Category: authors

authors, interviews

Deb Fitzpatrick on Kelpie Chaos

Alphabet Soup
A woman leans on a stack of books with her chin in her hands
The cover of a children's book: Kelpie Chaos by Deb Fitzpatrick

Deb Fitzpatrick writes for adults, young adults and children. She loves using stories from real life in her novels and regularly teaches creative writing to people of all ages. Deb’s own dog is a kelpie, who is absolutely not a failed sheep dog. Today we’re talking to Deb about her latest novel, Kelpie Chaos.

From the publisher:

A kelpie puppy is about to be sent to the pound and Eli knows he has to do something. After adopting the flame-chested kelpie, now named Zoom, the family falls in love, but they soon learn there’s a lot involved in raising a dog. Especially a working dog, who is hardwired to round up pretty much everything … even socks. When Zoom goes missing on a family bushwalk, the family sets out on a frantic search. What mischief could a dog get up to in the bush?

Can you tell us a bit about your own dog?

First thing I need to say here is I adore our dog, Louie. He really is our fur-baby!! He is a kelpie crossed with Australian shepherd, just like Zoom in Kelpie Chaos. And just like Zoom, he can be cheeky. Louie is black all over and has a small white flame on his chest, is dead handsome and smart-as. He has a huge loving heart, prefers people to dogs, and loves to take us on walks as frequently as possible! 

Louie was a huge inspiration for Zoom in Kelpie Chaos, along with a story another dog-walker told me about her father’s kelpie. This kelpie would spend all day with him out at work on construction sites in the country. One day he disappeared, and what happened next became part of the book. 

What’s the naughtiest thing your dog has ever done?

Thankfully, our dog Louie isn’t very naughty, except when it comes to chasing cats. By far the naughtiest dog we’ve ever owned was a gorgeous, intelligent and seriously cheeky fox terrier, when we lived in Costa Rica. We used to call him Chester the English Fox Terrier. My husband had gone to a lot of effort to bake a cake one morning and he left it to cool on the counter while the two of us went out to work. When we returned home, the cake was just crumbs all over the floor. Chester the English Fox Terrier did not spend that night inside with us, put it that way. I re-imagined this story in Kelpie Chaos, changing it to suit the book. I love to take things from real life and mash them into my fiction, as some of your readers may know from my other books.

What are some of your favourite books about dogs?

There are so many brilliant books about dogs and the connection between children and their dogs. There are several picture books about dogs that I particularly love, starting with Dog In, Cat Out by Gillian Rubinstein, which I read with my kids when they were younger. More recently, I love Briony Stewart’s Magoo books and When Billy was a Dog by Kirsty Murray and Karen Blair. Dianne Wolfer’s Scout and the Rescue Dogs is a huge personal favourite and I’m so happy to see it shortlisted in multiple literary awards this year! When I was a kid I adored Lassie Come-Home by Eric Knight and then developed an obsession with the television show ‘Lassie’. Finally, I have to mention the ABC TV documentary series about working dogs, ‘Muster Dogs’, which I can’t get enough of. Those beautiful kelpies and border collies!

Do you have a word prompt or scenario you’d like to challenge young readers to try?

Here’s my challenge to Alphabet Soup readers: Write a scene or story, poem or song about your dog (or other beloved pet). Weave in a human character who is a bit like you and feel free to tweak a few details and add an event to make the story funnier or more dramatic. Have fun and see where it takes you! That’s pretty much all I do with my writing, and somehow I now have a small pile of novels with my name on them!

What’s next for you and your writing projects?

I’m halfway through the first draft of a new book – similar to Kelpie Chaos and also for middle readers,but this one’s about a different animal and a different family … It has adventure-in-the-forest vibes and that’s all I’m willing to reveal at this stage! Watch this space!

Kelpie Chaos is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.

AWESOME EXTRAS:

Take a sneak peek inside the book!

Download the Teachers’ Notes for Kelpie Chaos

Visit Deb Fitzpatrick’s website for more about her and her books.

The cover of a children's book: Kelpie Chaos by Deb Fitzpatrick
authors, interviews

Cristy Burne on Into the Blue

Alphabet Soup
A woman in a white shirt with red spots stands holding a light globe over her head with two hands
The cover of a children's novel showing two children swimming wearing snorkels

Cristy Burne writes fiction and nonfiction and her books are bursting with adventure, friendship, family, nature, science and technology. Cristy has worked as a science communicator for nearly 20 years across six countries. She has been a science circus performer, garbage analyst, museum writer, and atom-smashing reporter at CERN, but her all-time favourite job is working with kids to embrace the intersection between science, technology and creativity.

