A new Ant Mobile!

Pictured above is our new Ant Mobile - Helen and I stand next to our old Little Ant Books van which finally was retired after four full on years of service.
Signwriting is on the way to make it more obvious but it has already done one book signing in Mallacoota and took me to Bogan Gate in style for my stint as an Australia Day Ambassador.

We head off to Tasmania in May for its first overseas trip visiting schools and topping up my stores over there with lots of new titles.

Film Clip of Reg the Rooster

Film Clip of Reg the Rooster  - a Tiny Ant book for young readers

This great little book is the result of special needs teachers aide Peter Delwig's suggestion to provide a book to help students tell the time.

In our digital age the traditional clock face is a bit of a mystery not only to young children but sadly older students right into secondary school level are struggling to learn how to tell the time.

Clocks are everywhere - in shops, workplaces, stations and lots of public places.  To help students and teachers I came up with a story about a rooster called Reg who takes his hens to special locations around the farm - each page has a clock face and I was delighted to find that all students had no trouble learning how to tell the time with the help of Reg.  

Peter reads a page of the story to let you see how this simple little book works.  Again Helen Leach managed to convey the story in pictures filled with colour and energy.

It joins our Little Ant series selling for just $7.95.  You can contact me on susiesarah@hotmail.com.au for your local outlet.

A great way to celebrate the year of the rooster!

Film Clip All Creatures Short And Tall - a collection of short stories.

Meet Deborah who reads a page of the story "Riding with Granny"from my latest book "All Creatures Short and Tall" - this story is about her son Liam and his pet Granny.
Deborah also let me write stories about some of her other pets - Donald a duck who thinks he is a dog and her little life saving terrier.
My thanks to all who shared wonderful stories of their pets - many are inspirational showing great acts of bravery - others so funny!  My sister Christine also reminded me of our childhood and provided a very funny ferret story.
Wilma from Cootamundra was tickled pink when l featured a story about her little Jack Russell Polly who many will remember as the inspiration for "Snug Cove Sam"
All Creatures Short and Tall retails for $15.95 and can be found in all my usual outlets - just contact me if you need to find a store near you.

Australia Day at Bogan Gate

This Little Ant has been busy with yet another new book - "The Kimberley Camp Dog" which is with illustrator Helen Leach now ready for release in June this year.  We are also working on a Little Ant Activities Book filled with beautiful colouring pages, word searches and a few puzzles to keep the whole family busy during holiday times.
I had a wonderful time on Australia Day as the Ambassador for Bogan Gate - a tiny outback town not far from Forbes in NSW.
You will also be able to follow me on Facebook at either Susie Sarah Author or Little Ant books thanks to my niece Sarah who has finally sorted me out and helped set up my pages.  I try to post lots of information on these sites but if you've missed them here are some photos of the Australia Day event - we all had a marvellous time and to my delight they had a crossword competition with everyone winning a prize - I donated books for the children and gave one to "Chook Man" who has heaps of free range chickens - they wander all around the town!
This year is the year of the Rooster so he was chuffed to be given a copy of Reg the Rooster  so race into all your Little Ant outlets and grab a copy.

 
 

     NEW RELEASE AND BOOK TOUR - NSW - July / August

Here at Wonboyn our mornings are a touch frosty, our evenings cool but the bit inbetween is sunny and warm enough to pull off the jumper and show off my favourite Beatles t-shirt.

On Monday we head off with two brand spanking new books to visit all our lovely shops, stock them up for the busy times, and perhaps wet a line and catch a fish on the weekends.

This time around I will be visiting 6 schools - Franklin School in Tumut on Tuesday 19th of June, Forbes North School on Tuesday the 26th, Bogan Gate on the 27th and 28th, St Joseph's at Nyngan on Tuesday the 2nd of August, Narromine School on the 3rd and 4th, and St John's in Maitland on Tuesday the 23rd.  I will ask some students at two of the  schools to read a little from my two new books for this site.

