Hippopotamus at Glen St Theatre

Who would have thought that everyone's favourite hippo would be residing on the roof at Glen St Theatre, Belrose, Sydney?

He has been starring in the popular new musical especially for kids, called Hippo! Hippo! A new musical adventure!

The school holidays are on in Sydney so it is a great time to see this fun show which has been adapted from the books written by Hazel Edwards and illustrated by me. The first book of the series is There's a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake,  published in 1980 and continuously in print.

I'm taking some young family members this week. We are all looking forward to seeing the hippo singing and dancing!

Annie's Chair

Annie's Chair is the title one of my children's books which I wrote and illustrated.  First published in 2005 by Penguin Group Australia, it has been incredibly successful with editions published in Korea, China, USA and Canada.

I have received some lovely letters and emails from kids about this book.

You can read more about Annie's Chair here.

I based the dog in the story on my own beautiful dog.  He's been a great companion and enjoys life every day.  He still thinks he's a puppy even though his increasing white whiskers betray that notion.

I have created an activity for the kids based on an illustration from my book.
Click on the image to print out in the size you want, and colour in bright colours.

Another Activity for It's Bedtime, William!

Here is a word search activity for my book It's Bedtime, William!

Click on the image and print out.

Remember to check out my other William activities under the entry dated 31 July, 2011.

Babies Proms: Music Book 2011

This year I've been lucky enough to have one of my books, It's Bedtime, William! selected as a performance piece for the fabulous Babies Proms held each year at the Sydney Opera House.

Popular children’s books are combined with music by the Babies Proms Orchestra, Music Book 2011.

These performances introduce very young children to the joys of live music accompanying their favourite stories shown on screen.
The dates for this year's concerts are from 9-19 August.

These concerts are enormously popular and fun for the littlies.

Find out more details from the Sydney Opera House site here.
I might see you there!

Activities for It's Bedtime, William!

This craft project is based on my book It's Bedtime, William! published by Penguin.

With this activity, we can make a mobile of William having a pillow fight with his visiting friend, the lion.

Hopefully, it is an idea with which crafty people can springboard into their own creative ideas.

Download this Activity Sheet here.

Once the pages are printed, they can be used for just colouring-in if a mobile is not your thing.

You can make these figures bigger or smaller by adjusting your printer settings.

I've been working on another activity for It's Bedtime William!

This one is fairly simple to make. It is a Lion Face or Mask.

A number of lion faces would be quite impressive decorating a classroom wall.

Click on the image and print the instructions.

When Coco was a Kitten

This is another book of mine for the very young. 

The theme is children and pets. The story features a kitten and her owner who looks after the kitten from babyhood to adulthood.
She observes the changes as the kitten grows.

I've made the illustrations simple and colourful, and again I have used Photoshop for the entire book.

I love working on the illustrations using the computer these days.

This book is also published in the USA by Kane/Miller.

First published by Penguin Books, 2009

Good News!

Wow!  I was so delighted to learn that two of my books have been shortlisted for this year's CBCA Children's Book of the Year Awards in Australia.
What a surprise!

The books shortlisted are:

•  It's Bedtime, William!  Published by Penguin Viking, 2010

•  The Tall Man and the Twelve Babies.  Published by Allen & Unwin, 2010            

 

William jumps for joy!

 The lion is laughing!

The babies are so happy!

We are all thrilled at this exciting news!

The magic of twins

I enjoyed the opportunity to portray a day in the life of twin toddlers in my book Double Trouble.

Being a twin I can well remember the sense of unity our twinship had.
Always someone there to share the good times, and always someone there to commiserate with you during difficult times. I saw it as an advantage in my life and never envied the status of the 'sole trader'.
There is a special bond between twins.

Double Trouble was published as a picture-book by Penguin Books Australia in 2008. The story and illustrations were great fun to do.


Some of these illustrations are shown below.

Who can jump higher?

United in purpose

Feeling proud and pleased with creative work

Equally matched

Annie to the Rescue

My book is now in glorious paperback!  Originally published in 2007, Annie to the Rescue is a companion volume to Annie's Chair.
Both books tell stories of a small girl who likes to do things her way. She considers herself resourceful and brave. Sometimes things don't go to plan in Annie's world but she always faces the challenges.

The artwork in these books were drawn and painted in the traditional method on watercolour paper, with some digital input.
Both books have been incredibly popular. I often get lovely letters telling me that the Annie stories have been very much enjoyed by the family.

More about these books on my website. (see side panel)  Also click on the books' covers to read more from the publishers at Penguin.

New book release...

It's Bedtime, William! is the title of my new book, published in June 2010.  This picture book looks into the world-wide occurrence of kids not wanting to go to bed as opposed to the parent who knows the sleeping hour has definitely arrived.
A battle of wills can develop but with some negotiation and some strategic thinking, a child can usually buy some more precious time. In this story William has played his last card and reluctantly trudges up to his room only to find his bed is already occupied by a huge uninvited lion.
After the initial shock of this unexpected discovery, it is William who tries to persuade the now energetic and wide-awake lion to stop fooling about and go to sleep.
Does William succeed and will his parents find out?

I had a lovely time working on this book, creating the characters and writing the story.  Nowadays I tend to keep the design and format of the layout quite simple and direct.  I can then concentrate on the rapport between the main characters, their expressions, and vitality of the book as a whole.

These illustrations were drawn on a Wacom tablet using Photoshop.

Its Bedtime, William! is published by Viking, Penguin Australia.

 

Grandpas and grandchildren

I've been very fortunate to work with Margaret Wild on two picture books. One is called Chatterbox, first published in 2006, and the other is called Grandpa Baby published in 2009. These are some illustrations from the lovely Grandpa Baby, one of my favourite books. Grandpa has swapped roles with his grand-daughter for the day and I think he is really enjoying the role!  This book has recently been nominated for the 2010 Speech Pathology Australia Awards, and was a delightful story to illustrate.
For these illustrations I worked digitally, drawing and painting using Photoshop..