Welcome to the blog of the Tasmanian branch of the Children's Book Council of Australia!

Friday 1 November 2024

Discovering Digger Digs Down

This week we welcome author Johanna Bell and illustrator Huni Melissa Bollinger to talk about their publication, Digger Digs Down published by University of Queensland Press. Recently settling in Tasmania, this dynamic duo have produced a delightful and exuberant story about how a dog, left alone for the day, entertains himself by … digging!

 

 

“Digger digs deep, deep into the ground. Down, down, down goes Digger until …”

(Digger Digs Down)


Jennie Bales speaks with Johanna Bell and Huni Bolliger

 

Johanna, how did the idea for this book come about?

 

When my daughter, Amara, was little, we used to make up stories and poems to pass the time. One morning she said ‘Digger digs’ and when I asked ‘Where does Digger digs?’ she said ‘Digger digs Down. Digger digs deep, deep into the ground.’ I loved the alliteration and the rhyming so I wrote it down on the back of a receipt and stuck it to the fridge. It was quickly covered by bills and school newsletters and forgotten. It was only when the fridge broke, five years later, that I rediscovered her words. I remember thinking ‘This would make a great picture book’ and not long after, I was at the computer finishing off the story. In short, this book wouldn’t exist if she hadn’t imagined the first lines. 

 

How has place influenced this book and how has your time in Tassie shaped the story? 

 

We both lived on Larrakia country (Darwin) before moving to Tasmania. Darwin is built on porcelanite, a sedimentary stone that has layers of pinks, purples, oranges and whites. Living somewhere where the rocks are so multicoloured certainly made it easier to dream up a colourful underground world. And Darwin, like other places, has a lot of bored dogs who are left in backyards while they’re owners are at school or work so there was no shortage of real life scenes to draw on. 

 

Some of the illustrations were done after moving to nipaluna / Hobart and this is where the inspiration for the rainbow came from. There’s so many rainbows in Hobart! 

 

Can you tell us about the relationship between Digger and his human?

 

The bond between a child and their dog is incomparable and we wanted to be able to show this early in the book. Together with our publisher, Cathy Vallance, we made a decision to use the title page to show Digger’s sadness at the departure of his human. We both have dogs and we know this moment when you head off to work and leave the dog in the backyard. The sad puppy eyes! Later in the book, when Digger hears his owner calling him from the surface, we see his entire disposition change. Even though he’s in the middle of an adventure, he lifts his ear and turns towards his owner’s voice. It’s almost as if he’s smiling. From that moment on, Digger is unstoppable. He’s set on finding his way back up to where he knows his human is waiting for him. He’s in such a rush he almost looks like a little orange whirlwind barrelling up and down, round and round. And when they’re reunited there’s such energy and joy and of course, a mutual love of digging. 

 

Johanna, how do you you’re your work? And were you influenced or inspired by other authors?

 

When I first started writing picture books, I made the mistake that lots of new writers make: I tried to tell the reader everything that was happening. I hadn’t yet realised that the illustrations would do most of the showing and telling. Now I trust the illustrator and their work which means I don’t need to use so many words. Digger Digs Down was a longer manuscript initially but when we laid it out with the illustrations we agreed that some of the lines could go. It felt as if we were telling the reader what to think rather than allowing them to come to their own conclusions. That’s a classic red flag for me. If you get any whiff that you’re being didactic, it’s got to go! 

 

I read a lot of poetry and I tend to gravitate towards poets and authors that use language sparingly. A couple who spring to mind (although they’re not children’s authors) are Max Porter, Ilya Kaminsky and Ellen van Neerven. Their writing inspires me in lots of ways. My greatest picture book hero is Margaret Wild because she writes across such a broad range of styles and forms. Her quiet, contemplative stories are just as engaging as her funny, playful work. When I grow up, I want to be just like her :) 

 

Huni, how would you describe your illustrative style in Digger Digs Down? What media and process have you used?

 

I think I would describe my illustrative style as ‘painterly’. I have used an Apple pencil with Procreate software on my iPad Pro to create all the illustrations. Because I come from more of a traditional art practice of painting and drawing, I tend to use digital tools in the same way that I would use real paint and pencils. Firstly, in Procreate I sketch the image with a digital led pencil, and then I use the various digital paint brushes and smudge tools to layer paints on top of each other to create the colours and textures. One of the delights of using digital tools instead of traditional materials, is the ability to create different lighting effects. I’m a big fan of using blend modes in Procreate to layer up different coloured lights to reflect the mood of the story.

