The Mountain Wakes is a picture book about persisting until you get what you need. It’s a great story about hope and how the littlest things in life can make a difference to even bigger things.
The illustrations are very detailed and scientifically correct. And the pastel colour palette is really pretty.
I think this book would be enjoyed by kids from Year 1 or 2 onwards, because younger audiences might find it a bit complicated to understand what they’re seeing.
This book is a great inspiration for those who reach for the stars.
If I Could Eat the Stars and Other Poems, chosen by Rebecca M. Newman and Sally Murphy, illustrated by Briony Stewart
If I Could Eat the Stars and Other Poems has just been released by Fremantle Press (in association with our publishing arm, Alphabet Soup Books). It’s perfect for young readers in mid to upper primary school.
With stellar illustrations by Briony Stewart and featuring shape poems, haiku, cinquain and free verse … these are poems to tickle your funny bone, make your belly rumble and keep you up at night!
Defend a goal with Sally Murphy, rocket through space with Amber Moffat or get radioactive with Cristy Burne. Walk the dog with Deb Fitzpatrick and play with your food with James Foley. Then … Barlay! (Watch out!) with Cheryl Kickett-Tucker.
“Humorous poems, evocative poems of the ocean, shape poems, rhyming poems, free verse, haiku, tiny poems and long poems – this has it all, and I gobbled it up like a bag of lollies.” Sue Warren, Just So Stories
“From the lyrical to the laugh out loud, If I Could Eat the Stars and other poems is ideal to dip in and out of. Teachers could even select poems to read as lesson-break rewards. If I Could Eat Stars showcases a fabulous depth of talent.” Joy Lawn,Paperbark Words
“With its variety and accessibility, this is a text that warrants multiple readings. As a teaching resource, If I Could Eat the Stars lends itself perfectly to modelling, comparison activities and creative writing tasks across the primary years. Illustrations by Briony Stewart add another visual dimension to the text.” Kathryn Beilby, ReadPlus
“If I Could Eat the Stars is a captivating collection of poems for younger readers.” Good Reading Magazine
Ask for If I Could Eat the Stars at your favourite bookshop or library.
Seetha Dodd loves wordplay, humorous rhyme and lyrical prose. Drawing on her Malaysian–Indian heritage, and themes of family, identity and belonging, Seetha writes stories that empower children to challenge stereotypes and to celebrate uniqueness in all forms. She lives on Sydney’s Northern Beaches with her husband and three children. Today we’re chatting to Seetha about her junior fiction novel: Myra in the Middle, illustrated by Peter Cheong.
From the publisher:
Seven-year-old Myra likes maths, football and things staying the same. She lives with her mum, dad, Muthashi (grandma) and big sister, Anya. Her world flips upside down when her family welcomes a new baby. Myra is now a middle child – and everyone knows middle kids always get forgotten. On top of that, Myra tries out for the school’s soccer team, only to be put in the midfield. She can’t show off her skills when nothing exciting ever happens there! What will it take for Myra to feel marvellous in the middle?
The publisher provided Alphabet Soup with a reading copy of this book.
With the arrival of a new baby brother, Myra finds she is now the middle child in her family. Did you have siblings growing up? Are you a middle child yourself?
I am a middle child! I have an older sister and a younger sister. Just like Myra, I was nervous about the arrival of a new baby into the family. But as time went on, I realised how lucky I was. When you’re in the middle, you can learn from your older sibling and then try to be a role model for your younger sibling. It’s a unique position that also teaches you how to be adaptable and to see things from other points of view.
The book highlights the importance of names – the naming of Myra’s baby brother, getting someone’s name right/mixed up, the meaning of people’s names, even the names of the soccer teams Myra plays for and against. How do you go about choosing names for your characters in your writing?
I spend a lot of time naming my characters! I chose the name Myra for a few reasons. I wanted the title to have alliteration, so her name had to start with the letter M. Myra is a name that exists in many cultures, but as an Indian name it means ‘beloved’ – isn’t that beautiful? Then it made sense to have her sister’s name start with the letter A, and her brother’s name start with the letter Z, so even with their names, Myra, with the letter M, is in the middle.
