by DonnaGibbs | Feb 20, 2019 | Thoughts
- My latest book I Like Numbers is out now. I was lucky enough to have help from Jenny Allum and Bronwyn Hession with this one.
I Like Numbers is the third book in the series of I Like. . . titles. It is designed for children from around 6 to 12 but can be enjoyed by people of all ages. It uses a simple, colourful format to explore different ways to think about numbers and the roles they play in our everyday lives.
Sample pages:
- There’s a poem of mine called “Letters are Tricky” printed in the February issue of The School Magazine’s Countdown and you can hear it read aloud on Youtube. Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=_XBBPZi7qh0
- I was shortlisted in the 2018 Buzz Words Short Story Competition for Young Children! There were 209 entries and at first I was named in the longlist of 20 and then in the shortlist of 10. Very exciting. But I didn’t win 😊
- My website has been updated and PayPal installed to make purchases easier. I hope you’ll try it out!
- The sequel to When the Cat’s Away is under construction. It’s called The Mice Down Under. (The mice come to Australia to escape the cats!) Lionel’s illos are coming in one by one and they are WONDERFUL. It should be out by September or thereabouts. Let me know if you’d like me to keep one for you.
Over the year, I’m going to do some posts on the benefits of reading to children – unexpected and otherwise. I hope you will all contribute your thoughts.
by DonnaGibbs | Oct 30, 2017 | Books and Children
Breaking the rules
Everyone who is a blogger advises you need to ‘blog’ at least twice a week. I haven’t managed anything like that and there has been an especially long gap since I last wrote. But now I really want to tell you about my new book, so here I am again.
When the Cat’s Away, a picture book for young children, illustrated by Lionel King, was launched on September 25th, 2017.
The launch, which some of you attended, was held at Stanton Library, North Sydney. John McCallum was our impressive MC and Ursula Dubosarsky graciously agreed to send our book out into the world. You can read her speech at the launch here. (Ursula’s kind words will long be cherished by me)
My just-turned one year old grandson, Noah, to whom I dedicated the book (Lionel dedicated it to Judy King, his wife) managed to upstage me as I delivered my speech. You can see him demonstrating his new skills of walking and clapping for the audience.
After the speeches, we had the trumpeter, Mark Strykowski, play the Marseillaise to get people in the mood for the storytelling. I was able to read the story from the online version projected onto the wall in the Conference Room at the library.
The process of creating this book was pure delight from my perspective. Once the text was written it was a matter of waiting for a new illustration to appear in my inbox, usually on a Sunday evening. Lionel is a scientist at RESMED and the weekends are when he does most of his sketching and painting. Numerous conversations followed as we adjusted both text and image until at last our book was ready to go into production.
It is such a pleasure for us to hear about children’s responses to the book. Already we’ve had quite a few comments such as “My daughter (3) woke this morning talking about mice in the house!
“. We have also had some wonderful reviews – you can see them on Amazon and at Good Reads (you can ask questions about the book on this site as well) or look at them here. We are keen for more reviewers (only honest reviews) and if you, or someone you know, would like a review copy, please let me know.
So… if you would like to put the book in someone’s christmas stocking, it is available as a print book from places such as the Book Depository in the U.K, Amazon and the Moshshop. Or you can contact me on my website (donnagibbsbooks.com), or by email (gibbs.donna@gmail.com) and I can post it to you. It is also available as an ebook from Amazon and Smashwords for around $3.00.
In my next blog I’d like to talk about some books that are thought to send the wrong message to children. I’ll be interested to hear what you think.
by DonnaGibbs | Dec 20, 2016 | Books and Children
Christmas greetings to you all.
The characters in my christmas card are Sad the Dog (from Sandy Fussell’s Sad the Dog) and Reindeer (from Ursula Dubosarsky’s Reindeer’s Christmas Surprise). Both books are very popular with young children.
Have you heard of the Icelandic tradition of giving books on christmas eve? Thanks, Robyn, for telling me about this.
Meanwhile, hope you and your families have some book-filled holidays coming up and plenty of time to read.
Talk to you all next year!
by DonnaGibbs | Oct 24, 2016 | Books and Children
Who’s afraid of graphic novels?
If yo
u have been hesitant about encouraging children to read graphic novels, it may be time to change your mind. On the Playful Learning website you can read about why graphic novels make great reading and learning
experiences for children.The article ‘5 great reasons to Read Graphic Novels’ is followed by a list of favourites that have proved their worth.
The author ends the article by saying: ‘If you are looking for even more inspiration the list on the A Mighty Girl website . . . is focused more on female characters, but there is no reason why boys won’t enjoy them just as much!’ (She must have read my last blog post, don’t you think?)