 

One of the remarkable things about this book is the sense of motion. Huni, how have you created movement in the illustrations?

 

Animation is all about creating movement through incremental changes in images from one frame to the next, so I suppose I’ve spent many years studying the way things move in order to learn how to animate them. My own dog, Rufus, is quite a frantic digger, and a joyful playful dog with lots of golden fluffy hair. I watch him everyday as he gambols his way through life and at first I tried to break down his movements in my sketches to create the character of Digger. I found this very difficult and through the process I came to realise that a puppy is mostly a blur of flying hair and swinging ears and floppy tongue. When I stopped trying to be accurate in my drawings and just focus on the feeling and energy of a puppy, I was able to channel Rufus’s movement through frantic line work and messy paint.

 

Huni, the book is set largely underground but it’s actually very bright. How have you used light to achieve this? 

 

Light and colour are very important themes throughout the book, especially because Digger is following a rainbow. I wanted the illustrations to reflect the sort of luminescence and magical feeling that a rainbow emits. One challenge of illustrating a book that is predominantly set underground, is how to make it colourful and light. The idea that Digger is following a rainbow really helped me with this. It gave me the freedom to use my imagination and think about how the light and colours of the rainbow would look if they were funneled into a tunnel and mixed up underground. Suddenly the rocks don’t have to be brown, they can be multicoloured like a rainbow. I was also able to use the natural daylight streaming through a fissure in the rock to allude to the idea that Digger’s owner has come home and is calling him back to the surface. 

 

Huni, this is your first picture book. How did you arrive here?

 

I was always a mad keen artist as a child, constantly drawing and painting after school and on the weekends. What started as a hobby, then grew into a profession as I went on to study Fine Arts at university and then become a secondary school art teacher. I then went on to study multimedia and eventually complete a Masters of Film Television and Animation. 

 

I wrote and animated my own short films for many years. A highlight for me was having one of my films selected for the Hiroshima International Animation Festival which is one of the top animation festivals in the world. I couldn’t believe it! I met so many of my animation heroes in Hiroshima and I was completely thrilled to win the Special Jury Prize. 

 

One of my career ambitions had always been to work on a cinema released feature film, so I was very excited by having the opportunity to make the artwork and 2D animation for an Australian/New Zealand feature anthology called We Are Still Here. This film opened the Sydney Film Festival in 2022. On opening night, I snuck onto the red carpet and did a little happy dance - another career highlight.

 

I’ve been working my way down the career bucket list and next thing was to illustrate a children’s book. I couldn’t think of anyone better to do this with than the very talented Johanna Bell!

 

Johanna, which of Huni’s illustrations best captures the essence of Digger for you?  Why? 

 

Oh gosh, that’s a really hard question to answer because I love all the Diggers! I’d have to say the spread that reads ‘Up, down, up, down, round and round until …’ because in it Huni has captured Digger’s goofy enthusiasm and dig-before-he-thinks personality. I love the big Digger on the right-hand side; the way his ears are flapping and his fair looks like it’s moving. I still have no idea how Huni managed to make Digger look as if he’s actually digging. It’s rare in picture books to have such a strong sense of motion. That’s one of my favourite things about the book - the feeling that Digger is actually moving! 

 

Spread from Digger Digs Down by Johanna Bell & Huni Melissa Bolliger © 

The text in your book is laid out all over the place and really helps to emphasise a sense of movement. Was that intentional?

 

We’re pleased to hear you say this because there was a LOT of to-ing and fro-ing when it came to text placement. It’s incredible how moving a word even a few millimeters can make a big difference. We wanted to create a sense of Digger digging deep, deep down and because this wasn’t possible using landscape spreads we decided to flip the book every now and again to create a skinny vertical panel. It was really important to both of us that the text be placed in a way so as to emphasise the actions in the book. One example of this is the spread where Digger runs into the wombat. In this illustration the words are stacked and descending to create a sense of descent. On the spread where the Octopus helps Digger reach the surface the text goes up, emphasising the lifting motion. It’s always a risk to interrupt the conventions of text but in this case, the meaning in the story helps the reader navigate the sometimes unusual text placement. 

