Too Much Stuff is born
On Wednesday I went to St Monica’s Primary School in Kangaroo Flat to launch Too Much Stuff! It’s an Aussie Nibble, illustrated by Kerry Millard.
And why travel all the way up to St Monica’s? Well, because this story came from my friend Julie, a few years ago, telling me about her daughter’s bedroom that was so messy she couldn’t fit in her new desk. Her dad kept saying, ‘When your bedroom’s tidy, we’ll build your desk.’ So she tidied, threw things out, gave things away… and held an auction! Finally, in the middle of the night on the third day of cleaning, she was finished.
So she woke up her dad, and together, they built her desk.
It was such a lovely story I had to write it – and obviously I had to launch it at her primary school.
And what a launch! Some of the grades had made “messy bedrooms’ in their classrooms (what a hardship that would have been!); one had a garage sale. Unfortunately I ran out of time to see the displays that the older grades had done about Across the Dark Sea.
But the best thing was meeting the kids, who were so excited about a book about one of their former students. What a fun day!
Wendy Orr is a Canadian-born Australian writer. Her books for children and adults have been published in 27 countries and won awards around the world. Nim’s Island and Nim at Sea have also become feature films, starring Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin (Nim’s Island) and Bindi Irwin (Return to Nim’s Island.) Her latest book is Cuckoo’s Flight, a companion to the highly acclaimed Bronze Age novels Dragonfly Song and Swallow’s Dance. Read full bio
