Remember Pam? She's worked in libraries for most of her life - 26 years in fact! There she was back in 2021, enjoying a quiet retirement in the country working on her art practice with her best mate, when she came across two creative souls publising their first picture children's picture book - Willow the Wonderer . It was about the search for happiness and had just the right philosophical pull and ethereal quality to get Pam to sacrifice her prized anonymity and agree to fro

"...It's exactly what young people need to hear." With that endorsement from one of our reviewers from our First Readers' Club (who also happens to be a psychologist) we felt ready to hit print and publish on the third book in our Willow the Wonderer picture book series - Space Odyssey . But let me rewind a little bit and introduce our First Readers' Club properly. Our First Readers' Club : how it all began Our First Readers' Club began quite organically back in 2021 as were

Willow the Wonderer: Space Odyssey Space Odyssey has officially launched - and with that our Willow the Wonderer picture book series is now three books strong. As I pen this blog, many books are already on their way to little wonderers all around Australia. A brand new addition to their Willow the Wonderer collection and hopefully, repertoire of life's wisdom. It's all the stuff that celebrations are made of but getting into a celebratory mood this past week was not possible

Independent Australian publisher, Wise As Stories, has launched the third title in their popular children's book series, Willow the Wonderer. Entitled 'Space Odyssey', the Simplified Chinese rights to the highly anticipated book also sold to Beijing Reader & Thinker Culture Co pre-publication. For Immediate Release : 11.10.23 Wise As Stories are pleased to announce that the third book in their ‘ Willow the Wonderer ’ children's picture book series was officially launched to

You all are no doubt very familiar, if not deeply in love (going by your book reviews), with Darren's illustrations for our Willow the Wonderer picture book series. He is in fact a very established illustrator who has honed his craft over a career spanning almost four decades. But not many I’ll wager know of his fine art practice. From illustration to fine arts Darren turned to the fine arts over a decade ago following on from his success as an Illustrator in the golden 'pr

We started this month with an exciting milestone : Our debut picture book series Willow the Wonderer has gone into yet another reprint. This marks the third printing for our first book in the series, Willow the Wonderer and the second for Honey Time . At over 2 metric tonnes, this will be our biggest print-run yet and yes, includes our upcoming new title - but more on that later... Right now we are nervously eyeing the last few boxes of the books we have on-hand and hoping

A lesson in unconditional love She sat and listened intently to what my energetic nine-year-old self-had to say. Then when I finished my...

We forget our baby's birthday ... Willow the Wonderer turned two in June! Hard to believe that two years have flown by since we held the first hardcopy of Willow the Wonderer in our hands - and posed for this daggy photo to mark the occasion... I think this was the 'high-point' of our COVID fashion! Darren and Reeta holding their first Willow the Wonderer picture book! Willow the Wonderer picture books have since found their way to homes all across Australia . It's been wond

Willow the Wonderer is a 'passion project' for Darren and I. The stories we write come from reflecting on our lives and wisdom we've...

We have some wonderful news! It is now even easier to share our very beautiful 'Willow the Wonderer' picture books, character plush toy...

Wise As Stories is unique amongst publishers world wide for a number of reasons, the most important of which is that we are creating stories that plant seeds of wisdom and knowledge. It is why Darren and I started Wise As Stories and produced and published Willow the Wonderer picture book series - and it's what keep us going. In this blog I wanted to share with you the backstory to this mission we've taken on. I've shared this in past blogs (here's the link to another ) b

Why we support #BuyLocal I am sure many of you will agree with me when I say that one of the greatest pleasures of driving around in...

It's a momentous day: Darren has started working on the very last spread for the third Willow the Wonderer picture book. The end is in sight! The picture book creation process Developing each picture book is easily six months of full time effort, involving writing, editing, book design, illustrating , typesetting, and then finally getting everything together for print production. So when we reach milestones like this, it is very much a cause for celebration! (And in case any

A beautiful story time of Willow the Wonderer with Donkey Dave and his donkeys!

Willow the Wonderer picture books have now sold and been warmly embraced bu readers all over Australia!