Dim's Write Stuff

Do you remember making abstract ink art with your toddler? You know, the type involving splodges and straw blowing? Perhaps you were more into spotting cloud shapes. Maybe finding patterns in chaos is more your thing. The geometry of the natural world and its accidental occurrences is not something we consciously celebrate. These two picture books however standout because of their focus on simplicity and artful creativity. Read on, or better, experience the incisive visual literacy of these books first hand. What's That Splat by Johanna Bell & Amelia Luscombe I love the feel, look and premise of this book. Let's talk about the bevelled, rounded corners first. These give the book a cosy, comfortable feel suggesting there's nothing scary inside here, just a bit of fun. Lusciously thick GSM (page density) guarantees a long life of frequent page turns and reinforces connectivity with the target audience, ostensibly two-year-olds and above, plus it's easy to turn. Colou...

The need to connect and share, align and alight with others is a human condition hard to ignore. Occasionally, we find ourselves on our own. Not necessarily lonely but in situations where the need to diminish that situation of solitude becomes singular. The Little Girl and the Rain by Milena Lukešová and Jan Kudláček is a picture book that highlights this circumstance of want, need and outcome that ultimately arrives at friendship. One day a little girl with no one to play with goes for a walk. It begins to rain. Rather than hurry back to her indoor isolation, she welcomes the plic plic plic drops. The rain whether in over exuberance or naivete increases, forcing the little girl to run for home. The rain persists and follows her but is kept outside by steadfast doors and closed windows.  The rain prevails increasing in need and desperation to continue the play began with the little girl's encounter. But this pursuit, from one umbrella to another only causes discomfort and an...

The National Centre For Australian Children's Literature (NCACL) has travelled into its 52nd year of existence. For those who don't know this powerhouse organisation (formerly the Lu Reeds Archives) houses a vast and carefully curated collection of resources about Australian authors, illustrators, their works and their publishers. It's a mammoth and diligent undertaking which, like so many worthwhile causes that invest in our collective futures, cannot exist on thin air alone. I have been affliated with the NCACL for a number of years now (after forming a collaborative partnership with them and KBR) and ardently agree in the safe-keeping of our creative resources so that we can all continue to  'Keep The Story Alive!' To enable this, the NCACL would greatly appreciate your support for their annual fund-raising campaign which enables them to achieve more. Below is just a smattering of what they aim for and have alread achieved. Please consider helping them reach ...

Picture books about parenting and the unfathomable love and connection between a baby and their mother occupy more space than is often available on bookshop and bedroom bookshelves. So, I was suitably intrigued to see how Learning You By Heart by Sarah Wallace and Michelle Conn tackled this reoccurring well represented subject. Happy to report, with remarkable heart and toe-warming joy. Sung in beautifully metered rhythming verse, this sweet picture book hooks from the start. A mother whispers gentle aphorisms of love to her young baby. She's loved them from the start but knows that life evolves thus recognises the need to learn her child by heart, so that they might always be with her. A heart melting proposition that immediately warms to parents sharing this story with their children and those children snuggled down beside them. Good move on behalf of the creators. I've yet to meet a youngster who doesn't possess some curiosity about themselves and their existence, bl...

One is never too old, nor delightfully too young, to widen one's knowledge of the natural world. Especially when that natural world is a veritable ocean of wonders and mysteries and ... cetaceans! Following on in his exquisitely illustrated and concisely factual picture book series, What's That? Myke Mollard has triumphed with his latest volume focusing on our own hemisphere of whales, dolphins and porpoises. Each category of these ancient ocean dwelling mammals is divided into clear sections and this is where realisation spawned into renewed understanding (for me!). That a toothed whale and porpoise are one in the same, that there are several species of dolphin whose appearance is similar but habitats and behaviours differ and that the roto-tail jump is a unique signature move for the Striped Dolphin.  Introductory information about each species found in or around Australian waters and coastlines is revealed in compact paragraphs. Tantalising titbits are showcased in floatin...

One of my all-time absolute Aussie animal favourites is the dingo. It is often also one of the most misaligned of native Australians thanks not to its reputation or standing as an apex predator but because of our own human occupation of its territories. It's time to get a more realistic appraisal of this fascinating wild canid which is exactly what Dingoes Up Close  by Jane Forge does. This no-nonsense non-fiction picture book doesn't mess around with text boxes and flashy fonts. It delivers straight forward, easy to read facts in clear narrative blocks. Serif font is used to describe the dingo's history, introduction to Australia, habitat and unique behaviours. Uncommon words are capitalised and bolded for emphasis and focus.  Particularly interesting are the explanations of dingo human interaction. First Nation groups were as important for the welfare of the dingo as the dingo was for them. The relationship between some indigenous groups and dingoes was almost spiritually...