Review: Storm Whale

With whales travelling up and down the coast seeking warmer waters, we have a general fascination with these graceful creatures of the sea. 

Sarah Brennan’s story highlights this fascination and the bonds that are forged between humans and whales.

On a bleak and stormy day, three sisters on holiday are walking into town along the beach when they discover a stranded whale. 

Guest Post: Sarah Brennan on Getting Published: A Question of Persistence!

Storm Whale is my first children’s book to be published by Allen and Unwin – and I have never been more excited! But as someone who wrote her very first children’s book at the tender age of 9, I’m one of the world’s greatest examples of that old adage – “there’s no such thing as overnight success”!

My parents advised me “if you want to be a writer, get a degree and do something sensible first” and, being a somewhat argumentative wordsmith, training as a lawyer seemed the obvious choice. After 20 years as a litigation lawyer, first in Queensland, then in London - during which I spent my holidays writing stories, since this made me happier than any bonus my firm ever paid me - it wasn’t until my then husband was transferred to Hong Kong, and I became a full-time mum, that I was able, at last, to focus on my writing. Albeit in snatched moments as one child swiftly became two!

My first publishing success was as author of a funny column for a Hong Kong parenting magazine. After entertaining the publisher’s guests at his annual Burns Night supper with a spirited rendition of my poem about a Feral Bagpipe (yes, I play the bagpipes), he was on my doorstep next morning asking if I’d written anything for kids. I showed him my pink plastic bag where I stashed all my stories, he selected one, and by 2004 I was touring Hong Kong schools with my first children’s picture book, A Dirty Story! A year later, An Even Dirtier Story was published.

In the meantime my family life had imploded, and as a separated spouse I was obliged to justify my continued existence in Hong Kong to the Immigration Department. Having cut my teeth as a published author, I was ready to go it alone. I set up my own publishing business, and then began climbing the steepest learning curve I’ve ever experienced!

I wanted to create something fun about their own culture for the Chinese kids in the schools I was visiting, and so began my Chinese Calendar Tales series. Eleven years, a new French husband and twelve books later, I think I can say that I know the publishing business very well indeed, from every little step in book creation to distribution and beyond!

But being a self-published author with 14 books behind her is very different to being an author in the hands of a big company like Allen and Unwin! It’s been such a thrill working with its extraordinary, all-woman creative team, with their many years of experience in creating children’s books of exceptional beauty and quality. And such a pleasure to stand back and watch in awe (and peace!) as the rights team and sales team do their fantastic work. So I’m daily learning how to simply be an author – when to suggest, when to keep quiet, and above all, when to slow down and smell the roses of authorship! My experience as a publisher has been invaluable in helping me to understand the publishing business; now at last, I’m returning to my first love, the writing of stories, and I’ve never been happier.

You can learn more about Sarah's exciting collection of books, here.

Keep an eye out for our review of her debut picture book, Storm Whale.

Review: Puffin Peter

Meet Peter and Paul. They are puffin friends, living on a happy, noisy, rocky island.

One day, while out diving, a storm brews, and Peter becomes hopeless lost at sea.

A kindly whale happens along and promises to help Peter find Paul, but the whale needs a description. What does Paul look like?

Meet The Illustrator: Peter Baldwin

Name: Peter Baldwin

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Earthy, expressive, narrative-driven with nature and character at heart.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?
Books and comics for inspiration, Dungeons & Dragons miniatures for painting and storytelling, tidy art supplies for focus, and my computer to pull it all together. My miniature ecosystems—terrariums and aquariums—bring the outside in. They help me slow down, stay curious, and dream up the wild worlds I love to draw.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Hand-drawn inking is definitely my favourite. I enjoy the control and expression that ink pens and brushes offer. I also use pencil, coloured pencils, crayons, and watercolours to add texture and colour. My lightboard, Wacom, and computer help me refine and finish the work digitally. It’s a balance between traditional techniques and digital tools.

Review: Grandad's Island

Benji Davies is a bright talent in picture books. His first book, The Storm Whale, won awards and  has been called 'timeless' and 'a future classic'. I feel the same way about Grandad's Island.

On the one hand, this is a great adventure story. A young boy, Syd, visits his grandfather and together they step through a metal door in Grandad's attic that leads them onto the deck of a very tall ship. They set sail and eventually come upon a magical tropical island. They explore it from top to bottom, move into an old shack, and swoosh down waterfalls. And then, after Grandad decides to stay behind, the boy sails safely home again.

