win an autographed copy of Andy Griffiths' The 13-Storey TreeHouse

 Greetings all,

Last weekend, tightly squeezed in between parties, i attended a book signing & presentation by Andy Griffiths - one of Australia's BEST loved & highest selling children's authors - at the National Library of Australia.  It was packed with over 300 children clutching stacks of his books, the atmosphere was electric & i was thrilled to be in his presence.

Naturally my son had left his Andy books at school so we purchased some new books (ok, nine new books) & bless Andy, he signed every single one!!  Including an extra book i purchased to giveaway on my blog.  I told Andy i was doing this (giveaway) & he stopped, looked up & asked if i was a writer, did i run a children's literacy blog - he was so engaging, interested in who i was & what i was doing - i was thoroughly impressed.  This man is as energetic & fun as his books.  

 I hung out with my gal pal author Tania McCartney who had hosted a book awards events the day before with Andy, she said he was fantastic.  With the overflowing crowds, Andy started the event an hour early, to autographed books so no one missed out.  Truly an author who appreciates his audience!!

I've stolen these images from Tania (thanks) as my images were dark.  

Andy gave a fabulous presentation, but truly, he was more interested in questions from the audience & bantering.  He made everyone feel special & his brain goes a million miles an hour, he's absolutely hilarious & spilled the beans on his next instalment in the 13-Storey series (it will involve a chocolate fountain!!)   

 Andy writes like a naughty school boy, it's so entertaining & captures that difficult demographic of fidgety boys who can't sit still.  While he was chatting, there were boys reading everywhere - the Library provided seats & cushions - it was brilliantly organised. 

After he finished, he went back to signing books, the queue was loooong & the Library staff brought around badges, book marks, balloons & chocolate frogs.  My boy continued to read, then bounced a balloon around, made some new friends & back to reading.  While at the signing table, Andy chatted away to my son, which books he liked the most, he treated us like we were first in the queue, when we were easily the 200th!!  Gosh he must have signed thousands of books. 

 My son spent the rest of the weekend with his head stuck in Andy's books.  He has the 13-Storey & 26-Storey TreeHouse books now, the series will continue to expand.  So i thought i'd start someone's collection off with . . . 

an autographed copy of Andy Griffiths' 13-Storey TreeHouse 

. . . in a blog giveaway.

Just leave a comment here & follow this blog (on the right) for your chance to win.  Entries close after midnight Sunday 9th December, just in time for someone's Christmas stocking!!  Good luck, random draw & as always + extra entries per mention on your Blog, Twitter, Instagram, FaceBook.  Love Posie

snap it 'yellow' & all the latest giveaway lucky winners

Greetings all,

Playing along Snap It Wednesday with Faith Hope & a Whole Lotta Love Photography blog where this week's theme is 'yellow'.  I took this image last night, i know right, linking this non-flash-blurry-image to a photography blog is a tad ridiculous, however, it captures our beautiful pets relationship - German Shepherd still not too sure about the chirping chicken. But look at the warm yellow glow which comes from the coop at night.

Now to kick off the month how i plan to finish it - organised - here are the lucky winners of the latest bunch of giveaways i've run . . . hold your applause until the end please.

Congratulations CHD blog - 

you have won a copy of Tania McCartney's Beijing Tai Tai book.

Congratulations The Provincial Homemaker, 

Four Wise Monkeys & 

A Working Mother's Chatter blogs - 

you have each won a $10 'dough' voucher for Baker's Delight.

Congratulations Belle Inspirations blog - 

you have won a pair of baby boy sneakers & 

Me & My 2 Guys blog - 

you have won a pair of baby girl sneakers from My First Volley.

Congratulations The Humming Cat blog -

you have won a copy of Tania McCartney's Australian Story: an illustrated timeline book.

Congratulations Mrs Tiff Living Creatively blog -

you have won the National Library of Australia triple book set.

Applause.

