Harper Collins 2009 edition (first published 1986 by Methuen Children's Books) I have arrived very late to this party. In fact, I’ve missed several invitatio...

On My Bookshelf: Running With The Horses by Alison Lester Puffin Books Penguin Random House 2019 This beautiful edition of Alison Lester’s heart rending stor...

Wizards of Once, Knock Three Times by Cressida Cowell Hodder Children’s Books 2019 In this third book in the series, Wish and Xar are are once again on the r...

Emergency Rescue Angel Cate Whittle (me!) February 2020 Omnibus Scholastic This is not a review of my own book! What it is, is a reprint of a piece I wrote f...

Did you ever wonder where Hallowe’en came from, or why we have a celebration about ghosts and ghouls? A long time ago, I used to write freelance articles and...

So how does a page about illustration end up on a website about writing? It’s a question that has to be asked why, thank you for asking and will now be answe...

On My Bookshelf: Wizards of Once, Twice Magic by Cressida Cowell Hodder Children’s Books 2018 It’s the winter school holidays and I’ve been doing lots of rea...

What’s the Big Idea? Or more to the point, where did you get that big idea? What is the one question you can be almost 100% sure you’ll be asked on a school ...

Impossible Music by Sean Williams Allen & Unwin 2019 And the word for today is: entirely. it is not every day a complete stranger just hands you a book. It’s...

I'm a great believer in the odd bout of procrastination. the empty page: symbol of writer's procrastination everywhere I do, in fact, believe it is the brain...

Lenny’s Book of Everything Karen Foxlee Allen & Unwin 2018 I’ll be frank about this book. So many people had told me it was brilliant that I wasn’t sure whet...

Warning: this post is really just an excuse to put up gorgeous pictures of cute, fluffy animals.... er, Writing Companions (disclaimer: none of these cute, f...

The Ice Dragon by George RR Martin Published by Harper Voyager 2014 A review with a difference... a story of my own and a plea to publishers. The Review Bi...

What else does a Canberra based author do as the cold weather creeps in, but escape to warmer climes? Okay, light the fire, pop on your favourite fluffy jump...

Pitching to a room full of people can be an exhilarating experience

One of the things that constantly crops up when I am introduced to new people and they learn that I am a children’s author is that ‘I would love to write a b...

Published by Angus & Robertson an imprint of Harper Collins Children’s Books 2018 I waited in excited anticipation (read impatience) for this book to be avai...

New friends. One of the best things I have ever got out of entering competitions is to become part of a community. Why is this important? Surely, writing is ...

Too many people had said how amazing this book was and I couldn’t ignore it any longer. Besides, I love the cover. The colours are magnificent and the raven ...