Things are warming up in the ACT although the weather is definitely cooling.
Our first ACT SCBWI meeting is kicking off with an autumn event on the 1st April with a very special guest speaker, Tania McCartney. Tania will be giving a peek at her latest release “This is Captain Cook’. Tania will also be speaking about the success of the 52-week art illustration and her recent SCBWI events in WA.
President of CBCA Canberra, Leanne Barrett will also be speaking to us regarding upcoming events in the ACT.
Tania McCartney- Book Launch 19th April 2015, NLA 11am
This is Captain Cook celebrates the life of a great mariner and true adventurer. In this book Miss Batts and her class narrates the story of Cook's life through a humorous and whimsical school play.
If you are visiting Canberra- please come along and share the launch and excitement with us.
Stephanie Owen Reeder recently released her historical novel Lennie the Legend.
Stephanie has added to her amazingly detailed collection of historical books (the first two being Lost! A True Tale from the Bush, and Amazing Grace: An Adventure At Sea, which won the Young People’s History Prize in the New South Wales Premier’s History Awards, 2012) with this new tale—Lennie the Legend: Solo to Sydney by Pony.
Set at the height of the Great Depression, Lennie follows the journey of a young lad destined for adventure. After saving the family farm’s latest crop, Lennie’s parents allow the young boy to ride his pony, Ginger Mick, all the way (on his own!) from rural Victoria to Sydney, to witness the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge—a journey of 1,000 kilometres. Along the way, this remarkable child meets with a lifetime of extraordinary experiences from a near-horse-napping to a bushfire encounter to meeting Prime Minister Joseph Lyons at Parliament House.
Stephanie said Lennie was once considered alongside our greatest poets and politicians at the time, yet his fame and achievements have been lost to Australians. She felt impassioned to share this young boy’s story—saying she felt people really should know about him. I’m so glad she did. The book is beautiful—peppered with amazing photos and facts on Australia and its people in the 1930s. One of my favourite parts of the books is a series of chapter header images showing the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge as it slowly closed its maw over the harbour.
Lennie the Legend is available online at the National Library Bookshop.