Robert Irwin Dinosaur Hunter 5 & 6 ARE HERE!

Here they are! Robert Irwin Dinosaur Hunter books 5 & 6 in all their glory! I snapped this photo at my FNMMBS (Friendly Neighbourhood Mega Mall Book Shop) yesterday and I am excited!
I am really, very proud of all of my stories but something about these two really make me smile a little bit. Seeing them in print with their terrific covers was a thrill.

The one on the left is book 5: Call of the Wild. This was to be a book that explored the possible sounds and calls that dinosaurs may have made (perhaps). There is a lot of guess work in the science surrounding this (though we are quite sure they couldn’t roar) and Australia’s Muttaburrasaurus was chosen to be the star of the book.
I gave myself the extra challenge of wanting to set the entire story at night time (for fun and to help it to stand out from the others in the set) and though this at first seemed to be a mistake, it gave way to a clever story. (I’m not biased at all!) How could I make calling and night time integral? By making a juvenile Muttaburrasaurus lost in the dark of course!
Love the illustrations in this one, and Robert’s sketch of the Muttaburrasaurus is really good!

Makes-me-smile-moment: Robert and Riley knickname the Muttaburrasaurus they meet ‘Barry.’

The book on the right is book 6: Dinosaur Champions. For this story I had to introduce the fastest and largest dinosaurs to our readers. But it was insanely tricky to come up with a story that had Robert travelling to three different settings and time periods in one book and do it seamlessly. I hope I pulled it off.
I have always loved that these books are rooted in science and don’t dumb it all down for kids, and I found researching these creatures so much fun! It was also a great story to introduce a lot of personal touches. As a runner I had a lot to draw from as I pitted Robert in training for an athletics meet. As he visits each of the dinosaurs he actually learns something to help him to run faster and stronger.
This book also features a new friend for Robert named Lauren. I named her after someone I know which is what I always do when deciding on names for my stories. It makes the characters I invent feel real to me, somehow, even if this Lauren is nothing like the ‘real’ one!

Makes-me-smile-moment: The Argentinosaurus the boys meet is SO big, Riley dares Robert to do cart wheels under its tummy.

Find these books at your local book shop or online. They are also available as an eBook for all major devices.

If you have read them, let me know what you think – I’d love to hear from you!

The dinosaurs have been hunted!

Last Friday I submitted my final edit for my final (as far as I know) Robert Irwin Dinosaur Hunter novel. Book 7 was the most challenging for me to complete – which was funny as I expected it to get easier as I went along! No spoiler alerts yet, but I think the reason for this was because each book needed a lot of research on the dinosaurs that I wanted to include. How to make the dinos in this book thread into a story line was trickier than I anticipated. I pulled the house down and started again many times!

Anyway, thank you RIDH! It has been a fantastic ride – one I will never forget. I am flattered to have been a part of a series that I believe is truly terrific!

Below are a sneak peek at books 5 & 6 out in the first week of June! WOW these cover illustrations have really made the story from inside of my head live and breathe! Stay tuned for more details as the release date nears!

   Can you predict what these stories will be about?

For more info, visit:
http://www.randomhouse.com.au/dinosaur-hunter

Life, a miracle

A change of pace for me today…

When we first moved to America, I was ten years old. Despite sharing a language, I found the people, places and customs of this new land strange and uninviting. Even a simple thing like walking down the aisles at the supermarket or ordering at a fast food emporium were laced with nuances and quirks that were decidedly foreign.
We first landed in California (my parents, my younger brother, my two younger sisters, and I). When we got to our motel, we turned on the TV to get a taste of America. The first thing I saw was an ad for something called Apple Cinnamon Cheerios. I still remember the jingle. and the whole thing took my breath away as my parents gagged in disgust. ‘They have food that tastes like other food, here?’ I thought? Unbelievable!

After arriving in Princeton, NJ, it took us a few days to buy our own TV. My brother and I got into Reading Rainbow and Super Mario Bros, as my sisters watched shows we had at home like Sesame Street. Oh, and they liked to watch this thing called Mister Rogers, too.
Mister Rogers was just as unbelievable to me as Apple Cinnamon Cheerios had seemed on the floor of the motel in LA. In my head, this program was impossible to categorise. Unfathomable. It seemed to me that this was a show that grandparents would watch. It was slow, quiet, straight, plain and underproduced. It had puppets and goldfish, deliverymen and bakers. It was a show about friends. And being a friend. Mister Rogers spoke to me like I was his friend. And I didn’t like that.