Once again there are a handful of book signings - you can find me at Wylies Newsagency in Temora with Sue and John on Friday the 22nd of July, at the Dubbo Book Connection with David on Saturday the 30th, then with Dianne at the Coonabarabran Newsagency on Saturday the 6th of August, and stepping into Queensland with Lyn at Bryson's Place Gifts in Warwick on Friday the 12th and finally at the Oakey newsagency on Saturday the 13th with Sandra and Ken.  Come along if you are in the area and check out the new titles.  I will have colouring sheets for all books as usual thanks to my wonderful illustrator Helen Leach.

ALL CREATURES SHORT AND TALL- is another collection of short stories - this time featuring our best friends - our pets.

For the last few years I have been gathering stories from friends, family and many of the campers at Wonboyn.

Some have been published on ABC Open - you may remember Pam our postmistress's pig - Crackle - who grew --- and grew ----  and grew, thanks to her husband Jim who filled his supermarket trolley with piggy treats.

Other gems are a story about 3 year old Liam and his granny - a chook and their adventures.  A lovely snake story, plenty of dog, cat and horse tales or perhaps tails - and a funny, ferret slap-stick, family memory.

It will be on the shelves for $15.95

 REG THE ROOSTER - the next book in our 'tiny ant' series is a must for all chook lovers and those who love stories from the bush with lovely rhyming words and vividly coloured illustrations.

Helen went to town on Reg having lots of fun with all his hens and the places he took them throughout his day.

My cousin Peter who teaches children with learning disabilities requested a book with clock faces to help students learn to tell the time - here it is Pete - enjoy and I know all students will find telling the time easy with Reg the Rooster helping out!

Give us a wave when you see the "Little Ant" van pass you on the road - or stop and say hello when you catch up with us in your town!

Film Clip of Emily Emu Chick

                      Film Clip of Emily Emu Chick

On Friday March the 4th I visited the Orbost Primary School and had a great time with all the students.  We illustrated, composed poems, made up stories and acted out our stories.

After lunch a new program of activities kicked off and I found myself in the midst of an art class - Helen my illustrator will be laughing loudly. We sketched Emus using her beautiful pastel drawings as inspiration. 

My emu was very basic - just shapes really - then the students and teacher created beautiful art works in their brand-spanking-new sketch pads while I gave them a run down on emu facts.

Enjoy this reading of the first two pages of Emily Emu Chick by Shara - one of the talented students in the art class - her school friends are with her to give moral support - she reads very well!  Her school is very proud of her efforts.

If you would like to purchase a copy of Emily Emu Chick just email me at susiesarah@hotmail.com.au and I will send you a list of your local outlets.

 

Channel 9 TV - my 5 minutes of fame!

Vanessa Milton ABC Open Producer - PS I only just discovered that your story was featured on the main page of The Drum - this is a high profile part of the ABC News site, they only pick one of the Open Drum stories to feature, and you’re it!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-25/sarah-open-drum-keeping-busy-is-the-key-to-%27retirement%27/7199318

 

It all happened last week after a phone call from Channel 9 to appear on their morning program with David and Sonja - Annabelle the producer found my article for ABC Open on The Drum - I didn't realise until Vanessa contacted me that it had been on the front page of their website - amazing.

So off to Canberra, after a morning at the Wyndham market, to stay in a swanky hotel not far from Parliament House where channel 9 have a studio.

 

I wish I had photographed that studio - it was a blackened room filled with cameras - the backdrop behind me was superimposed and all I saw was a grotty desk with a red button "push it love if you can't hear well enough" - a hairy hair brush which I thought must have been used for their dogs and in front of me a square screen of light - which I stared at like a rabbit in the spotlight - that's where the camera is.  Hundreds of miles away in Sydney were the rest of the people I was talking to - I couldn't see them which was rather disconcerting. 

 

So hours of travel to Canberra, hours of travel home and all for this short segment which was wonderful and all scripted - I still have that script to prove to students in schools I visit that everything is set out - it was certainly a great help and my words were taken from the ABC story and a phone call I'd had with Annabelle - all very professional and set out to help me relax.

 

I left Canberra for home then headed off to Buchan for my first school with 30 students to visit followed by a day with students at Orbost Primary School and calls to Paynesville and my bookstores in Bairnsdale and Lakes Entrance.  Next week I'm on the road again visiting schools at Paynesville, Omeo and Swifts Creek!