An Interesting Question and Abbotsleigh Literary Festival

Last Monday I had the pleasure of speaking at the Abbotsleigh Literary Festival. I was a little nervous prior to the event as I was going to present Get a Grip, Cooper Jones for the first time and wasn't sure how Cooper would be received. I felt like the mother of a kindi student about to send her precious child off for his first day at school. Will the other kids be kind? Will he make any friends? Will the kids like him as much as I do?

As is often the case, I need not have worried. Cooper held his own and I had numerous students milling around me after my sessions asking the question author's love to hear: "Where can I buy the book?"

It was a wonderful event, the students were fantastic and I had a great time.

During one session, I had a question from a student (Miriam) that I couldn't think of an answer for at the time and I promised to think about it and get back to her. The question was: "If you could be a character from any book, who would you be?"

I have been mulling over this ever since and I haven't yet been able to come up with a female character that I sincerely would want to be. This troubles me slightly.

If I look to my own books, I think I would want to be Sasha from A Strange Little Monster because she has a kind heart, but is also strong and courageous and true to herself. If I look elsewhere in Children's Literature, I guess I am partial to Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series - for similar reasons, and also because of her intelligence.

When I look to adult literature, I really can't get past Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird. I love Atticus because of his honesty and integrity.

I'm sure there are plenty of wonderful characters out there that I have overlooked. Any ideas? (Thanks for the great question, Miriam.)

Tomorrow is the first day of Book Week, and to mark the week, I have set myself the task of writing a blog post about each school/library I visit. Book Week is exhausting at best, so I'm not sure if I will be up for the challenge, but I will give it my best shot.

Congrats to all the winners in the CBCA Book of the Year Awards - especially the wonderfully talented bunch from Walker Books : Glenda Millard, Rebecca Cool, Sally Murphy and Heather Potter. You rock, gals!

Happy Book Week everyone!

Safari, anyone?

Book Safari 2009 started off with an early morning flight to the Gold Coast to attend the announcement of the CBCA Book of the Year winners and honour books.


It was my happy duty to look after our talented Walker Books' winners: Bob Graham (Winner, Early Childhood category for How to Heal a Broken Wing) and Mark Greenwood and Frane Lessac (Honour Book, Eve Pownall Award for Simpson and his Donkey). Speeches were accompanied by the barks and coughs of the neighbouring sea lions and a wild time was had by all.


Next stop was Brisbane to the CBCA Qld Branch's Book Safari dinner where the highlight was Glenda Millard's poignant and heartfelt speech, entitled, Getting Naked, which dealt with the use of raw emotion in writing. It was truly wonderful.


Saturday morning I trekked to Cafe San Marco, South Bank, for a wild Book Safari brunch with a great bunch of kids. It was lots of fun celebrating Book Week Queensland-style. (Thanks Beth!)

(I also had the chance to catch up with my sister and nieces and nephews, which was an added bonus!)