Meet the Illustrator: Simon Howe

Name, title, location:
My name is Simon Howe. I'm the author/illustrator of four picture books and illustrator of many others. I live in the Macedon Ranges inVictoria, Australia.

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
I’d say my illustration style is painterly, cosy and inviting.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
An oil heater. Warm lighting. Lots of framed pictures on the wall. Endless cups of tea.

Review: Listening to the Quiet

Those of us with perfect hearing probably take it for granted, but what if you couldn’t hear or if someone you loved was losing their hearing? How would your life change?

Jacki’s mother is slowly losing her hearing. 

Jacki uses sign language to talk at home and Mama relies on flashing lights and vibrations to know what is going on around her.

Review: Ascension (Phobos #1)

Ascension by Victor Dixen is the first book in the Phobos series, a French, YA space odyssey that has stayed with me for a very long time. Although it has been published for ten years now, it is a book I rarely see mentioned. I feel it is time I give it a review! 

Six girls, six boys, one spaceship and a one-way ticket to Mars. As part of the Genesis programme, twelve young people are chosen to become the first humans to colonise Mars, while their every move is broadcast to millions of viewers on Earth. What begins as the world’s most extreme dating show quickly becomes something far more dangerous.

Among the contestants is 18-year-old Léonor, a young French woman who sees the mission as her chance to escape her past and start a new life. But with the contestants under constant scrutiny and secrets beginning to surface, Léonor soon realises there is much more to the Genesis programme than meets the eye…

Review: Old Bertie

This is 100% completely bonkers but I mean that in the most positive way possible. This is dystopia as you've never read it before. If you imagine - and forgive me for showing my age - humour such as that of Young Einstein or The Castle - that real Aussie kind of laconic style - or similar larger-than-life real life commentaries liberally laced with absurdism, you'll be getting close.

I don't know the work of Vincenzo Perrella and Dan Osborn in their other spheres of film/television/live performance but I'd certainly like to see some of it. I don't dwell on plot details if I can help it and realistically, this one is so convoluted and intricate, I'd have no hope of putting much of it in a review but I'm going to try to give you an oversight.

Imagine an isolated uninhabited island far from any other kind of land or humankind.

Next, imagine that island was literally stumbled upon by the survivors of a shipwreck.

Review: Shakespeare in the Orchard

A little bit of WWI history, a little bit of Shakespeare, teen friendships and falling outs and an Australian backdrop – there’s something for everyone in Shakespeare in the Orchard.

At fourteen, with his father killed in a horse accident and his older brother serving as a soldier in Egypt, Jack Thorning is the man of the house. Together with his mother, Ada, Jack is keeping the family apple orchard running in between school and army cadet training.

Like most of his peers, Jack is keen to ‘do his bit’ with the war effort, but despite his skill with a rifle, he is too young to enlist and, besides, his mother needs him. But still …

Review : The Case of the Viral Video : Violet and Velvets 3

Violet and the Velvets have worked hard to overcome challenges, outsmart rival groups, and make it to the televised national BandChamps final. 

They have shown, in the past two books in the series, they can work as a team, supporting each other and enjoy making music.

As finalists they get to record their song in a recording studio and make a music video just like a real band. 

But their confidence to remain as a unique group with their own sound begins to waiver as the stress begins to rise. Will starring in a music video help to preserve or destroy their essence?

Review: Six Take One

We’ve all gone along to parties that we didn’t really want to go to, right? But how often do we end up regretting our decision because someone was murdered during the party? (Hopefully never.)

Unfortunately, this is exactly what happens when seventeen-year-old Cassie’s on-again-off-again friend, Kiah, guilts her into attending a New Year’s Eve party at Johnny’s remote farm, where, among other things, there’s only limited internet coverage.

Before agreeing to go, Cassie elicits a promise from Kiah that they’ll leave by 11 pm. Kiah reluctantly agrees and says she’ll pick Cassie up at 7 pm.

From the outset, reluctance aside, things do not bode well.

Sunday Shelfie - Dear Humans, We Stole Your Crayon!

Happy #sundayshelfie day! It is my pleasure to welcome Anna McGregor. This week we are celebrating Anna’s delightful new picture book Dear Humans We Stole Your Crayon!.

When aliens Zimothy and Meep accidentally discover a mysterious Earth artefact called a ‘crayon,’ they’re amazed by its magical powers — it can make thought appear on paper!

A funny story that celebrates the humble crayon and the universal joy of making art.  This cosmic tale reminds us that creativity knows no boundaries — whether you’re human or alien, the magic of drawing connects us all.

