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The blog tour for Do Not Forget Australia continues, and today I'm delighted to be visiting Dale Hacrombe's blog and talking about characters. Dale has also posted a lovely review of the book. Do stop by and stay hello. There is a copy of Do Not Forget Australia to be be won!

Welcome back. If you weren't here yesterday, then you may not know that, in the tradition of all good end of year programming, I'm running some reruns. Specifically, for eleven days, I am rerunning my blog tour for Snowy's Christmas. Yesterday, I took you back to week one of last year's tour. Today, then, we revisit week two - and head over to Dale Harcombe's review of  Snowy's Christmas. Enjoy

Today is the second Sunday in my eleven-Sunday blog tour. Today’s stop is at Write and Read With Dale where Dale Harcombe has some lovely things to say about Snowy’s Christmas.In part she says: “This is a cute Christmas picture book with a positive message,” going on to say ” It’s lovely to see an Aussie Christmas book that reflects the wildlife, colour and landscape of Australia.” To see the

The Goanna Island Mystery
written by Dale Harcombe, illustrated by Dillon Naylor, published by Aussie School Books Pty Ltd 2008

Synopsis:
Across the sandbar from the mainland lies Goanna Island. Legend has it that the ghost of a pirate haunts this tiny island. But Leo, new boy to the area, doesn’t really believe in ghosts, that is, until he is challenged by Mark, the local school bully, to visit the place alone. A pale face peering at him from a window of the old house with a tin roof, piques Leo’s curiosity. The bully is forgotten as Leo musters all his cunning and courage to uncover the truth of the mystery of the island - and the even more important truth that the Marks of his world have forever lost their power over him.

Good Morning Dale!
Welcome to this third stopover on your blog tour of ‘The Goanna Island Mystery’
Thank you Mabel, I am delighted to be here.

When I read 'The Goanna Island Mystery' it occurred to me themes play an important role in holding a story together … so today I'd like to focus on the themes that filter through your stories. But let me begin with the more general question: How would you describe a theme and what role do themes play in a story.

Dale: The theme is the underlying idea behind the book.

Tell me about the themes in 'The Goanna Island Mystery'.

Dale: There are several themes in 'The Goanna Island Mystery'. One of them was fear and overcoming fear. One is bullying and the loneliness some kids feel without friends or because of changed family circumstances. Another is dealing with loss.

For you, is the choice of theme/s apparent from the moment you begin to think about the story or do theme emerge from the writing process itself.

Dale: I don't know that I'd thought about the themes when I started to write the story. Sometimes they only become apparent afterwards or as the story unfolds and I see where it takes me.

You have written a number of books. To what extent can you identify recurring themes that run through much of your writing?

Dale: As I think about what I've written, both published and unpublished to this point, I think I tend to see the recurring themes of the child or adult who doesn't fit in - or is a bit different in some way. I find I tend to use creative people like artists and musicians etc a lot in my work , perhaps for that reason. Dealing with loss comes in quite a bit and also dealing with fear is another theme as it is something we all have in various forms whether that fear is of the water, the unknown as in 'The Goanna Island Mystery', of spiders and things that creep and crawl as in 'Red Alert'! or fear of rejection and ridicule.

Mm! I noted Ebenezer who becomes a kind of mentor or substitute parent to Leo (your main character) is an artist. Describe, if you can, an ‘aha’ moment you've experienced as you reread a published book and uncovered a theme OR had a reader/reviewer reveal something you had not previously noticed was there.

Dale: In 'Pick Me', a story I wrote that was published in School Magazine, a fellow writer commented on how clever and appropriate the name of the character was because all his life the boy wanted a dog. But then he had to find exactly the right one. The boy’s name was Hunter. I didn't think about it as wrote it. Only that it felt like the right name. In ‘The Goanna Island Mystery’ Leo was the perfect name for brave boy overcoming his fear. It brings images of Leo the lion. And lions are strong and the kings of the jungle. Of course, knowing me, I probably also had images of the courage of Leo who took the pack mark and helped Sydney Swans win the 2005 Grand final as well.

