CELEBRATED children’s author Mem Fox has one big trick to get more young children reading: a good book.
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“Find a good book that is short, rhythmic and repetitive,” Ms Fox said. “Illustrations are just as important as the text, you can’t have good pictures without good words or good words without good pictures because kids are smarter than that.”
Ms Fox is ecstatic about her new read, This and That, her third collaboration with illustrator Judy Horacek. This started as a verse Ms Fox made up on the spot trying to get her grandson to sleep and became a collection of verses that were the perfect fit for Ms Horacek’s work.
The project arrived to Ms Horacek as a series of words. She then created characters and narrative.
“It’s not the kind of thing an illustrator normally does,” Ms Horacek said. “The text was quite rich and I created pictures to reflect that.”
The pair will visit Ballarat Library for a special story time on October 29, 1.30pm. Bookings essential via Ballarat Books.
*For your chance to win a copy of Mem Fox and Judy Horacek’s new book This and That, be one of the first five readers to email cos@thecourier.com.au with the book’s title in the subject line.
