Dim's Write Stuff

In the lead up to the silly season where, as everyone knows, the best present of all is a BOOK, it’s time to throw some scintillating options at you. This collection features content showcasing our reef and ocean life with a few surprises along the way. Click on title links to access more information for perfect summer reading. Enjoy! A Is For Australian Reefs: A fact astic Tour by Frané Lessac This is an ABC book with a difference. It’s not simply a collection of alphabetised sea creatures but a colour saturated, detail imbued meander around our coral reefs which includes nomenclature (species names) and terminology. Random fun facts pop up on every page adding interesting and depth to one of the most biodiverse environments on the planet. Highly recommended. Walker Books Australia, October 2022 ISBN: 9781760652258 Big World, Tiny World: Reef by Jess Racklyeft Another memorable masterpiece highlighting ocean life in and around our beautiful reefs. Racklyeft combines lyrical ve...

Over a slew of silly seasons aka Christmases, I’ve reviewed some truly stunning Christmas inspired books. You’ll find many of them  here  and as curated booklists at  DIM’S re VIEW S . This year, like my intake of dried fruit treats and sugar, I’ve reduced the selection to this humble handful. Droll wit, Aussie flavoured, and spirit-filled are the themes of the day or rather season so, enjoy! Happy Christmas! How Does Santa Go Down The Chimney? by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen Good question lads. This, my non-Shakespearean friends, is the real question, one exasperatingly left incompletely answered. This book is a magical, maddening meandering through the various ways our St. Nickolas aka Santa, is able to silently and stealthily enter the number of dwellings he does in the time that he has. As we follow SC across the rooftops (and under the front doors) seeking answers, other enigmatic quandaries are raised like whether or not he pauses to do laundry between hou...

There's nothing to not like about Stanton's latest junior graphic fiction series, Fluff . Except maybe bullies, which Gilbert and his gigantic fluffy bunny buddy do, with a passion. In fact their borderline self-righteousness and desire to wreak revenge on their arch nemesis, Carl, becomes their soul purpose and the core of this cute and quirky tale which features tonnes of turtles, parmesan cheese, drones and undies in weird places. Kids will love the zaniness, the absurdity, the talking fish (I did) and the extremely brilliant illustrations swimming with motion and madness (the facial expressions alone are a crack up).  What makes a great graphic novel experience superlative are the touches of tenderness secreted amidst the crazy. Stanton does this quietly and with great effect beginning with the 'bit at the beginning' which is in fact the hook for book #2 right there (for me anyways). Along with the series's namesake of course.  We learn that Gilbert lost his f...

Ripping up roots can cause wilt; in saplings at least and, as it turns out, in young human beings like Queenie Jean Anderson. Queenie is a girl with a passion to rock and roll. At least, she plays a mean guitar but what she has in raw talent, she lacks in confidence. Stricken with stage fright and the belief that her ex-bestie, Sparrow, will out best her every time, Queenie chooses to flee at every given opportunity rather than face the possibility of abject failure. Leaving, exit stage left, is one thing but when she and her mother are forced to move from their rented ramshackle home, aka Peachy, things take on a more desperate and tension-filled tone. Salvation comes in the form of temporary refuge in Queenie’s mum’s place of work, the Diamond Sands Seniors Village. Adaptation is the key to survival and Queenie soon becomes the oldies’ favourite but the situation is short-lived and so begins a hopscotch journey from one place of abode to another. Throughout this pell mell of movi...

Fate and circumstance are curious things that can set storytelling wheels in motion with the most extraordinary outcomes. From the dexterous mind and unfathomable imaginings of Kate DiCamillo comes a new, spellbindingly illustrated fiction that bewitches and bemuses. Five exquisite puppets each with a personality and power peculiar to their maker’s whimsy are locked in a trunk after their former master forsakes them, their story and himself. And that is where their real story begins. An adventure, a quest, a parody of unfortunate near disasters, twists and awkward turns that involves each of the puppets in turn and ultimately as a one for they are all in the same story. Of this they are certain and so vow to each other to remain in the telling until the end. Their journey evokes wonder in simple beauties that are easily overlooked; the colour of moonlight through an open window for instance. The vagaries of misguided vanity. The heartbreak of unrequited expectations. And like the ...

Bear and Bird are best friends and that is all you really need to know because the rest of this book and its counterpart, The Picnic and Other Stories , also by the uber talented, Jarvis, is simply a wonderful venture into the relationship between these two. Like the friendship of many small children, Bear and Bird’s is one of unrestrained candour and genuine purity of spirit. They share, care and yes, argue; sometimes over the most inane things, like a spoon. In this collection of four short and super sweet stories, the spoon causes a quaking rift between the two companions prompting Bear to write a letter looking for a new friend. Extreme reactions indeed, that result in a new connection with another lost soul also seeking a new confidant. Ironically, both end up anonymously describing all the wonderful things they cherish and have in common with the other, because of course, unbeknownst to themselves, they have been writing to each. This and the other stories about stars and ca...

