Not the last Gasp

So much later...

A belly laugh is good and I’ve just had one.

‘Over a year?’ I asked myself. ‘A YEAR!’ Hah-hah-belly-laugh-hah.

Mortifying, really, to have been out of touch for so long. I’m now 80 but I won’t allow that to be an excuse for anything. Age is not disease, nor has it rendered me incompetent. It’s just that your bone-idle, ancient author has been so busy and occasionally having such a good time she’d almost forgotten the existence of a wider, very kind public. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

Where did that time go? I’m aghast. I do find comfort in the realisation that almost no one reads websites so it’s unlikely I’ve been missed. Humbling, to say the least.

It would be ridiculous to cover everything that’s happened in the interim. If I forget to mention some special event that you and I were at together, forgive me. There have been many, each of which has been buzzy, invigorating and uplifting.

Let’s begin...

Where is the Green Sheep? has brought pleasure to millions over the last 23 years and I’m happy to say it continues to delight anyone who comes across it for the first time, although after several hundred repetitions of it, parents may sigh and wish it had never been written.

Where is the Green Sheep? made my family and me wild with delight when we saw the hysterical play of the book at its launch in the Sydney Opera House last November (2025).

Judy Horacek, who sat with us, had had a huge input into the production. She’s a multi-talented cartoonist so the production was a wildly funny depiction of her illustrations. I can safely say it was the best children’s theatre I’ve ever seen. The whole audience, of every age, was howling with laughter. Marvellous! Jenny Darling, my friend and agent, and also Judy’s, was also sitting with us. The book is dedicated to Jenny, so it was a family event in more ways than one. The production has been booked in over 58 venues across the country over the next few years. I’ll be seeing it again in Adelaide in January 2027. Here’s the schedule: https://www.monkeybaa.com.au/shows/where-is-the-green-sheep

And here are a couple of pics:

Where is the Green Sheep? A Monkey Baa Theatre Company and QPAC’s Out of the Box Festival co-production. Based on the book by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek. Written for the stage and directed by Eva Di Cesare. Photo by Robert Catto.

Where is the Green Sheep? A Monkey Baa Theatre Company and QPAC’s Out of the Box Festival co-production. Based on the book by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek. Written for the stage and directed by Eva Di Cesare. Photo by Robert Catto.

Where is the Green Sheep? A Monkey Baa Theatre Company and QPAC’s Out of the Box Festival co-production. Based on the book by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek. Written for the stage and directed by Eva Di Cesare. Photo by Robert Catto.

Over my lifetime, but in particular over the last twelve months, I hope I’ve inspired many more children to read for pleasure, and to understand the world a little better through the words I’ve written and the schools I’ve visited.

For example, in May 2026, I was at a small school in country South Australia, under the auspices of the Premier’s Reading Challenge. The entire school and I were packed into one big room, little ones almost sitting on my feet, a few lucky kids on chairs, and older children and their teachers holding up the walls.

I read Koala Lou and explained its genesis: how I’d had two younger sisters and would often wonder if I were still important to my parents, especially to my mother. I reassured the children that no matter what, my mum still loved me dearly, even when she was so busy with the other two she hardly had time to breathe.

At the end of the session, an anxious-looking seven-year-old waited to speak to me.

‘I have a little sister,’ she said.

‘You do?’ I said.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘She’s autistic.’ (I could see where this was going.)

‘So,’ I said, ‘your mum’s really busy, isn’t she? And you’re wondering sometimes if she has time for you in her heart?’

The child looked stricken. ‘Yes,’ she whispered.

‘Well, let me tell you. Your mum really loves you. She does. It’s just that life’s a bit hectic for her at the moment. All right?’

‘OK,’ she said, and smiled.

A moving last moment.

Here I am at my 80th (looking 90), with my Premier’s Reading Challenge pals from the SA Education Department: Julia Baldwin, Mark Williams, and Alle Goldsworthy.

Alle set the whole thing up 23 years ago and deserves a gold medal. We travelled together to many schools in Adelaide and also to the east, south, north and west of the state, often by plane to the furthest places. Such happy memories. (One little boy, bursting to ask a question, wanted to know where I had bought my earrings. His poor teacher looked as if she wanted to die.)

It was my final visit to schools with the PRC. I had been the first ambassador, at the invitation of the then SA premier, the Hon. Mike Rann.  I’ve now retired. I’ve absolutely loved my 23 years volunteering as a reading ambassador.  I could have carried on with a certain amount of verve and passion, but it’s tiring. There comes a time, and the time is now.

