how a tiny crochet snowflake made me weep

How could one tiny snowflake make me cry?

Maybe it's the time of year, the exhaustion, the anticipation of Christmas, the God-awful heat--I'm not sure, but this beautiful little creation snuck into my letterbox today and it melted me.

Such a simple, sweet, delicate, tiny gift - but the beauty and the handmade workmanship takes my breath away.

Thank you, Emma Perry for being able to crochet. Thank you for crocheting snowflakes. Thank you for offering one of your precious, treasured snowflakes to me. I adore it just as I adore you and all you do for books and reading and happiness in the world.

Thank you for reminding me of my time in England--where part of my heart lies--of my first snows, my first white Christmas. Thank you for gifting me your time and your hands.

And so now this little treasure hangs in my studio, in the centre of a very British holly wreath, below Paris bunting, in front of a window encasing a Japanese maple, which sits happily in the heat of a scorching Australian summer. God I love this world--the diversity, the culture, the beauty, the divine blending. Who - WHO wouldn't want things to blend? Blending is so beautiful. It has such depth and shine and heart.

Race with race. Belief with belief. Culture with culture. Tradition with tradition. Home with home. 

Black with white. Rich with poor. Fast with slow. Orange with lemon. Boy with girl. Boy with boy. Girl with girl. Old with new. Lost with found. Displaced with home. Sad with happy. Up with down. Coffee with tea. Memory with future. Heart with soul.

Snowflake with sun. 

Thank you, Em. Your snowflake is what Christmas is all about.

x x x

SCBWI ACT Christmas Drinks

Pauline Deeves, Tracey Hawkins, Kerry Malone, me, Leanne Barrett, Janine, Krys Saclier

What a fun night at Mint Bar at Gorman House Arts Centre in Canberra last night, as the ACT branch of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators got together for some drinks and pizza. So great to catch up with everyone and talk about our year, our work and our plans for 2016.

And to do some pretty hefty laughing! What a great time.

Irma Gold, Harry Laing, Beth Amos, Grace Bryant, Tracey Hawkins, Leanne Barrett, Stephanie Owen Reeder, Pauline Deeves, me, Kerry Malone, Tony Flowers

Tracey Hawkins, Suzanne Kiraly, Pauline Deeves, Grace Bryant, Kerry Malone, Leanne Barrett

Irma Gold, Tracey Hawkins, Suzanne Kiraly, Pauline Deeves

Irma Gold, Beth Amos

Harry Laing, Tony Flowers

If you are an aspiring author or illustrator, or just a kids' book lover, I so highly recommend joining your local SCBWI branch. The networking and support and opportunities and gorgeous people are so worth it. If you would like to join the ACT branch, email Coordinator Tracey Hawkins right here. We going to have lots of fun in 2016!

SCBWI Christmas Drinks!

Shortlisting for Tottie and Dot

 

Our lovely little Tottie and Dot has received a shortlisting in the ACT Writing and Publishing Awards! Thank you, ACT Writers Centre, from Tina Snerling and me! What a lovely early Christmas present.

#picbookaday November 2015

I just loved participating in EK Books' Picture Book A Day on Instagram during November. It's not only a wonderful to source new and inspiring books from others, but I'm slowly gathering a rather large collection of picture books from all over the world and it's so great to share my finds. 

Plugging books for authors and illustrators is also a very good thing!

Here is my #picbookaday for November . . .

Day 1: family. Line 135 by Germano Zullo and Albertine (Chronicle) is a landscape book featuring a very long train as it meanders through striking linework landscapes, taking a wee girl to visit her grandma. A joyful book of family.

Day 2: friends. Imaginary Fred by Eoin Colfer and Oliver Jeffers (HarperCollins) is a lyrical tale about friendship like you've never seen it before. And the illos are to die for. #typicaljeffers

Day 3: pets. Prudence Wants a Pet by Cathleen Daly and Stephen Michael King (Scholastic) is the sweetest tale of a young girl and her desire for a pet. Alas, her parents are not so keen, so Prudence resorts to sticks and branches and tyres - just too cute. And SMK images are charm personified.

Day 4: colours. Classic classic classic Alain Gr�e - at his best. A must for concept book lovers.