Special Feature: A Dutch Picture Book Experience

Before the world locked down due to the pandemic, I found myself in The Netherlands last month because of a sudden medical emergency of a close family member. And though I wasn’t there for pleasure, as soon as things looked up a little, I found my way to a couple of bookshops. 

First, a small bookshop in a hospital and later my old neighbourhood bookshop in the North of Amsterdam.

Most Dutch bookshops have a range of books translated from English to Dutch. This year The Storm Whale by Benji Davies was popular and, as usual, there were some translated copies of The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Rupsje Nooitgenoeg) by Eric Carle.

Books written by Dutch-speaking authors and illustrators are plenty and published by various well-respected Dutch and Belgium publishing houses.

Having lived in Australia for most of my adult life, and mostly reading picture books published here, in the UK or the USA, I set out to speculate on what makes Dutch picture books typically Dutch.

12 Curly Questions with author Andrew McGahan

Photo credit: Jason Froome

1. Can you tell us something hardly anyone knows about you?

My first novel – it was never published – was written entirely by hand, all eighty thousand words of it, two or three times over in various drafts. That seems incomprehensible to me now, when I write everything on a computer, and use a pen and paper so rarely that I can barely sign my name anymore. But I was only eighteen at the time, it was 1985, and personal computers were still pretty rare. 

I did have a typewriter, but for reasons I can’t recall now, I preferred to write in ink. It wasn’t until a friend of my parents offered me the use of his office computer, over weekends, that I typed the thing up and sent it off in the vain hope of finding a publisher.
   
2. Do you have a nickname and if so can you tell us what it is?

Never had a nickname – at least, not one that I’ve known about.

3. What is your greatest fear?

White whales – see below.

4. Can you describe your writing style for us in ten words?

For the Ship Kings – haunting, suggestive, building slowly to grand climaxes.

5. Can you tell us five positive words that describe you as a writer?

NO vampires, zombies, superheroes, wizards or dystopias. (Not that there’s anything wrong with those things – but enough already.)

News: KBR CBCA 2018 Shortlist Predictions!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Forever curious to delve deeper into our book-loving psyches, we asked our intrepid KBR team to predict the 2018 CBCA Shortlist outcome based on the Notable Titles announced on the 27 February.

The Kids Book Review team is a mixed band of accomplished literary professionals, artists, educators, librarians and of course, reviewers so naturally, our responses were never going to be straightforward! Each team member was asked three questions:

·         Which title they thought WILL be shortlisted

·         Which title they thought SHOULD be shortlisted

·         Which title WOULD be shortlisted if they could choose, in other words, their favourite.

Here is what they had to say. Perhaps it will prompt you to make your own pre-announcement predictions. Whatever the outcome, KBR congratulate all those who made the Notables list this year. It is hugely gratifying to see the magnitude of quality, meaningful literature that Australia continues to create for children.

Author Interview: Roland Harvey

I am personally thrilled to welcome Roland Harvey to Kids Book Review. One of my most beloved children's authors, it's been an absolute joy chatting with Roland about his writing and illustrating journey. Enjoy this sensational interview.

Who is this talented person? Roland Harvey

What does he do? He’s an author/illustrator.

Where can you drool over his stuff? rolandharvey.com.au

What’s his story? I grew up in Kew, Melbourne. My mum and dad were both what we now call graphic designers; mum worked freelance and dad was an art director at a big printing company. Dad had been in the 1st World War and then the Great Depression, and then got run over by TWO big trucks in Collins Street, and spent 18 months in hospital. My mother worked at home, and designed some great Australian icons: the Crown Lager bottle and label was one.

They wanted me to become a 1. Doctor, 2. senior public servant, 3. printer’s apprentice, in that order. I wasn’t smart enough to do any of those, so after a number of dumb uni courses including advertising, I did architecture. I loved it, but there wasn’t much work, and I think I was interested in the people part of it more than doing grand buildings that didn’t improve society.

I started illustrating to pay the bills and got hooked.

I started publishing Christmas cards and then books and ended up with a publishing business called The Five Mile Press.

What came first in his life – the writing or the illustrating? Illustrating came first, but I did pretty well at writing at school and uni. I tried to integrate the two in my books. I did my first book at age eight… a book about the forest, complete with bits of fern and logs and lyrebird feathers. That was in about 1953. The other part of my career started in 1978.

