes join the stable of gorgeous picture books on Play School Story Time!

Read by the divine Fifi Box and her daughter Trixie, the book is retrieved (along with an adorable pair of shoes) from the Magic Story Drawer, then read with plenty of stamp-stomping and click-clacking and tip-tapping, of course! 

We even get to see Trixie's favourite shoe - the cutest pink heart boots. And her favourite shoe from Wonderful Shoes? The boots that go click-clack (a girl after my own pink heart).

This Story Time will appear on ABC Kids (free-to-air) on 19 October at 7.20am, or you can see it now on iView.

Huge thanks to Play School and the ABC, and to Windy Hollow Books. What a joy it is to have Wonderful Shoes shared with children all over Australia. 

See more about Wonderful Shoes right here, and download the book's colouring pages here.

Plume Festival Seeker Colouring Pages!

Hey, kids - do you love to colour in? I know I do! In celebration of the release of Plume: Festival Seeker, I've put together this ultra cute batch of colouring pages for you to enjoy.

Just click the book cover below and you can download a PDF to print out.

You can also see a little video of Plume dancing right here!

Have fun! And don't forget to check out Festival Seeker right here - or see it instore at any of the fabulous bookstores around Australia and New Zealand. For those of you in the UK - the book is out 13 October and 8 November in the USA and Canada.