Naming her friends was fun – I try not to make any of my characters’ names too similar, as it might get confusing. For example, I wouldn’t use another M name like Mia or Mariam, to make sure Myra stands out. I love searching for the perfect name – baby naming books are great for ideas.
As Myra points out, ‘names are very important’ and I especially love the part in the book where Myra and Muthashi discuss the meaning of their names.
Myra loves maths and draws pie charts and Venn diagrams to help her to think more deeply about the things that matter to her right now. Her sister Anya loves words and wordplay. Are you more of a words person or a numbers person yourself? Or both?
I have always been a words person first. I like trying to arrange words into a beautiful sentence, or into a funny rhyme. I also love poetry and how the words can have many layers of meaning. But I do also like using logic and mathematics to put things in order and make sense of a problem or a feeling, just like Myra does. Maybe you have done this too – perhaps a list of pros and cons when you’re making a decision, or using probability to discuss whether something is certain or unlikely. Venn diagrams are my favourite – they are the perfect combination of mathematics and language.
Myra’s grandma (Muthashi) prepares special foods for the family, which Myra finds comforting and familiar when she’s feeling lost in the middle of all the recent change. We hear about murukku, coconut candy, omelette, chicken curry, the best way to eat jelly slice … and more! Did you put all your favourite foods into the book? Do you like to cook like Myra and Muthashi?
I love cooking (and eating!) tasty treats. Most of the food in this book is inspired by my grandmother (Muthashi), who had a wonderful appetite for food and for life. She always cooked with love in her heart. I think this was her secret ingredient that made everything taste better.
Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?
I have a picture book about dogs and cats coming out in September. It’s a fun, rhyming story with a gentle message about accepting those who are different to us. I am also working on an idea for another junior fiction novel. Right now, it is just a spark (which I suppose is how all ideas start out) but I hope to turn it into a story. I do need to find the perfect name, though!
Myra in the Middle is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan, Penguin UK, ISBN 9780241647523
REVIEWED BY MILAN, 10, NSW
Milan reviewed his own copy of this title.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Chalice of the Gods is an adventure novel written by Rick Riordan. This story follows the Heroes of Olympus series and is a sequel to the other Percy Jackson books. This novel starts with Percy, Annabeth and Grover who are the protagonists. Being demigods, they complete quests and missions that gods have sent them. One peculiar day, the Greek god Ganymede shows up and makes a demand that they return his special chalice. This cup turns out to be the Chalice of the Gods, which holds great power and one sip can transform any mortal into an immortal god. And so, Percy and his demigod companions embark on this dangerous quest, nervously questioning various Greek gods. Some of these gods include Hebe, the goddess of youth and Iris, goddess of the rainbow. When asking for information from Iris, however, she demands a favour in return.
In this book I especially enjoyed the humour Rick Riordan used from Percy’s perspective during some of the serious scenes. I felt that it made the story engaging and a real page-turner. I also enjoyed the combat battles that the trio fought in. Riordan described the scenes so vividly that I could picture the story clearly.
The names of the chapters bothered me because they gave away what was about to happen. I think that Riordan could have improved on this by naming the chapters more vaguely. The surprise element of books is much more enjoyable and I would have preferred to find out through a more natural progression.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would rate it 4/5 stars. I look forward to reading the rest of the Percy Jackson series. I would recommend this novel to children aged 10–12 years and to those who enjoy action-packed and mythical adventures.
Maddy Mara (Hilary Rogers and Meredith Badger). Photo by Les Hallack.
Maddy Mara is the pen name of Melbourne-based creative duo Hilary Rogers and Meredith Badger. You might have read Maddy Mara’s books in these popular series: Dragon Girls, Forever Fairies, Itty Bitty Kitty and Jet Set Pets! Hilary and Meredith have been collaborating on children’s books for nearly two decades. Hilary is an author and former publishing director; Meredith is the author of countless books for kids and young adults, and teaches English as a foreign language. Today we’re chatting about The Lonely Lunch Club, Maddy Mara’s junior fiction book in the Your Next Read Silver series, with fun illustrations by Laura Stitzel.
The publisher provided Alphabet Soup with a review copy of this book.
From the publisher:
Do you like FRIENDS, SCHOOL and FUNNY STORIES? Then this book is YOUR NEXT READ. One lunchtime, Benji goes to the worst bench in the whole school instead of playing footy. There he meets a girl named Alice and a spider named Mabel. And Mabel needs their help! But can Benji and Alice do it alone?
