Christmas has arrived and it’s time for a day of fun. But how can the captain and her friends celebrate when gulls try to steal their food, flies buzz, mozzies hum and sandflies bite? Will they ever get to enjoy their candy canes?

Powerpoint presentations are ready to go! I prefer to use hand held imaging as I talk to my audiences. This works well for small groups, but for large audiences it’s problematic as those at the back can’t see. Between travelling and author vists, the past few weeks have found me creating various powerpoint presentations and […]

Welcome to the Author Visits Gallery. It’s not all of the visits because sometimes there just isn’t time to take photos. I love sharing A Big Blue Boat’s journey during my author visits at schools and libraries and the author visits gallery is a place to share some of that joy with you. My large […]

Before we leave port, we head to the shops. We buy enough fruit and vegetables to last the journey. We buy enough meat to last two weeks. We store the food in a fridge. We don’t have a freezer, so we have to eat the meat quickly. When we have eaten all the meat, it’s […]

How the toilet came to be called the Head is a really interesting question. I had to do a bit of searching to find the answer. About 600 years ago, the front of the boat was called the ‘head’. No-one knows the exact date when the word ‘head’ was used to mean the toilet. Early […]

Just like we have a left side and a right side, boats do, too. The left side of the boat is called port. The right side is called starboard. Interesting Fact Early boats had an oar that was used to steer the boat. This was called a steering oar. Most sailors were right-handed. The placed […]

Susea loves receiving and sharing photos of all things to do with A Big Blue Boat, the beach and the sea on her Fans Page. If you send Susea your favourite photo, she will include it here on her fans page for you to see. WHAT ARE PEOPLE SAYING? ‘Susea Spray’s story “A Big Blue […]

Rhythm, beat and repetition in picture books assists with developing communication, phonological awareness, syllabification, and fluency. I watched a show about autism and women a couple of years ago and a lot of buttons went click, click, click. Each click provided a reason for how I think, act and process. It explained why I am […]

Find put what people are saying about A Big Blue Boat, a sailing story for the youngest sailors. Victoria S This book was such a pleasant surprise!! I guess I expected something very basic for the littlest of sailors – and it is a wonderful introduction! – but I was so impressed with the gorgeous, […]