Day 5: numbers. Numerical Street by Antonia Pesenti and Hilary Bell (New South). Brand new book from this talented duo - all about numbers ... and lots of artistic quirk! Cool rhyming prose, too.

Day 6: food. You Are What You Eat, and other mealtime hazards by Serge Bloch (Sterling Juvenile). A delightful play on food-related adages, complete with Bloch's iconic line drawings and photographic elements, too. A fave.

Day 7: buildings. Young Frank Architect by Frank Viva (MoMA). Simply adore Frank Viva's books, especially his quasi-biographical books like this one. Both text and illos immensely rewarding.

Day 8: imagination. What's Hidden in the Woods? by Aina Bestard (Thames & Hudson). One of those books that make your heart flutter then gallop, this gorgeous creation epitomises the imagination in full flight, with interactive elements that stun and delight. Using the enclosed coloured magnifying glasses in green, blue and red, kids will marvel as animals and flowers and houses are revealed, hidden away in the astonishing patterning that makes up each page. One of my favourite books this year.

Day 9: clothes. That's My Hat! by Anouck Boisrobert and Louis Rigaud (Thames & Hudson). Who knew a small item of clothing could cause such chaos! Gorgeous, gorgeous pop-up paper-cut book featuring a whimsical chase through various parts of town. A stunning color palette of illos on fresh white pages.

Day 10: seasons. Tree: Seasons Come, Seasons Go by Britta Teckentrup (Little Tiger Kids). Talk about high production values - this amazing book features scene after scene of the same tree, with strategically placed cut-outs that reveal all manner of seasonal changes - from leaves and snow to an abundance of critters coming and going, both within the tree foliage and in the grounds around the tree. Clever, thoughtful and visually superb.

Day 11: indigenous. Hide and Seek by Charlene Man (Laurence King). This glorious hard cover picture book takes kids on a journey to vast and varied parts of the world, to visit indigenous animals in their native habitat. Oftentimes, these animals are found nowhere else in the world. Sumptuous illos make this a visual delight.

Day 12: music. The Conductor by Laetitia Devernay (Chronicle). A visual magnum opus, this stunning book combines a conductor and a bevy of birds and leaves that take flight upon an imaginary melody.

Day 13: travel. A Trip to the Bottom of the World by Frank Viva (Toon Books). Eye-popping illos so typical of Frank - along with an equally typical tale of humor and cleverness and sheer fun. Both an eye fest and a great adventure. 

Day 14: environment. Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner and Christopher Silas Neal (Chronicle). A divine journey through the changes the garden experiences through the year - both above and below the soil, where myriad creatures maintain an ecosystem all children should immerse themselves in. Beautiful, uncoated paper is the perfect canvas for these striking and heartwarming illustrations.

Day 15: mess. Sky High by Germano Zullo and Albertine (Chronicle). This sky high book tells the tale of two competitive sods who scrabble to create the tallest, most outrageous house possible. Until, of course, the mess to end all messes occurs! Sensational line drawings by Albertine; I LOVE this book.

Day 16: endpapers. The 50 States by Gabrielle Balkan and Sol Linero (Wide Eyed Editions). Endpaper pages are valuable real estate. They're the first internal pages seen and really set the tone for what's to come. Having quite the endpaper obsession, I love it when they're pretty, clever and elaborate but I also love it when they use the space for More, as is the case with The 50 States - the front endpapers feature a brightly coloured map and the rear endpapers feature state flags. Brilliant.

Day 17: holidays. Madame Eiffel by Alice Briere Haquet and Csil (Little Gestalten). When I think of holidays, I don't think of lying on the beach sipping cocktails. I think travel. Any excuse to travel to Paris in this surreal and achingly wistful book about the healing power of love and the magnificent Eiffel Tower. The textured illustrations are out of this world.

Day 18: vehicles. Otto in the City by Tom Schamp (Tate). You want vehicles? You got it, baby. There's dozens upon dozens in this large format 'loop' book - where the road starts on page one then meanders all the way to the back of the book before turning around and coming home again. Kids can follow Otto and his dad through all manner of towns and cities and freeways, with gorgeously eclectic illustrations and so much 'busy', eyes will boggle. Love.