Why does he draw? Love drawing, never stop learning and improving, find it is the key to understanding things. If I can draw it, I must understand it.

What made him decide to pen children’s books? I wanted to tell some stories in an interesting way. To make people aware of history, and science and the world of nature. I wanted to bring those things to life for kids.

What does he love most about producing books for children? I absolutely love the drawing and painting part; and I learn a lot with each new book. I will be very happy to keep improving my watercolour for the rest of my life. The book I’ve just finished, by Mem Fox, is one I’m quite pleased with.

What’s his process – does he write a book first or illustrate it first? Both! Sorry. But It depends on the book. I do like to work out a way of telling a story – the illustrations, diagrams, cross-sections, etc., and then writing around it.

The text may be minimal, weaving through the pictures (as in Tassie to the Top) or in blocks or panels or anything that articulates the story in the most useful way. It might require condensing the text to just a few lines or even words, and I try to make the picture give a context and explain the words. And vice-versa! Often a little joke will say more than a lot of words.

I don’t want to make things too obvious; I want to make you wonder, and have to work it out. All the while, I am looking for ways to be self-indulgent with my painting. I want to push my own boundaries and do new and better paintings every time. It doesn’t always work, but that is how I get my kicks.

At The Beach was the first in Roland’s glorious series of children’s books featuring stunning, eye-swamping illustrations. What inspired him to write it? It was a great idea from Erica Wagner at Allen & Unwin, which became something else. I’d had a series of disastrous events and didn’t quite know what I was going to do next when she rang and it gave me some focus. It was an opportunity to tell some of the stories – in pictures - of the life of adventure I’ve had with my family.

I think it is a really important experience for people growing up to learn to make do; to get wet, cold, hot, scared; to have to work out how to get through a difficult situation. And it makes your mushroom and rice dinner taste a whole lot better.

It gives me a buzz now to see my 25-year-old daughter Jane working in Arnhem land with Indigenous kids, training them to document their ancient stories and archive them for future generations. She had been to a posh ‘young ladies’ school and turned her back on a life of glamour and fashion and luxury. She’s very happy doing it, too, which I enjoy greatly.

What are the greatest blocks or obstacles he has experienced on his book writing journey? I can’t really work when someone is telling me what they want me to do. I suppose it comes down to letting me interpret for myself what is needed for the project.

Another real block is confidence. I need to feel good about the others involved, and that they have confidence in me. I need to know that ‘everything’s all right’ and the kitchen is clean, the bills are paid and someone has paid my tax bill.

The other thing is: I am really a performer! I need an audience, a market! I need feedback. I need a good editor/publisher/ friend to bounce off. I talk to friends like Bob Graham and Ann James and my wonderful partner Annabel and my kids. It is a big part of keeping a belief in what you are doing alive.

What’s a typical writing/illustrating day? My day depends on what I am working on, and with whom. So I will describe my ideal day:

Wake up 6am.

Cup of tea.

Run around park with friend or Annabel, ride with her to her work (15km) , do some exercises, ride home. Get a few jobs done, like plant a few grasses and trees or fish for an hour or so.

By now I feel guilty and rush to the studio to do some work.

Check emails, get important ones answered, hopefully some stimulating ones in there like offer to do the History of the world on i-Book.

Then get down to the reality of my current project. Warm up with some silly drawings and get into it.

Get out somewhere for lunch; probably some leftovers or chicken by the river.

Work again; maybe a meeting with a publisher, jotting down the odd idea/joke/word in my little book, for example:
“Coincidental: When two people have exactly the same teeth.”
“Coincide: When two people enter a building at exactly the same moment.”
“Coincidence: When two cars back into the same tree at the same moment”

I’ll use them somewhere, sometime.

When is he at his most creative? When there is a supportive, appreciative environment and a clear need for what I am trying to do, ie: there is real problem to be solved, where my contribution will mean something to the outcome, and be respected.

What advice does he have on creating great children’s books? I take the word great fairly seriously.

Humour and respect for the reader are important. Unlike my answers, simplicity is really good.

Work on originality and develop concepts that have some relevance to and challenges for kids in our culture. I am not sure that will make sense. It is me being idealistic!

Understand design, styles of art, some underlying philosophy, and contribute to a direction for Australian culture (what we would like it to be).

Be convinced that kids can and need to grasp difficult ideas, and to develop ideals. They need to get equipped to handle the propaganda of the commercial world, of advertising, of politics, the sometimes unrealistic expectations of parents and schools.

