Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Amazing Australia - The Inside Story!

Ever wondered how a kid's book actually makes it onto the bookstore shelves? To the uninitiated, it might seem a mysterious process, but to anyone who's ever worked on children's books will tell you, the main ingredients are an uncertain mix of good ideas, hard work and a generous dollop of good luck thrown in for good measure!

Each book takes a different path on its journey from abstract idea to printed reality. We can't speak on behalf of other authors and their books, but if you've ever wanted to know how the Amazing Australia series came into being, then check out the following article which appeared in the August 2008 edition of Reading Time, the official journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia.

Oh, and just in case you're wondering, the accompanying illustration shows an early cover design for Airborne Australia which Doug prepared during the course of the series. Enjoy!

Airborne Australia - By Kevin Patrick

The idea for Airborne Australia was borne out of a long drive through country Victoria I took with my wife sometime back in 2004. I can’t recall what prompted our discussion, but we were talking about the teaching of Australian history in schools, and recalling some of the bizarre and entertaining historical anecdotes our teachers used to tell us.

I wondered aloud if kids today were being taught any of this stuff, at which point my wife said I should write a book about it. ‘That’ll teach you to open your trap’, I thought to myself. But she was right – I could write a book about the hidden nooks ‘n’ crannies of Australian history, because there’d certainly be enough material to fill a book.

But I didn’t want to sit down and slog over a dry and musty textbook. I figured if I got bored writing it, then chances are kids would go to sleep reading it, too. Having worked in bookstores on and off over the years, though, I recalled just how popular the Horrible Histories series was, with their quirky facts and grisly anecdotes, punctuated by cartoons. Although they were utterly Euro-centric, they did provide a possible template for a comparable series of kids’ books dedicated to Australian history.

With this in mind, I hammered out a proposal outlining a new series titled Amazing Australia, with each volume examining a different aspect of Australian history, from sport and inventions, to dinosaurs and warfare. In my mind’s eye, I could see each book packed with illustrations, little ‘factoid’ break-out boxes – maybe even a comic strip?

It all sounded great on paper, but there was one tiny problem – I was a writer, not an artist. And so began my quest to find an illustrator who’d be willing to sign-up for the Amazing Australia adventure.

I first met Doug Holgate at the Supanova comic convention in Sydney, back in 2001, after he’d just finished illustrating a horror comic, Dunwich. Our paths would occasionally cross at subsequent conventions, but it wasn’t until I was casting around for a possible illustrator that I really began to notice Doug’s artwork.

Some idle internet browsing took me to Doug’s online folio, which proved to be a pleasant surprise. During the intervening years, Doug had developed a unique drawing style, blending ‘cartoony’ caricature with a strong storytelling sensibility. Just as importantly, Doug’s folio showed he could draw more than just comics, with samples ranging from portraiture to palaeontological illustrations of dinosaurs.

Convinced that I had found the ideal illustrator for Amazing Australia, I contacted Doug and explained my harebrained scheme. Thankfully, he didn’t hang up the phone on me and we eventually sat down to assemble some sample pages for what would become Airborne Australia.

Putting those pages together pretty much laid down the collaborative process we’ve follow for the entire series so far. Doug and I would discuss the people, places and events we’d both want to see in the book – not only because they held personal appeal for each of us, but also because we felt that their inclusion was essential to the overall story being told in each book.

In most cases, it was simply a matter of me researching and writing each section of the book, then forwarding on the text to Doug, along with any visual reference material I thought he might need.

Doug would then retreat to his studio and, some time later, I’d get a scan of the completed artwork emailed to me. Often Doug would nail it the first time ‘round, but other times we’d email each other back and forth with changes and corrections, until we were both happy with the result – or simply too exhausted to look at it any further!

Occasionally, though, Doug and I would have to sit down and try and ‘nut out’ a solution to a particularly tricky ‘visual’ sequence, such as a puzzle, maze or activity page.

This was especially true of ‘Target: Darwin’, the comic strip featured in Airborne Australia, which recounts the Japanese bombing of Darwin in 1942. Not only was there a good deal more research involved, but trying to convey the details of this complex event, without impeding the action, was a real challenge. As a writer, I had to give Doug the room he needed to let his artwork tell the story, and resist the urge to weigh down each panel with reams of wordy exposition.

I should stress that Doug’s role in the book went beyond just furnishing the illustrations themselves. He designed the graphic motifs which introduced each section of the book, such as stopwatch image for the ‘Record Breakers’ page, and (my personal favourite) the floating brain wearing the flying goggles on the ‘Brain Busters’ page. Doug also designed the page headings, typeset my original text and composed the page layouts, as well. In this area, he was amply assisted by Random House Australia’s in-house designer, Anna Warren.

Once we were both satisfied with each sequence, we’d pass them on to our editor at Random House Australia, Brandon Van Over, who really helped us pull the book together in its final stages. Not only would he pick up any historical or factual errors I’d made, but more importantly, he’d occasionally challenge us to rethink some sequences in the book which just fell short from the rest of the book’s overall quality. Although Doug and I were, by this time, suffering from deadline-itis, I think that last round of revision and correction Brandon made us do really strengthened the book’s overall look ‘n’ feel.

The level of interest in Airborne Australia since its release tells us that this book, like its predecessor, Prehistoric Australia, might be filling a valuable niche in the children’s book market. By revealing these overlooked aspects of our nation’s history, and telling these stories in ways that engage the reader’s imagination, our goal is to make them curious enough about their own country to want to know more.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Airborne Australia soars above the magazine racks!

If you've ever wondered how a book like Airborne Australia gets written, then check out the June 2008 issue of Krash magazine, which has a two-page interview with author Kevin Patrick, where he talks about how the book came to be - and how he and illustrator Doug Holgate hammered it into shape!

