Dianne (Di) Bates – July 17 2016

National Pyjama Day (The Pyjama Foundation) – July 22 2016

Wear your favourite PJs and make a donation to improve the lives of foster children.

Di is a writer, teacher, manuscript assessor, editor and blogger. She holds a Diploma of Teaching and a Bachelor of Arts and has been Assistant to the Editor of the NSW Department of Education’s School Magazine, co-editor of national children’s magazine Puffinalia and editor of another national magazine, Little Ears. Di has published over 120 books, mostly for young readers. Her other poetry includes Erky Perky Silly Stuff, a collection of 100 fast, funny, loopy and sicko poems ideal for kids who hate reading, and her plays include Madcap Cafe & other humorous plays (co-written with husband and YA author Bill Condon), as well as infants’ plays The Little Red Hen and The Musicians of Bremen. Her junior novel, The Shape, illustrated by Sally Rippin, is the story of coping with grief after the death of a child, and is based on personal experience. Di’s non-fiction work includes Aussie Kid Heroes, illustrated by Marjory Gardner, a ‘Guinness Book of Records’ style book telling the remarkable true stories of some of Australia’s youngest heroes from the 18th century to the present day.

Nobody’s Boy [Verse novel]
Celapene Press, 2012; ISBN 9780987255600
9+ years
Ron Green’s family is broken, just like him. He isn’t able to live with his mum or dad, or step-mother. He’s nobody’s boy. Now he’s being fostered by his aunt who has three sons of her own. It’s a chaotic, angry environment, and young Ron isn’t at all happy. When strangers, Rosie and Bob, offer to care for him, he jumps at the chance, rebels against his aunt, and is placed with them. It’s the kind of home he’s always dreamed of. There is only one thing missing. He aches to be with his dad.

Crossing the Line
Ford Street Publishing, 2008; ISBN 9781876462703
Young adult
Orphaned then abandoned by long-term foster carers, teenager Sophie lives with Amy and Matt. For a long time and unknown to others, Sophie has been self-mutilating. More recently she has been in therapy. Concerned about Sophie’s increasing depression, the doctor admits her to a hospital where she forms tentative relationships with other troubled teenagers and begins sessions with psychiatrist Helen Marshall. However, the doctor crosses the patient-therapist line, but so too does Sophie …. This is a moving and sensitive story on the topic of self-harm which also deals with obsession and stalking.