Today we’re thrilled to be chatting with Cristy about her novel Into the Blue, illustrated by Amanda Burnett.

From the publisher:

Blair and his cousin embark on an adventurous day out, snorkelling on the wreck of the Omeo, but their excitement turns to panic when Blair loses his brother’s cherished GoPro camera on the seabed. No one knows about his mistake except his cousin, and she urges Blair to keep it a secret. But Blair’s lies quickly spiral out of control. Terrified to confess but wracked with guilt, Blair is left floundering in the deep.

I’ll take a wild guess that you’ve been snorkelling yourself! Where’s the best place you’ve been to snorkel?

I love snorkelling and I snorkelled a lot on the Omeo wreck to research this book. Many of my favourite places to snorkel are in Western Australia: Rottnest Island, Ningaloo Reef, Mettams Pool, Yanchep Lagoon and Penguin Island, to name a few. There are so many awesome places to explore!

I’ve also snorkelled and SCUBA dived a lot around Australia and the world. My Aussie favourites are Cocos Island and Christmas Island, plus the Whitsundays in Queensland. (I’ve never snorkelled on the Great Barrier Reef … yet!)

My favourite dive spot ever is in Japan in the Ogasawara Islands, 1000 kilometres south of Tokyo in the Pacific Ocean.

A photo of someone wearing a snorkel and goggles in murky water plus a book pasted on top.

Do you have a favourite underwater creature or element that you look out for when you go snorkelling?

I don’t like to chase underwater creatures. Instead, I like to float around like a piece of seaweed and wait for them to come to me. In this way I’ve been lucky to have seen dolphins, turtles, seals and even sharks go swimming past.

Even though I love seeing big things, my favourites are tiny things. My absolute number-one favourite thing is something that Blair also experiences in Into The Blue. It’s when you find yourself in the middle of a school of teeny-tiny fish that glitter and whirl like a magical cloud and it feels like you’re in another world. I love that feeling!

When you were growing up, did you ever get into trouble for touching/using something you weren’t supposed to?

No. Never. I was always very obedient and good.

Right?

Except for a b-u-n-c-h of times when I got into trouble. One time I remember, my mum had brought a doll’s pram home from my sisters’ kindy. She parked it in the garage and said, “Don’t touch it, Cristy.”

But that pram looked soooo interesting. And I was sure it was big enough to fit more than just dolls. In fact, I was sure that if I tried, I could fit into that pram!

So I snuck into the garage and climbed in.

And you know what? I did fit! It was awesome!

But when I tried to climb out, I couldn’t. I was jammed stuck.

I knew that if Mum found me, she’d be cross, so I had to get out. But no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t budge from that pram.

In the end, I had to cry out for help. When Mum finally arrived in the garage, looking very confused, she found me bawling my eyes out and stuck. So, she did what all good parents would do (!?!), and she fetched her camera to take a photo of me stuck there. How lovely. Now we can always remember The Time Cristy Got Stuck In The Doll’s Pram.

Do you have a word prompt or scenario you’d like to challenge young writers to try?

I think a wonderful way to write is to go into the place that you’re writing about with a notebook and pen. Then, breathe deep and tune your senses into that place. Write down all your thoughts and ideas and similes and feelings about:

– what you can smell and hear

– interesting ways to describe what you see

– how the landscape makes you feel and what you feel in your body in those moments

– how things feel to touch: bark, sand, leaves, wind, the pen in your hand, everything.

The place you write in might be your school playground, or a nearby bushland, or even waiting at a bus stop to go to school. (If you do this activity, I’d love to hear how you went…you can contact me through my website: cristyburne.com/

What’s next for Cristy Burne?

So many things!!! I want to learn how to be a bike mechanic so I can look after my mountain bike better. I want to dig up my lawn so I can plant native plants for lizards and birds and creatures to live in. I’m planning a hiking adventure in the gorges of Kalbarri National Park.

And … I’m doing lots of school visits and festival tours to talk to readers and creators about Into The Blue, plus my new graphic novel with Rebel Challenger (called Ultra Violet: Down to Business).

