sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

What Claire Saxby Likes About Children’s Poetry

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Continuing my month of celebrations of all things poetry. I am delighted to welcome another visitor to my blog. Today my good freind Claire Saxby, children’s book author and poet, drops by to tell us what it is that she likes about children’s poetry. Welcome Claire, and thanks for helping me to celebrate the release of Toppling in this way. Over to you.

When is a photo not a photo? When it’s a poem.

I write across a range of genre and markets in writing for children. My shortest book has only 26 words. I’ve written fiction and non fiction for preschoolers, emerging readers, confident readers all the way to upper primary. And I write poetry.

When the rest of my life is swirling madly and it seems there is no time to write, that’s when poetry is my salvation. When I have no time to work a plot, refine a setting and get to know my characters, I do have time to catch an image, to write a poem.

I think of writing longer fiction as being a bit like filming a movie and a poem as capturing a single image. A poetic image can sneak up and snare me and often does.

Of course capturing the idea is just the beginning and there’s work to be done refining it, just like post editing a photo. Framing, light, shading. The more I catch in the original image the better, but I know as long as I have the essence, the rest will come.

On Glenelg Pier

I lean against the wind
scuttle sideways
as waves clap pylons
and explode upwards
in daygrey fireworks

seagulls hunker
sea thumps shore
even fishermen
pull in their lines

only sealboys smile
slickblack surfers
ride water to sand
then footprint the pier
to leap again
into deepest wavecrest

I was in Adelaide last year and went for a walk on a windy pier. Black wetsuit-ed teenagers were running along the pier, carrying surfboards. Then they’d watch the wild choppy waves and leap into the crest. They’d catch the next wave to shore then do it all again. Joy and exhilaration was written loud across their faces, in complete contrast with all the other beachgoers, all struggling with the wind and cold. It was a lovely juxtaposition and I can still see the scene in my mind.

moon
round and ripe
the moon is a mango
with one slice gone

I was driving home late one night, quite tired and feeling not a little jaded (too much to do, not enough time to do it etc) . I turned a corner and there was the moon, hanging orange and large, just above the horizon. It was almost full, but not quite round. It was stunning. I slowed down and just kept stealing glances at it. It slowed down my racing brain too and reminded me of the beauty that is all around. Cheered me up no end.

A friend of mine suggests looking at the world through poetic eyes, looking for surprising details in the ordinary, the everyday. It took practice at first, but then it became almost second nature and images sneak up and grab me as I’m walking, or driving, or just about anywhere.

Beautiful Claire. Thanks for visiting and for sharing such lovely poems. You can visit Claire online at her blog, or her website.

What Karen Collum Likes About Children’s Poetry

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How exciting! Today I welcome another visitor to my blog, here to help me celebrate the release of Toppling by guest blogging about what she likes about children’s poetry.

Please welcome the lovely Karen Collum. Over to you, Karen.

The Thinking Reader’s Novel

I’ve always been a voracious reader, devouring children’s books of every kind at an alarming rate. Verse novels, however, are a new discovery for me. When I first heard the term ‘verse novel’, I had to ask another author exactly what it meant. I was familiar with rhyming picture books texts, but verse novels? That was something new. And now that I know, I have one thing to say: I’m in love.


The first verse novel I ever read was Jinx by Margaret Wild. Since then, I’ve read Sixth Grade Style Queen – Not! (Sherryl Clark), Do Wrong Ron (Steven Herrick) and Pearl Verses the World (by the lovely Sally Murphy). Each and every one of these books has been a delightful adventure into the world of verse and has inspired me to read in this style more widely and even attempt writing my own.

One of the most appealing aspects of verse novels for me is the brevity of the text. As a picture book author, I place high value on the ‘less is more’ concept. A standard novel has the luxury of taking the reader by the hand and guiding them through the story in many thousands of words. Verse novels however, are limited to a select group of well-chosen words, each of which much serve the dual purpose of enhancing the progress of the story and adding beauty and meaning to the text. The construction of a verse novel may well bear resemblance to that of a picture book, with each and every word fighting for its place in the text. Anything that is not absolutely essential to the text must be abandoned. There is no room for the unnecessary in a verse novel.

This leads me to something else I love about verse novels: readers are active participants in the construction of meaning. In my mind, verse novels are the ‘thinking reader’s novel’. The author gives enough information to make sense of the story, but leaves the reader to join the dots. As a reader, my brain is engaged from start to finish as I look for the subtle clues the authors place to assist me in completing my dot-to-dot. From clever use of headings, to the intentional placement of illustrations, verse novels are beautifully crafted and encourage me to notice the little things and to piece them together in a meaningful way.