I loved turning 80. My birthday’s in March so it was a hot day, but I could have done it all over again the following week. In a nod to my darling dad, Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, whose name I used as the title of my second book, my birthday celebration (more of a cocktail party) was at Partridge House in Partridge Street in nearby Glenelg. I had, of course, been Miss Partridge myself, before I was Ms Fox.

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, the book, is about memories and an old lady. It seemed appropriate to read it as part of my short 80th birthday speech, so I did.

Friends and family came from across the world, across the country, across the state, and from almost next door. It was joyful and funny.

These two, Lyn Wilkinson and Rick Hosking, are much loved ex-colleagues and friends from Flinders University. I stole Rick’s last name for one of the characters in Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge.

I’ve been attending my Monday fitness class weekly for 33 years, so my lovely classmates got together and spoke a wonderful poem, full of in-jokes, as you’d imagine. I’m still alive and fit thanks to that class. Our instructor for the first 30 years  was Catherine Doyle in the blue dress.

And then Anne took over. I credit my fitness teachers with keep an old asthmatic alive and fit for so long. Here’s Anne with two of my fitness mates, Phil and Richard.

My own adored students from 1973-’75 at Sturt Teachers College (now Flinders University) performed a fantastic song and dance act based on a song from Auntie Mame. Mame became Mem. Brilliant! They’re grandparents themselves, now. That’s how old 80 is.  Here we all are:

Lindsay Glaister, Don Bull , Jackie Nelson, me, Fiona Wald, Andrew Wald, Harry Dewar and Paul Carter.

In October last year (2025) I went to two marvellously divergent writing festivals, one in Melbourne and the other in Perth, a week later. Each focussed in different ways on children’s fiction, popular fiction and self-publishing, which was new to me as a literary reader. I’ve  been published only by mainstream publishing companies: Penguin and Scholastic. So, I was way out of my zone, although I was doing my usual thing by request, on how to write for young children. I found it new and sort of edgy to be exposed to such a different literary world. Fascinating. Divine people at both.

Tess Woods instigated the Festival of Fiction in Perth and runs it annually with a bevy of exhausted volunteers. I loved it so much last year I invited myself back this year,  Nov 21st and 22nd. Come and say hello! Tess is an author in her own right, highly successful (her latest book is The Cairo Bridal Shop, which I loved), and one of the most dynamic women I’ve ever met. And so kind. I had said no presents for my birthday as I’m a  ruthless de-clutterer, but Tess gave me 80 iced biscuits arranged in upright rows in a gorgeous box, with a Mem Fox  book cover on each one. Brilliant. Just amazing.

My daughter and my editor, Allyn Johnston, tied them one by one in little gauze bags as party favours for my guests. Jokes were made about selling them on eBay for vast prices.

One of my friends, Helena Nilsson, foolishly showed her ONE biscuit to her grandchildren, Luca and Rosa.

You can see why being 80 is so great.

But the story continues... in April I signed a contract with Scholastic for a brand-new book. I was in a state of ecstasy as I signed. Luckily, my highly focussed  agent, and good friend Jenny Darling, was there to make sure everything was in order.

I was thrilled and honestly surprised to realise I could still write at 80. I thought I’d finished with writing, lost the talent, fallen out of the groove, and moved on. But no. That’s the benefit of napping. You wake up with a new story in your head for zero to four-year-olds! Who? Who? The Kangaroo? It’s wildly repetitive, rhyming of course, and madly rhythmic: all the usual Mem Fox elements.  It may take less than minute to read (I haven’t timed it yet) so it should be popular with parents, although they may be required to read it a million times and come to regret their purchase. The Australian illustrator, still secret until his contract is signed, is very excited about it. You’ll know his work. He’s famous. Publication is promised for Christmas 2027.

You may have noticed that I never mention my own family. It’s true. And deliberate. We value our privacy. But rest assured, they’re there, always present, always supportive, always funny, always in my face.

And now , finally, let me tell you about a one of the major highlights of my entire life on May 21st this year (2026). My Lord what an evening!

It was the occasion of the annual Australian Book Industry Awards night, known as the ABIA awards.

Everyone is there to acknowledge the best small publisher, best crime publisher, best overall publisher, best new writer for young children, best bookshop, best non-fiction book, best book, you name it.

Here I am with Belinda Collins and Bec Diep, my publicist, from Penguin RandomHouse.

