New Zealand Childrens and Young Adults Book Award Finalist...drum roll...Ghoulish Get Ups!

A happy happy day for quite a few writers and illustrators including myself!

Ghoulish Get Ups has been shortlisted as a non fiction finalist for this year's New Zealand Childrens' and Young Adult Book Awards!

I am so proud to be there, most particularly with The Book of Hat, by Harriet Rowland and published by Makaro Press. This book is very special to me- 20 year old Harriet was the daughter of friends Jan Kelly and John Rowland and sister of Tom.  Jan and I went to school together back in the day. We even did a stint berry picking in Nelson one summer holiday. They are as nice a family as you can get, and, sadly (barely describes it), Harriet passed away from cancer after writing an inspirational blog which the wonderful Mary McCallum (also an old school mate) from Makaro Press turned into a book. It was a team effort and Harriet rallied for the book launch at Park Road Post in a stunning dress. She went back into the hospice the next day. You can read Harriet's blog here: My Experience of Walking the Dog. Absurdly it might seem, I'm more excited about Harriet's book making the list than my own. I guess thats because when people touch your heart, you forget about your own concerns for a time.

So I'm looking forward to the award ceremony with her parents, my colleagues and friends, to be held at Government House on the 13th August 2015. That we have a book award at all is pretty amazing. The long term benefactor, New Zealand Post, pulled out of sponsorship this year and left Booksellers and publishers scrabbling about to find a way to honour the authors and illustrators who work so hard in this industry for so little return. We are grateful that they have found a way to pull it together- pared back to the bone but still a celebration of what we do and the excitement of maybe a gong at the end of the evening, and if not, a lovely certificate to frame and something to put on the CV. And then we'll all go out for dinner. If you see a huge group of slightly mad people at a restaurant in Wellington that night all talking ten to the dozen, and some drinking far too much, that's us (and the too much is me).

Harriet said: 'Life can change in an instant so appreciate everyone. You never know what's around the corner.'  And I appreciate my publishers, Scholastic who keep soldiering on in these uncertain times to produce quality books for kids and who have faith in my work. 

Speaking of soldiering and work, I'm starting on illustrating a new ANZAC book- written by the talented Jennifer Beck. It has a tortoise in it and I am channelling the one I had in England as a kid- Sooty (named after Sooty and Sweep a teddy bear glove puppet that looks nothing like a tortoise). We couldn't bring him to New Zealand with us - though if it had been 1915, we could possibly have stowed a hibernating one in our kit bag...

Hats off to Team Work

I cannot believe it is over a month since I posted (the writers lament). Well all I can say is I have been neck deep in recyclables devising cool costumes you can make in less than an hour. My next book, tentatively titled 'Ghoulish Freaky Fun' is due in at the printers at the end of March which means if our designers the wonderful team of Vida and LukeKelly have a chance of getting any sleep for the next 4 weeks, I need to have it ALL done and pronto! Making a book is a team effort.

Speaking of teams, I have talked before about Harriet Rowland who has the blog www.myexperienceofwalkingthedog.blogspot.com and her walk with cancer. Should I mention this in the same post as my Ghoulish book? Well yes, because Harriet is not defined by her cancer- she is a writer- and what a writer. And now a published author!

Makaro Press- the wonderful team of Mary McCallum and Paul Stewart have made her blog into a book. The Book of Hat (Harriet's nickname) is being launched this Wednesday at an invite only function (she has so many friends and there is limited space) in Miramar. The book is not for profit (just for love) and $1 from each donation covering print costs goes to Canteen.

Hat's book is a thing of bittersweet wonder and Makaro describe it thus:

Harriet Rowland — known as Hat — was 17 when she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of cancer that began in her knee. At the time she was a student at Queen Margaret College in Wellington, New Zealand.

Going through treatment was often a lonely time, as friends — while supportive — didn’t always understand Hat’s new life. This was until she fell in love with the character Hazel Grace from John Green’s novel The Fault in Our Stars, a girl who talks honestly and openly about living with cancer. Like her, Hat found life changed in ways that were both good and bad: falling in love and hospital stays among them. And she was surprised by how much happiness there was still to find.

Throughout her journey, Hat has kept a blog called My Experience of Walking the Dog, and this book is a collection of those posts edited with the author. Why the blog title? Her parents say cancer is like a dog — fine if it stays in its own yard. Hat’s dog got out. This is her unexpected story.

‘This way I will NEVER have to get a job, learn how to cook more than two-minute noodles or do anything mildly productive. I never have to grow up and I can forever be a kid! Though my ‘forever’ is shorter than most, I don’t mind. What I do mind is that I am going to have to leave everyone I love behind.’ — The Book of Hat

Hat's mum Jan, Mary McCallum and I all went to school together. We've had education, interesting and fulfilling careers and a bunch of children- but none of us expected this. Nobody does. Harriet has taught us all the value of living life fully over this last couple of years and never putting off your dreams. She's an amazing writer and an inspiration to us all, and we can't wait to celebrate with her on Wednesday.