Children’s books

Illustrated children’s books

Edge of the Worldbumped-thumb1postmans-thumb1
Edge of the World
Nobody smiled in the village near the edge of the world. The wind blew cold, snow lay thick on the ground and each day the villagers went about their lives with heavy hearts. Until one day Toby McPhee discovered the magical silver pots and brought light and colour back to their lives.
Bumped and Thumped
Grown-ups don’t know what some kids go through. When I stagger home, all bumped and thumped, they always say the same thing…
The Postman's Race
A postman’s pushbike is simply no match for a grocer’s van, so Albert usually loses the Postman’s race to his friend and rival, Arnie. But the day baby Molly is bitten by a snake changes…
CBCA Notable Australian Book
Periwinkle's Ride
A heart warming story about a girl and an old fisherman whose friendship is cemented the night Periwinkle the cat takes a wild and unplanned ride over the cliffs of Mooberry Town.
Buck's Big Adventure
Buck, a brand-new dollar coin, left the Australian Mint and was sent to work at the Credit Union. He dazzled the other coins with his brightness. What they didn’t know however, was that Buck was no ordinary one dollar coin!
Delilah's Dream
A chook called Delilah wants to escape the humdrum life of the farmyard and experience some real adventure. A great book to read to little tackers (like grandchildren) or just to read ...
Grasslands can be found in many parts of the world. Some are called savanna and others are called prairies. Learn how these grasslands are different and how animals live together in each one.
Monkey Buys Trouble
All monkey wanted to do was taste some more of Mamma Marie’s delicious coconut cookies. Little did he realise the amount of trouble he would land in!
Tom's Tryouts
Taking Rover for a walk turns out to be a real trial for Tom, but it helps earn a place in the Harrietville Soccer team.
Each pair of gumboots by the back door has a story to tell about the person who wears them. There are Tom’s blue gumboots with red paint on them; Sophie's with pieces missing from them; Mum's pure white gumboots; and even a mystery pair of tiny yellow gumboots.
Quincy is the scariest dog in town – at least that is what Christopher thinks. What happens to make him change his mind makes a warm and amusing story.
CBCA Notable Australian Book
The Towers of Zordran
Two parallel worlds – one dark and mysterious where an ancient people live under the harsh rule of an evil sorceress; the other a small country town where nothing out of the ordinary ever happens until ... A full-on, fast paced adventure that slips from the present day to a mysterious past; a hyperventilating story that will keep you on the edge of your seat with its unexpected twists and turns; that will have you cheering loud and strong for Jack and Ruby as they don their armour, grab their swords and set off on an adventure of a lifetime!
Hopscotch - Medusa Stone
When Hannah and Jake discover an ancient scroll in Kostas the Giant’s boathouse, they are intrigued. What does the rhyme mean?
A simple game of hopscotch catapults them into a strange world. Trapped in mythological Ancient Greece, Hannah must find three objects – and Jake. Will they ever make it back to Pelican Bay? Cast your stone upon the square. Leap and dance across air. At the end a door awaits. Be prepared to meet the Fates.
Hopscotch - Golden Scarab
Hannah and Jake are back in Pelican Bay - safe at last from the evil Kostas. That is, until Kostas appears, warning that they have unfinished business. Once more, they are lured into Kostas's strange game - a game of hopscotch which thrusts them into a new adventure where they must retrieve three objects from ancient Egypt. The trouble is, they've lost the golden scarab - the key to getting back home...


Excerpt from The Towers of Zordran… The wood cutter stepped cautiously into the hidden clearing deep in the forest. He cocked his wizened head to one side and listened to the heavy drip-drip of water from the ancient trees.  A frosty breeze cut the night air and bore with it the mournful cry of the night crake from across the Plains of Despair that stretched away beyond the village.

A full moon broke through the mists that swirled overhead, its cold light revealing a figure that lay motionless on the ground. The wood cutter approached the figure with unease, unsure whether he should continue or abandon this folly foisted on him by Zordran.

“This devil spirit,” he whispered to the shivering forest, “is nothing more than the trunk of a tree and a few stones collected from the River Ulch. It does not breathe, yet it has the form of a man who will soon roam this earth and destroy those who would break the laws of Zordran.”

Days before the woodcutter had chopped down a tree just as Zordran had commanded. He had selected four smooth branches from another, smaller tree. He had stripped the bark from these until they shone with smoothness. These he had cut in two. He laid them out on the ground in the shape of a man, a headless matchstick man.

From the forest he collected the twisted sticks from beneath the talonwood tree. These he hardened in his fire until they were as tough as the steel beaten on the blacksmith’s anvil.  When he was satisfied with his handiwork he set them at the end of each of the wooden man’s arms so that they formed sharp, cruel claws. 

 The woodcutter had taken his adze and shaped one end of the trunk until it resembled a head. Then he bored holes through the ends of the arms and legs with his awl and tied them to the body with cords of human hair, hair he had cut from his wife’s head while she slept.  He hollowed out sockets for the arms and legs and filled each one with a stone, polished and rounded by the river water. On the roughly hewn head he glued more of his wife’s hair.

The day’s work had wearied the woodcutter and he hurried back to the village as fast as his old legs could carry him, for the forest was a place that caused him to feel ill at ease and constantly watchful.


Ian Trevaskis school visit with some of his children's and young adult novelsWriting for children

Writing a book for children, especially a picture book isn’t as easy as it might look! For a start, you have to pare down what is written to the bare bones; the language has to be ‘kid friendly’ and you have to remember that other VIP in the book’s creation – the illustrator – whose pictures will tell a whole lot more than your words. Oh, and it helps if you have an interesting story line!