PLUS, I’m working on not one, not two but THREE new secret projects. I love having lots of things to make and create and try. It’s always hard to make new things, because they never really turn out how I want them to, especially on the first try. But I love the challenge of trying to make something I’m really proud of.

And I’m really proud of my books.

Thank you so much for reading down this far, and thank you also for reading my books. I hope they make you laugh and get you excited for having your own adventures!

Into the Blue is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.

AWESOME EXTRAS:

Read some sample pages from Into the Blue!

Download a Ship to Shore activity from the publisher’s website [PDF]

Download the Teachers’ Notes [PDF]

Visit Cristy Burne’s website for more resources and to find out more about the author and her books.

Watch Cristy Burne’s slick promo video for Into the Blue. [YouTube]

The cover of a children's novel showing two children swimming wearing snorkels
authors, interviews, teachers' resources

Tracey Dembo on This Book is a Time Machine

Alphabet Soup
The cover of a children's picture book: This Book is a Time Machine
A photo of Tracey Dembo standing in front of a colourful wall.

Tracey Dembo writes books encouraging big questions, daring dreams and wild imaginations. She’s the author of two picture books: An A to Z of Dreaming Differently, illustrated by Lucia Masciullo, and This Book is a Time Machine, illustrated by Lucinda Gifford. Today we’re excited to chat to Tracey about This Book is a Time Machine!

From the publisher:

Guess what? You are holding a real-life time machine!
You don’t believe me?
I’ll show you!
For a start, I wrote this blurb in the PAST.
Yet, you are reading it in the PRESENT.
And when you finish reading the blurb, it will be the FUTURE …

The author (you!) and the illustrator are both characters in This Book is a Time Machine. Did you meet Lucinda Gifford while she was working on the illustrations?

I actually didn’t meet Lucinda while working on the illustrations – the first time I met Lucinda was before that, during the Maurice Saxby Mentorship Program in 2022 (an incredible creative development program for children’s creators that I was fortunate enough to be part of).  Lucinda was a former mentee of this program, and we were fortunate to have lunch with her and to hear all about her creative journey and processes as part of the mentorship.  I was completely in awe of her, and it was so inspiring to listen to her experiences.  So, you can imagine how excited I was to hear that she had agreed to do the illustrations for This Book Is a Time Machine!  Once she had signed up, we met early in the process, via a video call with Tash, our publisher.  This is not necessarily the conventional way authors and illustrators collaborate on a book, but because we are both actual characters in the book (which is unusual), it was really important to make sure we were all on the same page and to work closely together.  It was a great experience to be able to work like this with such an incredible illustrator and creative team, including Tash and Kristy Lund-White (the designer).

If you climbed into a time machine, would you choose to go into the past or the future?

I would probably go backwards into the past and meet some of the incredible people who are no longer with us. Frida Kahlo and Albert Einstein would be two people who I would really love to meet.

This book features so many creatures, people and events escaping from their time in history – if you were dressing up as a character from This Book is a Time Machine for a Book Week parade, what would your costume be?

The cover of a children's picture book: This Book is a Time Machine

Although this is one book I could get away with not dressing up for (as I could go as myself), I would definitely go as the mummy.* 

I just love the different facial expressions of this character throughout the book (I’m pretty sure one of those expressions is how I look before I’ve had my morning coffee).

*Check out the mummy in the letter E on the book’s cover.

If we took a time machine into the future, what would we see Future Tracey working on?

Look, I would love to be able to say that Future Tracey would be working on an international best-seller, but I guess I would need to use my time machine to find out if this is true!

In the meantime, I am writing as much as I can in the hope that a future brilliant idea will come to me.

Do you have a tip for young writers who would like to try writing their own picture books?

My tip would be to keep on going and persisting, even when your work does not turn out how you want it to.  Making mistakes and mess and improving your craft is all part of the process and so it is really important not to give up.

This Book is a Time Machine is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.

