What's New?

Jan - April 2024

A new novel, Look Me in the Eye, was released in March (Hachette). I spent some time signing copies of the book in bookshops around Melbourne and a couple in Sydney. Look Me in the Eye was the Book of the Month at Collins bookstores so I visited Collins bookstores far and wide!

My friend Alison Lester and I are embarking on a new book project with the staff and students/patients at the Royal Children’s Hospital. We made a book a few years ago called The Silver Sea, which was illustrated by kids at the hospital. This new book will also be illustrated by the kids, and we are working on cutting and pasting all their fabulous paintings onto giant pages which will be scanned for the book - see photo below of Alison and the teachers at the hospital.

The schools’ season hasn’t quite started yet, but I had a lovely morning speaking with the students at Ruyton about writing narratives, and also a day at Wesley where we talked about the publishing process.

And I received two lots of exciting news! Can You Teach a Fish to Climb A Tree? has been shortlisted for the 2024 CBCA Book of the Year Award, Early Childhood, and A Life Song has been shortlisted in the ABIA awards in the children’s picture book category.

June - December 2023

A new book, A Life Song, was born. A second book in the Isabelle series, Hurry up Harry! was published. And Can You Teach a Fish to Climb a Tree?, a picture book illustrated by Terry Denton, was also released at the end of the year. I did lots of bookshop visits, lots of travel (including to the Bologna Book Fair in Italy!), lots of schools, and it was great fun being part of both the Sydney Writers Festival, and the Sorrento Writers Festival. Another highlight was Sylvia Morris’s shortlisting for the CBCA New Illustrator Award with The Best Hiding Place! Here are some pictures from my travels and adventures in the second half of 2023.

August 2022 - March 2023

Anna Walker and I had lots of fun working with kids in schools in Perth. Anna and I even fitted in a quick visit to Rottnest Island where we met some quokkas! (See pics below!) I also visited Brisbane and spoke in several schools there about both picture books and novels for older readers. This month, March, was publication for Let’s Build a Boat, illustrated by Meg Rennie - you can see a picture of Meg, me and my grandson Eddie below as well. Meg made a beautiful window display for Fairfield Books in Melbourne - you can see a bit of that in the background.

Feb 2022 - August 2022

At last we can be out and about in the world again! I’ve travelled to Fitzroy Crossing in the Kimberley, then to Adelaide to speak in schools there. Andy Joyner and I visited some lovely bookshops and signed lots of copies of our new book, All the Words I Need to Know. It was fun! Next stop is Sydney, then Perth, then Brisbane!

I’m very excited that my new novel A Walk in the Dark is coming out in September. It’s for the same age group as When Rain Turns to Snow and As Happy as Here. I hope you enjoy it! It’s quite scary.

I’ve been working on new picture books and also a junior fiction series. Here are a few pictures of my travels.

July 2021 - Feb 2022

Well, covid rolled on through 2021! Bookshops were open, then closed, then open. Schools swapped between at-home learning and then face-to-face learning again. I visited schools by doing some online sessions. New books that came out were Mumma Dadda No Mine More and Little One. (You can read about them in the BOOKS section of my website.) And some exciting things happened! Tilly was named an Honour Book in the YABBA awards (thank you, children of Australia!), and When Rain Turns to Snow was shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Literary Award. We were allowed to travel by December, so I was lucky enough to travel to Sydney for the event. I didn’t win but it was still lots of fun, and I was honoured to be shortlisted.

During all the various lockdowns, I did do some writing. I worked on my new novel, A Walk in the Dark, which is about a group of teenagers who go on an overnight hike in the forest. As research for this book I had to go walking in the forest by myself at night - it was quite scary! The book is set in the Otway Ranges in Victoria, and it will be out in September this year. I also began work on a new book with Anna Walker, which we are very excited about. And Andrew Joyner and I worked together on a picture book called All the Words I Need to Know, which will be coming out in June this year. Jane Reiseger and I also have a new book out for very young children in April! It’s called Say Hello.