Maddy Mara is your pen name, and you are two writers creating one story! How do you go about working together on a book?
Yes, people are often surprised to learn that Maddy Mara is actually two people. We are Hilary and Meredith, but we write under the pseudonym (a fancy word for pen name) Maddy Mara. We love working together! For us, it’s like getting paid to do a school project with one of your best friends, who also happens to be smart, hardworking and funny!
When we’re working on a new book, we always start by talking about our ideas. We have a lot of ideas –some of them are terrible and some of them are great – so this is a fun part of the process. Once we’ve agreed on the rough shape of the story (it needs to be something we are super excited to work on), then we think about the characters, and what might happen to them. We also workshop what the story or series might be called – we love bold, catchy names (Dragon Girls! Itty Bitty Kitty! Jet Set Pets! The Lonely Lunch Club!). We then plan out what will happen in each chapter before we get writing (mostly this works, but sometimes we need an emergency meeting with strong coffee if it doesn’t).
It changes from project to project, but usually Meredith goes first, and Hilary goes next. Then we send the story back and forth quite a few times until we love it and can’t quite remember who did which bits. It really is a team effort.
Alice and Benji make friends with an alien butt spider called Mabel. Is an alien butt spider a real spider!? How did you find out about this spider?
It is a real spider! Using the alien butt spider was Meredith’s idea, and we basically chose it because it’s such a cool and funny name for a cool and funny spider. We also we didn’t want to pick a dangerous spider (kids, don’t go looking for spider friends!). The Latin name is Bijoaraneus praesignis which isn’t quite so snappy …
The great thing about the books we write is we have to discover interesting things about the world (like, is a great white shark faster than a killer whale? Or, what spiders have cool names and live in Australia?). But because we write a lot of fantasy, we also get to make things up (like, can a sea dragon roar fire underwater? We say YES!).
How do you add humour to a story? Is it part of the storytelling from the beginning? Or do you go back and add it in after you’ve written the story?
We always like to use humour in our stories, as a treat for our readers and to help them keep reading. We find that humour often comes from characters doing unexpected things (like, an adorable little kitten thinking she’s a brave tiger in Itty Bitty Kitty). The Lonely Lunch Club story starts with Benji doing something unexpected (not playing footy, like he normally does) meeting Alice doing something unexpected (hanging out with a spider, on the worst bench in the school). We then have an unexpected connection between these two kids, who don’t have anything in common except that they want to look after Mabel, the alien butt spider.
But we also rework all our stories to make them funnier as we go along – the final draft is always funnier than the first. A good example of this is when Benji and Alice are discussing what the coolest thing to find in your lunchbox might be. We had a lots of different ideas for this before we picked the one that ended up in the book: a bar of chocolate vs a bar of gold.
How did each of you like to spend your lunchtimes when you were in primary school?
Meredith wasn’t sporty, so she definitely wasn’t playing footy at lunchtime. But she did like doing handstands against the wall, and skipping and playing hopscotch. Hilary did gymnastics when she was a kid, so there was a lot of cartwheeling and backbending going on! But we both loved walking and talking with friends at lunchtime – and all these years later, we still do!
Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?
We are always working on lots of things at the same time. We love to keep busy! We have just finished writing a second book for the Your Next Read series because writing The Lonely Lunch Club was so awesome. The new one is completely different – it’s set deep under water and (top-secret hint) features an excitable octopus. We also have some new Dragon Girls books that we’re working on (this series is now up to book 22!). And we have a brand new series called Max Beast, which is about a kid who finds a magical amulet that transforms him into a great white shark (and then other creatures in future books). It’s jam-packed with action and humour and lots of animal details. Max Beast is coming out in Australia in June, so look out for it!
The Lonely Lunch Club is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.
Fiona Wood is an award-winning writer of books for children and teenagers. Her books have been published in Australia and internationally. Today we’re pleased to be talking to Fiona about her latest novel: The Boy and the Dog Tree.
UQP provided Alphabet Soup with a reading copy of this book.
