Category: interviews

Posted in authors, interviews

Nat Amoore on the Shower Land series

Posted on by Alphabet Soup
A photo of Nat Amoore standing with her hands in the pockets of her jeans

Nat Amoore has been a trapeze artist and circus performer, a podcaster, and now she’s an award-winning children’s author. Since Nat’s first book – Secrets of a Schoolyard Millionaire – was published in 2019, she’s published five more books and there are plenty more on the way! Today we’re pleased to be chatting about her latest venture: the Shower Land series, illustrated by James Hart.

From the publisher:

Felix hates Mondays. Dad’s yelling at him to get up. His little brother, Olly, is being super annoying. So when Felix shuts the bathroom door, he wishes he could get away. He turns on the shower and . . . REEEEKKKKKK!

A hilarious junior fiction series where getting in the shower might send you to another world.

When you were a kid were you up and out the door at the crack of dawn, or hard to get going after the alarm went off?

Oh, definitely up and out! I still am. I was never really much of a sleep-in kind of person. There was too much cool stuff out there waiting to be done. Even when getting up early meant going to school. Okay, so the actual school part wasn’t my favourite but I was always dying to see my friends. I also grew up on a farm so getting up early was kind of standard practice. My parents would kick us out of the house after breakfast and we would run around in the paddocks having cow poo fights and building treehouses. Then we were allowed back for lunch and sent out again until the sun went down. And to this day, I still get up early to write. I write best from about 5:30am until 12pm and then in the afternoon I’m kind of useless. So that’s when I do all my admin stuff … or go for a walk on the beach and pat everyone else’s puppies.

If you could be transported via shower to another place, would you try it? (Even if you might end up somewhere without any clothes on?)

ABSOLUTELY!!! Like Felix, I think I would figure out the clothes part quick enough. Teleporting to other worlds is my ultimate dream, even with all the risks involved. I mean it’s essentially why I’m an author right? So, I can just go to other worlds in my head for a living. Life is an adventure and I’ll take every cool experience I can along the way. Even with the risk of not knowing what or where, I couldn’t resist. Otherwise, I would always live in regret thinking, ‘What if I had said yes?’ Where would I have gone? What have I missed out on? I mean, once I had teleported to the prehistoric times and gotten my head bitten off by a T-rex, I might have second thoughts. But by then it’s too late anyway so YES! Let’s do it!

Even though Olly can be an annoying little brother, his jokes are pretty funny. Do you have a go-to joke for parties/Christmas lunch/ice-breakers at an event?

Ha! I love Olly. I’ve always wanted a younger sibling (I only have an older brother) and I love giving my characters funny younger siblings. I have a few go-to jokes. It’s good to have them up your sleeve I think and kids are ALWAYS asking me to tell a joke, or ‘what’s my best joke’? They change all the time but I like jokes that really rely on delivery and so my current favourite is …

What do we want? Low-flying airplane noises! When do we want them? NEEEEYYYOOOOOOOOWWWW!

But I also love …

What did the drummer call his twin daughters?

Anna 1, Anna 2

BA HA HA HA HA!

Do you have a tip for young writers who’d like to write a funny book?

Ooohhh, this is hard because I don’t really sit down and think ‘I’m going to write a funny book’. BUT what I am sure will help, is to think about what makes YOU laugh or what you think is funny and, even more importantly, what you DON’T find funny, especially when it is trying to be. I don’t like mean humour. Even when Olly makes fun of Felix, he’s not actually picking on any real characteristic of Felix’s. What is much stronger in the story and their relationship is the love, the banter and the bond that they have that allows for them to tease and play knowing that the brotherly love lies beneath. This then allows for them to joke and not get hurt. I would never have Olly insulting a random kid at school. Humour is less about the jokes and more about the interactions and relationships and the joy of laughter that falls in the gaps.

For a prompt, the next time you find something hilarious – I’m talking snort-laugh kind of funny – use that as a prompt for a story. It might be a joke your friend tells you, or when your baby sister comes out with her nappy on her head (clean or dirty, your pick!) Use this funny thing as a prompt for a story.

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

So, I’m working on two things at the moment. Firstly, the very final pages of Shower Land 3: Walk The Plank just before it goes to print. I love this stage of a book where you are just reading it for the last time and making any final little tweaks before you release it into the world. It’s nerve wracking and exhilarating at the same time. And I’m also working on a brand new middle grade book. It’s a bit of a change for me – a spooky, slightly fantasy style story but don’t worry, still funny! It’s a big project and I’m moving much more slowly on it than my other book because there are so many threads and important world building bits. I can’t wait to share it with you all!

Books 1 and 2 in the Shower Land series are out now! Ask for them at your favourite bookshop or local library.