Written and illustrated by Anna McGregor 
Published by Scribble

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12 Curly Questions with children's author Brenton Cullen

1. Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.

When I was a kid, I had an acting agent – I auditioned for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie.

2. What is your nickname?
Too embarrassing to repeat here...

3. What is your greatest fear?
Losing my partner.

Review: Nowhere House

If a spooky cover and an intriguing title are what draw you to pick up a book, then Adrian Beck’s Nowhere House is for you – but only if you also like tension, mystery and the potential for ghosts and drama.

The opening words of this brilliant story have the main character, Nate, muttering “I’d rather be dead,” as he sits in the car with his family on the way to their new home ‘in the middle of nowhere’.

Be careful what you wish for, Nate!

Nate’s parents have just purchased their new home at a bargain deal and it soon becomes apparent why they managed to get it for such a price. It’s rundown, a 90-minute round trip to the nearest school and it has a history. Not a very nice one either.

Review: Making Picture Books

Have you ever thought about writing a picture book? Perhaps Illustrating one? Or maybe both?

Making Picture Books by award winning children’s author Libby Gleeson can walk you step-by-step through the entire process from idea to publication, and beyond.

Part 1 is for writers. Libby shares her experience in working from an initial idea, through the writing and revising stages, all the way to submission and publication.

There is loads of useful information including sections on plot, characterisation, language and tense.

Libby helpfully includes examples of early drafts, followed by the final drafts, so the reader can see the changes that have occurred via the editing process.

Review: Fanny and Mina: The Fastest of Friends

Did you know that it wasn’t until 2020 that the number of Olympic swimming event opportunities for women equalled that available for men?

That’s just one fact that has stayed with me after reading Samantha Tidy and Hilary Cresp’s new narrative non-fiction picture book, Fanny and Mina: The Fastest of Friends.

At the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, Fanny Durack and Mina Wylie – both in their twenties – became the first Australian female Olympic swimmers and the first women in the world to win Olympic medals in swimming.

Review: Sword Echoes : Pirate Academy 3

Welcome back to the Pirate Academy, Coral Sea Province, with most of the students back in their Barracuda Class. 

Yet again the Pirate Academy is battling against mysterious and evil forces and the students are preparing to face even more obstacles to their survival.

Neo, one of the three central characters in this action-packed adventure series, has left the academy to follow clues his renowned pirate mother left him on her trails, in order to understand his own destiny. With help from Captain December Wilde, aboard her ship Brave as the Waves, Neo follows the coordinates left for him to claim a sword bestowed to him by his mum. But now he needs to know what is the significance of the sword? 

Review: Peculiar Parents

Did you know some kangaroo mothers adopt orphaned joeys? Or that a baby humpback whale weighs as much as a large car when it’s born? Find these morsels and more in Peculiar Parents written by Dr Stephanie Owen Reeder and illustrated by Ingrid Bartkowiak.

Using playful text, detailed research and little-known facts, distinguished children’s author Owen Reeder brings animals’ lives to life. Topics such as choosing a mate, home selection and building, family life and parental habits are explored.

Review: Into the Storm

There is something undeniably compelling about a story where the greatest danger isn’t just the wilderness surrounding the characters, but the secrets and regrets they carry within themselves. In Into the Storm, Hayley Lawrence delivers another heart-racing adventure following the success of Into the Wild. This time, she takes readers into the unforgiving landscapes of Tasmania, where every step forward could be a fight for survival.

Silas and Eve are both running—from mistakes, from grief and from the parts of their past they would rather leave behind. After previously crossing paths during a trekking competition that Eve’s team won, the two went their separate ways. But when Eve reaches out to Silas with an invitation to undertake an even more challenging trek, he accepts, seeing it as a chance to escape his own troubles. However, the wilderness has a way of stripping away pretense, and the journey soon becomes far more dangerous than either of them could have imagined.

Sunday Shelfie - A Hat for Every Harriet

Happy #sundayshelfie day! It is my pleasure to welcome Jess Horn and Zoe Bennett.
This week we are celebrating Jess and Zoe’s wonderful new picture book A Hat for Every Harriet.

Harriet wears many hats. She has a hat for listening, for following the rules and even for being silly. Harriet wears a different hat for every job, because every job needs a different Harriet.

But one day, Harriet has too many hats to wear. Can she find a way to just be herself?

From the creators of Bernie Thinks in Boxes comes a beautiful story about thinking differently and accepting yourself in a neurotypical world.

Written by Jess Horn
Illustrated by Zoe Bennett
Published by Affirm Press

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