From the publisher:
Instead of the whole family moving to a new city, Mitch and his sister are staying with their gran, while their parents have been delayed working on other side of the world. Mitch is struggling to fit in at school, with the resident Grade Five bully picking on him. The one thing that would make his life better is a dog, if only he could persuade his parents. Then Mitch discovers an old oak tree that seems to growl. And one night, a huge, strange dog-like creature emerges from the trunk. His name is Argos. He has been bound in the tree by ‘history, mystery, magic and chance’ …
How did you come to write a story about a dog magically entwined with a tree?
A very helpful tree suggested the story to me. I live near a park that has some long avenues of oak trees, and one of these trees has a gnarled and twisted trunk that reminds me of a dog. I started asking myself why a dog might be bound within a tree. By whose magic had the dog been put there? And for what purpose? How did it happen? When did it happen? Chewing over questions is a great way to start building a story.
When you add magic into the everyday world, how do you make it feel believable for readers?
If you introduce a magical creature into a realistic setting, the first task is to make the world seem real. If it does, then by association everything that happens in that world feels real too.
It’s also important that the main character in that world has a believable initial reaction to the magic. So, Mitch finds it hard to believe when a tree seems to be murmuring or growling, and then calling to him in his sleep, and even harder to believe when Argos, a huge magical dog-like creature emerges from the tree. As improbable as it first seems, Mitch does come to believe what he can see with his own eyes. And ideally the reader will believe Mitch.
Other characters’ reactions also support the believability of the magic. For example, Regi, Mitch’s sister, realises that Mitch can hear what Argos is saying, though she cannot. She also notices Argos’s magical smell.
Finally, the magical creature itself must feel real. The writer’s job is to allow readers to imagine what Argos looks like, how he sounds, what sort of personality he has, and how we might react if an Argos came into our life.
Is the park where Mitch visits the dog tree based on a real park?
It is imaginary, but it has elements of a few parks in Melbourne/Naarm including Hedgeley Dene Gardens, Fitzroy Gardens and Fawkner Park.
Did you have a dog when you were growing up? If you did, was it your idea of the perfect dog?
I did not have a dog when I was growing up, and it was a thorn in my side. My brother and I pleaded and complained to my parents for years to no avail. I was allergic to the pet guinea pig offered in substitution. I truly longed for a dog as Mitch does in the story.
So, I made sure my children had a dog growing up. He was a much-loved family member, very far from perfect, quite naughty in fact, but adored by all of us.
Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?
I’m working on a story that has Mitch’s friend Dido as the main character. In The Boy and the Dog Tree, Argos tells Mitch that Dido is a witch, though she doesn’t know it yet. What would it mean to be a witch in a perfectly ordinary family? How does Dido find out that she is a witch and what might she do with this powerful identity? What are the upsides and downsides of having a particular power? More questions to chew over.
The Boy and the Dog Tree is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.
I think the book is great to start the school year with. Its great for setting goals and being motivated to achieve them. The book even has a resource section on how to support resilient kids. I think the book helps you along the way by building up your confidence for the school year and it teaches you that making mistakes is okay and when you make a mistake you try again and don’t give up.
One part in the book stood out to me, it said ‘all that matters is you try your best, because when you try you grow, and growing is what school is all about.’ It made me feel motivated and I really felt the sentiment.
The illustrations are beautiful and the quality of the book itself feels really nice. I like the use of colour. It had lots of different texture. I also liked the diversity, not everyone has blonde hair or the same colour skin, and some people are in wheelchairs or have different cultures. It shows kids that having that kind of diversity is normal. I love that the teacher has diversity, normally it’s just the kids.
I think the book would be good for kids Year 1 and up, and it would really motivate shy kids and kids that don’t like going out of their comfort zone. It makes you think about what you want to achieve in the year, more like social skills rather than grades.
Fionna Cosgrove is a Western Australian writer with a taste for the wonderfully macabre. Her writing has been published in The School Magazine and anthologies, and she’s also the author of the Twisted Trails series for young readers and Sadie and the Secret of the Swamp. Today we’re chatting to Fionna about her latest book, a short story collection for older readers of horror stories: All That Slithers, with illustrations by Stiff Ives.
Fionna provided Alphabet Soup with a reading copy of this book.