AWESOME EXTRAS:

Watch a book trailer for Book 1 [YouTube]

Listen to Nat Amoore read from Book 1: Break the Curse (click on ‘play sample’ just under the book cover)

Take a sneak peek inside Book 2: Feel the Freeze

Visit Nat Amoore’s website for more about her and her books

The cover of the first book in the Shower Land series by Nat Amoore, illustrated by James Hart
the cover of the second book in the Shower Land series
the cover of the third book in the Shower Land series.
Posted in authors, interviews, poetry

Sally Murphy on Queen Narelle

Posted on by Alphabet Soup
A head an shoulders photo of Sally Murphy
The cover of a children's novel: Queen Narelle

Sally Murphy is an author, poet, speaker and educator based in the South West of Western Australia. Sally has published more than 40 books, and we’re thrilled to be chatting to Sally about her verse novel: Queen Narelle, with illustrations by Simon O’Carrigan.

From the publisher:

Narelle is the queen of her household, ruler of the family and, most importantly, Maddie’s wisest and best friend. So when things are not going right for Maddie, and school feels like a lonely and sad place, it is Queen Narelle who regally watches, waits and listens to her favourite human in her time of need.

You have a dog (hi George!) … how did you come to write a book about a regal cat?

When I wrote the book I had not owned a cat for a very long time, but when I was a kid my only pets were cats, and I adore them. Narelle came to me as a cat-character and insisted I write her story. George is very much not amused.  And, since the book came out,  I once again have a cat – a gorgeous tortoiseshell kitten who I have had to name Narelle. The good news is that George and Narelle get along very well – except when they are busily play fighting.

Queen Narelle is your fifth verse novel and you’re also a multi-published poet. Do you find there’s a difference when writing a standalone poem compared to a poem that’s part of a verse novel?

Yes. Verse novels are poetry, but while they use many of the same techniques as standalone poems, they must also work as narratives. So it is important to include narrative elements such as plot, characterisation and dialogue in ways that aren’t always needed in standalone poems. So, when writing a verse novel I am trying to keep the narrative moving with each poem, while also drawing on the poet’s toolbox – things like line length, white space, imagery, repetition and more.

When you sat down to write Queen Narelle did you know it would be a verse novel (rather than a prose novel)?

Yes, this was always going to be a verse novel. I had written others before I wrote this one, and had decided that this cat needed a story. I started by writing from the cat’s perspective and, as I wrote, a story started to emerge. Later I realised that Narelle’s human, Maddie, would also need to tell her story, and so alternated their voices.

Do you have a tip for young writers who would like to write from the point of view of an animal?

I think its important to write about animals that you are able to closely observe or have had close contact with. Not every cat will be the same, and nor will each dog, or rat, or elephant. It’s only by observation that you can see the habits and mannerisms of an animal, and use those to develop a personality which will in turn lead to the way the animal speaks or thinks. Using first person helps to take you inside those thoughts of the animal so that you are not describing, but showing.

What’s next for Sally Murphy?

An invitation to a book launch at Curtin University, 4.30pm on 18 July 2024 for a new book by Sally Murphy

I have another verse novel, The Riding Gallery (with illustrations by Martina Heiduczek) on its way. It’s quite different from Queen Narelle, because it is based on some real events that happened in St Kilda during World War I. A man named Anton Weniger, who was born in Germany, opened a new merry-go-round on the St Kilda foreshore but, unfortunately, because he was German, some people did not want him there.  I took this real event and added some fictional characters, two children who befriend him. I have also had some fun playing with poetic form – including some poems written using words from newspaper articles from 1915, and other poems that are designed to be read by two people at the same time (Poems for Two Voices), so that we get both characters’ viewpoint at the same time.  The Riding Gallery will be released in July this year.

Queen Narelle was released in 2023. Ask for it at your favourite bookstore or local library.

AWESOME EXTRAS:

Hear Sally read some of her poetry (scroll down to find the videos)

Visit Sally Murphy’s website for more about her and her books.

For grown-ups: Come to the launch of Sally’s next verse novel (July 18th 2024). Hear about the book, get teaching ideas, and network with fellow educators and children’s book enthusiasts.

Download the Teachers’ Notes for Queen Narelle.

The cover of a children's novel: Queen Narelle
Posted in authors, interviews

Fionna Cosgrove on the Twisted Trails series

Posted on by Alphabet Soup
Fionna Cosgrove stands in front of a wall with bright horizontal stripes.
A children's novel: The Midnight Manor by Fionna Cosgrove

Fionna Cosgrove is a Western Australian writer with a taste for the wonderfully macabre. Her writing has been published in The School Magazine and anthologies, and she’s also the author of the Twisted Trails series for young readers. Today we’re chatting to Fionna about how she writes her Twisted Tales!

About the Twisted Trails series:

Will you end up a zombie’s breakfast? Or maybe coming face to face with a kelp-haired sea witch is more your style? Whatever your taste, you’ll find it in this wild and spooky interactive series … How will your story end? Well, that’s entirely up to you. 

What brought you to write The Midnight Manor (Book 1 of your series)?