AWESOME EXTRAS:

Watch the book trailer [YouTube]

Will the book make an impact? [You Tube]

Make your own Future Teller [PDF]

Visit the author’s website for more about her and her books

Visit the illustrator’s website for more about her and her books

authors, interviews

Emily Gale and Nova Weetman on Outlaw Girls

Alphabet Soup

Emily Gale writes for children and for teenagers – you might know her novels I am out with Lanterns and The Other Side of Summer. Nova Weetman also writes for children and teenagers and you might have read some of her books, such as The Secrets We Keep and Sick Bay. Emily and Nova previously collaborated on Elsewhere Girls. Their latest book collaboration is Outlaw Girls, the second co-authored book by these authors. We’re thrilled to chat to them about Outlaw Girls today.

A head and shoulders photo of a woman with hair blowing in the wind
Emily Gale
A head and shoulders photo of a woman smiling broadly
Nova Weetman
The cover of a children's novel: Outlaw Girls

From the publisher:

Kate and Ruby live in the High Country in Victoria. They’re both daring, quick-thinking and prepared to break the rules, and they’re both brilliant horse riders –they’d probably be great friends. But they live in different times, 145 years apart.

Two authors, one novel. How do you go about writing a story when there are two writers?

Nova Weetman: Outlaw Girls is a blend of historical research and fiction, so for the research part we spent several months visiting the sites of our ‘real’ character Kate Kelly and learning all that we could about her. Because Kate was Ned Kelly’s sister there was a ton of material to read and study.

We each wrote one character: Emily wrote Kate and I wrote Ruby. Before we started writing the chapters, we had to develop our own characters as well as plotting the entire book as a partnership. I started the Ruby story, then I sent my chapters to Emily and she wrote some of the Kate story, and then we went back and forth like that all the way to the end, giving and receiving chapters. Then we did the editing to make sure it flowed well. It’s important that the main story works but also that each character has their own storyline with its own satisfying ending.

Ned Kelly is a familiar name for most Australians. Can you tell us a bit about how you went about your research for the character of his sister? Did you both collate information?

Emily Gale: We did loads of research, all different kinds. Nova already knew a bit about Kate Kelly but I didn’t so I was starting from scratch. I read or listened to a lot of books. I looked in the index of even more books to see if they mentioned Kate and I read all of those bits too. I watched all the Ned Kelly movies, listened to podcasts, read books about horses, watched YouTube videos about young people taking care of their horses or going riding, and read old newspapers from 1878 on the website Trove, where it’s easy to look up articles from the past.

Then I made a Google Doc of all my research and shared it with Nova so that she could add to it.

A fun part of the research was going on the train with Nova to The Kelly Gang areas in Victoria. We saw the old chimney which is all that is left of the house where Kate Kelly grew up, and we walked around Glenrowan where The Kelly Gang came to an end.

If you could time-slip to any time in history, what year would you choose?

Emily Gale: If I could guarantee that I could come home any time I would take a quick trip to ancient Italy, the first century AD, when the Romans had a time of not fighting anyone – it’s a period called Pax Romana. It would be very smelly, and I wouldn’t like to be a slave forced to participate in gladiatorial games, but I think it would be incredible to go that far back in time.

Nova Weetman: I’d like to take a whirlwind trip through important historical moments, watching them like an eagle from above and then time slipping into the next one once all the drama was complete. I’d meet Cleopatra, visit the Colosseum to watch a gladiatorial battle, and eat Marie-Antoiniette’s cake.

What you are both working on next?

Emily Gale: I am working on a new story which instead of going back in time goes forward a generation. I’m only halfway through it so I can’t say much more but it’s interesting and challenging to make myself think about the future instead of the past.

Nova Weetman: I have just delivered the first draft of a new middle grade novel that is much lighter than the books I usually write, and I’m also working on a middle grade graphic novel with illustrator Renee Treml.

Do you have a tip for young writers who’d like to collaborate on a story?

Emily Gale: It helps to plan your story a little bit first so that you both know where you’re going. But you don’t have to plan every detail and it’s amazing when a story takes you somewhere unexpected, so you should both stay open to that. Choose a story idea that you are both very passionate about and listen to each other’s ideas carefully. If there is something the other person has written or suggested that you don’t like, you must be careful about how you say this: be very kind to each other always and don’t forget to tell them the things that you love about their writing – encouraging each other will get the most out of collaborating.

Nova Weetman: I think you need to be in agreement about how long and how complicated the story is before you start. It’s important that you are both thinking about the same sort of genre and tone, and that one of you isn’t imagining a murder mystery while the other is writing a romance. Have some really honest discussions before you start so there are fewer surprises when you begin to write.

Outlaw Girls is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.

