Elizabeth Honey – April 12 2020

Elizabeth is an award-winning author of poetry, picture books and novels. One of four children, she grew up on a farm in the bush near Wonthaggi, Victoria, puzzling over jigsaws, playing with the dogs, climbing trees and doing a lot of pretending, on horses or tractors, in dress-ups or with glove puppets, round old trucks, cubbies, dams and hay sheds. Elizabeth’s other picture books include Princess Beatrice and the Rotten Robber, Not a Nibble!, and I’m Still Awake, Still!, featuring a collection of lullabies co-written with composer Sue Johnson and also adapted as a stage musical. Her young adult novels include Don’t Pat the Wombat, Remote Man, To the Boy in Berlin, co-written with Heike Brandt, and the Stella Street Series. Her two books of poetry are Honey Sandwich and Mongrel Doggerel. Elizabeth now lives in an old house in Richmond, Melbourne, with her graphic designer husband and their two grown-up children who move home from time to time.

That’s Not a Daffodil!
Allen & Unwin, 2017; ISBN 9781925266269
3-6 years
When Tom is given a brown bulb, he says, ‘That’s not a daffodil! That’s an onion.’ This is a cheeky and satisfying story with playful repetition and a build up of anticipation that will make little children request this story again and again. Elizabeth Honey has created a playful story that little children will enjoy again and again – about an inventive boy, a kindly gardener, a growing friendship and the promise of a bulb. A stage production of That’s not a Daffodil! with music, dance and puppetry was performed at Metanoia Mechanics Institute in Melbourne and at the Kyneton Daffodil and Arts Festival in 2016.

The Moon in the Man
Allen & Unwin, 2004; ISBN 9781865084916
3-8 years
A popular bouncing-on-the-knee, joining-in, happy times, make-’em-laugh picture book of nutty rhymes for the very young, from one of Australia’s favourite children’s authors. Tired of ‘Baa baa black sheep’ and ‘Humpty Dumpty’? Try this – a riot of rhyme and rhythm, colour and movement, word play and irresistible nonsense to share with young kids; a funny, warm-hearted picture book of verse and pictures that will delight small children and tune them in to language. Here are fresh, new action rhymes to get children jumping and bumping, tapping and clapping, rhyming and chanting.