Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Ducks to Water


Ducks to Water
Author: Brett Avison
Illustrator: Janine Dawson

Marlborough author Brett Avison has always been able to tell a good story, but had never considered turning his talents into a book. Until one day, while watching his 3-year-old great-nephew Bryn playing with his digger 'the words just started to flow'. By the end of the day Brett had written a story about Bryn, his dog Oscar, and what they found in the backyard. Unsure whether it was any good he turned to someone in the know - his wife Lorain Day, who at the time was publishing manager at HarperCollins Publishers NZ. 
'I was nervous about reading it' remembers Lorain, ' in case I had to break the news to him it was unpublishable'. But she was very pleasantly surprised. 
Brett's talent for writing words in engaging verse had turned Bryn's fascination for diggers into a colourful, unputdownable story, which was picked up by international publisher Five Mile Press and published as the hugely successful A Bigger Digger, now on its 9th edition. 

His two next releases, Stuck in the Muck and Pigs Might Fly have brought the international sales of Avison’s books to 90,000.

Book 4, Ducks to Water, released on 3 April, and brings us back on Mum and Ted’s farm in another hilarious adventure, which appeals equally to both genders. This is the final in the Bryn and Oscar four book series.
When the Duck Pond dries up, Bryn and Oscar the dog go on a quest to uncover the problem. It seems the drain to the pond is clogged and only a large crane will be able to fix this problem. Meanwhile, Oscar finds he is a surrogate Mum when some ducklings hatch on his watch…

The engaging pop-up surprise at the end will encourage even the most reluctant readers to get involved!  Delightful story.

Janine Dawson is a Sydney-based Australian illustrator who worked in animation for 25 years before turning to children’s book illustration. She is the illustrator of Pigs Might Fly and Ducks to Water.

RRP: $24.99, April 2015 release
Publisher: Five Mile Press, distributed by Booksrus in New Zealand

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