1) You register to use as you are not charged for the book until the project is fully funded and so you can receive updates of when your products will be delivered etc.
2) You do this once only and then can support future kickstarter projects and even set up your own in future.
3) Check the project timelines, this book for instance will be delivered the end of this year between October and December and the workshops will run in 2017 for anyone booking them.
4) You need to pick the reward you want, but you can pledge any amount you wish, this is totally up to you.
Pick the one you like most. Rewards are designed to be good value to you – anything else head to kickstarter FAQs to find out KICKSTARTER FAQ
The project is available to support until March 14th. We would love to reach the baseline amount of $9000 early to give everyone confidence in the project. So if you are able pledge now. We are very close to $2000 at this point.
We are doing regular call outs to backers and star supporters on our facebook and twitter. More news soon.
There is no risk to you because if for some reason our project was not funded you will not have your credit card charged for the project (we are sure this isn’t going to happen!)
“Magic Fish Dreaming, an illustrated in full colour poetry book, 36 pages, written by June Perkins, is now set to ride a kickstarter wave, to take it from Australia across the ocean into the homes of people in many lands.
Brimming with the themes of nature, family, diversity, childhood and environment, Magic Fish Dreaming is inspired by the North Queensland community, environment, and creatures it shares. It is beautifully illustrated by the award winning Artist Helene Magisson.”
June has captured the heart and spirit of FNQ within the poetry which makes you want to run into a cane field, chase a butterfly or gaze at fig tree.” – Matilda Elliot (image by Matilda)
Matilda Elliot is a freelance Editor/Author who is now based in Cairns after taking several ‘gap years’ to choose where to settle. She is a mother of adult children, an ex-teacher, a fiancée, a musician, a writer and has a particular passion for helping others reach their potential in their chosen pursuits.
Matilda’s editing experience ranges from academic papers to novels, short stories, poetry anthologies and varies greatly with each new client. Her numerous short stories are published on ABC Open and ‘Tilly’s Travel’ reviews can be found on Trip Advisor.
1.How did you come to work on Magic Fish Dreaming?
MATILIDA: After a number of years of staying in touch with Dr Perkins whilst travelling and house-sitting around Australia, I managed to connect with her in relation to a particular project concept of a Poetry Anthology for young children.
We exchanged some initial ideas and then June engaged me as her Editor, which I was absolutely thrilled about as we seem to share a number of passions.
2.What is your connection to Far North Queensland (FNQ)where much of the poetry is set?
MATILDA: I have always loved FNQ from the moment I landed here in transit for work purposes way back in 2006. Then when I decided to travel and house/pet-sit my way around Australia, I deliberately chose locations in FNQ as my starting point.
Having lived and worked around Mission Beach, Mena Creek, Innisfail, Townsville and Mareeba on the Tablelands, I could readily relate to the text of ‘Magic Fish Dreaming’. June’s words captured my heart the same way the landscape and people of FNQ have.
Courtesy Matilda Elliot
3.What appeals to you about this project?
MATILDA: The whimsical nature of the text is very appealing and I love how it tickles the imagination.
June has captured the heart and spirit of FNQ within the poetry which makes you want to run into a cane field, chase a butterfly or gaze at fig tree.
Taken by June Perkins
I think the book will have enormous appeal for children and adults alike – particularly as a shared reading experience. It lends itself to an interactive dynamic of discussion, questions, and pondering.
4. What kinds of things did you do or are you doing in editing the poetry text for June?
MATILDA: June and I have been working closely on this project for some months now, where initially it was a case of discussing what material to include and leave out (for another format/book). June thought my recommendations and suggestions were helpful and well founded, and together we massaged it into the gorgeous product it is today.
There were many backwards and forwards ‘chats’ via email, phone and text and whether a word might need to be changed here and there or whether the language level was appropriate for the audience.
More than once we both voted for following our ‘gut instincts’ which I was happy about because as soon as Helene joined the project and brought the words to delightful visual life, it all just came together perfectly.
5.What is your background with working with understanding the reading matter for family and children?
MATILDA: I have a Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood and specialised in Early Childhood literature during my final year. Throughout the years of teaching and having my own children I have gained a solid understanding of what appeals to children and what is valuable as a learning resource either for home or school.
June’s work particularly appeals to me as it has so much potential for exploring topics, further learning or just simply enjoying the purity of nature.
From my experience, I am certain children (and adults) will enjoy the combined brilliance of June’s words and Helene’s illustrations.
Helene Magisson is a Children’s book illustrator, who graduated from the painting restoration school “Art et Avenir”, Paris (France).