Congratulations on the release of Toppling, Sally. I can’t wait to read it and get lost in a verse novel once more.

Thanks, for dropping by Karen, and for your lovely words.
You can visit Karen online at her website.

What Alison Miles likes about Children’s Poetry

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As part of my celebrations of the release of Toppling, I have invited my writing friends to drop into my blog throughout this month to chat about what they like about children’s poetry. Today, I’m delighted to welcome Alison Miles, librarian and writer. So, without any further ado, here’s Alison.
summer watermelon moments

What fun to be guest blogging on Sally’s site on what I like about children’s poetry!

I like the zing of verse novels; their raw emotional intensity. They look just like other novels sitting on the shelf, but open them and you find words, carefully chosen words strung together in free verse with the power to crumple your heart and open your mind.

I discovered YA verse novels while working in a school library, first Steven Herrick’s, then Margaret Wild and Catherine Bateson’s titles. I was amazed how these authors could tell such compelling tales using so few words and so much white space. On the first page the reader is introduced to the characters, the narrator and the situation and then quickly flung into the action. The reader feels a part of this wild ride. It can be a quick read because of the economy of words, but intense.

Children love poetry written for them because it speaks of their experiences, their lives. Think of Laura Purdie Salas’ Stampede!: Poems to celebrate the wild side of school. And to have these poems read aloud or performed! Audiences quickly make the connection that poetry is life captured on the page (or stage). Congratulations to Sally, who’s adding to the genre with Toppling.

My challenge: add a poetry wall to your home, your school, your place of work. Encourage people to write their poems in ink, on postcards or post-its, or project poems onto the surface. Use magnetic poetry. Poetry forces you to clarify your thoughts.

Just like that pure moment when you bite into your first summer watermelon!

Alison is a Townsville librarian with a blog (the-storyspace) and a website (wordbox4writers). She plays Street Poet while out walking.

Thanks for dropping in and sharing your thoughts, Alison!

What Dee White likes about Children’s Poetry

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As part of my celebrations for the release of my verse novel, Toppling, I have invited some of my friends – writers, poets, bloggers, teachers and more – to drop by during March. I will be asking each visitor the same question – what do you like about children’s poetry? – but am expecting some real variety in their answers.

So, without further ado, I’d like to welcome my first visitor for the month. Dee White is a wonderfully talented YA and children’s author. Thank you for dropping by Dee. Over to you:

THERE’S SOMETHING SPECIAL ABOUT VERSE NOVELS

Congratulations, Sally on your beautiful new novel, Toppling. It is such a moving book. I was reading it in the car park at school pick up and totally embarrassed myself by crying – luckily my car windows are tinted.

Thanks so much for inviting me here today – and what a wonderful topic to discuss – verse novels – a particular favourite of mine.

My first introduction to verse novels was through the work of bestselling YA author, Ellen Hopkins. Her novels, Burned, Impact and Crank, just to name a few, hook you right into the story from the first page.

I was lucky to meet Ellen and hear about her books at a Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators conference. Inspired by her work I moved on to devour the wonderful writing of Australian authors, Sherryl Clark, Lorraine Marwood, Steven Herrick, Catherine Jinks and Margaret Wild.

There’s something about the rawness of verse novels that gets right to the heart of the emotions – it draws the reader straight into the main character’s world.

Verse writers have an amazing talent to tell us so much in so few words. They take the reader on an intimate journey, make you feel that you are there by special invitation – that it’s just you and the main character taking this path.

The power of verse is that it doesn’t have time or space for adverbs and adjectives. The reader has to visualise using his/her own imagination. They come to understand the main character’s world through the way that the main character acts and reacts to what’s happening around them/to them.

My current YA novel, Street Racer uses verse to establish a distinct voice between two characters. I have discovered that verse has more versatility than you think – and it gives your story pace, moving the reader along – not allowing them to become bogged down by excess detail.

A good verse novel is like an exquisitely decorated Christmas tree – balanced and striking with no excess baubles – beautifully simple.

Sally, your new novel, Toppling, is a perfect example of this. Right from the first page John’s character hooked me into his story.

The domino theme is so powerful in symbolising the precarious state of John’s world. The language is so simple yet tells us so much.

Works like Toppling are the very reason I love verse novels and poetry. Congratulations, Sally on your beautiful new book and thanks for inviting me to your place to talk about verse.

Dee White has a review of Toppling at her blog http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com/

Thanks so much for your kind words, Dee, and for sharing with us today.

