50 years of Tasmanian children’s books and their creators

A special post this week from Nella Pickup to join with her to celebrate 50 years of the Launceston Library building (and 179 years of library services in Launceston) by reading wonderful children’s books created by Tasmanians. There are so many to choose from and you are invited to add this list through the comments feature.

Friends of the Library Launceston asked members for their favourite Tasmanian books to create a bookmark as part of the 50^th anniversary celebrations for the Launceston Library building. This prompted me to compile a list of some of our family’s favourite Tasmanian children’s book creators for the same period.  

Beth Roberts The little lake who cried (1976) and Manganinnie (1979) 

Nairda Lyne Granny Stayput (1983) has a timeless theme – Granny and Albert have to fight to keep their home from the clutch of developers. FAW (Fellowship of Australian Writers) Tasmania has named a short story competition in her honour.    

Sally Farrell Odgers Dreadful David (illustrated by Craig Smith), the Blinky Bill animated film series (Yoram Gross), Drummond (illustrated by Carol Jones ) and Bushland Lullaby (illustrated by Lisa Stewart) 

Award winning Peter Gouldthorpe’s first book was Jonah and the Manly Ferry in 1983.  We also loved Sheep Dogs (text by Jack Bedson).

Ron Brooks illustrated his first children's picturebook, The Bunyip of Berkeley's Creek (text by Jenny Wagner) in 1973.   

Anne Morgan the Captain Clawbeak series (illustrated by Wayne Harris), award winning The smallest carbon footprint (illustrated by Gay McKinnon) and The way of the weedy seadragon (illustrated by Lois Bury) 

Coral Tulloch’s Sydney of the Antarctic and also Antarctica, The Heart of the World, which won the Environment Award for Children's Literature in 2004 

Rosemary Mastnak’s trio of picture books starting with Dancing with Grandma

Lian Tanner Museum of Thieves, named as a "White Raven" by the International Youth Library in Munich, Ella and the ocean (illustrated by Jonathan Bentley) and the delightful A clue for Clara 

Emily Conolan’s interactive fiction Freedom Finders series 

Jennifer Cossins 101 Collective Nouns, A-Z of Endangered Animals,  Ultimate Animal Alphabet Book

 

Kate Gordon the Juno Jones series and Aster’s good, right things which won the CBCA Book of the Year Younger Readers this year. 

Julie Hunt’s Little Else series illustrated by Beth Norling,  Precious Little (co-authored by Sue Moss, illustrated by Gaye Chapman) and Song for a scarlet runner.

Nic Gill Animal Eco-warriors

Fiona Levings Now and Then

Carol Ann Martin is known in our household for the Cocky’s Circle Series, Underneath a Cow (illustrated by Ben Wood) and Heart and Soul (illustrated by Tull Suwannakit)

Ronda and David Armitage’s Lighthouse keeper’s lunch (now sadly out of print) celebrated its 40^th anniversary in 2015.

Christina Booth’s Kip and Welcome Home, Whales are much loved.

Brian Harrison-Lever’s illustrations for Norman Jorgensen (an honorary Tasmanian) In Flanders Field and his own Three Kings.

Kathryn Lomer What now Tilda B?, Talk under water 

Angelica Banks (AKA Heather Rose & Danielle Woods)  Tuesday McGillycuddy adventures

Terry Whitebeach and Sarafino Wani Enadio Trouble Tomorrow and When I was a boy in Sudan

Ex-Pats include Tania McCartney, Francesca Haig (The Fire sermon),  Penni Russon (Undine series)

Jedda Robaard may have moved to the big island but Tom and Tilly has a Tasmanian flavour. 

Recently arrived Tasmanians include Rae Earl, Daniel Gray-Barnett and Mark Macleod

Join with me; celebrate 50 years of the Launceston Library building (and 179 years of library services in Launceston) by reading wonderful children’s books created by Tasmanians.

(NB Nan Chauncy died in 1970 – 51 years ago.)

