Tag Archives: Granny Grommet and Me

Award season

It’s been a very long while between blog posts, apologies!

The good news is that I’ve been busy writing and have some exciting projects in the pipeline. More about those soon.

In the meantime, I’m thrilled to share that Scout and the Rescue Dogs has been honoured with a Children’s Book Council of Australia shortlisting. For those not working in KidLit, it’s a huge and wonderful thing.

In the buildup to Children’s Book Week, schools across Australia make amazing library displays that will include Scout. Young ‘shadow judges‘ will discuss the stories, choose their own winners, and do fun activities based on each book.

But that’s not all… Scout and the Rescue Dogs has also been shortlisted for the West Australian Young Readers’ Book Awards. And, one of my favourites, Granny Grommet and Me, is back.

Fremantle Press has brightened the cover and published this story about surfing grannies in a smaller format that’s perfect for small hands. Since it was last in print, there are dozens more Granny Grommets braving the surf in Kinjarling Albany, and dozens more young grommets as well. Check out some of the clips and photos of the real GGs on this page.

Between all this excitement, I’ve been writing and editing, and early next year, I’ll have three new titles coming out. Two picture books, each with an amazing illustrator, and a biography/novel about an inspirational Australian. I’ll be posting about them soon.

In other news, I’ve jumped on board Shepherd, a great site where authors recommend five books linked to a topic. My first list is called The Best Books with an Important Octopus Character. It’s inspired, of course, by the octopus characters in my novel The Shark Caller. One is a giant gatekeeper, and the other is Izzy’s frightening adversary. Browsing Shepherd is addictive, in that one link leads to another and another and another … I’ve added so many titles to my reading stack!

Well, back to the editing for me. My next post will focus on Anzac books and activities. All the best for now.

AQWA Story Readings

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Lilian loves stories

This week I’ve been meeting young readers at the WA Aquarium for story-time.

We’ve been reading Granny Grommet and Me in front of a tank that’s home to some of the sea creatures that appear in the story. Lilian spotted angel fish in the tank and in the book!

Young book lovers also knew the names of sea stars, leafy sea dragons and many other marine animals.

I’ll be reading again tomorrow at 11.45, so please come and say hello if you are planning a trip top AQWA.

For middle and upper primary teachers and students, I’ll be back again on July 29th to read from The Shark Caller on the same day it will be launched.

My favourite sea creature so far, was this friendly ray in sick bay.

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World Oceans Day

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Happy World Oceans Day.

I had hoped to be celebrating with a walk at beautiful Middleton Beach in Albany, but given the wintry weather, have made do with a brisk walk at the harbour instead.

For the past three years as I’ve reworked drafts of nearly-published, The Shark Caller (Aug 1st), my mind has been focused on underwater creatures and the challenges threatening our oceans. Since completing the final draft in January, the situation has become even more dire for our Great Barrier Reef and here in WA, we hear heated community discussions over sharks and keeping swimmers safe. Sadly there are no easy answers.

I love swimming, diving, snorkelling and walking along the beach, and hope future generations will also be able to enjoy these simple pleasures in an ocean free of pollution and acidity.

The Shark Caller has been one of those stories that’s had a very long gestation, with the first idea, sparked by wonder at the beauty of marine life on a reef in Papua New Guinea. Despite our various inventions and deep-sea explorations, for me the ocean still holds that sense of wonder, mystery and adventure, qualities evident in some of the old classics like Hemingway’s, The Old Man and the Sea or Jules Verne’s fabulous, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. I never finished Moby Dick  but with whale season just starting, maybe I should give that one another go.

And there are so many fun ocean stories for children. My favourites include: Kylie Howarth’s Fish Jam, a jazzy picture book for young and old which is currently CBCA shortlisted; Bruce Whatley’s Looking for Crabs and Naomi Kojima’s quirky Singing Shijimi Clams (might be hard to find the latter). Karen Blair’s illustrations for Granny Grommet and Me also always make me smile! face3

For music lovers who like ocean themes, Simone Keane’s latest album, The Breath of the Ocean  donates proceeds to Sea Shepherd, and for me, one of Simone’s earlier songs, Life’s Ocean conjures lovely memories of Fay Catherine Howe (it was played at the Albany launch of Lighthouse Girl accompanied by historic photos of Breaksea Island)

There are so many ways to enjoy Ocean Day. I hope you find one…

 

 

Farewell 2015

The last day of the year: a time for reflection and forward planning.