Thank you to my lovely sponsors for donating these giveaway prizes, to my fabulous readers for your support & fantastic entries (all winners were chosen by random).  Winners, could you please email me your postal address for the goodies to be sent to you.  Love Posie

Australian Story: an illustrated timeline . . . GIVEAWAY

Greetings all,
Welcome to the Australian Story: an illustrated timeline BLOG tour.  Author Tania McCartney has presented the history of Australia to children in such a clever way . . . bold images from the National Library of Australia's digital collection, a running timeline along the bottom of each page, dates & details highlighting this country's milestones.  The book instantly captures children's attention . . . from the chunk of Gondwanaland, dinosaurs & first plants.  Give your primary school aged child some perspective about where they fit in to life & they are the key to what happens next. 

 Things start to get really interesting when Indigenous people arrive in Australia & the land masses break off (good bye New Guinea) & hello Warrigal (dingo). 

 Never under estimate children's love of facts & figures, they'll be quizzing you. 

 Q: Which European disovered Australia first?? 

A: Dutch explorer Willem Jansz in 1606. 

Australia was called New Holland when James Cook landed in 1770 to claim it for Great Britain.  Then the first fleet came with Arthur Phillip & convicts on 26th January 1788 - Australia Day - first celebrated in 1838 with fireworks, lamingtons, Union Jack car flags & a BBQ, maybe not, this is non fiction.  Anyway, you'll ace Australian trivia after reading this book. 

 We were lucky enough to attend Tania's entertaining book launch at the NLA, where she read to the children & involved them in a human time line: my 3rd girl was Captain Cook & my son was a 1956 Melbourne Olympics team member!!

This book is filled with inventions, currency, sports, gold rushes, World Heritage sites & achievements, all the big names are in it too - explorers Flinders, MacQuarie, Stuart, Burke, Wills; Holden cars + Phar Lap, the world's greatest racehorse.  You'll have flash backs to childhood history projects & it's a neat quick reference guide, a book, who knew, you don't have to google everything!!  Tania McCartney, making history cool for children, 47B years, $24.95, order here. 

Want to win a copy??  Just follow this blog & leave a comment here, closes midnight Sunday 18th March.  Good luck, love Posie

triple book review & GIVEAWAY from National Library of Australia

Greetings all & welcome to my reading chair . . .
i believe you need a happy place to indulge in books & the beautiful places they can take you.  The kind folk at the National Library of Australia have sent me 3 new, wonderful & very different books to review from 3 award winning & highly celebrated Australian authors.  I've very much enjoyed each book, lounging in my garden chair.  They are March releases & a blog giveaway too!!  

 Prolific writer & photographer, the late Leslie Rees, has his work continue in a new series of biographies about indigenous animals, created by his daughters Dymphna & Megan.  First in this series is Shy The Platypus, filled with stunning photographs, illustrations, prints - specially commissioned by the NLA for this heritage style edition.  The  beautiful story of Shy's adventures & discoveries, including encounters with humans was first published in 1944 - proving Rees was ahead of his time as an environmentalist. 

 I remember reading these Australian style books as a child, they are page turners, fragile native life versus the world.  At the back of the book you'll find platypus facts & information too.  Shy The Playtpus, 96 pages, $24.95 

 A fantastic first book bursting with colour & action for the 3 year old set, is Judy Horacek's These Are My Hands & flip it over to reveal These Are My Feet.  Have your little ones wriggling their fingers & tapping their feet as you read along together.

 Horacek is a popular cartoonist & visual artist, who has collaborated with uber famous Mem Fox  My favourite page is the footprints-in-the-sand, don't children love their own footprints!!  These Are My Hands, 48 pages, $17.95

 Love your Australian history but loathe that your children just 'google' what they need to research as you've forgotten??  Tania McCartney brings together all the major events of our nation's history on a timeline, which gives children a proportion guide from the explosive beginnings of our planet to modern day.  Australian Story: an illustrated timeline is a colourful factual book of images from the National Library's digital collection.

  This book is jam packed with exciting ecological change, social upheaval, politics, inventions, culture, modern technology & so much more.  Australian Story: an illustrated timeline, 47 billion years of history, $24.95 order here!!

Want to win an awesome prize of these National Library of Australian publications??  Just follow my blog & leave a comment at this post for your chance to win:
Shy The Platypus, These Are My Hands & a goodie bag from the Australian Story book launch.
Good luck & thanks NLA.  Giveaway open worldwide (to share our amazing country with you all), runs until midnight Saturday 10th March, love Posie