AWESOME EXTRAS:

The cover of a children's novel: Outlaw Girls

Take a sneak peek inside the book (look for ‘Preview this book’ under the book photo on the publisher’s website)

Watch a video of the authors talking about Elsewhere Girls and Outlaw Girls [This link will take you to Facebook]

Download the Teachers’ Notes for Outlaw Girls

Visit Emily Gale’s website for more about her and her books

Visit Nova Weetman’s website for more about her and her books

authors, interviews

Peter Carnavas on Leo and Ralph

Alphabet Soup
The cover of a children's novel: Leo and Ralph by Peter Carnavas
A photo of Peter Carnavas

Peter Carnavas is the creator of over twenty books, many of which have been shortlisted or won awards. Peter’s books have been translated into many languages. He lives on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. Today we’re chatting about Leo and Ralph, his latest novel.

From the publisher:

Leo and Ralph have been best friends ever since Ralph flew down from one of Jupiter’s moons. But now Leo’s older, and Mum and Dad think it’s time to say goodbye to Ralph. When the family moves to a small country town, they hope Leo might finally make a real friend. But someone like Ralph is hard to leave behind … 

Leo loves everything about space. What’s your favourite fact about space?

I discovered my favourite space facts from one of my favourite books: Stellarphant, by James Foley. At the back of his book, he shows all the different animals that have been into space — rabbits, tortoises, frogs and chicken eggs!

Can you share a memory of what you and your friends liked to do at lunchtime when you were Leo’s age?

It was either soccer or handball. I loved playing soccer, and lunchtime never seemed long enough — we always wanted to score just one more goal. In my mind, I was the greatest handball player in the school, but I don’t have any trophies to prove it. You’ll just have to take my word for it. 

Leo’s descriptions of Dundle are so effective we can picture the country town in our mind’s eye. Is Dundle based on a real town?

As I wrote about Dundle, I pictured a lovely country town called Clermont, in the central highlands of Queensland. I lived there for five years when I started teaching and I have great memories of the town and the community. Leo isn’t too sure about Dundle when he first arrives but he grows to love it, just like I did with Clermont. 

Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?

I won’t say too much, as the idea has only started growing, but I’m planning a novel about animals, and the main character is a stubborn, curious and very brave goat. 

Do you have a tip for young writers?

When you write stories, you’re in charge, so write the story you really want to write. There are some basic rules to remember — a main character that readers want to cheer for, and some big problems to create tension — but most of all, try to write the kinds of stories you love to read. 

AWESOME EXTRAS:

Watch the book trailer! [YouTube]

Download the Teachers’ Notes from the publisher’s website

Visit Peter Carnavas’s website for more about him and his books

authors, interviews

A.L. Tait on The First Summer of Callie McGee

Alphabet Soup

Allison Tait (A.L. Tait) is the internationally published bestselling author of adventure series The Mapmaker Chronicles, the Ateban Cipher novels, and the Maven & Reeve Mysteries. Today we’re chatting to A.L. Tait about her latest novel The First Summer of Callie McGee, a cosy mystery novel. 

Allison Tait sitting on the edge of a wall.
The cover of a children's novel, The First Summer of Callie McGee by A.L. Tait.

From the publisher:

It’s the last summer before Callie starts high school and she’s been dragged along to yet another ‘family friends’ holiday. Determined to change her nerdy reputation, Callie sets out to make waves but nothing is quite as she expects. Her usual ally, Sasha, has outgrown Callie; her nemesis, Mitch, has brought his cousin Owen along; and the boring south coast town of Sawyer’s Point has been rocked by a series of burglaries. Callie, Owen and Mitch decide to investigate the robberies, bringing them face to face with a local gang … and a possible ghost. But then Sasha goes missing …

You’ve published multiple fantasy novels, what was different about writing contemporary realism?

When you’re writing a story set in a fantasy world, you have to work incredibly hard to bring that world to life on the page with every tiny detail. You’re thinking about everything from what people wear and what they eat to how they buy things at the shops and how they travel from A to B – and then you have to make sure the reader understands all of that without resorting to long descriptive passages (boring!). 

In a contemporary world, your reader knows what a car is and what a double-storey brick house looks like, so that side of things is easier – but it’s still essential to build a world for the reader to immerse themselves in. 