 

One of my favourite spreads is the one with the Octopus. It’s such a surprise to end up in an aquatic space. How did you get there?

 

The first draft of the story featured an underwater lake. Digger accidentally dug through the wall of the lake creating a water spout that shot him back to the surface. Clair Hume, (who was the publisher at UQP when the book was signed), wasn’t sure about this and challenged us to think about other things that might draw Digger back to the surface. We did a lot of brainstorming and at some stage we thought an underground whale might swallow Digger and then eject him through his spout. Yes, things got silly. But through all the weird ideas, we kept coming back to water; the idea of an underground aquifer. It’s not unfeasible but also open to lots of imaginative play. Originally the Octopus was a danger that Digger only narrowly escaped but then our new publisher, Cathy Vallance, encouraged us to think about a friendlier creature who could help Digger return to the surface. And so Huni’s gorgeous Octopus was born. There’s something about the large bodies of water that’s similar to underground worlds. They’re both vast and home to hidden worlds and creatures. Perhaps that’s why we couldn’t let go of the idea of an underground body of water. 

 

Huni, you dedicated the book to your husband. Can you tell us about that?

 

My dedication is actually a little ironic and a bit of a gentle stir towards my husband. I have always been a huge ‘dog person’ but when I finally met my life partner, to my horror, he didn’t like dogs! He sort of hated them actually. When we got married, I had accepted that I would probably never own a dog again but as a joke I would often say to him “when we get a dog …” He would just roll his eyes at me and look uncomfortable. Then one Christmas, to my absolute surprise, he gave me a card with a tiny Cavoodle puppy on the front and inside it said “I love you darling, let’s get a dog”. Of course he fell instantly and deeply in love with our little puppy. He’s a changed man and now he loves dogs! 

 

Do you two have another project in the pipeline?

 

We do! It’s set somewhere very, very cold but that’s all we can say at the moment. 

Johanna, Huni and Digger (image © Karen Harvey)

 

Digger Digs Down can be ordered online or from your local bookshop.


Johanna Bell’s website

https://www.johannabell.com/

 

Johanna Bell on insta 

https://www.instagram.com/johannabell__/

 

Huni Melissa Bolliger’s website 

www.hunib.com

 

Thursday 29 August 2024

Make for Joy

© Blake Nuto
Perseverance is evident as Blake Nuto shares his love of story creation from an early age and his self-doubts about his illustrative abilities. With maturity came purpose – and the joy of expression through art. This passion is beautifully portrayed in his recent title, When You’re a Boy, shortlisted for the New Illustrator award in the 2024 CBCA Book of the year nominations.

 

When I was a boy, I loved drawing, playing, making. My brother and I would sit side-by-side for hours, as he made his Headless Chookens series and I made my Solar Mancomic. Solar Man was always foiled by a passing cloud. These were no works of genius and I didn’t care. I knew I wasn’t the best at drawing, not even in my primary class. I just loved the process of making them and then filing them away, never to be looked at again. Making art led to well-being. 

 

Through high school the standards changed. Not being the best still didn’t bother me, but my art grades did. I didn’t enjoy investing a lot of hours into something to get back a mediocre grade. This just wasn’t motivating for me. Friends' competitive comments didn’t help either. Suddenly, making art started to feel like a graded performance and I more or less gave up, dropping the subject as soon as I could.

 

Fortunately, this turn from art led to a deeper investment in writing, particularly songwriting and poetry. I found these formats limitless and playful and would constantly write short snippets purely for my own enjoyment. All the while, I looked on at painters with envy, knowing how lovely it would feel to run a paint brush across a canvas.

 

I was 28 when I thought I might make some art again. What motivated me was joy. In my 28 year old brain I was now too old to ever conceive of making it as an artist and I might as well just get back to making for delight. This remains the motivation behind my work. When this focus shifts is usually when I stop making art for a while.

 

Making for joy has usually led to my best ideas. My first book Child of Galaxies was written while I was marshalling a Cross Country event. I wanted to write something to read to my kids at night, something about the world. Within half an hour I had finished it. I didn’t know I had just written my first book, that it would go on to be published in the UK and US or translated into multiple languages. I didn’t know it would receive a Yoto Carnegie nomination. But I did feel really happy after writing it because I knew I wanted to share it with my kids. 