It actually came about while I was waiting to hear back from publishers about another manuscript. I had sent out one manuscript and was wondering what to write next. It was around October, and I thought why not quickly write a book for my niece and nephew for Christmas? So I started writing The Midnight Manor. It was only meant to be a short choose-your-path book, aimed at kids 6–8. With that in mind, the word count was quite low, so I wrote the book within a few weeks. It was once I went back and started fleshing it out that the book kept expanding, and expanding and expanding, and I realised pretty quickly I had a middle grade book in my hands … and not just one, but a whole series. Once I had written the draft I figured if I’m going to get it printed for my niece and nephew, why not self publish it and put it out into the world? So with shaking hands, I started the process! 

The idea for a series developed pretty easily after that. Why not write more if the first one was so much fun? Plus, there are MANY more creepy settings I’d love to explore!

How do you go about plotting a choose-your-path style book when there are so many different storylines/endings to keep track of?

I found this tricky. I initially just started writing and at any point that felt like a decision needed to be made, I made a fork and went on my merry way. It was only after a few forks and a few dead ends and plot holes, that I realised I needed to be a bit more organised. I pulled out a giant piece of paper and started drawing a big old story map. I start with one box at the top then drew two lines out of that for each decision with more and more boxes and lines indicating the paths. It sounds a bit complicated but it’s actually pretty easy. I’ve even made some free printouts you can download from my website that talk you through it.

One thing that can get confusing is time lines. Trying to remember where all your characters would be if different choices were made or not made can get a little confusing, but plotting it out helps! As far as the endings, I like to have a good mix of ‘reasonably happy’ endings and ‘not so happy at all’ endings, with one or two ‘absolutely perfect’ endings. I also try and figure out the ‘absolutely perfect’ endings first so that I have a bit of direction while I’m writing, otherwise I have a tendency to get myself a little lost …  

You also write the regular kind of novels that only have one ending! Does one type of book take longer to write than the other?

The choose-your-path books are actually much quicker to write for me. They are full of crazy twists and turns and wild characters, but I don’t spend too much time on backstories or character growth. It’s fast-paced action with a lot of humour thrown in. And horror … a lot of horror. 

I have a book coming out in October called Sadie and The Secret of The Swamp which has just one story line! I know, crazy. And that took me over a year and a half to write and edit. In comparison, The Midnight Manor only took three months from first draft to sending it off to my editor. 

Do you have a tip for kids who’d like to try writing their own choose-your-path book?

Choose a great setting! With an interactive book you get dumped right into the action straight away so there’s less time for a detailed backstory. I find the best way to add some intrigue is to have a brilliant setting that acts as its own character. A spooky mansion that appears out of the mist at midnight … or a submerged grotto filled with bioluminescent coral in a deserted town, or my latest one – a creepy summer camp set in the middle of the forest. 

And use a story map to keep track of your paths!

I’d also like to say plot everything out to save you running into plot holes and dead ends everywhere, but sometimes I think the most fun part of writing is discovering the story as you go. So just have fun. The first draft is meant to be messy and weird. The second draft is for making sense of it!

What’s next for Fionna Cosgrove?

I have two books coming out this year! I have book 3 of my Twisted Trails series: Camp Crypt. This is my creepiest one yet, with even my 45-year-old sister telling me she had to sleep with the lights on after reading it. (Spoiler, she’s not a fan of clowns). And I have another spooky mystery – Sadie and The Secret of the Swamp – coming out at the end of October. Other than that, I’ve booked in a few author talks across the year, so that should keep me and my nerves busy for a while. And in general, I just want to keep writing and live a creative life, however that looks at any particular moment.

Ask for the Twisted Trails series at your favourite bookshop or library, or order online.

AWESOME EXTRAS:

Download printable instructions to write your own Twisted Trails at the author’s website [newsletter sign-up required]

Read a review of The Midnight Manor (Book 1) by Ayaan, age 12

Visit Fionna Cosgrove’s website for more about her and her books

All three books in the Twisted Trails series, along with the covers shown on the screens of three tablets

Posted in authors, interviews

Deb Fitzpatrick on Kelpie Chaos

Posted on by 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.

The publisher provided Alphabet Soup with a reading copy of 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! Find it at your favourite bookshop, library or order online.

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
Posted in authors, interviews

Cristy Burne on Into the Blue

Posted on by 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.

The publisher provided Alphabet Soup with a reading copy of Into the Blue.

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! Find it at your favourite bookshop, library or order online.

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
Posted in authors, interviews, teachers' resources

Tracey Dembo on This Book is a Time Machine

Posted on by 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, or order online.

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

Posted in authors, interviews

Emily Gale and Nova Weetman on Outlaw Girls

Posted on by 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

The publisher provided Alphabet Soup with a reading copy of 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, library or order online.

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

Posted in authors, interviews

Peter Carnavas on Leo and Ralph

Posted on by 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.

The publisher provided Alphabet Soup with a reading copy of Leo and Ralph.

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. 

Leo and Ralph is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop, library or order online!

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

Posted in authors, interviews

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

Posted on by 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.

Posted in authors, interviews

Sharon Giltrow on Samara Rubin and the Utility Belt

Posted on by 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.

The publisher provided Alphabet Soup with a reading copy of Samara Rubin and the Utility Belt.

​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