But, if you're one of the reluctant few who haven't actually gone out & bought a copy of Airborne Australia just yet, then you can get a sneak-peek of this amazing book in the June 2008 edition of DMAG, which has a full-colour excerpt from Airborne Australia, featuring more high-flying factoids than you could shake an aircraft wing at!

So, stop reading this blog, and march down to your nearest newsagency, convenience store or supermarket checkout aisle - and demand (well, it doesn't hurt to say "please", either) your copy of these cool mags today, okay?

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Meet us @ Children's Book Council of Australia conference - Sunday 4 May 2008

Kevin Patrick and Doug Holgate, the dynamic duo behind the Amazing Australia book series, will be appearing at the Children's Book Council of Australia's (CBCA) 9th national conference and expo, to sign copies of their books, Prehistoric Australia and Airborne Australia.

This year's event, held under the banner, All the Wild Wonders, will "explore the various dimensions of children’s books from the craft of the writing, to the illustrator’s art, to the importance of the publisher’s final production."

The CBCA conference, is being held at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre, 2 Clarendon Street, Southbank.

Kevin and Doug will be appearing between 1.30pm-2.00pm inside the You Yangs Exhibition Hall on Sunday 4 May to meet people attending the trade fair component of the conference, and sign copies of their books. So, be there, or be...umm....perpendicular?

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Return of the Nomad?

The April - June 2008 edition of Aero Australia magazine contained an intriguing news item, which claimed that Gippsland Aeronautics was seeking to purchase the manufacturing rights to the Nomad STOL (short take-off and landing) aircraft from Boeing Australia.

The Nomad was a controversial, although some say needlessly maligned, aircraft designed and built by the Government Aircraft Factory (GAF) in Australia. Design work on the aircraft commenced in the mid-1960s, with the first prototypes taking flight in 1971.

Intended for use by military and commercial operators, the Nomad was built to operate successfully from rugged environments, and could even be flown as a seaplane. However, the aircraft's history was plagued by a series of fatal accidents, and was subject to ongoing criticism about its allegedly major design flaws.

Despite being sold to several military services and civilian operators throughout Asia and Australia, eventually only 170 Nomad aircraft were built, before production ceased in the early 1980s. In 1985, the Government Aircraft Factory was renamed Aerospace Technologies of Australia (ASTA), and continued to operate under that name for a decade, until it was sold off by the Australian government in 1995 to Rockwell Systems Australia which, in turn, was purchased by Boeing Australia in 1996.

Both the GAF Nomad and the Gippsland Aeronautics GA8 Airvan are featured in Airborne Australia. It will be fascinating to see if this news story, as reported in Aero Australia, develops further. Who knows? If a follow-up edition of our book appears down the track, we might need to make space for a new, improved 21st century Nomad!

Interested readers should check their local library to see if they have a copy of Aero Australia Issue 2 (April - June 2004), which has an excellent article, 'Nomad: The Unwanted Child', written by the magazine's editor, Stewart Wilson, that charts the aircraft's troubled history. (Image courtesy of the Aeroplane Art Company)

We accept the Premier's Reading Challenge!

We were tickled pink to learn that Airborne Australia was one of the new book titles to be included for the Victorian Premier's Reading Challenge for 2008. The book was even featured in the special lift-out which appeared in The Age newspaper on Monday 7 April.

This event, now in its fourth year, is open to all Victorian school students from Prep to Year 10, and is designed to encourage schoolkids to broaden their reading horizons.

So, for example, school students from Years 3 to 10 must read 15 books between 30 January - 31 August 2008, with at least 10 of those books to be chosen from the Reading Challenge booklist. (Just make sure that Airborne Australia is one of the titles you choose, okay? Heh, heh, heh...)

You'll need to be a registered user at the Premier's Reading Challenge website, and log-in regularly to keep an online record of your reading throughout the event. and everyone who successfully completes the Challenge will receive a certificate of achievement from the Victorian State Premier, John Brumby (pictured above).

If you haven't already signed up, then get onto it straight away. And start re-reading Airborne Australia as a form of pre-Challenge training. Harrumph!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

In space, no one can hear your boomerang return

One of the earliest sections appearing in Airborne Australia is devoted to the boomerang, the uniquely Australian device whose surface resembles that of modern-day aircraft wings, which allows it to fly through the air - and, in the case of specially-designed boomerangs, return to the person who threw it!

Now, one of the most intriguing aeronautical experiments ever to be conducted was successfully completed on Tuesday 18 March 2008, by Japanese astronaut Takao Doi (pictured) who, while serving aboard the International Space Station, threw a boomerang out into space - and saw it return, just as it would have on Earth!

He carried out this offbeat mission (conducted during his free time, so he wasn't goofing off, alright?) at the request of Yasuhiro Togai, a resident of Osaka, Japan, who won an international boomerang-throwing competition in 2006.

While it might be some time before you, too, can enjoy the thrills of deep-space boomerang throwing, you can visit the Boomerang Association of Australia to learn more about this unique sport. No space suit required - just a good, strong throwing arm.

You've read the book - now, download the study guide!

Well, it's official - as of today, copies of Airborne Australia are being parachuted into bookstores across the country. (Well, okay, they were probably wheeled into bookshops on a trolley by a courier, but "parachuted" sounds a lot more exciting, right?)

Anyhow...um, where were we? Oh yes, that's right, the book. Well, it's out now in bookshops everywhere. But, if you're a teacher or librarian who's got a copy proudly displayed on your shelf, you might be interested to know that Random House Australia has prepared a study guide to accompany Airborne Australia, which you can use as the basis for lesson plans or group activities.

Just visit Kids @ Random Reading Guides, then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the 'download' link next to Airborne Australia. It's that simple!