 

My second book, A Day That’s Ours started as a short poem for a friend. I offered to write some free poems for the first 10 people who asked for them. One friend asked me to write about her daughter starting school. It was easy to write, because my son was about to start school at the same time. This is what I wrote:



© Blake Nuto


I gave it to my friend and didn't think much of it, until my editor asked for some drafts for my second book. Suddenly, I knew I had the start of an idea. I would call it One Last Monday. My editor loved it and the idea developed until it became A Day That’s Ours.



I sold the concept for my third book to Affirm Press. It was just a scrap idea I wrote down on the bus after work. I was basically writing a note to self: It’s okay not be hyper-masculine. That’s not what your son needs you to be. I wasn’t trying to write an award nominated picture book, I was trying to work out my thoughts. 

 

After Affirm bought the text they were searching for an illustrator. When I shared a concept sketch online for a poem I’d written, just for fun, my editor saw it and asked me to draw some concepts for When You’re a Boy. So, I did and I landed the chance to illustrate my own book. 

Image from When You're a Boy © Blake Nuto

All this to say... amidst the striving and ambition, remember to play. To enjoy the process. To make for enjoyment. At worst you’ll have a good time. 




Blake Nuto
is a children’s author and illustrator based in Southern Tasmania. His titles include  When You’re a Boy, shortlisted for CBCA 2024 New Illustrator and the Queensland Literary Awards.

Instagram: @blake_nuto

Website: https://www.blakenuto.com/

Friday 23 August 2024

Safety Pins, Hair Dye, and Reflections on Book Week

Lyndon Riggall presents a thoughtful and thought provoking post to wrap up Book Week and remind us all of its importance. 

 

One of my earliest memories is of being a punk.


It is 1996, and I am six years-old. Our librarian, Mrs Westerneng, has read us the shortlist for the CBCA Picture Book of the Year award. Jessica Carroll and Craig Smith's Billy the Punk is the clear favourite. In the book, a boy called Billy spots a group of punks at the local market and very quickly adopts their style: neon hair in various shades spiked up at wild angles, ripped shirts and pants, cotton looped over his ears with a safety pin attached so that the pin hangs below them like earrings. Billy seems very happy with his new way of life and refuses to change until one day he sees some soldiers marching down the street…

 

That year, all of us at my primary school were punks. Chickenfeed’s green and pink hairspray shelf was a wasteland, and if anyone had a genuine wardrobe malfunction that needed fixing with something from the jar of safety pins in Mum and Dad’s dressing table it would have to wait; the needs of a six-year-old rockstar reigned supreme. I imagine that many parents sighed a gasp of relief: a ripped singlet and some hair gel is a small price to pay for a costume, and quite frankly it was all any of us wanted to be. For a single day, our beautifully middle-class community became an alternative wonderland as bangles and chains jangled and we tried not to poke each other’s eyes out with our rainbow-coloured spikes as we lunged for the downball out in the yard.

 

I think of these memories when Book Week rolls around again each year and we face the now-customary barrage of commentary on not only the winners, but also the complexities of Book Week itself as an inclusion on the educational calendar. Inevitably, some schools cancel costumes, others offer tips on how to blitz the competition, and there are always cries for the framing of Book Week to be more Australian, more literary, more bespoke, and less reliant on parental energies, film franchises and financial wealth. This year, there has been a noble push from several journalists covering Book Week to divert attention to libraries and library staff, recognising that it’s very easy to whack on a red-and-white Where’s Wally? top and say that we care about young readers, but that this rings false if we are simultaneously under-resourcing and under-funding many of our public libraries. Here in Tasmania, recent reports about the current state of literacy paint a continually concerning picture of progress, and a focus on reading is likely to remain Tasmania’s most important educational goal for some time into the future. For me, once a child has learnt to read (and I accept that this is a simple statement to breeze past), the answer was, is, and always will be remarkably simple: if we learn to love books, the development of our literacy is natural, joyful, and lifelong. 

 

Book Week might seem like a distraction from the real issue here, but I can’t help but feel that it remains a necessary part of the puzzle. I love watching children clutching the book that their chosen character has emerged from, showing it to others around them and explaining what it means. Literary awards, of course, are problematic in their way, but I can’t help but light up with the cheers of a room full of students as the winners are announced (noting that usually they don’t seem to mind who that is as long as the celebration is suitably raucous). I am watching my favourite local and national authors jumping in cars, off planes, and on hotel beds, knowing that this time of year is a huge chance for them to take their tales on the road, and I am thinking about books: not just the ones that I have been reading more recently, but the ones that I have grown up with and which have shaped me: the pages and words and fictions which make up the chemical structure of a young boy’s literary DNA.