Let’s hope 2022 is a smoother year for everyone!

April - June 2021

What a strange year we’re all having. So much planning and organising then un-planning and re-organising! Hopefully things will calm down over the coming months! And in the meantime, I’ve been working, speaking in schools and travelling when I can - covid permitting! Luckily I got to visit some bookshops in Sydney and Brisbane recently, and also Anna Walker and I visited Paper Bird Books in Fremantle when we were there for the Scribblers festival which was great fun. Anna and I also signed a tall stack of Don’t Forget copies at The Little Bookroom - you can see in the photo below that the pile of books is nearly as tall as Anna! I also took a trip down the coast to visit some bookshops in Ocean Grove, Geelong and Torquay. It was lovely to meet the booksellers there! Arno and his Horse has been published now, and coming next (in July) is Mumma Dadda No Mine More, a picture book for young children illustrated by UK illustrator Jane Massey. Then in August I have a book coming out that is illustrated by Gabriel Evans, called Little One. (There’s a photo below and me and Gabriel at Scribblers, and a picture of the cover.) Alison Lester and I also had a great time at the Australian Book Industry Awards event in Sydney, where our book Sing Me the Summer was shortlisted in the picture book category. (That’s the photo below of us all glammed up!) Sing me the Summer has also been shortlisted for the Booksellers’ Choice Awards.

December 2020 - March 2021

Over the past few months, I’ve been working on several new picture books and a novel. And I’m so happy that in the last few weeks I’ve been able to get back to visiting schools again! So good to see your faces in real life and not on a screen! Long may it last. Anna Walker and my new book Don’t Forget is being published on March 30th - we are very excited about this one, and at the moment we are putting together a video so watch out for that in the next couple of weeks! Then in May, a new book called Arno and his Horse will be published by Scribble. This one is illustrated by Felicita Sala. Felicita is Australian but lives in Rome, so it was a long distance project! You can see some pictures of both books below. The novel I’m working on is called A Walk in the Dark, and it will be for the same age group as As Happy as Here and When Rain Turns to Snow.

When Rain Turns to Snow, Sing me the Summer and I’ll Always be Older than You have all been selected as CBCA Notable Books for 2021. When Rain Turns to Snow and Sing Me the Summer have also been selected for the 2021 Australian Book Industry Awards longlist.

June 2020 - November 2020

2020 will certainly be remembered as an unusual and uncertain year for all of us. Usually I would be out and about in schools all over the country during term 3, but due to Covid, the only visits I did were those via online platforms. These were certainly better than nothing, but I missed all your smiling faces, and I missed talking with students face to face during my visits. Hopefully things will be a bit more normal during 2021! In the meantime I did keep myself busy with the online school sessions, and I tried to write every day as well. And I had two new books published! My new novel for 11 - 14 year olds (upper middle-grade), When Rain Turns to Snow, was published in July, and a new picture book, Sing me the Summer (illustrated by my friend Alison Lester) was published just this month in November. You can read more about both these books if you go to BOOKS in the menu and click on the cover. We had a virtual launch of When Rain Turns to Snow via Readings Books, and people attended from all over Australia which was a bonus of the on-line launch! Megan Daley launched the book and I was thrilled that she did the honours! You can see some pictures below of being out and about in bookshops with my new books. Also there are a couple of photos of a work in progress - a new book from me and Anna Walker! We are working with our friend Allison Colpoys on a jetty in Richmond in these pictures, because we had to have all our meetings outside!

January 2020 - May 2020

What a strange time we have found ourselves in! January feels like another world away, but I seem to remember having fun times at the beach with my family! My friend Alison Lester and I began work on our new picture book (see pictures below) and then everything stopped. During isolation, I’ve been working on a new novel (no title yet), and a couple of new picture books. I’ve also been finalising When Rain Turns to Snow, which will be out in July! I love the cover - it’s done by my friend the very talented Allison Colpoys.

