Younger Readers

Books for Younger Readers

Children's Book Council of Australia, Book of the Year, Younger Readers, 2003.
Queensland Premier's, Book of the Year, Younger Readers, 2003.
Patricia Wrightson Award, Shortlisted, 2003.
New South Whales 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.

Children's Book Council of Australia, Book of the Year, Younger Readers, 2007.

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.

For Magenta McPhee, life is good. It would be almost perfect if she could sort out her dad, who quite possibly needs saving - from himself. Desperate times call for desperate measures, even if those measures involve identity fraud on a dating site, and replying, as your father, to emails he doesnt even know he's been getting. But when pretending to be someone else is taking you away from your life's purpose - writing the next great fantasy trilogy - things might have gone too far.

I started writing Magenta McPhee while writing my own fantasy novel.

Stayed tuned for more books to come!!

'When I went to bed that night I could see, in the dim streetlight through the window,
the Wish Pony, with his nostrils slightly flared and his wild mane and rippling tail, standing
at the edge of my dressing table as though he could take one crazy jump out into the world.'

Ruby's mum is having a baby, but why does she need one of those when she's already got a Ruby?

To make matters worse, her best friend Sarah has found another, better friend.

It seems like everyone is abandoning her.

But when Ruby meets the mysterious Magda, who gives her a very special gift that might, just might, even be a bit magical, everything begins to change.

The inspiration for The Wish Pony came when I was visiting a relative in Sydney. While there, I noticed a small marble horse, standing amongst other little figures and ornaments in a display case.