Peacock Visuals has created a book trailer for Can a skeleton have an x-ray? by Kyle Hughes-Odgers.

Kate McCaffrey has won her second Australian Family Therapists’ Award for Children’s Literature for her latest novel, Crashing Down.

Fremantle Press has launched a new website that includes a section dedicated to educators. It is designed to be a practical one-stop-shop for busy teachers and children’s librarians looking for quality Australian titles and teaching resources. You can now use the education page to find the latest news and resources, book authors online and subscribe […]

What difference does it make if the characters in young adult novels swear? From time to time, publishers are contacted by parents or schools who are concerned by the appearance in YA fiction of (to quote an editor of T. S. Eliot) words ending in ‘uck’ or ‘ugger’.

Popular children’s book The Last Viking will be read at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle, Washington, this November as part of a Nordic Stories series.

Artist and author Sally Morgan shares her highlights from the inaugural Spinifex Story Writing Camp. I spent the last week of June participating in workshops at Tjuntjuntjara Remote School with three amazing people – Karen and Tina from the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) and illustrator Ann James.

Children’s publisher Cate Sutherland discusses the trials and the triumphs of publishing children’s picture books. The most common misconception about picture books is that because they are short and written for children they must be easy to write.

We asked Jenny Simpson to let some AWESOME cats out of the bag by sharing her highlights from this year’s AWESOME Festival. Warning: spoiler alert!

No matter who we are or what we do, things sometimes go wrong in life.

Want to brighten up a wall in your library or classroom? Fremantle Press has a small number of free children’s books posters available for schools and libraries.

No matter what we end up doing in life, ‘what we end up doing’ is grounded in effective communication. Life is built upon relationships.

Need a last-minute Anzac Day activity? Why not get your students to create and use semaphore flags? The semaphore signalling method was used to communicate important military information, home-front anxieties and, eventually, hopes for a more peaceful world.

Drawing on fascinating archival material, and interweaving fact with fiction, in this video award-winning author Dianne Wolfer deftly recreates the story of Fay Howe, the little girl from Breaksea Island. In doing so she depicts the hardships of those left at home during WWI — waiting, wondering and hoping. 

Illustrator Sean E. Avery takes us into his studio where he created the picture books All Monkeys Love Bananas and Harold and Grace.

Alice Nelson is a novelist who won the T.A.G. Hungerford Award and was named Sydney Morning Herald Best Young Australian Novelist in 2009. Here she talks about her latest book After This: Survivors of the Holocaust speak.

The Last Viking Returns is a finalist in the 2014 Aurealis Awards. The popular children’s book, written by Norman Jorgensen and illustrated by James Foley, is one of six titles shortlisted in the Best Children’s Fiction category.

In a first for WA children’s books Ambelin Kwaymullina’s Caterpillar and Butterfly is one of two Indigenous titles turned into apps suitable for Android and iOS tablets.

Dropping In author Geoff Havel discusses why political correctness and children’s fiction shouldn’t always go hand in hand.

Lighthouse Girl and Light Horse Boy are two of the books featured in the new Remembering Gallipoli collection launched by iBooks on Friday 13 February.

News

Cate’s month

What’s been happening in the wonderful world of children’s literature at Fremantle Press with Cate Sutherland, publisher.

Our Skate into 2015 flyer has teaching ideas for three new Fremantle Press books.

Dropping In by Geoff Havel is a novel for middle readers aged 10–14 with themes of friendship, bullying, living with disability, ADHD and cerebral palsy.

Harold and Grace by Sean E. Avery is a hilarious picture book for ages 3 to 8 with themes of friendship, bullying, metamorphosis and life cycles, plus wetland ecosystems.

Giveaways

New bookmarks

Bookmarks are a great way to encourage reading and we have plenty to share.