My award, cherished beyond measure, was one of the last presented that evening: the Llyod O’Neil Award for Lifetime Services to the Australian Publishing Industry. My speech had taken weeks to write: a limit of five minutes, a nightmare of brevity. I was introduced hilariously by my American editor AJ (Allyn Johnston) and was about to speak when the entire room got to its feet. A standing ovation! Before I’d had time to say a word! I mean. Put yourself there. It was wild. Stupefying. So kind. It took a moment to take it all in. The honour of it. Here I am afterwards, holding the award, showing off.

And here I am with the other two members of Team Magic, as we laughingly call ourselves: Jenny Darling, my agent, me, and Allyn Johnston, my American editor.  AJ came to Australia August, March and May to work with Simon and Schuster in Australia and to attend a publishers’  conference in Melbourne. It was a treat to have had her visit me for a few days each time. Work was done...

Look, I’m a dedicated family person. I’m a gardener. I’m a friend. I’m a tidy, efficient, de-cluttering housewife. I’m a reader. I’m a podcast fan. I’m a good cook and a good cleaner. I love Netflix and games on my iPad. I love ABC radio, RN in particular. Occasionally, amazingly, I’m also a writer. So you’ll understand how extraordinary it felt that night to be applauded only as a writer. So that’s who I was! And that’s who I am. Wow.

To finish, a great poster from a teachers’ union demo in Melbourne, earlier this year.

Thank you for your heart-warming support over my writing life-time.

And yes, I promise to write more than once a year in any years I have left.

Mem Fox xxx
Adelaide, mid-late 2026

Checking the pulse

Hello out there!

The pulse is good: 60 beats a minute, resting. After such a long break I thought I’d share that detail in case you’d assumed my pulse had ceased altogether and I’d taken up residence in the Great Library in the Sky. Not so fast.

The big news is that the play of Where is the Green Sheep? opens in Brisbane on June 17th. Judy Horacek, the magical illustrator, has worked closely with Monkey Baa Theatre Company to make sure the play stays true to the look of the book. The play is appearing in 58 venues around the country with 40 more on the waiting list. Thrilling! I’m going to see it myself in the Sydney Opera House on December 11th.  I’ve seen a few photos, and it looks divine! Here’s the photo of the sun sheep page.

I keep journal intermittently. A week ago I realised for no particular reason, how happy I was, a magnificent feeling, so I recorded it in my journal with the usual royal blue ink in my usual Waterman fountain pen. We never know when things are going change. Best to record the fact of happiness, I thought, before it wriggles out of sight.

Happiness in mid-2025 could be seen as a cruelty to those in Gaza, Ukraine, war-torn countries in Africa, and highly stressed or disadvantaged populations in countries where their leaders should know better. But I’m not writing a rant. I could. But I won’t. Best to avoid tears, and to concentrate on matters nearer home.

What’s happened since my distant entry in October last year? Yes, yes, I’m mortified by the gap and I’m sorry, but life takes over. I write a lot of presentations. Each one takes two or three weeks to prepare so there’s not a lot of time to play elsewhere.  Then I give those speeches to a variety of organisations.

I gave a talk recently at the Fleurieu Festival (in my state) on the importance of rhythmic language in children’s books, and how to learn that sense of rhythm. A woman told me afterwards she’d learnt more in that hour than she had in the many writing courses shed been to. I loved her enthusiasm and was so grateful for it I felt like hugging her, but you can’t go round randomly hugging people these days.

I love my family and play a huge role in each of their lives. I also read and garden. I also have coffee with friends and talk politics and books and Netflix series. I also visit a number of schools under the auspices of the South Australian Premier’s Reading Challenge. I also write from time to time. Are those enough ‘also’ excuses for not keeping this website up to date? Please say yes. I have no others.

I mentioned reading. I keep a book diary, titles and authors only, and a three-star system. If I don’t record the titles I’ve read I don’t remember them. Here are a few (the list would be too long otherwise) of the three-star titles I’ve read recently:  The Time of the Child by Niall Williams; The Vegetarian by Han Kang; Vanity Fair by William Thackeray (nineteenth century novels never fail); Ten Minutes and 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak;  The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto; My Friends by Hisham Matar; Guilty by Definition, by Susie Dent; Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley; and When the Cranes Fly South by Lisa Ridzén.

