Dim's Write Stuff

I’ve recently been examining the notion of friendship; what ignites it, how enduring it is, why it is simultaneously strong yet exquisitely fragile. Friendship cannot exist exclusively but is enriched with kindness and compassion, understanding and infinite patience. Friendship is, I guess, love. And love encompasses the best bits of friendship. This small handful of picture books encapsulates this notion in better ways than I could ever explain. I invite you to get better acquainted … Old Fellow Liz Anelli’s homely and divinely detailed drawings are the perfect accompaniment to Christopher Cheng’s touching tale about two old fellows; an affable elderly man and his furry black dog. They share their days together wondering the suburban streets of their neighbourhood and ambling through the local parks. Life around them is a riot of colour and action. They walk, muse, rest, and remember when they used to play ball and dash after birds. Now is more of a time of simply sitting and smelli...

Illustrated stories about the profound transformative powers of story telling featuring animals as deputies for emotional guidance and reinforcement are a welcome feature on my bookshelves of late. Recent reviews encompassing this premise include TheBeatryce Prophecy by Kate Di Camillo and Sophie Blackall. Zadie Ma and the Dog Who Chased the Moon by the current Australian Children’s Laureate , Gabrielle Wang is another exemplary example. Zadie is the daughter of an immigrant Chinese Australian family in mid 50s Victoria, a period of history where time was more relaxed but attitudes were still coloured by bigoted, post war thinking and ignorance. Zadie fights hard to maintain her inconspicuous status as school and is conscious of being the dutiful daughter at home, helping Ma in their family run milk bar. But her penultimate talent lies in storytelling. Her brother, Teddy calls it her superpower: the ability to pen a story and then have it come true. Dog-loving Zadie is desperate...

Have you ever left a book on the shelf for months and months, eager to read it but not quite in the right mood to do so? Other titles assume a kind of procrastinate preference over your erstwhile looked-forward-to folio until suddenly, it beckons, loud and unrelenting. Read me, read me now! I love the synchronicity of reading the right book at the right time. This is how I experienced, Kate Foster’s latest novel, The Bravest Word, at time when life needed a little more explaining and the soul a little extra massaging. Without getting over personal or dwelling on the genesis of this story or Foster’s motivation for writing this book, The Bravest Word , is honest and raw and incredibly uncomplicated in its complexity. Matt is an only child with the world at his eleven-year-old feet. He is on the cusp of football legendary-stardom and the start of secondary school. He has loving parents and buddies who always have his back yet for reasons unknown to him, mystifying and confusing, h...

Author in the Wild For those who believe authors working from home maintain a lifestyle of bottomless coffees, frequent contemplative sojourns to the garden to bath in soft sunshine and commune with one’s muse and enjoy uninterrupted hours of serene creative satisfaction, think again. Ridiculously full weekends mean my garden, like many of my manuscripts, is sorely in need of a hard prune-back. My muse is trapped in the untamed growth. There’s a saying Border collie owners like myself live by: silence is golden unless you own a border collie, then silence is stomach ulcer-forming. I have three – dogs – who knows how many ulcers. I have not experienced true serenity for nearly 20 years. My coffee mugs all have bottoms and I have to fill them myself.   That said it’s a short commute to work so I’m not complaining. In fact, I have had zero time to think in a straight line let alone whinge about the kinks. Here’s why. February: lull before the perfect storm, thought I might actuall...

This strange moving tale is a poignant ode to fidelity and the simplicity of true friendship. Its appeal relies on powerfully defined characters, the main one being a tiny man in lieu of a child which means adults sharing this story with younger readers will enjoy its relatability as much as children. The tiny man is a petite loner who is unspeakably lonely. His solitude is treated with distain and intolerance by other people. Even mean-hearted dogs growl at him. He has no one and thus feels like no one. Others' inexplicable acts of indifference and cruelty bewilder and sadden him; he is a kind man after all and wants nothing more than a friend. So one day, he advertises for one via a note pinned to a tree. Then he waits. And waits. And waits. Finally a friend arrives but they are not who he expects.  This new companion has a cold nose and a delightful sense of play. His appetite is voracious and he is quick to take advantage of the tiny man's hospitality and warm bedroom yet a...

Deep in a wooded land live a family united by love but also by the burden of anxiety. Then one day, a very shaky box deposits Cookie, who transforms them. Even as Mental Health Awareness month winds to a close, books like, Cookie remind us all of the mental anguish young people may experience at any time of their lives. For some, it may never cease, for others, finding solace in a soul like, Cookie is an indescribable source of comfort and hope. It is little secret I adore Border collies, having accrued a few myself. Border collie puppies are sweeter than candy and better than sunshine for brightening ones mood and making things better, so what better character than, Cookie, a charming black and white pup, to tell the story of his relationship with Girl.   Once Cookie settles into Girl’s family, Cookie learns to love Girl without restraint. Together they find the yummiest smells and discover the chewiest chewy things. Play time is fun time but Cookie appreciates cuddle snugg...

This book had me at its title, Paws : simple and unambiguous with a huge promise of something cleverly canine exciting the dog lover in me. Having woofed this middle grade fiction down faster than my dog can empty a bowl of kibble, I wonder though if author, Kate Foster had other implications in mind when naming her latest book; we authors are fond of layered meanings and wondrous wordplay after all. For me Paws is a story about self-identity and recognition, of ‘pausing’ for thought not just to give ourselves more time to process a particular situation or emotion but also to appreciate another’s; so much easier to write than do especially if you are 11-year-old Alex Freeman dealing with autism.   Alex’s most pressing life goal is to secure a true and proper friendship before he is obliged to set sail on the unnavigable social ocean of high school. He believes his best chances lie in winning a coveted PAWS Dog Show trophy so spends his mornings and afternoons training his const...

I have a dozen or so brilliant books stacked up awaiting words of adoration but this one rose to the top like jersey cream on a fresh pail of milk. Simply glorious. And with its timely release just months before the-Christmas-we-really-all-need this year, A Dog’s Perfect Christmas is, well…the perfect Christmas gift. A Dog’s Perfect Christmas , a novella of sorts by A Dog’s Purpose collection best-selling creator, W Bruce Cameron does not disappoint. This narrative departs from Cameron’s usual delivery from a dog’s point of view relying instead on a delightful collection of third person points of view, including the dogs’. This equates to a novel rich with emotional connection and bristling with exuberance, warmth, humor, tenderness and abject dread, rather like a dog visiting the vet’s. The swings from fraught school yard cliques to boardroom ballsups to doggie destruction are smooth and bright leaving us fully invested with the whole the family. Kind-hearted, Hunter Goss is ...

Change, albeit intense or imperceptible, is a part of the whole life deal. I think kids are in an interesting position, one full of challenges that promote a constant need for discussion. Thankfully, our bookshops are saturated with children’s titles promoting awareness, kindness, and global supplications for hope. Today, I want to visit a place in kids lit just as important but a little lighter. A place populated by…dogs. You either love ‘em or want to wipe the floor with them… on behalf of your cat, but whatever your persuasion, there is no denying animals, pets and in particular, dogs score high on the love-o-meter with kids. Dogs, whether in anthropomorphic roles or as themselves, relay stories with warmth and humour that is especially appealing for youngsters because they often draw no differences between themselves and their pets. It’s important to take advantage of this golden period of acceptance through story-telling to better instil understanding and caring in kids. Plus, h...