The biggest challenge for me in the switch was the ‘real’ factor. In a fantasy novel, my characters can drink ale and fling themselves into rivers and readers know it’s not real, without having to be told not to try it themselves. In a contemporary novel, I felt like I had to take a lot more care about my character’s action. When Callie throws herself into a rip to rescue her younger friend Cody, for instance, I’ve already made it clear that she’s a strong swimmer and she’s been a Nipper, so she knows what to do.  

When your series The Mapmaker Chronicles began you talked about sketching a map of the books’ world. While you were writing The First Summer of Callie McGee, did you draw a map of Sawyer’s Point?

Sawyer’s Point is based on a real seaside village called Gerroa, about 20 minutes’ drive from my house. I’ve spent a lot of time there over the years (in a friend’s holiday house!) so I could see in my mind exactly where Callie and her friends were at any time. Having said that, I did move things around a bit – Sawyer’s Point has a surf club, but Gerroa does not.

Is Callie’s trying on of a new name based on your own childhood experiences – did you ever try out different nicknames for yourself when you were growing up?

I’ve always found names fascinating – what they say about us, how they fit us and, maybe, how we grow to fit them. And nicknames are even more interesting, because having one implies you have that easy sort of relationship with someone else. I didn’t try to change my name as a child (though I know people who did), and my nickname has always been Al.

Do you have a tip for kids who’d like to write a story based on a real place/setting?

Write what you know, but make it new. Choose a place that you know really well and then change one thing. That one thing might be bringing a new person (character) into that place (one of the best ways to describe a place is to show it through a new person’s eyes – even if it’s your class at school). It might be adding a mysterious statue that’s been there forever and then, one day, has vanished – or perhaps it’s never been there before and then, one day, appears out of nowhere. It might be putting a trapdoor in the floor that leads to a secret tunnel. 

Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?

I’m excited to be working on a new contemporary middle-grade novel, which will hopefully be out next year! It’s got all the things I love – a character with heart, adventure, and mystery. Watch this space!

Awesome extras:

The cover of a children's novel, The First Summer of Callie McGee by A.L. Tait.

Check out A.L. Tait’s ‘Writing Tips for Kids’ page.

Download the Teachers’ Notes for this book.

Read a review of the book by Mia, age 11

Visit A.L. Tait’s website for more about her and her books.

authors

Children’s Books at Perth Festival

Alphabet Soup

Rebecca M. Newman, Alphabet Soup’s managing editor and the co-editor of Right Way Down and Other Poems, will be at the Perth Festival Writers Weekend on Saturday 24 February 2024. You can catch Rebecca at two sessions.

For adults:

Presenters on the ‘Telling Tales’ panel at the 2024 Perth Festival Writers Weekend.
Presenters on the ‘Telling Tales’ panel at the 2024 Perth Festival Writers Weekend.
'Telling Tales' (panel session, 45 mins).
10am, 24 February 2024 at the State Library of WA. 
Price: Pay what you can. Suggested price, $24. Book tickets here!
Presented in association with Writing WA.

The creative minds of James Foley (Secret Agent Mole), Kylie Howarth (Crocs Stole My Socks) and Rebecca M Newman (Right Way Down) come together for an exhilarating conversation hosted by Writing WA Chair Lesley Reece AM. Join these writers and illustrators as they delve into the secrets of crafting engaging stories for young minds and celebrate the wonders of storytelling.

For children:

A flyer with two book covers and the text: Story Time with Tracey Dembo and Rebecca M Newman
Join Tracey Dembo & Rebecca M Newman for a live reading session at the State Library of WA
'Story Time with Tracey Dembo & Rebecca M. Newman'. (50 mins)
11am, 24 February 2024, Education Centre, State Library of WA.
Price: 'pay what you can' (even $0) but you will need to book to secure a spot. 
Book tickets here!
Presented in association with Writing WA.

Tracey Dembo and Rebecca M. Newman combine their picture book and poetry forces to bring you an exciting one hour live reading session for kids! This session is going to have everything from time machines to rockets, cricket, shoelaces, the alphabet, and dragon eggs.

View the full Writers Weekend festival program here.