Nella Pickup
Retired librarian; member of CBCA and IBBY Australia 

Editor's note: Thanks Nella, what a sterling lineup that I am sure many readers can add too - the biggest problem is "how to choose!" I will contribute one of many possibilities. Shine Mountain by Julie Hunt provides a wonderful quest to pick up and journey with.

Island Stories

Kate Gordon has a story to tell and a host of Tasmanian authors and illustrators to celebrate. Won’t you join her?

We live on a small island, separated from the big island by a ferocious sea. We are island people – some of us new immigrants to this place, some of us living on land (always borrowed) lived on by generations of ancestors. Some of us own this land, and have ancestry that stretches back generations. 

We live on an island of story. We have words in our blood, poetry tying our muscles to our bones. We breathe in images and breathe out black smudges on white pages. We are this way from the time we are born.

Parents give the stories to children. Children grow up and do the same.

We are an island who love to read. We are an island whose children love books but who, because of circumstance, because of history, sometimes have trouble turning those smudges back into images.

Our literacy rates our low. Our love of story is as big as the blue sky above us.

We live on an island where writers and illustrators for children bloom like ferns and fagus.

These are some of the best of them – my heroes and my inspirations.

Anne Morgan, whose beautiful books – often on environmental themes – are pure poetry, and who works tirelessly for her children’s writing community, here and on the mainland.

Christina Booth, who is all heart – this is reflected in her astonishing books, which almost always feel like a big warm hug, no matter how sad or serious or sombre the subject matter. She is a writer and an artist, and the two knit perfectly together. Quite possibly our state’s finest illustrating talent.

Kathryn Lomer, whose gentle, heartfelt, poetic works for young adults have seen her become our most lauded and admired writer for this age range.

Jennifer Cossins, whose amazing illustrated books about animals have found international fame – featured on the Ellen show!

Carole Ann Martin, who has had recent success with her picture books, securing a deal with Scholastic. They are completely delightful.

“Angelica Banks” (Danielle Wood and Heather Rose), whose writing partnership – born of a deep friendship – had produced some deliciously quirky and inventive works.

Julie Hunt, who is a Jack of all trades and a master of them, too – she has written picture books, junior fiction, middle grade and graphic novels, and moves seamlessly from one to the other. In my opinion she is a hugely underrated literary icon of our state.

Lian Tanner, who is such a skilful writer she makes a book written from the perspective of a chicken one hundred percent believable, and who has a dedicated tribe of fans, waiting not-so-patiently for each new story she produces.

Ron Brooks, a literary legend, whose books have been delighting young audiences since before I was born!

Peter Gouldthorpe, whose first book came out the year after I was born, and who has worked with some of my forever loves in fiction. His illustrations on Hist! were seared into my brain as a kid, and his work just gets better and better.

Sally Odgers was a staple of my childhood reading life and I have been privileged to get to know her as a peer (what a strange world this is!). 

Lindsey Little is another writer I’ve come to know. Her books are perfect, funny delights.

Jodi McAlister is a hugely popular writer of inventive books for teens, taking the world by storm with her fierce intelligence and captivating characters.

Tansy Rayner Roberts has written for young adults, as well as her award-winning work for adults and is an internationally-recognised stalwart of speculative fiction.

Rachel Tribout illustrated two of my daughter’s favourite books, and the absolute highlight of my career has been having her bring the characters of my Direleafe Hall books to life with her masterful renderings – her beautiful covers are my favourites ever.

Look at that list! And that is only a handful of trees in our forest of writers – some saplings, some beautiful, venerable elders (who must be preserved at all costs!). Some of them have moved to our state and joined our community; others have moved away but will always be counted as one of us.

These are the writers who inspire me, who have made me. Many are internationally famous. 

And yet …

And yet …

Our small island – like the states on the Big Island – has a “Premier’s Prize” for literature.

Our island, unlike most mainland sectors, has no separate award for children’s literature.

No award for illustration.

Look at that list.