 

Being a member of Billy the Punk’s gang was one of my most treasured memories of primary school, but it wasn’t the safety clips and hair-dye that made it special: it was the creativity and imagination that was part of every moment of that journey… the power of a story coming to life. As we pack away this year’s Book Week costumes and debate the results of the awards and wonder if all of it is really even worth it, I encourage us to take stock, to keep it simple and to see everything for what it really is…

 

In a world and a country and even a state in which reading is still a radical act, perhaps we can all be just a little bit more punk.


Lyndon Riggall

 

Lyndon Riggall is a writer, teacher, and co-president of the Tamar Valley Writers Festival. He has written the picture books Becoming Ellie and Tamar the Thief, and is a 2024 Premier’s Reading Challenge Reading Champion. You can find out more about him at www.lyndonriggall.com or on social media @lyndonriggall. 

Sunday 18 August 2024

Reception at Government House Tasmania to celebrate CBCA Book Week 2024

What a wonderful way to herald in the start of Book Week for 2024 with a reception held at Government House Tasmania.

With the excitement of the Book Award announcements at midday a goodly number of Tasmanian children’s literature lovers headed to the magnificent and stately Government House for a 4:00 pm reception at the invitation of Her Excellency the Honourable Barbara Baker AC, Governor of Tasmania and Emeritus Professor Don Chalmers AO to celebrate the beginning of Book Week 2024.

 

The Governor warmly welcomed the attendees who consisted of an interesting mix of CBCA Tasmania members and committee with teachers, teacher librarians, parents and students, parliamentary and council representatives, along with local authors, illustrators and booksellers, joining together for this auspicious occasion. Special guests included Naomi Malbon from CBCA, Senator Catryna Bilyk, Glenorchy Mayor Sue Hickey, COS sponsors Ross Johnstone and Alison Renshaw from COS and sponsors of the Read Aloud to Your Child Every Day campaign with Alison also representing the Lyone Foundation, supporter of Toast for Kids, CBCA Tasmania's campaign partner.

 

The Governor’s opening address conveyed key messages on the importance  reading and the significance of Book Week and the work of the Children’s Book Council of Australia in promoting and celebrating literature and the joys of reading across Australia. The Governor made special reference to the success and hard work of the Tasmanian CBCA branch and its partner, Toast for Kids, in its national campaign championing the critical importance to “Read Aloud to Your Child Every Day”. 


The  incorporation of Shadow Judging as part of Book of the Year announcements was also celebrated and superbly demonstrated through the presentation of a Year 6 Picture Book judging team from Calvin Christian College. 

Tasmanian authors and illustrators received special mention and recognition for their creative endeavours and it was a delight to listen to Tasmanian based Tony Flowers, a highly successful author and illustrator discuss some of the challenges faced in creating literature for children and how inspiration comes in a variety of ways – especially from children – who love to critique his work.

 

A scrumptious afternoon tea, served in the regal drawing room, followed the proceedings. The room was filled with chatter as guests mingled – catching up with colleagues and acquaintances and also making new connections. 

As much of our work is conducted virtually the CBCA Tasmania committee members particular enjoyed the time to meet face to face with members and others who have supported the organisation over the years. As the social media coordinator responsible for the blog it was marvellous to meet so many of the people who have contributed to the blog over time and have a chance to chat about current interests and projects. It was also a pleasure to witness the number of authors and illustrators interacting with teachers and students as they discussed their work. 


Some guests, including some of the students who presented, were also treated to a guided tour of some parts of this historic residence – a rare treat that add an extra special note to the occasion. And of course, there was great enthusiasm to celebrate the campaign.

Calvin Christian School students, Julie Hunt and Johanna Bell

A special thank you to the small team of CBCA Tasmania committee members who organised this event and provided such a memorable and enjoyable start to Book Week 2024. Judging from the general buzz of conversation and the happy faces, it was a highly successful afternoon. I certainly enjoyed it immensely!

 

Jennie Bales

CBCA Tasmania Social Media Coordinator

Retired teacher librarian and lecturer – but still reading!