I was so thrilled that Tilly, by me and Anna Walker, has been shortlisted for the CBCA 2020 Picture Book of the Year Award! Here’s a clip of us talking about the story and making the book.

Let’s hope we can all get out and about again soon.

November 2019 - January 2020

During November I travelled to China where I spoke in several international and local schools in Beijing. It was lots of fun sharing stories and books with kids from all over the world. In Sydney I visited some schools to talk about As Happy as Here, and it was great to be sharing this novel with year 5, 6 and 7 students. They all had such interesting questions, comments and reflections about the book. I also visited my friends at Squishy Minnie book shop in Kyneton, where I signed 100 copies of Starting School for a local kindergarten. I hope the kids all enjoy the book and that it helps them with the transition to school. A new picture book called I’ll Always be Older than You, illustrated by Sara Acton, will be published in March. I love Sara’s work and I’m so happy that we got to make a book together. In December I went to New York, and I even got to sign some of my books in bookshops there (see pics below)! Since Christmas, I have been working away on my new novel which is coming out in July. It’s called When Rain Turns to Snow, and it’s for the same age group as As Happy as Here. The cover looks so beautiful, I can’t wait to share it with people!

August - October 2019

Third term has been very busy! I’ve been in Adelaide, Sydney and Tasmania. And Book Week itself I was in Melbourne where we launched As Happy as Here at PLC. Two new books were published in October - Tilly, illustrated by Anna Walker, and One Blue Shoe, illustrated by Jane Reiseger. We launched Tilly at Readings Bookshop, and we are doing some activities for One Blue Shoe in November. Below are some pictures from the Tilly launch. There’s also a picture of Ana Vivas, my friend and publisher at Hardie Grant, and the very talented Sara Acton, who is illustrating a text I’ve written called I’ll Always be Older than You. It will be published in March 2020. You can also see the cover of One Blue Shoe. You can read about both Tilly and One Blue Shoe if you click on BOOKS in the menu and then click on the cover of each book. Anna Walker made me a beautiful Tilly stamp that I can use when I sign the book for people. And a very clever parent at Kellyville Ridge public school in Sydney made me these beautiful cupcakes, themed especially for my books! They tasted delicious as well!

 March 2019 - August 2019

On August 1st, my new book As Happy as Here was published, so now it’s out in the world! It’s aimed at 11 - 14 year olds. You can read more about it by going to Books and then clicking on the cover. It took me a long time to write this one - about six years! I am not going to take that long to write the next novel. Here are some pictures of me signing the book.

We launched the book at St Rita’s in Brisbane, during their Remarkable Woman Conference. There were many remarkable women present, including A.J. Betts (a great YA author) who launched As Happy as Here and interviewed me about the book. It was a really special day. You can see A.J. in the picture below.

Jane Reiseger and I have also made another book, to go with Red House, Blue House, Green House Tree House! It’s called One Blue Shoe and it will be out in a few months time. This one is about counting and number concepts, which makes it sound a bit educational but it’s not, it’s lots of fun.

Alison Lester and I headed back to the Kimberley with the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, to work at the school in Bidyadanga community near Broome. We also went back to see our friends at Baya Gaiwy in Fitzroy Crossing and made books with the ladies and kids there. We had a great time, and a bonus was that we got to escape the Melbourne winter for a couple of weeks.

It’s nearly Book Week time, so I’m gearing up for a very busy third term out and about in schools. I might see you at one of them!

October 2018 - March 2019

Anna Walker and I have now finished our new book, Tilly. We are excited to show it to people soon! It will be published in October 2019. Today (March 4th) is the publication day of another new book, Ivanhoe Swift Left Home at Six. Here’s a picture of it. In the meantime I’ve been working on my novel, As Happy as Here, and it’s all finished as well. It will be published by Hachette in August this year. Lots of finished books!

