The environment and children’s literature are two things I care about passionately, so I was absolutely thrilled last Tuesday night when, at a lovely event at the Melbourne’s Little Bookroom, Rescue on Nim’s Island was awarded the Widlerness Society’s Environment Award for Children’s Literature (fiction) – and the inaugural Puggles (children’s choice) award as well!
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| The Little Bookroom, photo by Elise Jones |
When I first wrote Nim’s Island, I didn’t set out to make Nim a wildlife warrior. She just ended up one because if you live in a pristine natural environment, you have to care about keeping it pure. If you have a friend who’s a sea turtle, you care about whether she and her babies will survive. If you live on a small island, you know that every part of the island works together, and if you damage any part of it, it will damage the whole. We live on a big island in Australia, and other continents are bigger still, but the principle is the same.
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| Hollyburn School, Vancouver, using Nim as an environmental hero, 2008 |
But the good news is that every good thing you do for the environment can have big effects too – and it’s important to remember that we need to start with what’s right around us. You can sign a heap of petitions to save whales, but if you plant the rushes that indigenous butterflies breed in, you can help to save a species in your own garden.
And that’s really what Nim does. You don’t have to be quite as dramatic as she is – it’s probably best not to look for dynamite to defuse, but I guarantee that you can make a difference. If you read the books on this list, you might find surprising ways to do it. I'm reading one of the shortlist right now: The Vanishing Frogs of Cascade Creek, by Emma Homes, and I'm learning lots!
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| With illustrator Geoff Kelly, photo by Coral Vass |
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| With author Emma Homes |
Check out the Wilderness Society’s blog http://www.eacl.org.au/congratulations-2015-environment-award-for-childrens-literature-winners/
for the whole list and more pictures of the great evening, hosted by the lovely Leesa Lambert, with an inspiring keynote speech by Morris Gleitzman. And a special thanks to Coral Vass for allowing me to use her photographs.
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| Meeting Rescue on Nim's Island illustrator Geoff Kelly for the first time, photo by Coral Vass |
0 Comments on The award Nim would be most proud of as of 8/1/2015 6:13:00 AM
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I'm confused.
I assume you transferred at some point?
Is that you in the pink up front?
COLLEGE already? Oh my. How exciting.
Uh-oh, I've been called out by my fellow William and Mary graduate, Anne Marie! And yes, I transferred to William and Mary for my junior and senior years. Changed majors, changed lives, got married, all sorts of life stuff.
That's a big event--taking your child to college. Wow. Congrats to y'all!
How funny, Sara!! :-)
I miss those days... I wonder sometimes how I even graduated with all of the fun right there in front of me.
Are you the guy front-right with the moustache?
Or maybe that scary shadow thing with glowing eyes back-left?
Oh, good eyes, eisha! I'll bet you rock at Where's Waldo too. ;)
You just don't look old enough to be taking your child to college?
I don't FEEL old enough to have a child in college, but there it is. :)
No, really... What is that scary shadow-thing with the glowing eyes???
I think only you can see it, eisha...
No, really, that's my friend, Jack. He was actually a very gentle giant.
And to end the nail-biting suspense, jules is right. That's me, in the oh-so-vibrant pink. What you can't see is that I have a coral-colored, glittery bead glued into my belly button. And I hand sewed those sequins on my shirt and pants. And the little bells on my gold slippers. (Can't see those either, but I swear it's true.)
My Pappy said "Son you're gonna drive me to drinkin' if you don't stop reading that science fiction!" I'm glad to see you encouraging your daughter to become One Of Us.
Signed,
Front row, third from the right
Well, hello there, Danny! Those were the days, weren't they?
We lived so many different places after my time at UNC that I never would have imagined that my daughter would wind up there. But she loves it. And she's taking physics, too!
Better tell her to toss in a little Art History to balance out that physics. I didn't, and, well, you can imagine what's become of me.
Dan (since I turned 30)
>> The Interrociter said...
>> well, you can imagine what's
>> become of me.
Those of us who see Dan regularly know, and trust me Sara, it's scary.
I decided to gradually go bald instead of taking Dan's graying hair route. And since I saved up my middle-age man paunch (and then some) in my twenties, it's not as obvious on me as it is on the other men of the old gang....
I saw you with hubby and daughter at NCSSM open house some years ago. But by the time I parked my son at the lunch table, you had already fled. So here's a belated, "Hi!".
Jack (now in Johnson City, TN) and Eugene, send their best.
Chuck
I can't believe we missed each other like that!! Maybe you'll see my daughter on campus one day...if so, say hi, because she DOES know who Chuck is, because some of those stories were just too good not to share... :)