Look at our island – an island of stories whose children have literacy rates below the national average. An island where writers – even those as lauded as the ones above – will struggle to make a living wage from their craft.

Look at the year we’ve survived. See how it has burned us, bent our wills, broken some of us.

It’s been rough.

And yet, these creators continue to grow, to produce, to make our state proud. 

We fight – rightly so – for our native forests. We need to fight for our culture, too.

And it can be argued – should be argued – that culture for children is the most important of all. Traditionally, the work of the children’s author has been diminished – perceived as lesser than that produced by “serious” writers.

But look at the year our children have survived. Look at the world we are giving them.

They will need to fight for that world. They will need stories to carry them through, as stories have carried us through.

A tree can’t grow without sunlight, good soil, good rain.

We need to treat our writers like we treat our plants. They need to be given sustenance, to grow.

We live on a small island, separated from the big island by a ferocious sea.

There is no reason a small island should resign itself to being small in other ways.

We should be proud of the creators who live here. We should do all we can to help them to continue to grow, up and up to the stars.

Kate Gordon

Tasmanian YA and children’s author 
www.kategordon.com.au

FB: https://www.facebook.com/kategordon.com.au 

@kategordon.com.au 

Shortlisted for the 2021 CBCA Book of the Year: Younger Readers award with Aster’s Good, Right Things.

Showcasing Tasmanian children’s book creators

This month, Kingston LINC celebrates Tasmanian children’s book illustrators with exhibits by four locally-based artists: Shiloh Longbottom, Gay McKinnon, Andrea Potter and Rachel Tribout. Interestingly, three of the four exhibits are based on author-illustrator collaborations between a parent and child, and all are by creators embracing the challenges of independent publishing. Tasmania appears to be fertile ground for indie children’s book creators, with the success of Jennifer Cossin’s 2017 CBCA Honours book, the self-published ‘A-Z of Endangered Animals’ (later acquired by Hachette) demonstrating the high standards being reached. As well as enriching the publishing landscape with local flavour, independently produced Tasmanian books allow new and diverse voices to be heard, bridging gaps in an industry that can afford to publish only a small number of new books per year.

Illustration by Shiloh Longbottom

Illustration by Shiloh Longbottom

Author Steve Isham and his daughter, illustrator and designer Shiloh Longbottom, collaborated to create the elegant Elephant and the Dog. This African-themed picture book, produced as a fundraiser for the Mafunzo Project, was crowd-funded and money raised from its sales helps to provide training for medical and nursing students at the Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The artwork is stylized, with delicate colour harmonies and strongly geometric forms.

Shiloh explains: ‘I work digitally, but my process begins with research (e.g. animal forms and expressions), then hand sketches. I scan in these sketches and work in Illustrator to add colour and texture. When it fits (and it often does), I use dramatic contrast in colour and composition. I think this helps to draw the reader/viewer in and become part of the illustrated world. In children's books, the naive and geometric style I work in appeals because it allows children's imagination to fill in the gaps.’

Illustration by Gay McKinnon

Artist Gay McKinnon collaborated with her father, light verse writer Ray Kelley, to create Of Man and Beast, a display of illustrated humorous verse for children and adults. A number of the poems draw on the tradition of Harry Graham’s 1901 Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes, including A Disproportionary Tale, the cautionary story of young Bess who plays with her yoyo to excess. Others, such as Pocket Pygmy Possum Poem, are based on actual events and animal qualities. The illustrations are delicate hand-painted ink and watercolour sketches, distilled down to a minimum of lines.

Illustration by Gay McKinnon

Gay explains: ‘The verses mostly follow strict forms, requiring discipline and economy of words, so I tried to make the pictures the same. They need to be light and understated to catch the spirit of the poems without distracting from the playfulness of the words. They’re somewhere between an illustration and a cartoon.’