July 2018 - October 2018

During July, my friend Alison Lester and I travelled to Yiyili, an Aboriginal Community halfway between Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. We made books with the kids there, and they did the most fantastic artwork. Here are some pictures from our time there.

In August I spent a week in South Australia working with kids in schools there. Then it was back to Melbourne for Bookweek! It was a great week in schools, and I must give a shout-out to the kids at Westgrove Primary School in Werribee who asked me so many great questions and had obviously studied my website because they knew everything about me! They also had some fantastic ideas for stories. Then during the school holidays we made a big ocean mural at The Wheeler Centre inspired by The Silver Sea. Alison and I also made a book called Monster Party with kids at Rawa Community in remote WA and it is published this month. So happy birthday, Monster Party! Also published this month is Watch This!, the photographic picture book I made with Beci Orpin and Hilary Walker. (Scroll down to June/July 2017 to see the photoshoot.) That picture below of all the shaped biscuits is my pre-launch baking! My friends Davina Bell and Freya Blackwood and I also made a book called Birthday Baby and we launched it at The Little Bookroom one evening. That’s us chatting in the picture below.

March 2018 - July 2018

March 2018 was the publication month for Go Go and the Silver Shoes, so Anna and I were out and about doing storytimes and speaking in schools.  I wore my silver shoes to all the events, and Anna even made me a special tiny pair of silver shoes to match Go Go's! Some of the pictures below were taken at Squishy Minnie Bookshop in Kyneton, Victoria.  The girl in the green school uniform is the real Go Go!  I named the character after her.  Go Go's real name is Marigold.

I travelled to China again and worked with the students at the Western Academy of Beijing.  We had lots of fun exploring writing together.  I also travelled to Japan, but that trip was a holiday with my daughter Lizzie.

Then in April, it was time to publish Red House, Blue House, Green House, Tree House!  Jane R and I did a storytime at The Little Bookroom, and then a bit later we went to Balnarring Primary School and worked with the kids there.  We even had little mouse pins made that feature the mouse in the book.  My daughter Lizzie made a video trailer for the book, too.  You can see it here.

May was the launch of The Silver Sea at The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.  It was lovely to see so many people at the launch, which was a very special event - we even had silver sea cupcakes.

I've had my publisher hat on, working with my friend Alison to complete her new book which is called Tricky's Bad Day.  It's a very funny story about a Tiger who is having a VERY bad day - until it gets turned around into a good day! 

The kids at Heatherhill Primary School in Melbourne have been busily writing stories to submit to Early Harvest magazine, which is an initiative of the 100 Story Building in Footscray.  I went along and worked with them - they had lots of great ideas!  Abhas asked me to give him a shout-out on my website, so here's your shout-out, Abhas! 

Anna and I are busy working on our new book together.  It's about a little girl called Tilly and it's based on a true event from when I was a child.

October 2017 - February 2018

Lots of bookmaking took place during the last part of 2017!  Alison Lester and I finished our book The Silver Sea, which we've created with the patients at the Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne.  We're so happy with how it turned out!  Here are a few pics.  The photo top right is Martin Hughes, publishing director at Affirm Press, painting a small bird for one of the pages in the book. (Alison and her daughter Clair, who is the children's publisher at Affirm, are supervising closely!)

Jane Reiseger and finished our new book Red House Blue House Green House Tree House! and it went off to the printer as well.  The pictures below show Leo, our two-year-old critical reader, enjoying the book (phew!), and the delighted looks on our faces when we see that he loves it!

During October I travelled to Bangkok with GATEways to work in an international school there.  It was a great experience and included visiting the Unicorn Cafe (you can see the photo below of me and my friend Colin there).  It was a wacky place, and very colourful!  I also met lots of great kids and we had fun creating books and writing together.  I love their school uniforms and wish I could have one myself!

June and July 2017

During June I spent a week in Launceston where I visited lots of schools and worked with the students doing creative writing talking about books.  Then I went to Canberra where I ran some GATEways programs about writing NONSENSE!  We made up funny words and gave them our own meanings.

