A Touching Speech by Children's Laureate Alison Lester

At the Darwin opening of the National Year of Reading 2012 Are We There Yet? exhibition, Ann James read out a touching speech on behalf of Alison Lester, who was unable to be there in person.

We thought you'd enjoy reading it too...

I love darwin, it always feels like coming home when I get off that plane and drive down the wide palm-lined streets into town. I've had family and friends to stay with for a long time, in Parap and Nightcliff, so I know those parts well. 

I love sitting in the roma bar, running out to east point, having a laksa at the Parap market, swimming in the Nightclif pool, dancing at Shenanigans and the beautiful art gallery. In 2005 I nearly died in the darwin hospital so i'll always be grateful to darwin for saving me, it was a great place to get my wobbly legs going again, I hope you enjoy the show, I wish I could be there, x, Alison.

To read more about the Are We There Yet? touring exhibition please visit our earlier blog post.

The Opening of the National Year of Reading 2012 Touring exhibition

Books Illustrated are excited to announce the opening of the beautiful Are We There Yet? National Year of Reading exhibition in The Northern Territory Library, Parliament House, Darwin.

The exhibition was first curated by Books Illustrated in 2004 to celebrate the launch of this famous picture book by Alison Lester. Since then it has travelled widely around Australia and even gone as far as Tokyo.

The exhibition shows both the original illustrations as well as the preliminary and developing stages in the making of the book - from Alison's children's actual travel diaries, through text, illustration and design drafts, to the final published book. It includes a number of folios of developmental drawings.

An fascinating addition to the original exhibition is a special display and range of activities for the braille version of the picture book published by Vision Australia.

The exhibition will tour to 8 venues in 2012, one for each state and territory.  Starting in Darwin from the 1st - 22nd of February and the exhibition will end in Victoria in December 2012.

As the curators of the exhibition the Books Illustrated team, Ann Haddon and Ann James, were thrilled to be invited to the opening in Darwin on Wednesday 1st February. ( A detailed itinerary will posted soon on this blog and on the National Year of Reading website).

Award-winning Darwin author and National Year of Reading ambassador, Marie Munkara, was invited to open the exhibition. Her first book Every Secret Thing was awarded the 2010 Northern Territory Book of the Year.

There is a National Year of Reading competition based on the book Are We There Yet? where children are encouraged to write and/or illustrate about their own town or special place they've visited in Australia. Visit the NYoR website to find out more.

A proud Cathy Hilder, I Manager, Public Library Services Northern Territory Library, who managed the opening and exhibition installation. 

Marie Munkara, author of "Every Secret Thing" who introduced the Are We There Yet? exhibition at the opening. 

Ann James from Books Illustrated explained the history of the Are We There Yet? exhibition and spoke on behalf of Alison Lester. 

Visitors at the opening (Cowboy Grace in the background).

Enjoy a sneak peak at the impressive map of Australia surrounded by Alison's family photographs. 

Photographs from the official Laureate Launch

We thought you like to see some of these charming photographs from the Australian Children's Laureate Launch at Carclew Youth Arts in Adelaide.

An Australian magpie was chosen as the symbol for the Children's Laureates and illustrator Ann James designed the logo.  In the photographs below you can see Alison and Boori accepting their own magpies as inspiration for the 2 years ahead.

The statues were individually carved by West Australian artist Andre Van Niekerk and painted by his wife Cathy Van Niekerk. They have a lovely website showcasing many other interesting bird carvings if you would like to see more. The Laureate's magpies were purchased from the Australian Woodwork Gallery in the Hunter Valley - which is definitely worth a visit!

Alison and Boori accepting their magpies at the presentation

Alison signing copies of her book "Running with the Horses"

Boori signing copies of his book "Shake a Leg"

Boori telling the story of "Shake a Leg" at the launch

Congratulations to Alison Lester and Boori Monty Pryor - the first Australian Children's Laureates!

We are thrilled that 2012 will see the beginning of the first Australian Children's Laureates 2-year projects.


The inaugural Children’s Laureate role for 2012 to 2013 is shared by two eminent and much-loved children’s authors, Alison Lester and Boori Monty Pryor. 


The fun-packed launch was held in mid-December 2011 at Carclew Youth Arts in Adelaide. 


The first part of the launch included a keynote speech by Noni Hazlehurst, followed by the official announcement of the Laureates by Hon. Grace Portolesi, Minister for Education and Child Development. Afterwards the crowd moved outside to the lawn for a special welcome dance by the children of the Kaurna Plains Primary School, and special story readings by Alison and Boori.


The establishment of an Australian Children’s Laureate to promote the importance of reading is based on the successful implementation of this idea in the UK and US.


The Children’s Laureate will be an Australian author and/or illustrator of children’s and/or youth literature who is making a significant contribution to the children’s literature canon of this country. The Laureate will be appointed on a biennial basis and will promote the transformational power of reading, creativity and story in the lives of young Australians, while acting as a national and international ambassador for Australian children’s literature.  (Taken from The Australian Children's Laureate website).

If you would like to find out more about Alison and Boori's individual projects and how to get involved, please visit the website and "like" the Australian Children's Laureate page on facebook! 

Delightful Merry-go-round gift cards!

Books Illustrated has just received new stock of Merry-go-round gift cards. If you have not come across these before, not only are they beautifully illustrated, and you can re-use them (see how below).

With illustration styles to suit everyone they're a perfect gift! To view the entire range link through to our Merry-go-round page on this blog.

'Fire King' by Wayward Harper (Pack of 6)

'The Kiss' by Ann James (Pack of 6)

'Waratah' by Marta Salamon
(Assorted Pack of 4)

'The Miggy Tree' by Anna Walker
(Pack of 6)

Join our facebook community!

Hi everyone, we have just set up a facebook page and would love you to join our book-friendly community!

Fishing friends by Ann James

New Prints for Christmas!

We're pleased to introduce the new artwork of Sarah Kate Mitchell, Greg Holfeld and Ben Wood to Books Illustrated's followers - enjoy a taster here and visit our website to see many more!

Sarah Kate Mitchell

Ticklefish Kisses by Sarah Kate Mitchell from
"Starry Starry Night" (Murdoch Books)

Greg Holfeld

The Explorers by Greg Holfeld

Ben Wood

Heading Home by Ben Wood from 

"Give Me a Home Among the Gumtrees" (Scholastic Australia).