Tag Archives: teachers

Anzac Resources for Teachers

Lesson planning takes time. Here are some Anzac-related links for teachers and librarians, including this clip; an Anzac Day reflection from Mt Clarence during Covid.

Each book in the WWI ‘Light’ series has teaching notes with worksheet activities created by Fremantle Press. Website links include these as well as reviews and images for Lighthouse Girl, Light Horse Boy, In the Lamplight, and The Last Light Horse.

If you’d like to know more about ‘Lighthouse Girl’ Faye Howe, click here. And information about warhorse Sandy can be found here.

For class printouts, follow these links:

a semaphore chart and activity,
a WWI horses cloze worksheet,
a Morse code activity
another cloze worksheet linking to WWI nursing.

My Blog posts cover various thematic, WWI, WWII, and Anzac topics. Posts share background details for each book, as well as my creative journeys. Try typing each title as well as keywords like; For Teachers, Anzacs, Historical Fiction, My Process, Light Horse, warhorse, lighthouse, WWI mascots, WWI nursing, Harefield, WWII.

You might also like to check out the clips on my YouTube channel. There are Book trailers for Light Horse Boy and Lighthouse Girl, links to the 2014 Albany commemorative events, and a clip with music by Simone Keane. This Destination WA interview with Dianne on Breaksea Island also shows details of the National Anzac Centre in Albany.

This reading from The Last Light Horse is taken in the Snowy Mountains the area that inspired Sandy’s story, while this clip shows Dianne and her dog Harry unwrapping their first copy of the book. Or Read ABC article about Sandy

Here’s another article about the books in the ‘Light’ series: Chauvel Foundation, and a series review. Plus a few more links to a range of Anzac stories: 17 best Anzac Day books for kids, Books on War, Great Books for Anzac Day, Readings.

Finally, if you live in Perth or Rockingham, here’s a sneak peek of Theatre 180‘s adaptation of the ‘Light’ series. I hope these links are helpful.

WAYRBA 2017

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The West Australian Young Readers WAYRBA have announced their three shortlists and I’m thrilled that The Shark Caller is included amongst the 16 titles in the 2016 Older Readers’ category. I’m in good company; the list features six international books, nine from Australia and one fellow West Australian title; Norm Jorgensen’s fun The Smuggler’s Curse. There are also lists for Younger Readers and Picture Books with terrific Australian titles on both.

Being shortlisted for a children’s choice award is a wonderful thing. Committed teachers and librarians make up many judging panels, but when the power to choose is handed over to kids it makes being selected such an honour. Young readers make honest critics. As part of the judging process they’re asked to read titles on the lists and evaluate them as ‘terrific’, ‘good’, ‘okay’ or ‘awful.’ Fingers crossed that my ‘Shark’ doesn’t receive too many of the latter!

For WA creators there are still challenges involved in bringing a book to the attention of readers – there are so many other great books from interstate and overseas. The annual WAYRBA lists help ensure that Australian settings such as ‘Abalone Cove’ (Greens Pool) and Broome, which appear in The Shark Caller, reach a wider readership. Thank you to the organising committee for their hard work behind the scenes and teachers, please help your students access the WAYRBA titles, encourage them to vote – and to be gentle with the ‘awful’ slips…

Booktrailers

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Book trailers are a wonderful way for readers to peek into a book and gain a quick understanding of what the story is about so they can then decide whether to buy/borrow and read.

James Foley and Fremantle Press created a cracker clip for my Light Horse Boy, and there are multiple clips linked to Lighthouse Girl (details below), however as yet, there are none for my other books. And so, my resolution for March, is to make at least one more book trailer…

There are two specific Lighthouse Girl clips on Youtube. I love the trailer that was created by Year 4 students at Rosalie Primary School in 2010 – great that it’s still out there…

Then there is my own first attempt at creating a trailer. It’s quite factual and a bit basic as far as clips go, but it gives a nice view of King George Sound and Breaksea Island.