Anna Walker and I have been busy working on our new book GoGo and the Silver Shoes.  We've nearly finished it now, and we're about to send it to the printer.  It's always nerve-wracking at this point of the process!  Here are a couple of sneak-peek pics of the book.  We're excited about this one!

Jane Reiseger and I have also been working on our book about colours, Red House Blue House Green House Treehouse.  We have been experimenting with different ideas and the book is looking very bold and bright!  Our designer Bruno's two-year-old son Leo loves it so that's a good sign!  This is what it looks like:

We had a photoshoot for another new book, Watch This!  It's all about children making shapes with their bodies.  There are 13 children in the book, and we took thousands of photos of them over 4 days in order to make the book.  We also painted all the backgrounds in different colours and patterns. Here are some pictures from the photoshoot.  In the last picture, you can see all the people involved in making the book - Hilary (the photographer) me, Bri (also a photographer), Miri (the publisher of the book) and Beci, the art director and designer.  Now we just have to choose which photos look best for the book!

At the end of July, my friend Alison Lester and I went on an adventure to the most remote school in Australia!  We travelled to the Aboriginal community of Punmu, on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert in WA.  We had a great time working with the kids at Rawa School.  We made five books with them.  The elders in the community also took us to some special places and told us important stories.  Alison and I loved our time there.  Here are some pictures from the trip.  We travelled in a very small plane - a five seater!

April and May 2017

I spent the month of April in China, where I worked with students at international and local schools.  Michael and I spent nine days at the Western Academy of Beijing (WAB), which was great fun.  We even went on a school camp (specially dedicated to writing) with the senior students, and we slept in a yurt!

We worked with every year level in the school.  The library at WAB has a yurt as well!

The lovely people at WAB looked after us so well and we made lots of new friends.  I also caught up with my old friends at Magic Elephant Books, and did an author tour that included Beijing, Shijiazhuang and Xi'an.  Here are some pictures of that part of the trip.  The kids did some lovely drawings of the days when they have no plans, based on Anna Walker and my book Today We Have No Plans.

Now I'm back and catching up on everything here in Melbourne.  Anna and I are working away on our new book, and I'm planning for school workshops throughout the next term.

February and March 2017

During February and March, my friend Anna Walker and I have been working on our new book, which is called Go Go and the Silver Shoes.  It takes a long time to make a picture book, and this one won't be published until early next year.  Here are some of Anna's drawings of the characters for the story:

Speaking of Anna, her beautiful book Florette was published this month, and Anna asked me if I would launch it for her.  I was delighted to do this, and we had a great launch at Glasshaus in Richmond which was a perfect place to launch this book as it is a nursery filled with fabulous plants and flowers, just like the place that Mae discovers in Anna's book.  Here are some pictures from the launch:

That last picture is of a shop window.  Embiggen Books in Melbourne worked with Anna to create their own Florette window.  It looks fabulous!

I launched two books in March, actually!  The other book is called Under the Love Umbrella, and it's a wonderful creation by two friends of mine, Davina Bell and Allison Colpoys.  Here's a picture of the book, and some photos of the launch, which was held at The Little Bookroom in Melbourne.

My friend Davina and I also went on a road trip to Wangaratta in north eastern Victoria. We visited Cathedral College and worked with the students there.  We had such a great time.  Everyone at the school was so friendly, and they were great writers, too!  Here are some pictures of some of the students talking to Davina about their stories, and also a picture of some of the cheese we ate when we were there.  They make great cheese in those parts!

December 2016 and January 2017

I've been working with my friend Alison Lester on her new book called The Very Noisy Baby.  It's a really fun story based on Alison's own granddaughter Beatrix who is extremely noisy!  Alison always does a storyboard for her books.  You'll see in the picture below that we ticked off each page on the storyboard when Alison had completed it.  See all the pink ticks? 