I mentioned school visits. I try to go to schools that are sort of out of reach, that are far from Adelaide, schools that would otherwise never have an author visit. Not all are disadvantaged, although I do love going to those, on the off chance my visit might change a life here and there. (It’s my missionary-parents coming out in me. You can take the girl out of the mission, but you can’t take the mission out of the girl. ‘Girl’ is pretty funny, considering my age.) Here are some photos from schools I’ve visited this year. Hats off to the teachers whose ingenuity, dedication and creativity know no bounds. Here are a few photos form those school visits:

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The most avid reader in Mt Gambier

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Reidy Primary School Mt Gambier

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Final Photo from Reidy Park Primary

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Sean Hill and me

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Bec Pawson and me

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1973 class and me in 2025

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Fans galore!

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A devoted fan

One of the highlights of visiting schools is meeting former teacher education students, some of whom are now principals. They bring me ‘treasured’ assignments I might have marked 30 years ago, letters I’ve written them, stories of praise I gave them, such as when one student had written: ‘My heart beat backwards’, and I had said it was brilliant. I still think it’s brilliant. And at another school one morning, a teacher told me she ‘channels Mem’ whenever she’s wondering how to teach something new. It's delightful. There are even those whom I failed the first time, who seem grateful to have had the chance to repeat the course and pass. Good grief!  Several of my adored 1973 students took me out to lunch week (see the photo above).

I loved teaching. I retired at the age of 50 in 1996 only when having two simultaneous full-blown careers became untenable. The choice wasn’t difficult even though I wept three times in my final class: once you’re a writer you are, unavoidably, always a writer, thanks to the business side of things, the endless admin, the correspondence, and all the marketing and other hoohah. I don’t regret the choice. Writing picture books has brought me great joy for many reasons. The only thing I ‘m not madly keen on is the writing itself. The rhythm of words! Aaargh. When the first real copy, with very few words, arrives on our kitchen table, years after the first draft, it seems miraculous: ‘I wrote that?’ A big shout out to the illustrators of the stories I write. Without them, would my books have ever seen the light of day? Guess… 

I’m speaking at three more major events in Perth, Melbourne and Paskeville (in SA) this year in case you’re interested or close by. I haven’t mentioned Devonport, Tasmania, but that remains a possibility towards the end of the year, all details to come.

All the best in the meantime,

Mem Fox xxx

Mayhem Happiness

So Meerkat has hit the shops! Its sales, after only three weeks, are amazing. Thrilling doesn’t get near describing this wonderful reception to the book. Long may it reign!

But also, more Green Sheep excitement… On Dec 2nd 2024 a series of real stamps is being released, with a different piece of art from Green Sheep on each one. It’s may be irritating for you to read about it as it will probably have sold out by December 3rd, but anyway, it’s good news that I wanted to share, to round off this amazing 20th anniversary year.

End of year busy-ness, and all that, mitigates against any further news at the moment. But it’s enough, I hope, to show I’m still alive and kicking and looking forward to 2025.

Happy everything!

Love

Mem xxx

2024 Facelift!

Well, hello!

Much though I need it, I haven’t had a facelift myself. It’s the website. Refreshing it is a work in progress so there may be some hiccups. I hope you love what we’ve done already.

I’ve worked particularly hard on the Advice to Writers. People who want to write picture books should read it to prevent themselves from making the many silly mistakes and foolish assumptions that I made when I sent off the first (rejected) draft of Possum Magic in 1978.

Anyway, the thrilling news I couldn’t tell in you in my last blog was that the Australian Mint was about to launch a coin featuring the Green Sheep, no less! And then it was pointless writing about it as it sold out within two hours of its release. Incredible. And there were also editions of Where is the Green Sheep? with one of the coins inserted in the covers but they were gone within days too, so why mention it? Except to say all of it was hugely complimentary and put the book on an even higher publishing pedestal.

Two more pieces of happy news: the Margaret Hendry school in Canberra has named its library the Mem Fox Library, so I’m making a literal flying visit to the school next week. I’m in awe that any school would do this in my lifetime. Divine of them. Photos will be here when I get home (and when I remember to update my website…). And here they are! I’m with the librarian Bridgette Manley.

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Yesterday and today I’ve signed 200 copies of Meerkat Mayhem at the request of Readings Bookshops in Melbourne. Readings, for those of you who don’t live in Melbourne, is one of the best bookshops in Australia, so the fact they wanted 200 signed copies ready for the publication date on November 5th was (and is) a massive vote of confidence in the book. It made my heart race a little when the request came in. If Readings wanted so many copies, I reasoned, others would too. Thank God! The weeks before publication are nail-biting.  Here’s the latest advertisement:

Wish me luck!

