Feature author - Dianne Wolfer

The Anzac Stories: Behind the Pages exhibition has many fabulous Australian and New Zealand authors and illustrators in it. Go to Authors/Illustrators/Books to see the full list.

This week's feature author, Dianne Wolfer, is having a very exciting year. Black Swan Productions are performing a play based on her book Lighthouse Girl (and also includes Light Horse Boy). Dianne says, "Tickets are selling fast for the Black Swan adaptation of Lighthouse Girl. 

The show opens at the Entertainment Centre in Albany (where the first two AIF convoys gathered in 1914 to travel to WW1) http://anzacalbany.com.au/ . Some soldiers were fortunate to come ashore (near where this play will be staged) and march, but most had to remain on their ships. Hence the signalling to Fay, the main protagonist in the Lighthouse Girl."

You can read a blog post about the show here.

After Albany the show will travel to Perth for a 2 week season. More information coming soon.

Dianne posted a blog with new photos of Breaksea where she was fortunate to go: 

The Anzac Stories: Behind the Pages Exhibition is going to Dianne's hometown of Albany in August. Dianne is giving talks at the local schools and libraries about Lighthouse Girl and Light Horse Boy, as well as talking about the exhibition.

Based on the true story of Faye, this gentle tale brings to life the hardships of those left at home during the war – waiting, wondering, hoping.

Drawing on fascinating archival material, and interweaving fact with fiction, award-winning author Dianne Wolfer deftly recreates this period in Australian history from the perspective of a young girl.

Lighthouse Girl has featured in documentaries, Illuminart story projections and Fay provided inspiration for the Little Girl Giant in the amazing Royal De Luxe Theatre’s performance of The Giants. See Dianne’s personal gallery or follow this link for photographs. An Interview with Dianne and the team from Channel 9’s Destination WA on Breaksea Island gives further insights into Fay’s story and shows evocative scenes from the island. ‘The Lighthouse Girl’ by playwright Hellie Turner and Black Swan Theatre opens in Albany/Perth in April 2017.

Light Horse Boy begins in 1914 when Jim and Charlie abandon the Australian outback for the excitement and adventure of the war to end all wars. But in the Light Horse they quickly discover the brutal realities of life on the front line. And nothing will ever be the same again.

Featuring stunning charcoal sketches by Brian Simmonds alongside primary source documents and historical photos, Light Horse Boy goes behind the scenes of the great ANZAC legends for an intimate look at their experience of World War I.

Feature Author - Norman Jorgensen

The Anzac Stories: Behind the Pages exhibition has many fabulous Australian and New Zealand authors and illustrators in it. Go to Authors/Illustrators/Books to see the full list.

Each week, I'll highlight one of the authors or illustrators in the exhibition - this week it is Norman Jorgensen.  Norman also received great news recently ... Western Australia Young Readers Book Awards(WAYRBA) shortlisted one of his books - 'The Smugglers Curse'. Congratulations, Norman! His book 'In Flanders Field' is in the Anzac Stories: Behind the Pages Exhibition.

Norman loosely based In Flanders Fields on a historical event during WWI. The British and Germans held a truce on Christmas Day 1914, while they buried their dead and played soccer in no-man's-land. Instead Norman has an Australian soldier rescue a robin caught on barbed wire in no-man's land.

"I wanted to capture what the film director did in All Quiet on the Western Front. The image of the butterfly is so simple and stands for the whole of humanity in its brokenness. For me, the robin is also a symbol of humanity but it also has the additional association of the redness of blood spilt in battle and the traditional colour of Christmas."

Norman said he is a pacifist. "I wanted the book to be anti-war and show that these soldiers, in their quiet way, are caught up in war which they oppose. In the end papers, where I have the two armies looking inwards from their trenches, the shades of grey and khaki merge. It is not their war. They are scared young men."

Read more about Norman Jorgensen's book here. Norman is touring Broome from 14th to 18th August for pre-Bookweek and then Derby, from 26 August to September 1st. Broome Libraries are going to host the Anzac Stories: Behind the Pages Exhibition that month.

Check out the other books in the exhibition, too. Here's an A3 poster you can download with all the books in the exhibition to date. We're adding more books soon.

Scholastic Anzac books

Greetings,

Scholastic have designed a poster showing all the Scholastic books in the Anzac Stories: Behind the Pages exhibition. Such a range! From picture books to illustrated non-fiction books to chapter books. You'll find stories about children, animals, and even Anzac biscuits! The stories are gripping and hard to put down. All these books are in the exhibition and you can read more about them and their authors and illustrators in the blog pages above.

Schools and Libraries can download this poster from here.

There's lots of other wonderful books in the exhibition, too - do check them out in the blog pages above or at Brisbane Libraries from February 2017 - December 2018 and Albany Libraries in August 2017. Watch this space for more libraries hosting this exhibition in your State!

Welcome to 2017!

Welcome back to the world of children's books - and in our case children's war books. We're now counting down days when the Anzac Stories: Behind the Pages Exhibition will be on display at one of the Brisbane Libraries. I'll put up a schedule of where the exhibition will be soon.

Do check out all the exhibitors' pages. You'll find their biographies, synopses of the books in the exhibition, interviews, and teaching resources you can download.

Sneak peek of Deborah Abela's display board in exhibition

This week I'm going to highlight Deborah Abela's page and her book Teresa. This is a real special book for Deborah because it is partly her father's story. And Deborah has had very exciting news today. She posted on her Facebook Author page: "Soooooooo very excited that Teresa: A New Australian has been shortlisted on the West Australian Young Readers' Book Awards. This is such a special novel for me and was inspired by my family's survival in Malta, during some of the heaviest bombing raids of WW2." Fingers crossed her book wins! Read more about where she got her inspiration from on her blog page and check out her wonderful book.

At the moment the exhibition is being displayed at Brisbane Libraries for the next two years. It is also going to be on show at Albany Libraries in August later this year, and then the Great Southern region. Broome Libraries in Western Australia and Hobart Libraries in Tasmania have also expressed interest. If your libraries or a group of schools are interested in hosting the exhibition please contact: mariagill[at symbol]ihug.co.nz.