I’m currently embracing all things Aussie and story. This means my awareness and appreciation for the stories created on Traditional Country, Sky Country and Sea Country is slowly but surely growing. It’s a wonderful study to be part of, acknowledging the stories, culture and history of our First Nations people and basking in their enormous pools of knowledge. This new release from the creative brains of Brentos is not just another picture book listing the conservational status of our unique Australian wildlife, it is a colourful ode to the Aussie bush and surrounding seas connecting readers with the heart and soul of the land on which they reside. And it’s a corker. Sadly though, not every creature is thriving alongside our human existence or more accurately, because of it. Australian Animals From Beach To Bush , clearly identifies species from coral reefs to inland skylines that are vulnerable, endangered or currently doing okay. Definitions are coloured coded prior to journey...

Katrina Nannestad has well and truly cemented her position as one of Australia’s most accomplished historical fiction writers with her latest novel, Silver Linings . Most of us are aware that clouds have them, silver linings that is, but what exactly do they mean and do they really exist? Nettie Sweeney sure thinks so. Nettie’s story, set in the 1950s, reads as a middle grade novel yet champions Nettie Sweeney as the young protagonist who has just started primary school. Nettie’s tender years, beguiling naivety and childlike foibles are neatly offset however by the fact that she is the fourth daughter of a farming family with the ability to write and think beyond her years. Couple this with the assured determination of a person set on visiting the moon and you’ve got a character exploding with charm, wit and wonder. In short, Nettie is larger-than-life adorbs! Nettie’s singular desire is for a mother to love and cuddle having lost hers at birth. Her dreams come true in the shape o...

Beauty comes in many forms: the bizarre, the whimsical, the wondrous. Author illustrator and two-time Caldecott Medallist, Sophie Blacknall embraces the very best of beauty in her visual and imaginative picture book narratives creating imagery that makes your heart swoon. Here are two of her latest masterpieces. If I Was A Horse When I was much shorter, I dreamed of owing a horse. It was a dead-end desire however my love for all things equine never diminished so instead of walking, I galloped. Instead of speaking, I whinnied. Instead of sitting in the shelter shed at lunchtimes, I careened around the school oval …like a horse. I didn’t just want a horse. I was a horse. This is the premise of Blackall’s 2023 release; exploring what a child would do if she were a horse. This joyful expose of imaginative play and sense of self is splendidly supported by Blacknall’s exquisite illustrations created with a combination of media including watercolours, pencils, and collaged materials res...

As a young tween, the closest phenomena I encountered resembling pestilence and epidemics was the odd mouse and locust plague. Both highly irregular, indescribably disturbing occurrences that eventually, mercifully passed. For the generations before me, war assumed similar levels of upheaval and unrest. Imagine though being born into an era of extreme disruption, disease and prolonged uncertainty as your 'new normal' as  recently experienced by many modern-day Gen Alphas. How would you function? What expectations of the future would you possess? Would you want to escape to a better place? This is the unspoken premise of Wendy Orr’s latest middle grade fiction, Honey and The Valley of Horses . ‘Horses’ was my immediate pull card as I’m sure it will be for hundreds of equine enthused fans but the horses in Honey’s tale are much more than decorative incidental whimsy. They inhabit an enchanted valley and hold the key to the family’s survival and subsequent escape. Beset by t...

Despite having no interest in history as a school kid, my exposure to the past has increased in my adult years thanks to a deepening love for narrative non-fiction. Weaving historical events, facts and figures into an engaging narrative with larger-than-life characters is (for me and many kids) one surefire way of infusing history and those who peopled our past into meaningful context. Novels do this with ease. Here are a few recently released picture books that manage to portray the past in captivating words and pictures for younger readers. Shearer by Neridah McMullin and Michael Tomkins Jack Howe was a tower above men and legend among shearers in the late 1800s. Not only was his sheer physical prowess awe-inspiring but his I-can-do attitude enabled him to beat and set a new hand-shearing record that remains unbeaten. This is his story set in Jack’s day when the wool industry was experiencing a boon like no other before the advent of mechanical sheep shearing. Howe is portrayed with...

In a wild fit of self-indulgent promotional puffiness, I'm sharing this recent 'Meet The Author' feature courtesy of Jackie Hosking, founder of the ace Kids' Lit e-zine, PIO . If you don't already subscribe to this online publication, consider it. It's a regular veritable smorgasbord of publishing insights and opps, competitions and conferences, industry event notification and workshops and courses info to keep you on the right career trajectory. Not to mention opportunities to meet fellow creatives, like ME! So what are you waiting for. Grab a cuppa and have a chat with me ... and Pippa, of course! Hi Dimity! Thanks for sharing your creative journey with us today. Are you an author, an illustrator or both? Both - I wish! As an author, I only paint with words but I adore the alchemy of combining words with pictures. Please tell us about the book that you would like to talk about today? Pippa and the Troublesome Twins is the next thrilling episode in young Pi...