From the publisher:
All That Slithers is a collection of unsettling and creepy short stories; a kaleidoscope of quiet dread, ghastly ghouls, and neon-tinted terror! In this hauntingly playful collection, monsters lurk in the most wholesome of places, systems hum with quiet resistance, and the safest routines conceal the strangest truths. Each story is calibrated for curious minds: creepy enough to raise goosebumps, curious enough to feel cosy. Suitable for humans (and others) 10 and beyond!
Of all the book genres out there, why do you choose to write horror stories? Did you also read horror when you were growing up?
I don’t necessarily think we choose what we write. I think we naturally gravitate towards certain things, and I think my brain, and by association, the rest of me, has always been interested in the paranormal, the bizarre and the unexplained. I grew up, thanks to my Dad, loving shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark? and the TheTwilight Zone, Unsolved Mysteries and Fact or Fiction. All of these shows had the best twists. They would lure you in thinking you knew where the story was going, only to throw a complete left hand turn right at the end and have you gobsmacked at the big reveal. I think I love that side of horror the most; the weird side. The side that kind of begs you to believe there’s more in this world than you can see, and nudges your flight response just enough to be fun, but not enough to traumatise. There’s also nothing quite like that feeling when you’re right on the edge of your seat, perhaps only surpassed by that feeling when you finish a story and have to take a moment to comprehend what you just read.
Growing up, Goosebumps [the series] was just released and it went bananas! It was on every kid’s table at school and everyone was talking about the latest release, but … I never really read them. They still hold a super nostalgic place in my heart, and I have since read many, and adore them, but my sister was five years older and was already reading Stephen King and Christopher Pike – the heavy hitters of horror in the 90s. As a result of always wanting to impress her, I skipped Goosebumps and went straight to her Point Horror and Christopher Pike books (avoided her King books though, thank goodness). And even back then, with all of those horror books, the ones that resonated for me were always the paranormal ones. I never really loved the stalker books or mystery killers, what I loved were the cosmic travellers, or the ghosts, or the possessed perfumes … nothing much has changed. So, yes, I did read horror as a kid, but even then I had a specific flavour that I liked, and that’s still my favourite to this day.
Have you ever written a story that got too scary/gory and had to tone it down? Have you ever scared yourself while writing a horror story?
Yes. To both. In my collection of short stories, All That Slithers, there’s a story called ‘Irene’s Eye-Scream Parlour’ and originally the final scene was really gory. There was mention of juicy optical nerves, intestines, splintered bones as toothpicks and several other references to body parts. In some ways I wish I had kept more of it in, as I think sometimes I underestimate what kids can handle (and what they enjoy), but when writing kids stories, I prefer to stay on the side of caution and figure I’d pushed that story far enough without needing the extra gore. Still, if anyone wants a copy of the original … just sing out! haha
And yes to scaring myself. I wrote another story in All That Slithers called ‘Sundowner’ at night on my bed. My favourite place to write is on my bed at night with the window open next to me so I can have moonlight filtering in. It’s quite a serene environment – unless you’re writing about haunted ships and ghostly sailors. I creeped myself out so much during that story I had to shut the laptop and continue writing during daylight the next day. I think because that story was inspired by Batavia, a real life shipwreck off the coast of WA, it hit harder, and I felt like I could actually be invoking something real from my words. Whereas usually, when I’m making stories up from my head, I figure I am somehow more in control … whether that’s true or not, I have no idea.
Each of the stories in your book (13 stories, plus a bonus 14th) feature two metres at the start to rate its horror level. How do you decide the rating of each story? Do you have test/sacrificial kid-readers?
I have several sacrificial kids 😈 and adults haha. I sent my stories to a handful of adults that write for kids, and also to several friends that have kids. It’s funny though, because everyone’s reactions to these stories are so different. I have a friend who’s daughter reads all of my stories, and she is never scared by anything. If anything, she gets bored unless there’s a significant amount of gory body parts. While on the flip side, there are some adults – like my Dad – who disliked any of the stories that edged too far into the horror world. In the end, I took on board everyone’s feedback, but then had to really follow my gut. I tended to rate the more light hearted stories higher on the snack scale, and the ones that tackled more serious concepts, closer to the meaty side. And then with the ghost metre, I rated the stories that veered more towards entertaining and funny closer to the ghost, and ones that moved into darker territory and featured darker, perhaps scarier entities, closer to the demon side. But reading is so subjective, what one person finds scary, the next may laugh at. So in the end, it really is just my best guess.
