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| Elizabeth honey draws inspiration from Australian native animals. |
Here at SAT we’re
massive fans of books, we’re massive fans of animals, and doubly so when it
comes to books about animals. Especially Australian animals. So we were
thrilled to be able to talk to children’s author Elizabeth Honey about her
latest book, Hop Up! Wriggle Over!
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| Elizabeth Honey's drawings of Australian animals are brilliant. |
Elizabeth Honey grew up
on a farm, went to Swinburne art school, had adventures around the globe and a
variety of jobs before becoming an illustrator, then also a writer, for
children. She lives in Melbourne, in a house of books. Elizabeth is an
award-winning author-illustrator of poetry, novels and picture books. Novels
include: 45 + 47 Stella Street, Don’t Pat
the Wombat!, Remote Man, To the Boy in Berlin - a collaboration
with German author Heike Brandt - and The
Ballad of Cauldron Bay. Picture books include The Cherry Dress, Not a
Nibble!, Ten Blue Wrens, That’s not a
daffodil! Her new book Hop up!
Wriggle over! features a family of Australian animals. Her books, published
by Allen and Unwin, are hugely popular.
What’s your day job?
Same
as my night job, crafting stories in words, pictures and theatre, for kids.
Do you share your life with any
non-human companions?
Our
little dog, Dup, died and as we’re travelling, we don’t have dog right now. We
do have the worms in the compost (The Wriggle Boys) the black birds, fruit bats
and the golden orb spider who connects his web to our clothesline. We spend
time in the Otways with kookaburras, strutting magpies, koalas doing their
unearthly bellowing, larrikin cockatoos and all the smaller birds hopping in
the bush.
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| Research is an important aspect of Elizabeth's work. This is one of her photos of an echidna. |
How did you come up with the concept of
Australian native animals living together?
It’s
a favourite old recipe used by Norman Lindsay and May Gibbs. Small children
find animals fascinating, and small children are animals.
We’re used to seeing Kangaroos, koalas,
possums and wombats in Australian children’s books, but wallabies, quolls,
echidnas, numbats, antechinus, bilbies and quokkas aren’t so common. Why do you
think this is?
These
little animals are not obvious, and have not been popularised. You can’t see
them readily and some are becoming rare. People know more about bilbies since
the Easter chocolate bilby campaign.
These
days kids are not so connected with the bush. I talk about this on my website.
As a child I was told ‘Go outside and play,’ but now we have a larger
population, the majority of families live in cities, and time-poor parents
resort to the electronic babysitter. Just going outside is harder.
Your illustrations are absolutely
stunning. How long does it take to illustrate each page?
Thank
you. Well, that’s hard to say. First I plan, roughly, the whole book, then mock
up each large illustration, considering space for the text. I begin the drawing
in earnest, using reference to make sure the animals are accurate. This drawing
and rubbing-out this goes on till it I’m happy with my pencil roughs. Then I do
the good drawing, on water colour paper,
trying hard. Finally the fun part, colouring in, puddling around with
watercolours.
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| A quoll. Check out those amazing feet. |
What’s the most important thing you’ve
learned about Australian native animals?
We
have the most wonderful diverse wildlife, found nowhere else on earth, adapted in
intriguing ways to life in the various habitats in this wide brown land.
What could we do to make the world
better for them?
If
these animals are given habitat free from foxes, feral cats and cane toads they
can rebuild their numbers. The Australian Wildlife Conservancy is
working at it.
We can
also find out more, and spread the word, so people know the problems and do
something to help. The Conservation Ecology Centre, Cape
Otway is researching quolls and koalas.
Any advice you’d like to share with
veterinarians and future veterinarians?
Take
every opportunity to engage children on the subject of animals.
Thank you so much Elizabeth. And if you want to find out more, visit and/or follow Elizabeth on any of her channels below.
Website: www.ElizabethHoney.com
Instagram:
elizabeth_honey
Stay
curious and research.
