The Patch Primary School's production of Willow the Wonderer (Photo Credit: The Patch Primary School) A story too good not to share It's not everyday that a lifelong educator - and her entire school - gets behind your storybooks . So , I thought I'd share this wonderful story with our community.   Writing this reminded me, like I hope it does you, of 'that teacher': The one who went the extra mile and made all the difference to your life.   Enter Stage Left : Debra Herrmann

"There is no such thing as the unknown, only things temporarily hidden." Captain James T. Kirk Creativity is a messy business Enter Francis Bacon , not the sizzling breakfast kind but the icon in the artistic pantheon. He didn’t cover up the blemishes on his canvas; instead, he transformed the errant strokes into unsung heroes of the composition. He once said, "And sometimes when I've been working I've been so disgusted by it that I grab the brush and put brush marks all ove

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

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

Clap! My hands, came together as I became fully aware that my life was finite and I would die some day. I was 10 years old. I remember thinking that I have only a limited time to achieve my life goals and so made a pact with myself that I would make haste, hopefully fulfill them and make death bring closure to my life with another clap. This action (clapping) I later surmised was my way of demarcating the movie of my life, much like a movie set clapperboard might punctuate th

Willow the Wonderer, a story about a child's innocent search for happiness, had been incubating in my head for well over two decades. I would think about it mostly when I was looking up at clouds, forms would appear in them and then disappear as the wind reformed the shapes. I wanted to create a picture book that would not only look good and engage children but would incorporate this idea. What was most important to me, however, was that the book plant a seed of wisdom in a