sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Picturing History: 5 Tips for Writing Historical Picture Books

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 Here’s an article I wrote for this week’s Pass It On Newsletter . Sharing it here for anyone who doesn’t subscribe.
 

Thinking about writing a historical picture book? Here are five quick tips to get you started.
1.        Choose an event (or an angle) which kids will be interested in. Children do love hearing about history, but not every famous event will have kid-appeal.  You may be fascinated by the election of 1914 or the invention of a special liniment for the treatment of cold sores but will children be?  When researching the life of Mary MacKillop, I was fascinated about her struggles with Bishop Shiels and other church clergy, but I wasn’t sure how much of that story would interest children.
2.       Don’t try to cover every aspect of an event or a person’s life. A picture book text is short, and whilst historical picture books do vary in length depending on the target age group, you don’t have the word length to cover the entire story of the Vietnam War, or a famous person’s entire life story. Choose a key event, or key period of their life. For Mary MacKillop’s story I decided to focus on her establishing her first school, because I felt that was a wonderful introduction to her life’s work.  The presence of her mother, sisters and brother in the story hint at her past, and a back of book timeline expands on this, but the story itself only covers less than a year of her life.
3.       Do your research – lots of it. Yes, a historical picture book is short, which means a lot of your research won’t be used for the final story. But reading about the event or the person in detail, referring to original documents and getting an understanding of the time and place your story is set all shape the final story. Understanding Mary’s childhood and the economic and social conditions of her time helped me better grasp the obstacles she had to overcome to establish her first school.
4.       Create characters. Even though you might be writing about real people and events you need to make the characters come to life, because young readers need to care about the people they are reading about. Just as in any other story, dialogue, gestures and action all build a sense of the person. When I learnt that Mary MacKillop would often have boiled sweets in her pocket to offer the children, I knew this had to happen in my story. It is a simple gesture that shows her caring side.
5.       Be true to the times in which your story is set. This can be quite challenging. It is important to find a balance between historical accuracy and being child friendly. In a picture book, illustrations help to show the time period, but the text too can show how things are, rather than telling. The text of Meet Mary MacKillop doesn’t name the year the story is set (1866) but the text on the opening page has Mary lean out a stagecoach window, setting it firmly in the past. The dialogue is a little more formal than might be expected in a contemporary story, though I tried hard not to make it too stilted.
Writing historical picture books can be challenging. But if there’s an event or a story you are passionate about, the effort can be rewarding. 
Sally Murphy is the author of verse novels, poetry and fiction for children including, not surprisingly, two historical picture books. Do Not Forget Australia (illustrated by Sonia Kretschmar) was published by  Walker Books in 2012 and  Meet Mary MacKillop (illustrated by Sonia Martinez) has just been released by Random House Australia.
You can visit Sally online at www.sallymurphy.net

April Reads

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Another new month means that it’s time to look back over what I read last month. I got through nineteen books and, as with the previous month, lots of poetry collections, which has been fun. I also read several Anzac and war-themed books, with Anzac Day falling in April. Here’s the list with, as always, links to those I’ve reviewed. Have a great month.

Monsieur Albert Rides to Glory Peter Smith & Bob Graham Allen & Unwin Picture Book
Dinosauritis Jeannette Rowe Allen & Unwin Picture Book
All the Small Poems Valerie Worth Farrar Strauss Giroux Children’s Poetry
Chasing the Light Jesse Blackadder Fourth Estate Adult
Chinese Whispers Christine Harris Omnibus Young Adult
About Auntie Rose Jenny Boult Omnibus/Puffin Children’s Poetry
I Rhyme My Time David Martin Jacaranda Children’s Poetry
For me, me, me Dorothy Butler Hodder Children’s Poetry
Poetry to the Rescue Steven Herriick UQP Children’s Poetry
The Mimosa Tree Antonella Preto Fremantle Press Young Adult
Guinea Pig Town Lorraine Marwood Walker Books Children’s Poetry
Tom Jones Saves the World Steven Herrick UQP Children’s
Amber Road Boyd Anderson Bantam Adult
Gallipoli Alan Tucker Scholastic Children’s
Light Horse Boy Dianne Wolfer Fremantle Press Picture Book
For Valour Nicolas Brasch Black Dog Children’s NF
Anzac Biscuits Phil Cummings Scholastic Picture Book
During the War I Rode a Horse Lyle Murphy Author House Adult
Portraits of Celina Sue Whiting  Walker Books Young Adult