About six months ago, for some unknown reason, I played a Mister Rogers to my three year old son over YouTube. It was love at first sight for both of us. He fell in love with his manner and way of explaining things. I fell in love with the respect he showed to all people, the support he gave to young people, and the delight he showed when teaching children how pretzels are made or where milk comes from. I wished he was my sons’ father.

Since then, Mister Rogers has become the person my son winds down with, and for me, he has become a role model. I feel I know Mister Rogers intimately now that I have watched a truckload of his shows and other appearances, and read his books. This was a genuinely thoughtful and caring man, who changed many people.

This video is where I’m going with all this. I’d love you to watch it. It breaks my heart – not because it is of a child with a disability, but because the way Mister Rogers treats this boy, and speaks to him, really shows me my own lack of care and love for others in this world – and my sister has Down’s Syndrome!
There’s nothing on TV like this anymore. For whatever reason, this video picks me up when I feel down. And when it gets to the song…wow.

This is an unscripted, unedited piece of TV history that shows you, not just what Mister Rogers was all about, but how important life is, and how vital it is for all of us to show love to all people – no matter how small, how broken, how alone, how old – we are all amazing.

When writing, crack the whip!

I don’t want to sound like an old school principal, but the difference between those who wish they had written a story and those who have, is: Discipline!

Many people wish they could be a fire fighter, actor, magician or writer. And they only thing stopping them, is that they don’t go try it. The first step to becoming a writer, famous or not, is to actually write something. Finishing a story, for example, whether or not it gets published, teaches you how to tie up loose ends, how to structure a plot, how to develop characters, AND how to be disciplined and just finish something.

This doesn’t mean you need to work forever and a day on a story that stinks, but keep starting, keep pushing, keep rehashing, and then, when someone says ‘have you written anything?’ you can say, ‘Yes! Check this out!’

Discipline doesn’t just mean finishing what you start, though. You also need to set aside time to do it. If you don’t schedule it, life (and Facebook) will steal your time away from you. At the moment I do most of my writing on the train to and from ‘other work.’ Though far from ideal, the time is set and unmovable. On the train, I write!

Without discipline, I would not have written a thing. So… GET CRACKING!!!

Image: creative commons

When writing, be a hoarder

I learned a lesson in writing this week…

To be a good writer, hoard!

Image: Creative Commons (opb.org)

By this I don’t mean fill your house with so much stuff you can’t move. I mean, never – ever – throw out your ideas, first drafts, or snippets of stories that you started (however long ago) but never finished.

Not only do old ideas and characters often evolve over time to become something bigger and/or better, sometimes you can revisit old stories ideas you rejected ages ago and, with fresh eyes, reinvent them into something awesome!

A few weeks ago I had a ten day gap between Dinosaur Hunter projects and I didn’t want to stop writing altogether. I knew my publisher Random House was looking for short stories for two future collections and I wanted to change pace and give that a go. Only problem was, I didn’t have nearly enough time to start something new.

I scoured old ideas and found two stories that I thought I could salvage and edit to fit the criteria. Just yesterday I learned both these stories have been accepted for publication.

More on these once the project is official, but I am so glad I sweated over the stories in their first drafts, and, that I hadn’t deleted them from my hard drive!

If you wrote something, anything, a long time ago – whether you thought it good or bad – I wonder what looking at it now with fresh eyes might show you?

Image: Creative Commons (photo1024.com)

The Dinosaur Feather: A quick quiz

To write a book about dinosaurs is a lot of work. You have to research what they looked like, how they acted, where they lived and why all this was so.

Why not have a go at this quick quiz to see how much you know about the amazing feathered dinosaurs featured in Robert Irwin: Dinosaur Hunter 4! Answers at the bottom!