And the Party Goes On

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Thanks for dropping by! One of the hard things about a party is always the clean up the next day. But, in case you missed it, yesterday I had a big party right here on this blog, a cyber-launch to celebrate the release of my new verse novel, Toppling. And the great thing about a cyber-party is that there is no mess. Well, no REAL mess, anyway. The cyber streamers ar elooking a little limp today, and tehre are several half cups of cyber bubbly littering the virtual coffee tables – but I can live with that.
(If you did miss the party yesterday and think I’m perhaps losing the plot, please scroll down to yesterday’s post to get up to date).
I just want to say thanks so much to everyone who dropped in here yeterday, as well as the many people who left messages on Facebook, Tiwtter, and via email. You made me feel so special, and gave Toppling such a lovely send-off into the big wide world.
Now the launch party may be over, but the celebrations continue. There will be things happening here on the blog throughout March, as well as real world events including a ‘real’ launch at the All Saints festival later in March. So check back here often for details.
In the meantime, I was really excited to find the first online review for Toppling at the Our Patch site. Check it out here.

Toppling Launch

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Welcome! Come right in. Mind you don’t bump your head on the ballons and streamers. Aren’t they pretty?

You’ve arrived at the virtual launch for Toppling, my new verse novel, which is released today. Let the festivities begin.

First, while you wait for the speeches, please help yourself to some refreshment. My gorgeous waiters are circulating with trays of canapes, or chips and dips if you’d prefer, and plenty of cyber bubbly (you can choose between alchoholic or nonalchoholic, and for the kids cyber softdrink). And, of coruse, feel free to chat with the other guests.

Right, can I have your attention please? We’ll move in to the formal part of the party.


For those who don’t know me, I’m Sally Murphy, the author of the book we’re about to launch. I’m just delighted to see so many of you have made the trip across cyber space to be with me today as we launch Toppling.

If you haven’t had a chance to look at Toppling, here it is:

Toppling is the story of John (his mum calls him Johnboy) whose twin passions are domino toppling and hanging out with his friends, especially his best friend, Dominic. But when Dominic falls ill, John feels as if his world is toppling. How is a kid supposed to cope with knowing his friend could be dying? And how can he support that friend?

Tough subject matter, I know, but I’m hoping you’ll find Toppling an uplifting read. It is my fervent belief that kids need books about tough subjects as much as they need books that are funny, or silly, or anything else.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank some people – my family, the team at Walker Books for believing in me (and my books), my editor Virginia who is always right (almost always, anyway), my good writer buddies Sue and Claire who over the years have listened to my talk of giving up, kept me going and celebrated my successes, and my cyber buddy Sandy who momentarily will take centre stage to launch the book (and who I am looking forward to meeting in person in a couple of weeks at the All Saints Festival in Perth). It’s an honour to have Sandy here, and I’d like to mention that her own book, Jaguar Warrior, is also being released today.

Congratulations, Sandy And, of course, I’d like to thank you all for dropping me to join in today’s celebration. Writing can sometimes be a very solitary pursuit, but to be surrounded by such supportive people on a day like today is a real joy.

And now, over to Sandy Fussell, who has agreed to give up part of her day to laucnchToppling. welcome, Sandy.

When Sally asked me to launch Toppling I was thrilled to bits. Her previous verse novel, Pearl Verses the World, was one of my favourite books of 2009. I find verse novels have a unique way of making the reader feel emotionally involved. But despite that, I was totally unprepared for the impact Toppling had on me. This book hits hard. It goes straight to the heart.

Toppling is a beautiful illustrated story, dealing sensitively with childhood cancer and the way cancer in general reaches into the lives of all the children who come into contact with it. There is sadness in the pages but those same pages will help children understand and cope. No magic cure is promised and while the story offers hope, it doesn’t avoid the important fact that cancer is a killer.

Rhian Nest-James’ drawings bring the children to life and the emotion on their faces is vivid and real. The hospital, the playground, the classroom – the setting illustrations are both familiar and universal.

This book is for every child (and their adults) – for those struggling to live with a cancer sufferer, for those who have lost someone they love and those who need to understand how others feel. It’s a heavy message told with a perfectly light touch. Readers will find different meaning and experiences in the words. And that’s Toppling’s greatest strength.

I am very proud to launch Toppling into cyberspace.

Gosh, thanks Sandy. I’m so glad I brought the cyber-tissues because you’ve brought tears to my eyes. Thanks so much.


And that concludes the formalities of today’s launch. Fee; free to hang around a bit longer – the cyber-bubbles will be flowing all day, and I’d love for you to leave a comment below so I know you’ve been here. Thanks so, so much for coming and joining in the fun.



You can buy Toppling online from Booktopia, Dymocks, The Children’s Bookshop (NZ), or Abbeys, or in a good brick and mortar store near you. If they don’t have it in stock, ask them to get it in.
And, come back here often during March as the celebrations continue. Have a lovely day. I know I will.
sallymurphy.com.au