Palo Morgan – February 17 2019

Palo is an author, illustrator and former teacher. He was born in Leonora, Western Australia to missionary parents and spent his early childhood in the Western Australian goldfields and Kimberley regions. Palo attended high school in Perth and trained as a teacher. He has illustrated Sally Morgan’s Little Piggies and Quentin Goes Sailing by Hilaire Natt. Spare Parts Puppet Theatre’s production, Cat Balloon, is based on Palo’s picture book with music composed by Lee Buddle and John Reed.

Crocodile Cake – Illustrated by Chris Nixon
Fremantle Press, 2009; ISBN 9781921361555
6-7 years
Take a slice, a great big slice, of this quirky and colourful picture book. Written in fast-paced, catchy verse, Crocodile Cake is about a little girl who bakes a very dangerous cake – the kind you have to eat before it eats you.
‘The story is meant to be read aloud; the rhythm is fabulous and there is a chorus for joining in. The illustrations, and there are lots of them, enhance the text … This book will be read again and again.’ – Magpies

Cat Balloon
Fremantle Press, 2010; ISBN 9781921361654
5-7 years
Filled with brilliant, beautiful illustrations and rhyming text throughout, this storybook shows children that perseverance pays off. This is the tale of a cat with ambition who tries to make it to the moon while his many companions – lions, tigers, leopards, and other felines – would rather lie on the beach and enjoy the good life. Cat Balloon persists, leaping from trees and grabbing for clouds, trying anything he can do to reach the moon. Exquisite artwork and vivid verse make Cat Balloon’s story a magical read.