You, Me, Community: Building Bridges Through Visual Storytelling

Step behind the scenes with Tony Flowers as he shares insights into his most recent work, You, Me, Community. His illustrations support and enrich the theme of community with fascinating details, and embedded humour drawn from his personal journeys and experiences.

You, Me Community by Zanni Louise and Tony Flowers. Walker Books 2026

As the illustrator of You, Me, Community, written by the wonderful Zanni Louise, I wanted to offer a little bit of insight in to how my ideas are folded into the story. This is a picture book built on the idea of connection, not just between characters, but between text and image. Zanni’s lyrical, rhythmic text acts almost like a musical score, setting the tempo and emotional beats. But the words alone, don’t form a conventional narrative. They are the rhythm that I carried into the illustrations, building visually on the metaphors touched on in the text, to create a parallel story and world to explore visually.

While the text reflects on the depth and breadth of what community is and the importance of connection, the illustrations set the scene with a story of two cliff‑top towns divided, we follow two central characters a dog and a crab (In my mind the crab is the narrator of the book), the illustrations reveal the deeper narrative: two communities choosing to build a bridge to come together. The visual world is full of architectural and cultural influences gathered from my travels. Readers with sharp eyes will spot Japanese castles, the cathedral spires of Dinant in Belgium, Tudor buildings from Leeds, Spanish gatehouses, and the tiled stairways of Portugal. Statues and stone carvings from Cambodia, Syria, Scotland, and Italy also make cameo appearances. These details create a rich tapestry of visual information for young readers to explore, encouraging curiosity and close looking.

Inside pages showing two cliff top towns in You, Me, Community

For those that know my past work, my motorcycle makes its traditional appearance. It has featured in every book I’ve illustrated since a publisher once told me never to put motorcycles in a picture book. Apparently, they encourage random acts of risky behaviour in children. This publisher clearly needs to expand their book world to include some of the more obscure author’s and their books with motorcycles in them, like Babette Cole’s Smartypants or Quentin Blake’s Mrs Armitage: Queen of the Road. For me, these small personal touches are part of the joy of illustration: they anchor the work in lived experience and offer a playful wink to returning readers.

Planning double page spread in You, Me, Community.
Can you find the motorbike?

For teachers and librarians keen to explore the visual language of the book, I helped develop the teaching notes for Walker Books Australia, which place a strong emphasis on visual literacy. You’ll also find a growing collection of free resources, behind‑the‑scenes insights, and illustration activities at Divi & Frey a space I’m building for educators and emerging illustrators alike.

Planning stage for an illustration in You, Me, Community

You can follow more of my work and travels on Facebook or Instagram at @tony_flowers99 or visit www.flowersinks.com.au.

Tony Flowers

Creating Stories – Books to Inspire and Guide Young Creators

This week Bronwyn, from The Hobart Bookshop, shares an amazing array of recent publications designed to help children and teens put pen to paper to create their own stories. Enough to make you want to write yourself!

As a Bookshop we focus on the power of reading as a way to open children’s minds and imaginations to all the possible worlds, lives and ideas beyond their own experiences. But what about writing and even drawing? What about young people’s capacity to create?

Teaching children to express their own ideas is a powerful motivator to improve both vocabulary and comprehension, and it seems quite a few children’s authors agree, with the recent release of several books designed to encourage children to create their own stories, whether through narrative, verse or imagery.

Poetry is accepted as a tool that can build awareness of the sounds in words, and the repeating use of rhyme can make it easier for young learners to anticipate what another word will sound like, especially in short text formats for young or reluctant readers. But to engage any younger readers, the poem must capture their attention – which is where humour can play a role. (Enter masters of humorous children’s books, such as Andy Griffiths – see his entry in this list below!) 

Drawing is another form of communication that enables children to explore, reflect on and share their experiences. Using the visual form can allow access to nonverbal stories and ideas, and a pathway to exploring the creativity that can flow alongside words.

Make Believe by Mac Barnett

The United States has appointed Mac Barnett as their National Ambassador for Young People's Literature and he has written Make Believe: a book for adults that contemplates the way we interact with children and literature. Barnett is a strong advocate for the children’s ability to understand and grow from exposure to art and literature, and he believes that our human facility for appreciating these fields is awakened in early childhood, making the books that we provide to children deeply important. 

The following list is a collection of recent publications that will entice children into the world of creative imagination through various forms of word and image.

Current Australian Children’s Laureate Andy Griffiths has written Let’s Go: a book that encourages children to both read and write (including writing in the book, so this one may be better for home copies than for libraries!). Let’s Go is full of stories, poems and comic strips that guide younger creators to create their own imaginary adventures with words and pictures. 

One of our favourite authors of children’s novels, Katrina Nannestad, has also written a nonfiction book to encourage junior writers: The Story Writer’s Handbook.  Aimed at a slightly older audience and with prompts to develop characters, the book also includes space to draw so that children can imagine everything about their characters – including what is in their pockets.

Creative Writing Magic by Andy Jones describes writing as ‘an act of magic’ and is full of tips and prompts to help young writers write and draw from their imaginations (and this one is library friendly, as you don’t draw in the book).

Three books to encourage junior writers

Picture Book Makers Part 2 is a beautiful book features 13 picture book artists who share their processes behind their creations. While the book is targeted at adults and older readers, more as a reference book or coffee table book, it would also make an inspiring prompt for helping children to start creating, including lots of familiar images from well-loved children’s books. 

Graphic Novel Builder by Edward Ross provides a step-by-step guide designed for teens to create their very own comic books. There is help with character development and plot formation as well as suggestions to help turn ideas into images that communicate a story.

Picturebook Makers and Graphic Novel Builder for illustrative inspiration

In poet Brian Bilston’s book of poetry, A Poem for every Question, wonderfully illustrated by Joe Berger, each poem is the focus for the type of non-fiction facts that children love to devour. From prompts like ‘How Many Teeth Does a Crocodile Have’ to ‘How do Planes Fly Upside Down’, the book pairs a poem with an actual factual explanation so that both the creative and logical sides of the brain are being stimulated.

If I Could Eat the Stars is a middle-grade Australian collection of poems chosen by Rebecca Newman, containing examples of haiku, free verse and other forms of poetry. It features particularly fun and relatable poetry by a mix of award-winning, established and brand new writers.

Poetry inspiration 

By combining reading, writing and drawing, we can approach stories and ideas through multiple aspects of the reading process, encouraging a higher level of understanding of the words being read. In doing so, the world of stories and books become even more enjoyable and engaging for the child.

Bronwyn Chalke
The Hobart Bookshop

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