Books for Younger Readers

Catherine in the wide wide world

Books for Younger Readers

Home Again Rain

celebrate

cake

pie

champagne

she is home

my melon baby

wild green girl

my other heart

my daughter

page 71, Rain May and Captain Daniel

Children's Book Council of Australia, Book of the Year, Younger Readers, 2003.

Queensland Premier's, Book of the Year, Younger Readers 2003.

Shortlisted, Patricia Wrightson Award, NSW Premier's Award, 2003.

The idea for Rain May and Captain Daniel was triggered by reading the poetry of e e cummings. I thought what a good name 'Rain' would be for a particular kind of girl. That led me to wonder about her life - and I decided she'd be a Brunswick girl and have to move to the country where Rain wouldn't be such a good name, perhaps.

Clarkson in the book is actually Trentham, where my mother lives and Rain and Maggie move into my mother's house.

The fridge poems in the book were created by a magnetic poetry kit - with no cheating!

Children's Book Council of Australia, Honour Book, Younger Readers, 2005.

Millie and the Night Heron was triggered by my best friend's move down the highway. We'd had a daily kind of friendship. Her daughter was my daughter's best friend. We all spent a lot of time together so when she moved, that sort of extended family changed for me and my kids. That made me think about what kind of family, as an only child, I have learnt to create for myself.

While these are all books for younger readers, traditionally 8 - 12 years - some schools have used them in the early secondary years, too.

The start of Being Bee was my step-daughter writing 'Guinea Pigs Rule the World' in the dust on my car, just as Bee does in the book. But the rest is fictional - what I love about writing is that the smallest thing can you lead to a character and that character's story.

My mother does say that Nick reminds her of my husband, Keith. I'm not sure what Keith thinks of this!

I think my favourite character in the book is Jazzi - I like her fragility and I understand her wanting everything to be perfect. She's just not that great with kids - but she does try.

HelCat web design, 2006