How has the children’s literary scene in Australia changed in the past decade and where is it headed? There seems to be a refreshing group of new young writers and publishers, at the same time as the established publishers are becoming more commercial. It seems to me that the blockbuster and the bum have displaced the innocent children’s book in all but the best bookshops.

If he couldn’t be a writer/illustrator, what would he be? I’d like to be capable of being a political activist of the green persuasion, or live on a boat and do docos on the wild places of the world, or have a little music venue with very good food and adventure tours in a book-friendly town by the coast.

Or design hot and cool things that would make the world a better more eco-friendly place; maybe an eco-village.

What books did he read as a child?
Winnie the Pooh
The ‘Eagle’ Annuals (from England)
The ‘William’ series by Richmal Compton
The ‘I-Spy’ Nature Science books (UK again)
Enid Blyton of all sorts
Biggles
Disney comics
Dickens
Pollyanna!
Whatever was available.

What are five of his favourite children’s books of all time?
Midnite (Randolph Stowe)
The Shrinking of Treehorn (Florence Parry Heide)
Wind in the Willows
Peter Pan
Max (Bob Graham)

What else does he like to do other than write books?
Music, singing, playing stringed instruments.
Cooking and Asian food.
Birds, fish, the sea, rivers, the outdoors, boats, exploring, bushwalking.
Painting and drawing.
Boats.
The Australian landscape, conserving indigenous culture.

What would be his perfect day? Wake up, smell the sea, maybe the tide changing making a new sound, bringing new smells; catch a fish at daybreak, run 5k along the beach and swim, have breakfast with my girl Annabel and the kids (Borlotti beans, rosemary, lemon juice, tomatoes, egg, garlic, mushrooms, rocket, goat fetta Olive bread toast, coffee) and have a few laughs… make a plan for a trip to Laos in August.

Then… talk up some new projects, maybe a book, maybe a housing development for young people, affordable, sustainable, exciting… speak to publishers about next ideas.

So, now it’s 9.30am, go sailing to somewhere new, anchor off, have lunch (fresh fish, crayfish, salad, home made bread, crisp white, fruit).

Wow! It’s already 12pm and I haven’t been windsurfing yet so I jump on a board with a newly sprung-up 30 knot breeze and blast across the inlet for an hour followed by a bit of big wave stuff (that bit is wishful thinking).

Go home. Terry Denton, Bob Graham and Ann Spudvilas have called in and we discuss our latest projects and decide to get active on a couple of political fronts. We have a glass of wine and I do some work on my current book; an interesting challenge which will push the boundaries of conventional publishing (and good taste).

It is 2.45pm now and I work until 4.05 when some kids call in to tell me they have seen a whale off the point (which is unusual in North Fitzroy). And they’ve also seen some really wild mushrooms. We go and discuss how to paint these exciting things, and then I send them off to do their homework.

I work until Annabel rings and I ride down to meet her. We ride home and cook up a nice little seafood pasta and go to a play/film/pub. It is late, so we ride home (again) and I spend two minutes answering my fan mail, play guitar with Annabel on the deck and a glider possum zaps about telling us to get to bed.

I go for a quick sail in the moonlight and bring home a couple of fish for breakfast tomorrow. The breeze has picked up and I can smell a storm coming, so we tie the boat securely, put the stormboards on the chookhouse, and put Francis our pet pig in the spare room.

I send out a weather alert to the neighbours and other shipping, and listen to Beethoven as I drift off to sleep…

What five words best sum him up?
Big
Energetic
Idealistic
Bothered
Optimistic

What’s next for Roland Harvey? I’ve just finished The Little Dragon and I’m very pleased with it. I want to follow that with a strong book, probably Ned Kelly. It might be a graphic novel. It might have a music component. It might be an iBook.

And maybe some more of my active kids books.

I have a few simple ideas, one of which is a book in defence of pigs, maybe a non-pork cookbook. Non-meat. Non-polluting.

I’m interested in starting a ‘Painters in the Park’ group, hoping to subvert a threatened freeway in the iconic Heidelberg School area near us.

Also, getting a venue going for young people like me to have a good night nearby with music and good food and art and literature…

There are also some grander-scale projects of the hi-tech variety which I find very exciting… I would like to have more of my perfect day…

Don’t miss the launch of Roland’s new book The Little Dragon in October/November 2010. And make sure you check out his gorgeous website, where you can download free Christmas Cards this Christmas! I’m so there! - Ed