Love

Mem Fox xxx

A Quick Word

Greetings!

Sadly, the delicious 40th anniversary of Possum Magic is now over. But this year, 2024, as if the good news can’t tumble into the world quickly enough, I’ll have the happiness of the 20th anniversary of Where is the Green Sheep? (Shared with Judy Horacek, of course.) Both last year and this year there were, and will be special anniversary editions of both books. Lovely. Nice, at my age…

The biggest 40th celebratory event last year was Possum Magic The Ballet, performed by a cast of the final year students at the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne. No expense or effort was spared to create this exquisite show. It was both delicate and dynamic, and gorgeously uplifting. And hysterically funny in parts as well, when the male dancers were boxing kangaroos and lifesavers. Julie Vivas, the illustrator, and I were over the moon and hugely grateful, and awed, and almost shy. It was a glittering affair.

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Here we are, the two ancient creatives, still smiling through on December 8th 2023.

The program and the performance were simply gorgeous:

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I’m sorry not to have any fresh news about books at the moment. You may be asking yourself, with reason, why I even bother with an intermittent blog. Fair call, frankly. It’s to indicate I’m alive. Anyway, on the bright side, one of my books is still being illustrated, another is waiting for the illustrator to start, and right now I’m writing yet another, about which I’m currently obsessed. I’m aiming, by hook or by crook, to have something published in the year I turn 80. Wow! Fun times! It may come as a necessary shock to the world to discover that brains can still work doggedly inside old heads. If I’m no longer here in two years’ time, or my mind is wandering, or in the end there’s no new book out in 2026, feel free to laugh at my expense.

Here in Adelaide, South Australia, it’s the height of summer, but honestly, no matter where you live in the world, the weather been weird. Different. Unusual. Unpredictable. Too much of one thing and not enough of another. Too hot. Too cold. Too wet. too dry. A few years ago, one of our Prime Ministers, for whom I had scant regard, declared verbatim: ‘Climate change is crap’. What a deluded fool! Poor man. The legacy that we the Old are leaving to the Young is a disgrace. I am mortally sorry.

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About the changing climate: it rarely rains in our summer. The lawns die, the gardens wilt, the streets are hot-hot under bare feet, and the beach is crowded. Imagine then, the shock of this storm over ‘our’ beach before Christmas. What??? No! Not possible. But yes. Fabulous.

In spite of the peculiarity of the weather, summer provides lots of breaks for coffee and friends and walks and reading and gardening and perhaps a touch of travel, and cooking-and-family, the latter of which, in my case, comes together every evening. I’m still exercising and weight-lifting, although my asthmatic lungs increasingly let me down. I’m often red-faced within twenty minutes of an hour’s fast fitness class and looking at my watch far too often. I never leave a class early, but I do sometimes sit out for a moment to catch my breath. I’ve survived Covid once, pretty well, but wear a mask in crowded situations. Why get Covid twice, I ask myself, with all the risks it presents to weaklings like me? Er, that’s not right. I lift 6kgs above my head every morning, 20 times in each arm. No weakling can do that. I must focus on the positives.

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Let’s all focus on the positives in 2024. A smile never goes amiss.

All the best!

Mem xxx

July 19th, 2024 Silence Broken!

Tan-tan-tara! She lives!

Sorry to have been so silent forso long. Mortifying. It’s the longest time between posts I’ve ever been guilty of. I’m knuckling down to the task right now in the unlikely event that you’ve been wondering if I were ill or dead. (I mean, who reads websites these days? But just in case…) Anyway, I’m neither ill nor dead, just slacker than usual about my website, and busy with real life and other important happenings.

The best news for me—and Judy Horacek, and it’s literally hot on the press as I type, is that our new book, Meerkat Mayhem, which has taken many years to evolve, is now done. It’s at the printers at last. The pictures are wildly funny. Only Judy could have pulled them off. I hope my words match her artistic hysteria. Publication in November. So long to wait. I’m counting the sleeps.

Back to the present. 2024 happens to be anniversary heaven. The noisiest of those anniversaries so far this year, and it’s on-going, has been the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Where is the Green Sheep? Exciting times, considering last year was the thrilling 40th anniversary of Possum Magic, illustrated by Julie Vivas.

