Count the Stars has officially been launched!

Welcome to my website! Here's where you can find out all about my books and about everything else I do. 

​First, here's the new news!

Count the Stars is out at last! Illustrated by the remarkable Gabriel Evans and published by Walker Books it is all about Maddie who sees maths everywhere she looks - from the parallel lines of moonlight pouring through her bedroom blinds to the daisy petals in the garden and the pavers Dad lays.

Maddie longs to find a friend who loves maths like she does. Then Dad takes her, along with her new classmate Priya, to the observatory where the unfathomable numbers of stars take her breath away.

​

And now the slightly older news...

Meet Eve in the Outback is my latest Junior Fiction title and it's part of Penguin's Aussie Kids series where each title takes kids to a unique and beautiful place in Australia. Karen Blair and I teamed up again and where else would we go? Back to Nowhere of course!! 

And let's not forget that very special Penguin/RandomHouse picture book Rocky and Louie which I wrote with Noongar man Phil Walley-Stack. Dub Leffler's illustrations are beautiful and we all have high hopes that this one will be received warmly. It is, after all, our gift to Australia and it means more to us than we can say.
 
I'm also deeply honoured that my work has been recognised by the WA Museum, Boola Bardip. Please come and have a look. Make you way to the Innovations Gallery and you'll find some floating feathers, a chicken's egg, a gardening glove, a teacup, a couple of champagne corks, a heart made of 600 million year old zebra rock and a little silver and ponamu book mark, all of which speak about my life, my purpose, and my creative process. My latest picture books are there too so you can sit down and have a quiet read if you need a rest.

And as if that wasn't enough...

Something Wonderful published by Penguin/Random House and illustrated by Karen Blair is still in print and has been chosen for the 2021 Dolly Parton Imagination Library as has Hello From Nowhere also published by Penguin/Random House and also illustrated by Karen Blair. Hello From Nowhere was in the 2020 Victorian Prep Bag too so every kid starting school in Victoria got one. How cool.

The Mermaid's Tail, illustrated by the incredible Ann James, has been given a new life as well! Who would have thought it would be still going strong after 20 years but incredibly it's been rebranded with a cool new yellow cover and is once again available along with half a dozen of the other top selling Aussie Nibbles.

Now the bit about all the other stuff I do...

My workshops are more fun than recess and phys ed and my PDs are more fun than lunch, (with cake!)

I've discovered I have another secret superpower besides writing! I can
teach kids how to write and I can teach teachers how to teach kids to write!
 
With 25 years experience writing and teaching I possess a unique combination of experiences, insights and skills, (not to mention boundless enthusiasm,) which I've used to carefully craft a series of workshops, (for children,) and professional development sessions, (for teachers,) that are like no other. 

It's a very special thing being able to reach a child, to see their imaginations awakening and their confidence growing, and I treasure every opportunity I get to visit schools and libraries and share a little story telling magic. 

---

You will find a bunch of free stuff in here too.

I've posted things like my 5 Top Tips for the classroom and my top writing activities on the workshop/PD pages.
It's stuff you usually only get if you come to one of my professional development sessions or have me visit, so please enjoy!