Fionna’s metres (scales) to gauge the scariness & monster presence in her stories.
Do you come up with your twist in the tale before you start writing, or during the writing process? What makes a good twist?
For the most part, it’s the endings that come first, and then, as a lover of the twist, I have to figure out how to lead the reader astray at the beginning, so the twist really lands. The fun part for me is figuring out how the story begins, and what I can weave into the scenes so that the twist lands in a way that makes the whole story suddenly shift. For example, with the bonus story, ‘Hush’, I knew the overall concept of what I wanted to write, but I wasn’t sure how to write it in a way that would really surprise the reader. That story for me, was the darkest, and aimed to have the biggest twist – whether I landed it or not is up to the reader!
I think a good twist makes the reader want to go back and read the story again. It’s one they never see coming that makes them want to look for the breadcrumbs, to analyse their own mind, and wonder why they thought the story was going somewhere else to begin with? A good twist reframes the entire story. And on an audible level, a twist that makes you gasp is always a winner! One of my favourite twists ever was in the story ‘Neato Burrito’ by Josh Allen in his book Out to Get You: 13 Tales of Weirdness and Woe. Besides being the most awesome name for a short story ever, I never saw the twist coming, and when it landed I was equal parts horrified and massively entertained.
Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?
Currently I’m working on short stories for the Micro Terrors podcast, which is a kids horror podcast for ages 8 and up that I am a secondary writer on. It’s based in the US and the stories are a mixture of bizarre, funny, unsettling and creepy. It’s one of the most fun projects I’ve ever worked on. As well as those, I’m writing several novellas for my Twisted Trails Series, hoping to package them up into a Seasonal Screams Omnibus ready for a Halloween launch – each novella will take place during a festive season. I’ve just finished drafting Love Letters which is the Valentine’s novella, and aim to have either two or three more completed by Halloween – with one obviously taking place on Halloween.
In addition, I’ve been looking at starting a cosy fantasy snail mail club (but make it strange, obviously!). The world is called The Land of Grim (working title) – think trolls that harvest magical flowers, mermaids that prefer to swim in swamps, goblins that are grumpy government workers, and sirens that have taken over the open ocean as pirates. I’m currently in the process of commissioning art, writing up stories, and just generally over thinking the whole thing. ETA on that project is ‘who knows’.
Behind the Screens by Niraj Lal, illustrated by AśkaNiraj Lal. Photo by Winifred Cunningham
Behind the Screens: How the Internet Works & How to Make it Work for You by Niraj Lal, Illustrations by Aśka (University of Queensland Press, $19.99) The publisher provided Alphabet Soup with a reading copy of this book.
Dr Niraj Lal is a researcher, writer and presenter. He is the host of the ABC’s Imagine This kids’ podcast, and he’s passionate about making science work in society’s interests. He has a PhD in physics, has appeared on Play School and Catalyst, and has won numerous awards. Today we’re chatting to Niraj about his new book: Behind the Screens, illustrated by Aśka.
From the publisher:
This book answers questions like: – If YouTube, Instagram and TikTok are all free, how come their owners are some of the richest people on the planet? – Why is it so hard to stop scrolling? – How do I know who to trust on the internet? – How can I avoid being tracked by tech companies?
There’s a lot to love online! What’s your favourite online activity?
Doomscrolling while on the dunny. Nah joking! (Though I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do it … )
The thing that really gives me a kick is organising online to catch up offline – with my futsal team, school mates, and a weekly crew that goes swimming in the bay on Friday mornings.
What’s your favourite offline activity?
Getting into the bush and the ocean with my kids, partner and mates. Growing and harvesting food from the garden or things we’ve foraged, fished, or hunted.
Why does it feel so hard to step away from a screen (or put down your phone or device)?
Because every time you put your phone down, there are thousands of the world’s best paid engineers trying to make you pick it back up again! And our brains are really soft – we’ve evolved to have an almost limitless capacity for affirmation and validation and connection with people we know, and a deeply hardwired attraction to dings, and red notifications, and emojis. App developers have figured ways to hijack these ancient reward pathways to keep us super engaged.
Do you think AI could ever really replace/replicate Niraj Lal?
