Finishing Raven's Mountain

Two and a half years ago, flying home from the excitement of the Nim's Island premierre tour, images for a new story started creeping into my mind. There was a girl prowling desperately around a locked, vacant cabin (no idea where that image came from!); there was a memory of breathlessness at 10,000 feet when climbing a mountain with my father and sister, and an image of sheltering from hail under a big rock further up that same mountain. Somehow the story grew from those three thoughts, not always in the way I expected. It changed form and structure. Characters grew, and developed their own personalities - again, not always the ones I expected. The story fell into place, rewrite after rewrite, until it seemed like the only logical way it could have happened. The title flapped back and forth between my editor and me until it was finally settled; Raven's Mountain.

So on Tuesday morning I finished proof reading, (including a major rewrite of one chapter, which my editor was kind enough to agree to, even though you're really supposed to have finished rewriting by the!). I dropped it into an Express envelop and sent it back to my editor at Allen & Unwin. It'll be released in February.

Now I'm taking down the maps I've drawn for the story, that have been on the back of my office door for nearly two years. I've taken the photos of bears and mountains off my screensaver, though the salt dough mountain top is still on top of my bookshelf. And I've spent some quiet time saying goodbye to Raven, the girl I've grown to know and love. Until February, she's in a bit of limbo, but then she'll fly free to meet the world, and not really belong to me any more.

Here's one of the images that inspired the story.

Picture books and Messages

I picked up an old (1969) picture book at a garage sale the other day: The Big Dog and the Very Little Cat, by Helen Hoke. The black and white illustrations, by Diana Thorne, were lovely. But when I read the full book, I found it unbelievably depressing.

The story is that the big old dog isn't very happy about 'Grandmother' adopting a small kitten, who is of course curious and playful. Finally the dog resorts to carrying her outside and leaving her in the snow till she's nearly dead, and even dropping her out the window.

You think you know what's going to happen, don't you? The dog will cheer up and learn to love the kitten with her playful ways; the last picture will show the tiny kitten snuggled up against the huge dog...

You'd be wrong. The cranky old dog wins. The kitten learns to stay out of his way, so the final page is Grandmother commenting, "...she doesn't play much at all,..."
 
The message is strong, and quite horrible:"Don't be curious, don't be playful, don't try to make friends, because you'll just get it beaten out of you." 

The thought of messages and morals in books  makes me cringe, and I always deny that I plan  "A Message" in my books. However  this book made me realise that all stories have some type of message – and that means that, especially in picture books for very young children, we have a responsibility to step back from our manuscript and think objectively about what this story is saying. Not to work out a neat way of telling children to be good, obey their parents, or work hard at school, but just being aware of, and  responsible for, what we're imparting.

USER REVIEW WINNER: The Princess and her Panther

I'm smiling at this rather lovely review from Boomerang Books...

USER REVIEW WINNER: The Princess and her Panther

What a delightful tale of two young sisters. The older sister, dressed as a princess, is the leader of the expedition. The younger sister, dressed as a panther, lets her imagination run wild. Together they embark on a journey to camp in their backyard.

As night time falls, the girls huddle in their tent. It’s at this point that they hear small animal noises which take on gigantic proportions. They try to remain brave by repeating their mantra: ‘The princess was brave, and the panther tried to be.’ Can you guess what happens next?

Ah, those were the days. I remember when I was the same age as the girls, I loved to camp inside. I would throw a sheet over the clothes rack, place a blanket underneath, raid the kitchen for food and then hide hoping mum and dad couldn’t find me!

The Prep children in my class really enjoyed this story, in particular the idea of dressing up, role play and pitching a tent.

Overall, this book is great story that questions what it means to be brave. It engages the young reader through beautiful illustrations and repetitive text. It also helps stimulate imaginative play through the idea of dressing up as a princess or a panther.

I highly recommended this book for children aged between 4-8 years. (5 stars)

I’m just back from Brisbane and the International Association of School Librarianship Conference, hosted by the School Librarians Association of Queensland.  What a fabulous conference!

I started off with the Author Breakfast on Wednesday morning. Have to admit a teeny bit of grumbling about the 6:45 am start, but meeting so many book people, including a wonderful bunch of Brisbane authors, was much more energizing than another hour’s sleep! So many books to look out for; so many conversations started… I love that when authors get together we seem to skip the chitchat and head straight into deep conversations.

Friday was my panel session: Page to Screen with John Marsden, still glowing from seeing Tomorrow when the War Began, and David McRobbie, whom I’ve admired for years without realizing that he also wrote for television, and had adapted his own work for TV. Chris Bongers, author of Dust, chaired the session brilliantly, turning it more into a conversation – and a fun one at that. (How could it not be fun, to interact with people of this caliber?) At least that’s how it felt from my side of the table, so I hope the audience felt the same way.Here we are, courtesy of Chris Bongers, who kindly sent me her photos: 

 John Marsden, Chris Bongers,me, David McRobbie

 Chris Bongers, author Michael Bauer, me

Michael Bauer, me, and Chris Kahl, President of the School Library Assoc of Qld.

And since we were the plenary session, we got to hear the summing up of the conference, the thank you from the librarian whose school of mostly refugee children received the parcel of books from the other attendees, and the lovely invitation from the Jamaican contingent for the next conference. So many dedicated people, determined to bring children and books together... I ended up a bit teary.