Boris around the world

Sure, it may look quiet around here, but Boris has been busy.  Just the other day, he received a lovely bit of US attention courtesy of Betsy Bird, over at her Fuse 8 blog at School Library Journal. Betsy calls the Boris series "ridiculously fun boy books," which "follow in a long and worthy tradition of exceptional Australian early chapter books." Thank you Besty!  You can read her whole write up here.

And Boris has been travelling!  First stop, France - I'm very excited to report that all four Boris books will be coming out through the lovely people at Rageot.  And then it's off to South Korea, where Haseol Publishing will be releasing Boris and Ready, Set, Boris. 

Finally, here at home, there'll be two new Boris books coming out in 2012, called Boris on Show and Slow down Boris.  Look for some sneak peeks early in the new year.

Plop! on tour

Windmill Theatre's PLOP!, the musical show for pre-schoolers based on The Terrible Plop, is touring all over the country in October and November. You can find the tour details here.  And here is a new Terrible Plop activity sheet, all about snacking (which, come to think of it, is one of my favourite activities).

How to draw a chook!

Firstly, my apologies for not writing sooner!  But don't worry, I have been busy - with some picture books, including a new one with the wonderful Ursula Dubosarsky, and some new Boris books.  More info on those soon!

And I'm always busy with work for the fabulous School Magazine. A couple of years ago they asked me "How do you draw a chook?"  So I showed them.  And now I'm showing you, in the slideshow above.  Enjoy!

(Coming soon: How to draw Boris!) 

The Twittering Machine

Here's a blueprint I drew as a prop for a friend's performance piece.  The friend is Greg Cousins, aka Wingas. The piece is The Twittering Machine.  It's a marvellous Rube Goldberg / Heath Robinson-like contraption that Greg has transformed into a neat little performance.  It ran during the Adelaide Fringe to universal delight.  I'll let you know when it's next being staged, but in the meantime here's a little video.  Enjoy!

Kids Book Review

The lovely people at Kids Book Review have put up an interview with me.  You can read it here.  And later in the day there'll be some reviews of Boris and Boris gets a lizard, as well as a guest post by me, giving you some behind the scenes glimpses into Boris's creation.   But this shouldn't just be about me, me, me!  Have a browse around their site and you'll find a wealth of great reviews, interviews, and guest posts with people like Jeannie Baker, Emily Gravett, Sally Rippin, Lorraine Marwood and many, many more. Enjoy!