Do you get theatrical when reading out your Willow the Wonderer books? I thought I'd record a quick video to share some insights on how I write and some of the creative choices we have made as we developed the series that hopefully inspire you to put on a bit more of a performance at the next storytime :) Poetry, after all, is meant to be performed! It may help you little one become more confident readers and who knows, even turn into performers themselves :)

Here's the blog on the topic that provides a bit more insight: https://www.wiseasstories.com/post/poetry-is-meant-to-be-performed-how-to-read-aloud-our-rhyming-books

Sometimes our readers express the essence of our books better than we could. We loved this review from Simon - and could not agree with the sentiment more :)

If the world events of the past two weeks have taught us anything, it's that our worlds needs more wisdom. It's too late for some folks ... but there's still hope for the next generation.

William Blake's poem, Eternity, has grown to become a personal favourite:

"He who binds to himself a joy

Does the winged life destroy;

But he who kisses the joy as it flies

Lives in eternity's sun rise."

I only came across it after The Gift was published, but find that it most eloquently captures the wisdom in our fourth Willow the Wonderer book.

Silke from Germany shares some very un-German life advice for her (much) younger self - it's one that will resonate with a lot of folks who tend to play it safe ...

At around 2am this morning, a note from a customer came through on my email. I was awake at the time, having been unable to sleep all night...

I was working through some insecurities that had been triggered earlier in the day by some not-so-nice comments on the internet. Being an online business which has to be active on social media, this is something that we unfortunately cannot avoid.

Thankfully, I have learnt enough wisdom not to react to those but there is still a period of time when these can trigger awful thoughts and feelings or sensations in the body ...

As I lay observing them, I had a feeling to look at the phone, and that's when I saw Jocelyn's note.

It was the soothing balm I needed at the time - within minutes I fell into an easy sleep :)

We received a wonderful surprise at the start of this year : A stack of letters and drawings from the wonderful little charges of Ms Margie Halicki from St. Brendan's Primary School, Ganmain.

As Ms Halicki told us in an earlier note:

"My Kinder, Year 1 and 2 class have enjoyed all the adventures of Willow. A very dear friend and experienced librarian, visits us with books she has purchased each week. My students were so taken with your books that they wanted to say thank you."

Every time things feel tough ... I find myself leafing through these to keep my spirits up and our little enterprise going :)

P.S. A little surprise will be on its way to our wise little readers soon :)

Our ever-vibrant, 87 year old neighbour from Nambucca, Adrienne, shares her perspective on the natural wisdom that she grew up with. Are children these days losing touch with that?

Peter from Marrickville shares some wisdom for his younger self - it is an important one, especially as kids grow into teens and young adults.