Tucked in a holiday house in the hills behind Apollo with my family, its also a time for counting blessings; we’re all relatively healthy and we have homes to return to.

2015 has been a huge year for me with several highlights including:

  • Lighthouse Girl’s close link to ‘The Giants’ performance through the streets of Perth. Following the Little Girl Giant as she searched for The Diver was an unforgettable experience. My special pass enabled me to stand right beside the fabulous giants.
  • signing with Newman Agency. Clive Newman has some exciting ideas for reinvigorating some of my backlist and also new markets for new titles. More info soon…
  •  The Shark Caller’s acceptance for publication with Random House in mid-late 2016. The final edit is almost complete and I can’t wait to share this story with readers. 
  • the presentation of Granny Grommet and Me to the Duchess of Cornwall. I do hope those young royals enjoy hearing about Albany’s surfing grannies.
  • Moss Vale High School selecting Light Horse Boy to be the 2015 book that the entire school reads (all 700 students and staff) as part of their school book club.
  • Light Horse Boy being serialised over 10 weeks in The West Australian newspaper.
  • flying to Breaksea Island in a helicopter to be interviewed for Channel 9’s TV show, Destination WA
  • my daughter’s Masters graduation ceremony.

Thank you to the schools and libraries across WA and beyond who hosted me in 2015. I believe teachers and librarians are unsung heroes of literacy. They open doors to learning, empathy and understanding for children and teenagers – the extent of their influence may not be known for years, but they enrich our community in immeasurable ways. I’d love to see teachers and librarians honoured and appreciated more in 2016.

Next year:

In addition to the launch of The Shark Caller, for YA readers, I hope the illustrations for my picture book, Nanna’s Button Tin will soon be completed. The artwork so far is lovely.

My main aim at the moment is to complete my PhD research ready to submit before mid-year. Hopefully the next blog post will have an update on my progress.

I have school and library bookings in Albany, Busselton, Bunbury and Perth and plan to visit Sydney/Melbourne, Canberra and regional NSW. Please use the contact page if you would like me to come to your school/library.

Books for Royal Babies

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Albany received royal visitors on the weekend. My husband, Peter Watson MLA and I were honoured to join The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall at the Albany Heritage Park on a very warm spring day. Pete shook the royal hands and was in good company with veterans, Murray Maxton and Harold Martin, as well as his ex-ABC colleague, Freeman of the City Annette Knight. I also spotted an excited ‘Granny Grommet’ who’d arrived early to meet the Prince. And there was more ‘Granny Grommet excitement to follow…

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Albany Children’s Librarian, Dora Adeline was invited to travel to Perth to meet The Duchess of Cornwall with the WA Family Literacy Better Beginnings Team at The State Library. This celebration of early literacy was a perfect opportunity for Dora to present HRH with books by local authors. I was honoured that Dora took a copy of Granny Grommet and Me as well as Gabriel Evans’ new Christmas title The Mice and the Shoemaker.

It was fun inscribing a book to ‘the royal babies and their family’ and I hope Prince George and Princess Charlotte enjoy reading about grannies surfing on the south coast of Western Australia. It may even inspire Their Royal Highnesses to grab a boogie board and head down to Brighton…

Before I heard that Dora would be presenting Granny Grommet and Me, I had already arranged to add copies of Lighthouse Girl and Light Horse Boy to the selection of Albany gifts that would accompany Their Royal Highnesses home. The Royals seemed to enjoy walking through the avenue of first AIF ship names and the view of King George Sound and Breaksea Island was beautiful on Saturday, so perhaps the story of a young girl waving to the departing soldiers, nurses and horses in 1914 will be a fitting memory of their day in Western Australia.

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Thank you to Hamish and Lockie Cameron from Paperbark Merchants for donating a book and to Dora Adeline and The State Library for supporting WA authors.