1. Which of the following dinosaurs did NOT have any feathers?
A: Yutyrannus
B: Tyrannosaurus
C: Velociraptor
D: Stegosaurus

2. Why did many theropod dinosaurs develop feathers?
A: For warmth
B: To look attractive
C: To help some of them fly
D: For camoflague

3. Approximately how many species of dinosaurs have had fossils unearthed that show their feathers?
A: 30
B: 4
C: 0
D: 95

4. Besides feathers, many dinosaurs shared which of the following traits with birds?
A: Hollow bones
B: They laid eggs
C: They built nests
D: They had toothless beaks

ANSWERS: 1=D Velociraptor and tyrannosaurus are known to have feathers on at least part of their bodies or when young. Yutyrannus (the star of the book) was covered in feathers, some 20cm long. 2=A&B The flying reptiles that lived at the time of the dinosaurs were not dinosaurs. It is possible that some dinos did develop limited flight later in history as dinosaurs evolved into birds. 3=A But these discoveries inform palaeontologists of which other dinosaurs probably had feathers too. 4=All of the above! Dinosaurs shared many behavioural and physical links with modern birds which isn’t surprising as birds evolved from them!

A special message from Robert Irwin!

Hi everyone! Robert Irwin has something he’d like to say to you!

That’s right! Tomorrow is the big day! Hitting the shelves of all good book shops and ebook retailers will be books 1-4 of a new series from Random House Australia – Robert Irwin: Dinosaur Hunter!

Why am I so excited? Because I was Robert’s helper on book 4 – The Dinosaur Feather!

It has been an amazing project to be a part of. These stories are full of excitement and adventure, but best of all – dinosaurs! Readers will not only feel like they are on an adventure with Robert and his best mate Riley, but will be learning heaps about dinosaurs along the way!

Each story contains fact files on the dinosaurs featured in the book, as well as a drawing by Robert himself. The books are beautifully illustrated and it has been truly amazing to see my ideas come to life in such a vibrant and engaging way.

And what’s even more exciting…?
Dinosaur Hunter is an 8 book series and I have helped to create books 5-7 as well – all of which are coming out later this year!

In the coming days I will be posting about The Dinosaur Feather in greater detail – detailing interesting facts about my research, where I got my ideas from, and how the book was created, but for now. let’s just get excited!!!

Official trailer:

Be sure to visit www.dinosaurhunter.com.au for lots of fun stuff related to the series – an interview with Robert, a dino quiz, downloadable activities and more!

Teaserama 2

It’s time for another clue! Put this snippet together with last week’s to see more of the cover of my next book!

What is that?
All will be revealed on March 1!

How awesome does this look!

Teaserama 1

Thought I’d post a tiny section of the cover of my next book that will hit Australian bookshops on March 1st and eBook outlets everywhere. Why? Because the publisher sent me some copies this week and I’m dying to share them! In the interests of teasing you even more, I have made the image blurry too!
Stay tuned for more info…

Can you guess what the book is…?

Florence takes the lead

My shameless plug post o’ the month.

In September I posted about a book I wrote, Animal Tales 8: Race to the Finish. It’s time, people, for my second book in the series to be released! Welcome book 10: Florence Takes the Lead!

It’s a great little series (I’m not biased at all) about Ben and Cassie who have animal-related adventures (and learn a little bit along the way.) The deeper issue explored in book 8 was the hard life of greyhounds, during and after racing, Florence explores the inhumane methods often found on pig farms.

The challenge in writing these books was to make the stories fun and engaging while looking at tough stuff, and to make the issues relevant to kids. They were fun to write and I was able to add in some groovy Easter eggs (even if I’m the only person who will find them.) For example, while writing the book, my two year old was obsessed with a 50s Disney cartoon, Paul Bunyan, about the big guy with the axe. I needed to call the country town in the book something, and I settled on Bunyan. I thought it sounded just like an Australian country town!

Florence Takes the Lead is available now in Australian book shops and online, as well as an ebook for Kindle, Google/Android and iBooks.

Click here to visit the book’s page on the Random House Books Australia website.

Bonus Feature:
Here is Google Books’ word cloud from the book. Read this for a fast (but a little confusing) summary of the story!

Extra Bonus Feature:
Also out now is a series of four books: Stories for 5/6/7/8 Year Olds, also published by Random House. These books feature short stories by some of Australia’s most famous children’s writers, including Andy Griffiths, Morris Gleitzman, Paul Jennings, Jacqueline Harvey, RA Spratt, Deb Abela and Tristan Bancks. Oh! And I have a story in there too! In Stories for 6 Year Olds. It’s called No hat, no play! and it is easily the best one too! (And I’m not biased at all!)