The other pictures above were taken during the school holidays when I ran a workshop with kids at Abbotsford Convent as part of Kids' Own Publishing.  We had a lovely day walking through the beautiful gardens of the convent, then writing our own sensory poetry, which we then turned into little books that people took home with them. 

It takes such a long time to make a picture book - usually more than one year! - so I am busy working on several new picture books that won't be actual books until next year.  Anna Walker and I are working on our new book which is called Go Go and the Silver Shoes.  I'm also doing a photographic picture book about shapes with my friends Beci Orpin and Hilary Walker.  I've never done a photographic picture book before so it will be a fun and interesting challenge.  Jane Reiseger and I are also making a book together which is all about colour.  If you've ever been to the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne and see all the beautiful artwork on the walls, ceilings, actually everywhere in that building, then you will have seen Jane's work because she did it all.  And that red car in the pictures above is painted by Jane, too.

And I think I've nearly finished my novel.  I think...

October and November 2016

During October I read lots and lots (and lots!) of stories for my job as a judge of the young writers' section of the Boroondara Literary Awards.  There were funny stories, moving stories, sad stories and intriguing stories - it was hard to select a winner and commended entries because they all had great things about them. 

I also was part of two videos!  One is a film clip for my son Wil's band.  The boys in the band decided that it would be a great idea to make a video clip of their new song but instead of them being in the clip, it would star their mothers!  So here I am being a rock star for a day!

The other video has a slightly different vibe - it was filmed by the lovely people at Storybox Library.  Fiona and Shannon came to our house and filmed Michael and I talking about our lives as children's writers.  The video will be on the Storybox Library website in a couple of months.

During November I also worked with the year three students at Beaconhills College.  We had lots of fun exploring storywriting together and the kids did some great work.  I also spent time with year 3/4s at Brunswick South West Primary School, where I really enjoyed conducting workshops and discovering how creative and resourceful the students were with their stories. Well done, Beaconhills and Brunswick South West!

And while we're on workshops, the Stonnington Literary Festival asked me to run a workshop for adults who write for kids, so I did that and it was an action-packed three hours of writing exercises and me sharing with the participants everything I know about the world of writing and publishing books for young people! I think we were all exhausted by the end of it!

A special event occurred in November as well - my good friend Alison Lester was awarded the Dromkeen Medal for outstanding achievement in the creation of Australian Children's Literature.  I'm sure everyone knows Alison's books!  My favourites are Imagine, Magic Beach and Kissed by the Moon.  Oh, and Are We There Yet?  Below on the right is a picture of Alison with her medal. The middle picture is a selection of books I've been looking at this month, and the picture of the left is my dear friend Anna Walker looking at her beautiful new book Florette.  It's not available yet but it will be in March next year!

September 2016

During September, Michael and I visited Park Ridge Primary School in Rowville, and I also spoke at Ruyton Girls School in Kew. Here are some lovely drawings that kids have sent me, and also a pic of me and Kate from Park Ridge PS. The sea creature stencils and the fabulous turtle are works of art created with the patients and teachers at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, where my friend Alison Lester and I are making a book with the kids. 

Oh, and the photo of Bear Make Den?  That's Lachlan, who received Bear Make Den as one of his fifth birthday presents - in fact he says it's his favourite birthday present!  Thanks, Lachlan!  I'm glad you're enjoying Bear Make Den!

I also spent a week in Tasmania, speaking in schools and doing some work with the Tasmanian Writers' Centre.  I had a great time there, and I took some photos of my all-time favourite boat, the Aurora Australis.  That's the boat that travels down to Antarctica from Hobart.  I also went for a hike up Mount Wellington, which was misty and beautiful (and quite strenuous!).