See you at the library!

authors, interviews

Sharon Giltrow on Samara Rubin and the Utility Belt

Alphabet Soup
Sharon Giltrow, author
The cover of a children's book: Samara Rubin and the Utility Belt

Sharon Giltrow grew up surrounded by pet sheep, sandy beaches, fields of barley, and her seven siblings. Sharon is the author of three picture books – Bedtime, Daddy!, Get Ready, Mama! and Let’s Go Shopping, Grandma! – and a chapter book, Samara Rubin and the Utility Belt. Today we’re chatting to Sharon about that latest book, illustrated by Thu Vu.

​From the publisher:

Samara knows wishes don’t come true. But if they did, her wish would be to have the courage to stand up to Toby King, the meanest boy at school. On her eleventh birthday Samara is given a mysterious utility belt. A belt with magical tools. But the belt comes with a catch …

As the author of three picture books, what led you to write a novel?

That is a great question. The Utility Belt series started as a picture book manuscript. When I shared it with my critique group back in 2019, they suggested it would make a great early middle grade book. I loved that idea, although it was a bit scary. I examined the story to see how I could turn 500 words into 10,000 words. Then I enrolled in an online middle grade course to learn the skills needed.

Samara’s utility belt holds a range of interesting tools. How did you decide what went into her utility belt? Were there any tools you included in earlier drafts that were scrapped in later drafts of the book?

It all began with Samara’s sidekick. I brainstormed possible sidekicks for Samara. The sidekick had to be super cute, friendly and small enough to fit in Samara’s pocket. A gecko! Then I researched geckos to see which one would be best for the story. I chose a Madagascar Day Gecko because they are awake during the day and are beautiful. I researched all the superpowers geckos have. From there I invented tools for the utility belt. For example, many geckos can camouflage so one of the tools is camouflage drops. I thought about how and when Samara could use these tools.  At the start of the story Samara had to clean her room. But she didn’t want to so she used the camouflage drops to make the mess in her room disappear. Some of the tools that didn’t make it into the utility belt were a regenerator, rebreather, coloured looking glasses, flashlight, thermal rock, and a duplicator.

If YOU were given a utility belt for 2024, what are the tools you’d hope for in your own belt?

My sidekick would be a sugar glider because they show us what it means to take a “leap of faith” soaring to new heights, where we can the behold the view and gain a whole new perspective. The tools in my utility belt are already working because in 2024 I have decided to become a full-time author. I’ve taken the leap and given up my daytime job.

Do you have a tip for children who’d like to write their own chapter books?

Think about the whole story. The beginning, middle and end. What happens during these parts of the story. Then work out what happens in each chapter. If the book is to have ten chapters, two chapters would be for the beginning, six chapters for the middle and two chapters for the end. Also be sure to end each chapter on a cliff hanger. So, the reader wants to keep reading.

Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?

Sure thing. I’m working on another early middle grade series about human evolution. And of course, there is a sidekick in this story, but I don’t want to give too much away.

Samara Rubin and the Utility Belt is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.

The cover of a children's book: Samara Rubin and the Utility Belt

AWESOME EXTRAS

Watch a short book trailer for the book

Look at some of the illustrations from the book on Thu Vu’s website

Visit Sharon Giltrow’s website for more about her and her books

authors, interviews

Kitty Black on The Starting School List

Alphabet Soup

Kitty Black has a background in psychology and teaching and believes stories are at the heart of who we are. Kitty is the author of many picture books, two of which have been translated into German and Turkish! Today we’re chatting to Kitty about her latest picture book: The Starting School List, illustrated by Cate James.

Kitty Black, a woman with red hair and glasses
The cover of a children's picture book: The Starting School List

From the publisher:

It’s Little Brother’s first day at school tomorrow. Luckily, Big Brother knows what that feels like. And what’s more, he has a list of what to expect …

You’ll learn where the loos are, and all about bugs.
You’ll learn a sad friend could do with a hug.
You’ll learn the best spot for sand that is slushy.
You’ll learn that tomato makes sandwiches mushy.

How did you come to write about starting school? 

I was actually asked if I wanted to write a picture book about starting school by my publisher, I’d never thought about it before, but I instantly loved the idea. We knew that we wanted the book to be full of good advice, and who’s better at telling younger kids what to do than their older siblings. In a loving, helpful way of course!

What’s your favourite memory about starting school? 

I wouldn’t call this my favourite memory, but it’s definitely the strongest memory I have of starting school, I got left behind on my first day. My older siblings told me to wait outside my classroom and they’d come get me on the way to the bus stop, but they forgot! A teacher drove me home, and just as we were pulling into the driveway my Mum was marching out of the house, car keys in hand, shouting at my siblings about how could they forget their little sister. They never forgot me again!