How do you know this is not an AI version of Niraj Lal writing this right now?
Lol … I’d like to think not, but with sufficient AI training on things I’ve said and written and done in the past, I’m sure some future version of ChatGPT could replicate me pretty convincingly.
This is a little terrifying.
There are breakout boxes in the book, where we hear from kids who share their comments and give opinions on tech issues. How did you gather their responses?
By going into schools, and chatting with young people and their parents, right across Victoria and Queensland. I reckon the kids’ comments and opinions are one of the best bits in the book! Super insightful, savvy and articulate.
A comment from Olive, 12. (Pages 92&93 from Behind the Screens.)
Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?
New seasons of ABC Imagine This, being a science producer for a really cool film called Phenomena by Josef Gatti and Rob Innes (coming out soon!), a possible sequel to Behind the Screens, and my day job in renewable energy. Mainly trying to keep balance in the great dance of life – I take a bunch of leave without pay to be able to hang out with my kids more and stay human as much as possible.
Behind the Screens: How the Internet Works & How to Make it Work for You is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.
Jo Dabrowski lives in Melbourne, Australia and started her writing career in advertising. Jo loves reading adult books and kids books in all genres, but the books she gets most excited about are the ones where she can see a tiny bit of herself in one of the characters. Today we’re thrilled to be chatting to Jo about her novel: The Making of Martha Mayfield.
The publisher provided Alphabet Soup with a reading copy of this book.
From the publisher:
Martha Mayfield has always been the quiet kid. Martha is, after all, her mother’s daughter. The shy child of an even shyer mum. And she likes it this way.That is, until Martha’s mum loses her job. And Martha’s teacher overlooks her at school. And soon, Martha realises something has to give. Can she really go through life being so quiet that nobody takes her seriously? Should she really keep all her good ideas to herself forever?Putting yourself out there is every quiet kid’s worst nightmare, but Martha is determined to make the most of it. And perhaps to make something of herself along the way …
Martha is much quieter than most of her classmates. How did you come to write about Martha – someone who is usually in the background?
Loud, confident characters have had plenty of chances to shine, I thought it was time a shy person was in the limelight! The Making of Martha Mayfield is definitely the most personal book I’ve ever written. I borrowed lots of things from my own life and included them in the book. The biggest one was that I was shy when I was in primary school. Not quite as shy as Martha, but I could be very quiet and anxious. I always had lots of ideas and things that I wanted to say but, quite often, I was too worried about making mistakes or embarrassing myself. Writing about Martha came very naturally to me because I clearly remember all those anxious feelings as well as the frustration of staying quiet when I so badly wanted to speak up.
Group projects! Are you a fan yourself, or do you prefer to fly solo?
When I was at school, I definitely preferred to work on my own. I had very specific ideas about the way I wanted things done and that can be tricky when you’re working in a group. Now that I’m older I appreciate that I can’t do everything and I genuinely like teaming up with people who have different strengths and skills. When I write my books, I love sharing my work with my editor. She always has lots of ideas of how can I push myself and make the story more interesting. That’s the best part about working in a team –discovering different ways of doing things and making the work better.
Martha loves stationery and paper craft. What’s your favourite item of stationery on your desk right now?
Where do I begin?! I love stationery. It’s hard to pick one favourite. I have a Mr Fueki glue pot (just like Martha). I bought it in Japan.
I have a tiny tin with a picture of Miffy on it that has little note cards inside. They’re so cute that I’ve never actually used one because I never want them to run out!
And, I know this isn’t stationery, but I also love googly eyes. I have a giant pair stuck to the wall above my desk:
Do you have any tips for kids who find themselves part of a group project?
Try to be flexible. This can be hard, I know. But no one has the exact same vision as you. Share your ideas and make sure you listen to everyone else’s too, then do your part to the best of your ability. Try not to worry if it doesn’t turn out exactly the way you imagined it. You never know, it might even turn out better!
Can you tell us a bit about what you’re working on next?
Right now, I’m mostly working on more picture books. I have a new one coming out in September about a boy who makes a lot of bad decisions. I’ve also started a rough outline of a new middle grade novel about a boy who really loves rules!
The Making of Martha Mayfield is out now! Ask for it at your favourite bookshop or local library.
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