If frogs make a home somewhere it means things are in balance. But if something changes, they are the first to know. They can tell when something isn’t right.
Have you ever had a day when everything goes wrong? Ella is having one of those. To make matters worse, the orchestra of frogs that lives in her backyard has disappeared! Ella thinks the two things might be connected and is determined to solve the mystery of the missing frogs. There’s only one problem: her brother Will keeps getting in the way. Can Ella find the frogs and break the curse or will her little brother ruin everything?
At the moment you can take advantage of UWA Publishing’s summer sale and order any book in the Ella series (or all of them!) for 25% off via their website. You can also but the books at your friendly neighbourhood bookstore (if they don’t have something, ask, they will be more than happy to order them in for you).
(If you order now, Books 1 and 2 should arrive in time for Christmas!)
Next year is shaping up to be my biggest year as an author so far, with four books on the way and a fifth scheduled for 2027 – and I’m not sure it’s sunk in yet! As well as Ella and the Mystery of the Missing Frogs in March, I’ll wrap up the series in August with Book #4 Ella and the Call of the Wild (I’m hoping to mark that milestone with a celebration or two – watch this space!) and in September I have a picture book coming out with NLA Publishing, collaborating with a fave illustrator! But first up, in February, is a special story about nature and weather and cloud-watching, the different ways we experience the world and the wonders that make living here so rewarding. It’s called The World From Here, illustrated by Mel Armstrong and published by CSIRO Publishing.
I’m coming to the end of my incredible Billilla Studio Artists residency and trying to milk every last magical moment in the studio and wandering around the gorgeous grounds. As well as editing next year’s books, I’ve been revisiting an old YA project and playing around with an idea for an adult novel. To distract myself from the sadness of preparing to say goodbye to my lil studio I’ve managed to land two new jobs: a part-time copy editor gig for an online magazine and another bookish role I will share more about soon. After the the rollercoaster of freelance these past couple of years, I’m excited and grateful to be gainfully employed again and I’m looking forward to a bit of structure next year – paradoxically I suspect (hope!) it will unleash my creativity…
This past month I have loved diving into Kate Mildenhall’s tense literary thriller The Hiding Place (about a camping trip that goes horribly wrong, but also about parenting and integrity and hypocrisy and marriages and secrets and old friends and wild spaces). Also loved Eleanor Elliott Thomas’ second novel Do We Deserve This, a very different exploration of what it means to be good, told with Eleanor’s trademark wit, priceless pop culture references and loveable, flawed characters. Finally, I’ve just started (and am already hooked on) The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Mark Mupotsa-Russell, a dark fairytale about fleeing domestic violence. I was wary of the heaviness of the themes, but this story is beautifully told with the innocence and magical thinking of a six-year-old boy who sees the world through a lens of magic and monsters.
Wicked! I’m obsessed! The songs, the voices, the political commentary, the acting chops. DMs are open if you need to debrief (Haters, jog on).
Ever late to the party, I’ve just started listening to Julia Louis Dreyfus’ podcast Wiser Than Me. Also: snippets of the Wicked soundtrack which play without warning in my head as I go about my day.
If you’ve made it this far, you’re my new favourite.
How are you feeling as we lurch into December? Are your racing to finish something, or already checked out? Tired? Wired? Inspired? Sound off in the comments.
Thanks for being here 🖤
Cassy
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.