August 2016

August was a very busy month! The time leading up to Book Week, and Book Week itself, is always full of school visits.  I spoke at St Kevins in Ormond, Huntingtower, North Fitzroy Primary School, Canterbury Primary School, Geelong Grammar, St Mary's in Thornbury and Yarraville West Primary School. Also St Pauls in Endeavour Hills and Parade College in Bundoora and Preston.  It was a big couple of weeks!  I also spoke to students at Melbourne University and RMIT.  My talk at Melbourne Uni was on at exactly the same time that my son Wil's band was playing there!  For a moment we considered a mother/son double act, but there's a bit too much swearing in Wil's songs so we decided against it.

My friend Alison Lester and I are also working with the teachers and patients at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.  We are making a book together.  The children are doing all the artwork. The book is called The Silver Sea, and we think it will look very beautiful when it's finished! 

After all those talks I escaped down to Lorne (a beautiful beach on the Great Ocean Road in southwest Victoria) to finish the novel I have been working on for what seems like 100 years (but is actually about 6 years).  I think I'm nearly finished!  Here are a few pictures - one of a fabulous bear drawn by one of the children at Canterbury Primary School, one of the interesting Arts West building I spoke at at Melbourne University, and one of beautiful Lorne! Oh, and one that I took today of some lovely wattle on a cliff at Aireys Inlet - happy springtime, everyone!

July 2016

At the end of July, my friend and fellow author Davina Bell and I went back to visit our friend and illustrator Freya Blackwood in her home town of Orange.  We had an event at Collins Bookshop in Orange which was lots of fun, and we also shared the book we created together, Hattie Helps Out, to kids in libraries and schools along the way.  Here are some pictures from the trip.  You can see the beautiful Murray River, Lake Mulwala in Yarrawonga, a great little library right on the banks of the river in Barooga, Davina and Ivy at netball, and I even got to photograph some oranges in Orange!  You can also see here Freya doing a drawing at Collins Bookshop, and some cut outs of our character Hattie from Hattie Helps Out.

May, June, July 2016

During May, June and July, I've been busy out and about working with school students in various parts of Australia.  I travelled to Sydney in May, where I spoke with girls at Ascham and SCEGGS, then I had a couple of days in Goulburn where I worked with the kids in schools there.  It was lots of fun, and the place where I stayed in Goulburn was right next to the Big Merino!  Here's a picture of him!

I also spoke at Chairo Christian School in Pakenham and Drouin.  It was a cold, foggy morning the day I visited.  Here's a picture I took when I arrived at the school, and also some great bear drawings that the kids did.

Another school I visited was Moama Grammar in Moama, and also Bunnaloo Primary School which is a small school in New South Wales.  It was beautiful country, and I had a great time working with the kids there.

When I got home, my beautiful painting from What Do You Wish For? was ready to be collected from the framers.  Doesn't it look lovely?  My friend and collaborator Anna Walker gave me this piece of original art from our most recent book that we did together.  I will treasure it always.

During June, I spent a week in Western Australia, working with kids in schools, and then I had the honour of launching a new book by my friend and fellow author Davina Bell.  The book is called Oh, Albert!  I really love it!  It's about a family, their mischievous dog called Albert, and a space-themed birthday party. Here are some pictures from the book launch, which was held at the Paper Bird bookshop in Fremantle.

What books am I working on?  Well, I'm exploring a new book idea with artist Jane Reiseger.  Here's an early picture of one of the characters.

And in late July, Davina and I will be travelling back to Orange to see our friend Freya who illustrated our latest book, Hattie Helps Out.

 Hattie Helps Out has just been published in March 2016.  Here's the front cover!  It's written by me and my friend Davina Bell, and illustrated by Freya Blackwood. Freya's daughter Ivy launched the book for us on April 2nd in Orange, NSW, where Freya lives. Collins Booksellers in Orange did a fabulous job and the launch was heaps of fun.  It felt like a party! Here are some pictures:

I have also just returned from a trip to China!  I went there as part of the Australian Writers' Week in Beijing, and I participated in The Bookworm Festival and spent some time with my Chinese publishers, The Magic Elephant Books.  Here are a few pictures from the trip.