Day 19: school. Marshall Armstrong is New to Our School by David Mackintosh (HarperCollins). Witty, charming, quirky, full of heart. That's why I love the books of David Mackintosh. Marshall Armstrong does fit any mould. Most people would take great delight in bullying this child - that's how different he is. Yet Marshall's insistence on remaining true to himself soon makes him the most popular kid in school. Priceless.

Day 20: weather. Nature's Day by Kay Maguire and Danielle Kroll (Wide Eyed). This beautifully detailed and illustrated book is a nature lover's dream. As it takes the reader through the seasons, we revisit several sites that change and grow over time. Weather is featured for each site, as is flora and fauna and even what those pesky humans get up to. Divine in detail and gorgeous illos. A seasonal feast. 

Day 21: animals. Animalium by Katie Scott and Jenny Broom (The Five Mile Press). Enormous format and astonishingly illustrated with pictures of illustrious, scientific detail, this wander through a world class 'museum' of animals will have any reader wandering in wonder. 

Day 22: letters. Wumbers by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld (Chronicle). Typical Amy KR cleverness and sheer fun, Wumbers is a whole new take on the use of words, with digits taking place of letters (in a sort of a Rebus way) to create a super fun narrative. Kids will adore this. 

Day 23: flowers. No Roses for Harry by Gene Zion (Red Fox). Was, and still am, completely obsessed with the Harry books. Probably my favourite is this iconic rose sweater story--where Harry will do anything to get it off his back. Love love love.

 

Day 24: machines. Doug Unplugged by Dan Yaccarino (Knopf). Set during a time when robots and humans live in harmony, this gorgeous story studies the human condition, as robot Doug unplugs himself and explores the real world, real emotions and real relationships. Timely in this plugged-in world.

Day 25: adventure. Shackleton's Journey by William Grill (Flying Eye Books). This truly gorgeous, evocative and visual adventure traces the extraordinary journey to Antarctica, led by explorer Ernest Shackleton. Astonishing in tale and with illustrations to ooh over, it's little wonder this book won the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal this year (making Grill, at 25, the youngest winner in over 50 years).

Day 26: art. Seen Art? by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith (Viking). I love this book! It's a true treasure. Virtually a tour through the MoMA (do I need to go on?), it follows a gorgeous character as he searches for 'Art' and is consistently directed to the Museum, when all along, he was only really looking for Art. If you don't know what I mean, you'll have to read the book! It's truly heavenly.

Day 27: occupation. Mr Elephanter by Lark Pien (Candlewick). One of the joys of growing older is realising that there are some pretty cool jobs in the world, and none cooler than Elephant Carer. Mr Elephanter is in charge of the baby elephants, and oh he adores them! This book is quirky, cool and too cute for words.

Day 28: diversity. Charley Harper, An Illustrated Life, collated by Todd Oldham (AMMO). A different take on 'diversity', this astonishing book showcases the jaw-dropping diversity and beauty of the work of illustrator Charley Harper, whose career stretched over seven decades. An absolute must for anyone with an adoration for illustration.

Day 29: movement. Wave by Suzy Lee (Chronicle). This wordless picture book is astoundingly beautiful in its simplicity. A dance between a young girl and the movement of the ocean, it will leave children silent and mesmerised. Adults, too.

Day 30: sport. Cheetah Can't Lose by Bob Shea (Balzer + Bray). This gorgeously-designed, action-packed and funny story is an absolute winner. There will be no pouting if you lose! Bob Shea at his best.

Australian Kids Through the Years on the cover of Scholastic's Teacher's Bookshelf

Such a lovely moment to have my son bring home the latest Scholastic Teacher's Bookshelf from school, and see Australian Kids Through the Years on the cover!

Tales After Dark event

Local Canberran book crusader (she does so much, there's no other word for her!) Suzanne Kiraly is behind this glorious new monthly initiative--an evening out for adults--Tales After Dark, sponsored by Aussie Writers.

Held at Saffron restaurant in Kingston, guests will enjoy a sparkling literary evening of entertainment, as actors read short stories aloud.

I'm absolutely thrilled that Suzanne chose my short story--The Bad Boy--from recent Ford Street anthology Rich and Rare. Another local author will be having his short story read, too.

You can come along just for the show, or for both dinner and a show. See the above poster for more, and click on it to book at Eventbrite.

Hope to see you there!