Illustration by Andrea Faith Potter

Fine artist and illustrator Andrea Faith Potter works in schools as a teacher, and with gifted children, leading her to consider directly the needs of her audience in terms of text, artwork and publishing platform. Having already illustrated two books by Jackie French, Andrea is now working towards creating her own picture books for iPad and other digital readers. Her soft, glowing paintings are created using watercolour built up in layers with coloured pencil and incorporate fantasy, science fiction, humour and adventure.

Illustration by Andrea Faith Potter

Andrea says: ‘I love illustrating stories that encourage children to imagine.’ Her exhibit includes originals of images created for two iPad picture books in progress, one of which (To Planet Earth) is written by her daughter Lana Faith Young.

The fourth display by French-Tasmanian author-illustrator and graphic designer Rachel Tribout is a lively mix of maps, sketches, images and props from her two books from the Captain Blueberry series, The Monsters of Tasmania and The Journey of Admiral Bolognaise. Rachel's colourful, multi-layered digital illustrations bring the Tasmanian landscape to life in a fresh and exciting way. The Captain Blueberry series is a mix of inspirations from Rachel's childhood, her personal interest and living in Tasmania.

Illustration by Rachel Tribout

'I see faces in everything so it's natural for me to imagine the landscape alive with giant creatures. The landscape here is dramatic and the constantly changing light means it's always presenting itself anew - especially Tasmania's coastline. I grew up in a continental place, which means that as a kid I didn't see much of the sea. The ocean is a mysterious and powerful thing and I love to imagine what scary creatures inhabit the depths.'

Illustration by Rachel Tribout

Gay McKinnon

Illustrator and CBCA Tasmania Newsletter Editor.

Editor's note. Many thanks to Gay for sharing this inspiring exhibition with readers. Please share with friends and family and encourage them to visit Kingston LINC.

The exhibition can be seen at Kingston LINC  from now until 28th February.

Thinking of Quentin Blake

Join Patsy as she investigates the endearing, comical and whimsical work of Quentin Blake in a newly published tale from the pen of Beatrix Potter.

Browsing in bookshops is always a good way to spend an idle hour or two, especially if you can buy a coffee and enjoy it while you’re there!

Recently I was browsing in this way when my eyes fell upon a largish picture-book carrying the name of Beatrix Potter. I was struck by the size of the book initially (the books in my Potter collection are sized 11 cm by 14.5 cm, and this was much larger). So I picked up a copy to examine it further and, of course, just had to buy it! It was published in 2016, and illustrated not by Beatrix herself but by QuentinBlake, and bears the title Kitty-in-boots.

I wonder why Beatrix did not publish this tale in 1914 when it was completed; I don’t think we’ll ever know, but I can think of several possibilities. Quentin fantasises that she was keeping it for him…..

Be that as it may, it’s rather fun to compare the look of the original characters with the same ones in Quentin’s iconoclastic version – Mrs Tiggy-winkle and Peter Rabbit, to begin with.

I have a few other books illustrated by Quentin which I have particularly enjoyed. One (The boy in the Dress, written by David Walliams) is very modern in text and fits well with the Blake ‘look’ – published in 2008.

Another, The Quentin Blake Book of Nonsense Stories, is less straightforward - but still very engaging. Quentin selected the stories for the collection (published 1996), and to my mind it’s an extremely individualistic selection. I was not surprised to find Roald Dahl and Lewis Carroll in the list of authors; but it’s rather confronting to see Jane Austen and Noel Coward featured as well. But the stories by Jane and Noel were the ones I read first - to see if I could agree with his selection of them as nonsense stories, of course!

Nonsense these stories definitely are, and together they make a great read-aloud selection.

Patsy Jones

CBCA(Tas) treasurer, retired librarian, retired teacher

From the editor: I was privileged to catch two Quentin Blake exhibitions in a recent trip to England. The BFG inPictures and Seven Kinds of Magic coinciding at the House of Illustration. Illustrations from The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots are on show at the same venue until late February 2017; unfortunately this exhibition commenced after my departure. 

Are you a fan of Quentin Blake’s work? Why not share a favourite title that he has brought to life?