Judy Horacek, the sensational illustrator (of Green Sheep, in this case) and I have been busy with media appearances, alerting the world to the longevity of this very simple book. It’s been given a gold cover for this auspicious year:

Much to the delight of my own grown up family, for heaven’s sake, a sticker book of Green Sheep has been added to the celebrations:

And soon a crinkly cloth book of Green Sheep is being released for babies and toddlers. Hurrah!

Earlier, when I mentioned that Green Sheep was a simple book, I wrote ‘simple’ with my tongue in my cheek. People who know nothing about writing a book might look at Green Sheep and think: ‘I could do that.’ My reply is: ‘Give it a go!’ And then understand why it took two intelligent women working together for eleven months to create a ‘simple’ book of 190 words, 188 of which were —and are —only one syllable: ‘quietly’ has three syllables and ‘asleep’ has two. The rest have one. The rhyme scheme is ABCB, which means the second and fourth lines have to rhyme. But the first two lines: AB, are pairs of like things, and the second two two lines are another, different pair of like things. Here’s an example of that tight set-up to show how the connections work and where the rhymes have to be:

Here is the sun sheep.

And here is the rain sheep.

Here is the car sheep

and here is the train sheep.

So! Three cheers for the children’s authors and illustrators you adore.  ‘Simple’ is never that simple. We work hard to keep children happy.

It’s also the 40th anniversary of Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge (note Wilfrid, not Wilfred), illustrated by Julie Vivas, with a special celebratory edition coming out in September. Have I ever written a better book? Not sure. The hairs on my arms stood up when I’d finished it. Even now, I have a catch in my throat when I read the last page aloud. The title, in case you didn’t know already, was my dad’s full name. He had re-trained as a librarian at the age of 66 so he loved, loved, loved it: he had his very own ISBN number! But many years later, by heart-breaking chance, he died of Alzheimer’s, which is the theme of the story of Wilfrid.

Yet another book, Sleepy Bears, illustrated by Kerry Argent, will have its own celebratory edition later this year: 35 years. So affirming. I used to whisper the last verse by heart in the dark to my grandson when I was putting him to bed. It calmed both of us:

Sleep my sweetheart, sleep my bear,

Your cradle swings in the evening air.

Moonbeams touch your precious face

And stars float by with gentle grace.

Sleep my sweetheart, have no fear:

Sleep my darling, I am here.

I’m very grateful for these anniversaries given that the lifespan of most books for children is a couple of years.

At this point, it looks as if 2025 will be pretty boring in comparison to 2024, unless something spectacular and unexpected happens. However, 2026 should be better as it will be the 80th anniversary of Mem Fox, so to speak.

At the moment I’m working on three books at once. I’ve never done that before. (One is already contracted.) It’s both relaxing and confusing. When I get stuck with one, I move to another, and then go back and check on the first and probably cut most of it, and then I go to the third book and play with that for a few days until it gets too hard, and then I move back to the first one, and so on. Sheer madness, really. I notice I’ve used the lovely word ‘hubbub’ in two of the three books, so one of them will have to go. But which word will I choose instead?  ‘Noise’ has only one syllable, and ‘commotion’ has three, whereas I need a two-syllable word, so it’s back to Roget’s Thesaurus yet again. You understand, do you not?— that writing a picture book is never plain sailing. It’s a nightmare. Word-and-syllable choice is everything. The plot is minor, and often there’s no real ‘plot’ anyway.

Other lovely things have happened since I last wrote, some of which I’m sure I’ve forgotten, forgive me, because I’ve been so recalcitrant about keeping to up to date. I have a busy family life going on in the background, which never stops. Any excuse…

I won’t forget the thrilling two days I had with the South Australian Premier’s Reading Challenge in four schools in two cities to the north of South Australia: Whyalla and Port Augusta. In each case the entire school came to my presentation, which was different each time, according to the vibe. All my old teaching skills had to be re-born, fast, faced as I was with over 300 children on each occasion, aged between 5 and 12. Keeping the age groups with me, all quiet and agog, was quite something. I found it daunting, I have to confess, but it was so good for me to be challenged like that, and I hope as rewarding as possible for the children, all of whom were delightful and respectful. I loved it. I slept particularly well each night— I mean, I died! I’m not 38 any more.

Below, pictures from the schools I visited: magic children in magic hats, divine teachers in wonderful T-shirts, and cute kids in front of an amazing ‘Welcome Mem Fox’ wall, which isn’t very clear but was spectacular on the day. Thank you to everyone!