And if you are looking for even more titles, the website for What do we do all day offers lists of books to read, including lists of graphic novels.
From page to screen is another option worth pursuing. Thanks to Dr Kerry-Ann O’Sullivan for kindly forwarding this link about a series of graphic novels, The Hildafolk Collection by Luke Pearson. Netflix is planning a twelve-episode animated series, based on the first four books, for early 2018.
My new book
Bear Wants to Know, a picture book for 2 to 5s, is now available. I first wrote a version of this book for my granddaughter, Harriet, nearly a decade ago.
Now with the help of illustrator, Janet Trotta, the story has evolved into a picture book. At first reading to my kindy group, the children were very taken with the last double page spread of the book (it was 
entirely Janet’s idea to do the page this way – so I am grateful to her). They liked pointing out to me all the things in Harriet’s bedroom that they’d seen during the story.
If you would like a copy of the book ($14.95 with free postage), or any of my other books, do email me (gibbs.donna@gmail.com) so I can arrange delivery.
The Fan Brothers
I read an interview recently about the illustrator brothers, Eric and Terry Fan – whom I’d not come across before. Their illustrations for The Night Garden, which they also co-authored, had me immediately intrigued.
From The Night Garden
When visiting the Blues Point Bookshop (once you are inside it is very hard to leave), I came across The Darkest Dark illustrated by the Fan brothers and written by the astronaut Chris Hadfield. I think this book would have appeal for most age groups but particularly the 5 to 7 year olds. It is about overcoming fear of the dark but also about dreaming dreams and making them happen.
The book also has nostalgic appeal for adults because the child narrator huddles with others around a television, to watch Neil Armstrong step onto the surface of the moon. Some of my readers watched this event with me along with lots of school children, many moons ago when we were all crowded into a hall in Hinemoa.
by DonnaGibbs | Aug 30, 2016 | Books and Children
Let me introduce three upper primary students who have plenty to say about what they like reading.
RUBY aged 10 in Year 4
MAX aged 11 in Year 6
SASKIA aged 11 in Year 6
Did you have books read to you when you were little? Can you remember anything about that?
Max: Yes. I remember books about teddy bears, Winnie the Pooh, The Enchanted Woods, robot books.
Ruby: Ruby Flew Too. It was about a duck.
Saskia: Yes. We’re Going on a Bearhunt. And a lot of Dr Seuss.
Did you have any favourite picture books? Any you hated?
Max: My favourite picture book was called The Floods – about an abnormal family. For older kids they had chapter books. I also liked a big book about World War 1 and the Top 10 Battles that changed the world. I didn’t hate any.
Ruby: I didn’t like a book called Ruby about a car. I didn’t like it because it had pictures but I didn’t understand the words.
Saskia: I loved the Fancy Nancy series.
If your parents said you were going to live on a desert island or in space and you could only take one book, what would it be? Any reason for your choice?
Max: If it was a desert island I would take a survival guide.
Ruby: A very very very thick book like Harry Potter!
Saskia: Either Geek Girl or Girl Online.
What kind of books do you like most now (eg factual information, animal stories, comics, narratives with female or male heroes, etc)?
Max: Narrative fiction. I find them engaging and they tell great stories with adventurous heroes that bend my imagination to make the world appear better.
Ruby: I like books with a twist, but a good twist that builds up so much tension.
Saskia: I love fiction or chapter books.
Can you suggest a book or an author for other children around your age to read?
Max: Ice Station by Matthew Reilly. A gripping, fast paced military story.
Ruby: Emma Carroll The Girl Who Walked on Air. It’s really fun to read and once you start reading you don’t want to stop.
Saskia: The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. It has so many twists and keeps you wanting more.
If you could write a book for children your age what would you make it about?
Max: A fantasy world based in an arctic universe where the heroes battle against the cold, frostbite, hypothermia, wolves and other problems beneath the snow, hidden in the blizzards.
Ruby: I would set it in reality. A book about a girl who runs away and she has to live through blizzards and things. She meets a wolf who follows her around and in the end they become friends and lie down together.
Saskia: My book would be set in reality and about a girl who is 12-13 but her life is very dramatic. Like everything goes wrong in her life!
Thanks Ruby, Max and Saskia for being guests on my blog. I’m working on a new book right now. it’s going to be part fantasy, part realism – set in an arctic universe with wolves, blizzards etc, and told from the point of view of a 12 to 13 year old for whom everything goes wrong. I’m guessing it’ll be a best seller!
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