You’re the author of many picture books … and this one is written in rhyme. When you get an idea for a picture book, how do you know whether a story should be told with or without rhyme? 

This is my first rhyming book, and I was honestly surprised that I wrote it in rhyme. I tried writing the book without rhyme over and over again, but it just didn’t feel right. There was something about the first words in the book ‘Hey little brother, are you asleep?’ that just WANTED to rhyme. So, I guess I don’t know when a story should rhyme or not, but the story knows.

Do you have a tip for young writers who’d like to try writing their own picture books?

Go for it! Writing should be fun, so if an idea makes you giggle, make it into a book!

Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?

I am working on ANOTHER rhyming picture book, which was inspired by my cheeky dog.

The Starting School List is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.

Awesome Extras:

The cover of a picture book The Starting School List

See some sample pages from the book at Booktopia’s site

Grown-ups can enter a competition to win a Starting School pack with QBD books, closing 31 January 2024.

Check out Kitty Black’s website for more about her and the books she’s writing.

Check out Cate James’s website for more about her and her illustrations.

authors, interviews

Kristy Nita Brown on Where’s My Whistle?

Alphabet Soup

MEET THE AUTHOR

Headshot of Kristy Nita Brown

Kristy Nita Brown is a Western Australian author, writing junior fiction books and delivering creative writing, independent publishing and film making workshops at libraries and schools. Today we’re pleased to be chatting to Kristy about the first book in her Mavey and Beth’s Double Act series: Where’s My Whistle?, illustrated by Alison Mutton.

A children's book with twin girls on the cover.

About the book:

The Year Two song has whistling in it, and Mavey can’t whistle. To make matters worse, Mavey’s twin sister Beth has a mighty whistle. Terrified her classmates will laugh at her, Mavey and her family devise a plan to get Mavey whistling. Will Mavey learn how to whistle in time for the big concert? Or will Mavey’s toot stay mute? 

First things first: can you whistle?

I can whistle. I remember my dad showing me how to whistle. We lived in the bush, so I had plenty of long car rides to practise. But Mavey and Beth’s Double Act: Where’s My Whistle? isn’t about me. It’s based on my eight-year-old daughter who can’t whistle. When she found out she was the only kid in her class that couldn’t do it, she was very upset. Together we searched the Internet for different ways to whistle. Do you know some adults can’t whistle too? 

The book includes some interesting facts about whistling – did you write the storyline first or did all those whistling facts give you the idea for the story? 

At the back of the book I included facts about whistling, a pan flute activity and the Skipping Song to play on the recorder. These came last. The story came first, from watching my daughter struggle with the feelings that come along with being unable to do something your friends can. 

We learn that Mavey’s favourite subject at school is Music. What was your favourite subject when you were at school? 

Music was one of my favourite subjects growing up because I played the flute. Every Saturday, I went to flute lessons at the Fremantle Music School. Then, on some Sundays, I performed with other kids in a small ensemble. My best friend at primary school also played the piano. We both loved music together. In high school, my favourite subject was small business. Because I sold lollies and washed the teacher’s cars, and made lots of money! 

Do you have a tip for young writers who’d like to try writing their own chapter book? 

My tip for young writers is to read as many books as you can that are similar to what you want to write. Then pick your favourite and follow the structure as you write your own story. Most chapter books have a similar number of chapters and word count. Usually, something happens in each chapter to move the story forward. At the end, the story is resolved in a way that the person reading it learns something, or feels good. Hopefully, following this structure will help a young writer get to the end, because I think finishing the story is the hardest part. 

What’s next for Mavey & Beth?

I’m toying with a couple of ideas for the next Mavey and Beth book. I know the cover will be green and blue. I can picture the twins on the cover. But I’m not sure if the story will be about Mavey getting her ears pierced, a birthday party mishap, or a swimming lesson disaster. What do you think? 

Where’s My Whistle is out now! Find a list of stockists at the author’s website.

AWESOME EXTRAS

A children's book with twin girls on the cover.

Watch the book trailer for Where’s My Whistle? [YouTube]

Visit the author’s website for more about Kristy and her books

Visit the illustrator’s website for more about Allison and her books