Dear Book-baby

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Today is a special day. My latest book, Meet Mary MacKillop, is finally available in stores. I always regard my books as a bit like my children (though, rest assured, I do love my Murphlets best), so I thought to celebrate this special day I might write a letter to my new book. Maybe a little corny, but then I’m a corny kind of person. Anyway, here it is:
Dear Book-baby
Welcome to the world!
On the day of birth of each of my real-life babies, I gazed at them in wonder, grateful that the nine months of pregnancy and the toil of labour were over and I could meet this miraculous new being. And I wondered what life had in store for them, what they would grow to be, what we would weather together.
Your arrival is, admittedly, a little different. Firstly you took much longer than nine months to gestate, but just like a pregnancy that process had its highs and lows. The excitement of the initial idea, the bumps and nudges of my muse who doesn’t’ always know when she should be awake and when she should sleep and the agonies of self-doubt as I wondered if I was actually clever enough, and brave enough, to do it. Then the waiting, for feedback from the editor, for a contract, for the illustrator, designer, copyeditor, printer… Just like waiting for a baby to arrive, it felt like it might never happen. 
Secondly I did get glimpses at what you’d be like. First there were roughs, then proofs for me to admire and, of course, well before release day I was able to hold you in my hands when the postie delivered my advance copies. I was even able to show you off to friends and family, without having to wait till today, your release day.
But still, despite the differences, here on your official birthday, the day of your release, I sit and look at you and wonder what’s in store for you, for us. Will you be sit lonely on a bookstore shelf, or will you be picked up, read, loved by young readers?  Will readers young and old marvel at your tale, your gorgeous illustrations, your design? Will strangers stop me in the street to peer into the pram – oh, now that’s just a bit too far with the analogy. But I do hope critics, booksellers, teachers and parents will admire you enough to recommend and share you with youngsters.
I hope you and a long and successful life and that I will glimpse you not just around my own home but in stores, and schools and libraries. Like any proud mum I will tell the world about you, because I think your story is worth sharing. I’ll stroke your cover tenderly when no one is looking – and may even find myself sneaking you to the front of the shelf in bookshops so that you’ll get noticed. 
So, my book-baby, once again welcome to the world.  
Sally
Meet Mary MacKillop, illustrated by to amazing Sonia Martinez and published by Random HouseAustralia is the story of the woman who would become Australia’s first saint and her struggles to start a school for rural children. It is available now in good bookstores or online. You can see preview pages here.

The Graves of Gallipoli

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This be their epitaph. “Traveller, south or west,
Go, say at home we heard the trumpet call,
And answered. Now beside the sea we rest.
Our end was happy if our country thrives:
Much was demanded. Lo! our store was small –
That which we had we gave – it was our lives.”

L.L.

(Written by  an Anzac soldier, and published in the Anzac Book, 1916)

Lest we forget.

The Reviews are In (Well, one of them, anyway)

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There is nothing more nerve racking than waiting for the first review of a new book. Okay, apart from waiting to see if a publisher likes it enough to publish it. Or if you can actually get the text right in the first place. Or if the .. .Well, you get the idea. But I digress. I get pretty nervous waiting to see if reviewers will like my book. After all, reviewers are more likely to be honest than friends and family, and potential purchasers read reviews. Reviews can affect sales, and can also stoke (or destroy) fragile author egos.

Meet Mary Mackillop

So, I have a new book coming out in just a couple of weeks. Meet Mary Mackillop, illustrated by Sonia Martinez and published by Random House, will hit the shelves on May 1.  And, knowing that review copies have gone out, I’ve been not-so-patiently waiting to see what the reviewers would have to say. Today, at last, news of the first review came from the publicist Zoe.  And, I’m pleased to say, the review is positive. You can read it here, on Lisa Hill’s blog.

I’m especially delighted that Lisa not only likes the book (which, you know, is always kind of nice) but that she focuses on the appeal to the secular market. Yes, Mary Mackillop was a Catholic, and so the book is likely to appeal to Catholics and Catholic schools. But she was also a woman, in a man’s world,  who had to work against the odds to set up her schools and bring education to children who wouldn’t have otherwise had access. I’m so glad that Lisa gets this.

sallymurphy.com.au