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STICKY - the lolly shop at the Rocks was twirling spun sugar while fairies  flapped their wings & BIG fairies author Sue Whiting & illustrator Sarah Davis were dancing around to celebrate their brilliant new picture book -Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Sugar plums at launch of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

 Narrated by Antonia Kidman

- read the book - listen to the CD - & discover the music of  Tchaikovsky

It was great fun and lots of other kids authors came along to celebrate like Jeni Mawter, Sue Murray, Chris Cheng, Jenny Hale.

Published by New Frontier - www.newfrontier.com.au

There are times when that oasis of time before sleep provides the perfect space for gentle reflection on what might have gone slightly differently during the day: for example, a moment of selfishness or irrationality. Stories which pinpoint these emotions for young children are found in the series of Zen Tails by Peter Whitfield and illustrated by Nancy Bevington (New Frontier Publishing). I was fortunate enough to meet Peter at the Bologna Book Fair, when he introduced me to the books: and I have to say, I was captivated by them then and continue to be so. Each story is a beautifully tuned fable which gets its message across without preaching – but the moral is made clear at the end, alongside the traditional Zen story it is based on. This format allows the stories to resonate deeper, providing further food for reflection. Indeed, I would say that Peter, himself a lecturer in philosophy, has recognised that children can take the pill of the spelt out message along with the sugar of the parable.

At present there are four stories in the series, Bruno Dreams of Ice Cream, Up and Down, No Presents Please and Are You Sure? The books have their own website, where you can find e-versions of the books and meet the characters – who all have witty names like Shelly the Tortoise and Grizzel, a (grumpy) bear. Wise characters come in such guises as Guru Walter Wombat (this is an Australian series, after all) and Saint Bernard (a dog). You can watch Peter introducing the characters and the rationale behind them here. Children will identify with them and with the situations in the stories; and the illustrations are also engaging, with unobtrusive but again witty details. There’s something in there for the grownups too, like the titles of Gilbert B. Beaver’s books.

These stories are very much grounded in the Zen tradition and follow Buddhist principles – so, for example, Grizzel comes to his senses when he realises that he has stomped on a daisy (and I have discovered that, as in the illustration, Australian daisies are yellow…). However, these stories are relevant to all children, no matter what their religious background. They would work well in school (and there are resources on the website), as well as being just right for a special bedtime story.

In a decade or two people may set foot on Mars, though there are many technical obstacles to solve first. Actually the title is a trick question, because humans have already been to the Red Planet many times with the help of orbiters, landers, and robotic rovers. My husband Andrew Schuerger and I were inspired to create Messages From Mars by the many scientific discoveries and fantastic photographs taken in the past few years. We sent an international group of kids and a hoverbot on their way… to make their trip quicker and easier, the book is set a hundred years in the future. To see a live preview of the entire book, click on the cover below:
To see a larger version, click on the orange eyeballs.
Note to authors: For info about how to embed book previews in a blog or web site, please see the end of this post.

There was so much great information we wanted to include that the book kept getting longer and more detailed. After a few debates with the publisher, we finally came to a compromise—instead of the usual 32 pages in most picture books, it has 40 pages. For reviews, Mars trivia, and activities, please see my web site.

The lucky students who have won a trip to Mars learn many amazing facts about the planet on the way. For example, it has the largest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons. They touch down to visit the historic sites of the Viking, Pathfinder, and the Spirit/Opportunity missions. Along the way they send emails home to share what they’re seeing. Readers who are familiar with my Postcards From Pluto: A Tour of the Solar System may recall its similar approach.


As you can see, the artwork consists of real photographs taken on the surface of Mars, with the characters drawn on top. Andy searched through many NASA, JPL, and ESA (European Space Agency) web sites to find great images to use as settings. There's a list of those web sites at the end of the book. One site that is not listed in the book gives updates about the still-working Spirit and Opportunity rovers. Another fun one is Rock Around the World, which invites kids to mail in rocks to be analyzed using a tool similar to one on the rovers. How cool is that?

By the way, the photographs we used have already been paid for by all of us (the tax-payers, that is) and are generally free for use with proper credit, as detailed in the NASA/JPL image use policy.

Not incidentally, Andy is a scientist who does quite a bit of Mars-related research in his Mars simulation chamber. The chamber is like having a little piece of the Red Planet right inside his lab, which is located at the Kennedy Space Center. In creating this book, it naturally helped tremendously that he is so familiar with the material and knows what he is looking at in the photographs. We ran across several mislabeled images in other books, such as a photograph of Venus mistakenly included in a book about Mars.

An obvious yet often overlooked point is that the facts in nonfiction books should be carefully checked and double-checked. Mistakes can happen in a number of ways… photographs can be difficult to interpret… it’s easy to assume too much… and writers often introduce subtle (or big) mistakes when rewording something. Beware of relying too heavily only on other published books or the Internet. Some sites are very reliable, of course, such as NASA’s. Unless one is very well-informed about a topic, it’s a good idea to enlist an expert to look the project over, if at all possible. Many specialists are happy to help because they want accurate info in circulation about their favorite subject. We showed Messages From Mars to two space scientists to ensure no glitches had crept in.

Speaking of the 4th rock from the sun, did you know another lander is on its way to Mars right now? The Phoenix is scheduled to land in about three months from now, on May 25, 2008. Its mission is to study the soil and ice near the north polar ice cap to find out if the area was ever hospitable to life. While not a rover, it has a built-in camera and weather station as well as microscopes, a gas analyzer and a digging arm to go down as far as one meter. For the latest news on its progress, check here.


Photo credit: Andrew Schuerger
Andy played a part in making the Phoenix photographs as accurate as possible. When it lands, Phoenix will take a picture of special colored “targets” that were photographed on Earth prior to launch. This will allow scientists to match the targets and thus get accurate colors in the Martian landscape images. But the targets need a special treatment to artificially age them before they go to Mars, because its harsh UV environment would change their color. So Andy placed the targets in his simulation chamber and zapped them to stabilize their color. Soon, the targets will be on the surface of Mars! If only we could go, too…



Note to authors: How to embed a “minibook”
Any picture book available on the Lookybook site may be put on a web site or blog by anyone, not just its author and/or illustrator. Assuming a book is available (if not, ask your publisher about it), search by title or author and go to the book’s page. There will be a row of buttons under it, including Embed this Book. Doubleclick on the button, copy the code, then in Blogger’s Posting window click on Edit Html and paste the code into your post. That's it! (You have to go to Preview mode to actually see anything, it won't show in Compose mode.) A similar process should work with the various web site and blog programs. What will appear on your blog or web site is a minibook—the larger version can be viewed on the Lookybook site. I have no association with them, just love the idea that readers can see my backlist titles, even if a bookstore doesn't have a copy available for them to page through.

The Myth of Mars and Venus: Do men and women really speak different languages? by Deborah Cameron, Rupert Murdoch Professor of Language and Communication at Oxford University, argues that gender needs to be viewed in more complex ways than the prevailing myths and stereotypes allow. In the article below Cameron looks at historical stereotypes of female orators and reflects on Hillary Clinton’s primary run.

After Hillary Clinton lost to Barack Obama in Iowa, the London Times columnist David Aaronovitch suggested that part of Mrs. Clinton’s problem might lie in our contradictory attitudes to women’s public speech. If their style is assertive they are labeled “shrill” and “strident”; if it is softer and more conciliatory, that casts doubt on their ability to lead. However she speaks, it seems a woman cannot win. (more…)

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