There are many, many YouTube clips linked to the Little Girl Giant, a character which was inspired by the book, Lighthouse Girl (more details on earlier posts). Amongst the terrific clips below, is one posted by Tracey Timmins, the granddaughter of Fay (the lighthouse girl). It’s a crackly but close-up view of Fay as the Little Girl Giant at PIAF 2015. There’s also one that I posted, and others by people I don’t know.

The first waking up

Walking

Waking up to Edith Piaf

A lovely soundtrack version clip linked to Lighthouse Girl is by Caddy Cooper Her clip features a song that she wrote, The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter which was inspired by Fay.

I hope that more clips of my books will appear soon. In the meantime, you might like to check out these clips by other WA authors and illustrators:

My Dead Bunny , The Last Viking Returns, Ned Kelly and the Green Sash, A is For Australia, Zac and Mia,

This is just a sample, you will find more on most authors’ websites…

Breaksea House @ GSG

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This morning I went to Great Southern Grammar’s Start of Year Assembly to donate copies of my historical novels, Lighthouse Girl and Light Horse Boy. The occasion?

black and white photograph of the real Fay Howe

The real Fay, image courtesy of Don Watson

GSG’s new boarding house has been named Breaksea House to honour Fay Catherine Howe, the ‘lighthouse girl’ who signalled to the departing Anzac nurses, troops and horses in 1914.

I was honoured to present signed copies of my books to boarding house student leaders; Emma Taylor and James Gonzales.

LHG cover LHB cover

GSG has also purchased original artwork by illustrator, Brian Simmonds. The image appears on page 94 of Lighthouse Girl and shows Fay searching the Albany Advertiser for news about the troops in the Middle East. This lovely charcoal illustration will now grace the walls of the new boarding facility. I hope to see it when I visit for an informal book chat.

The full school assembly was a terrific occasion, welcoming the 2016 student leaders who then offered a badge to each Year One student, celebrating their new beginnings.

breaksea1 breaksea2

Fay’s story continues to touch a chord with readers, particularly those living in WA. I often wonder how Fay would feel to know that so many people remember her…

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Back to School

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In WA students, teachers and librarians are going back to school, which reminds me that at the end of last term I became too busy to post some Term Two highlights.

I love it when schools come up with writer visit variations. Here are photos from two special events last term. One was a boat trip to Breaksea Island, home of Fay the ‘Lighthouse Girl’

Year 5 students from Great Southern Grammar studied Lighthouse Girl in Term Two. After a more formal classroom presentation and workshop, their teachers invited me to join the students on a post-Naplan week boat trip to experience the island from an interesting perspective. It was so much fun, and a great extension activity…

Great teachers like Carys Nichols and Paul Osborne and inspire literacy!

Another terrific extension activity was organised by Sandi Parsons, the creative and fun librarian at Mt Lawley Primary.

Sandi, Narrelle Thambipillai and other staff organised a short writing competition. The age group winners shared a party lunch with me after my presentations. It was lovely to meet them and hear about their stories. Here are some photos of the winners:

For most authors, illustrators and librarians, Term Three is the hectic one.

In between school and library visits I will be working hard to complete two novels; The Shark Caller and The Dog with Five Names. I hope to post updates on my progress and also share some inspirational articles by fellow authors in the next few weeks. More soon…

‘The Shark Caller’ swims again

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After setting aside my ‘Shark’ manuscript for 4 months, I’m now back underwater at last.

I’ve come to learn that letting stories settle is an important part of the writing process. It’s tempting to send away a manuscript after the first few drafts but I’ve found it’s usually better to wait. Not usually as long as this one, however…

I have emails that go back as far as 2006 mentioning this story!

But the good news for my long-suffering family and friends is that I think Shark Caller is getting closer to being publishable. I hope. It’s also one of my two PhD Creative Works so it needs to be completed by September.

The Shark Caller is an underwater fantasy story that I hope readers aged about 10-14 will enjoy. Here are a few beautiful illustrations by Year 3 students at St Mark’s Anglican School. They were created in response to Granny Grommet and Me, but the artwork has helped me shift my focus underwater again and so I wanted to include some here. There are more beautiful drawings but they don’t all fit. Thank you Year 3’s for giving them to me.