Is there a question you wished I’d asked but didn’t?

Dale: Can't think of one, Mabel, Thanks for asking the questions you did. It made me think about some things I hadn't thought about before - like theme.

How lovely. Two nice blogger colleagues have given Aussiereviews a mention in the past two days. First, a writer friend alerted me that Judith Ridge had included my site in a list of recommended review sites in her Misrule blog. High praise indeed from someone like Judith who is so knowledgeable and passionate about children’s literature. Then, a Google alert alerted me to a mention in another

“We’re really super happy today ’cause we gots a big announcement. Acey-san and Z-bot helped us a lot when those mean Halloween monsters attacked, and so we decided that Gamepowa should be part of our site all official and stuff!”

“And so I said that Acey and Z-bot should have their own character pages like us so Talitha made one for them! It’s Acey and Z-bot of the Starship Hana!“

“Welcome to the Goofy Bird show, Space girl! Good to have you guys orbiting the planet checking out all the coolest game tech, even if I can’t understand what Z-bot is talking about half the time.”

“Heh.”

“We’re honored to be a part of the best site on the web, game fans! Z-bot and I will do our best to make the Gamepowa category rock! A big salute from the crew of the Hana!”

“Check out the Gamepowa Store too. That’s where Acey and Z-bot put all of the great games they review. They’ve got over 300 games in the store now.”

“That’s affirmative.”

“Sugoi sugoi sugoi!”

“Our store has all the best games too!”

“Yay for Gamepowa! Go read all their neat articles, minna-san! All of Acey-san and Z-bot’s articles are in the Gamepowa Category that Talitha-chan set up. Have fun!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what about the most important thing?”

“Oh yeah! Girls play video games too!”

“Booya! OUT!”

“Z-bot to Hana. Standing by to transmit multi-part message. Come in.”

“Hana, Acey here. Go.”

“We have multiple contacts with five-star rated games. Single-transmission data bandwidth at capacity. First contact is designated Hannah Montana for the Nintendo DS

“That’s affirmative Z-bot. Hana onboard game coolness computer banks confirm your analysis. Standing by for metrics.”

“Gamezone has Official Game Release News, IGN has a preview, To The Game has screens and Game Facts, and we have detected some Hints, Questions and Answers on Cheatmasters.”

“Outstanding, Z-bot. Metrics recorded.”

“Alert. Large Hannah Montana concert audience approaching.”

“Take evasive action. I’m putting the Hana in a lower orbit. Will rendezvous at Point Zeta for secondary transmission. Gamepowa out.”

“Z-bot to Hana. This is a Gamepowa Video Alert. Transmitting now.”

“Outstanding, Z-bot. Continue sensor sweeps. Hana out.”

“Report.”

“Pastel color wavelength modifications to primary electromagnetic sensor array have detected a new contact designated Barbie: 12 Dancing Princesses. Standing by with telemetry.”

“Go.”

“Official Site has been located and verified. IGN has published a review, and there are customer reviews available at Amazon.com.”

“Any heavily armed spaceships in the game?”

“Negative.”

“Energy weapon emplacements?”

“Negative.”

“Evil slavering scaly alien bugs from beyond the void?”

“Negative, Commander. However, the Gamepowa Store is stocking Barbie: 12 Dancing Princesses as a 5-star game.”

“Outstanding. If it’s a top-rated game, it’s a Powa game. If you’ve played Barbie: 12 Dancing Princesses be sure to add your reviews! Acey out.”

“Acey gots a.. huh?”

zzzzzzz….

“Where did everybody go, Hikousen?”

mwrowr?… zzzzzzz….

“My timepiece…. Hikousen, my timepiece is glowing. Something enchanted is around here. Umm.. I’m supposed to do an update so ummm… there’s a video on Acey’s site about Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party but I gotta go find Alanna ’cause something’s not right. Ummm.. bye.”

zzzzzzz….

“Acey gots an update!”

“We should get her a little hat that says ‘Acey gots an update’”

“Heheeee… ooh! It’s a dancing game! I love dancing games!”

“Let’s get over to the Powa!”