She was also trained in the art of medieval illumination, exhibiting her work in Europe and teaching the history and techniques of medieval miniature in primary and high schools, both in France and in India, where she lived for a few years.
When Helene settled down in Australia, she decided to start a new career in children’s book illustration. Her numerous trips in Europe and Asia, as well as her childhood spent in Africa inspire and enrich her work. She believes that travelling is a fantastic source of inspiration.
Helene was awarded the first prize in the illustration category at the 2013 CYA conference. She has illustrated her first book, The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco.
Helene in India
How did you come to work on the Magic Fish Dreaming Project?
One day, I got a message from June Perkins. A long message describing her project with precision. Her approach was clear, smart, graceful and engaging.
She was talking about poetry, places of Far North Queensland, about multiculturalism, team work, and respect. It immediately resonated to me.
So I wanted to know more about her, who she was, and I discovered an incredibly creative and talented woman. I felt that this project could take me into a new world like a door opening to a part of Australia which I was thrilled to discover, through June’s eyes and words.
I had no doubt about the project, no hesitation. It was like something absolutely natural.
Then she sent me her manuscript, and I had this wonderful feeling when each poem suddenly sparkled in my mind. My imagination was flying far away.
The connection was done straight from the first poem.
What appeals to you about this project?
Many things appeal to me.
I always wanted to illustrate poetry for children because there is no limit for the imagination. It is playing with words and images. I think it is a fantastic way to make the children aware of the beauty of the language and the words.
And I love June’s poems. They are so rich – with a mix of humour, gentleness, mystery, depth and a lot of love and admiration for the Far North Queensland environment. I also can feel the soul of a country in it. There is the mystery of a tree, the beauty of a majestic bird, many strange animals, and also children from different communities.
When June approached me I really liked the fact that she highlighted one of my illustrations I called “For our Children”. It is an illustration I did a little bit after the terrorist attack in France.
There are nine children coming from all over the world (India, Pakistan, France, Ireland, Australia, Kenya…), children I have met in the different countries I have been living in or visited, and they are altogether, smiling, teasing, hugging. There are in peace and happy.
June liked it for its multicultural dimension. She wanted to highlight that in the project and that really touched me.
I love the idea to mix Aboriginal, Italian, Torres Strait, English, and Australian children.
It is poetry for all and everyone in a beautiful and peaceful environment.
I feel so fortunate that this project came to me.
What kinds of things did you do or are you doing in illustrating the poetry text for June?
I ask June to tell me more about the poem I start working on. What is behind the text, and how she came to it. She also sends me some photos (she is an incredibly talented photographer too). I collect a lot of ideas from them.
In her photos, she sometimes focuses on a detail, a beautiful detail seen from another point of view. I also see that in her poetry, and I try to transmit this idea in my illustrations.
Then I work on a few ideas, keeping in mind the authenticity of the Queensland environment but then I try to “translate it” in a way to appeal children with the choice of the colours, adding amusing details, hiding animals.
I propose a few roughs and we decide altogether (including June’s editor Matilda Elliot) which one will work the best before I start working with colours.
What is your background with working with understanding illustration that is appealing to an audience of children and their families ?
I studied restoration and history of art and worked as a painting restorer for a few year, this gave me a strong background in my art work but there was no place for creativity.
I think I always loved children’s books. It started from my childhood in Africa when my mum was reading to us all the Andersen, Grimm and Perrault’s tales, even a little mongoose was coming very often to listen.
So I did the same for my children when they were still small, reading all sorts of stories at bed time. I wanted them to be touched by the story but also to be open and sensitive to the quality of the illustrations. And there are so many incredible books that inspired me to pursue this dream,
Also when I decided to illustrate children’s books I spent many hours reading and looking at picture books because I wanted to understand how the illustrations process was working page after page and how to create an interesting relation between the text and the illustration. The more I discovered, the more my passion grew.
And when I felt ready, I attended the CYA competition in 2013 and was delighted to win First prize in the illustration category.
A bit later, I illustrated the beautiful and very well-known classical tale “The Velveteen Rabbit” by Margery Williams Bianco, published by New Frontier. And I am excited that next year three more books I have illustrated will hit the shelves, including with the help of all our supporters, Magic Fish Dreaming.
When our family first moved to Far North Queensland I had only ever really thought about one kind of palm tree, the coconut palm, so often portrayed in movies of desert islands.
But I was soon to become familiar with the Licuala Fan Palm. This palm is an integral part of the environment that inspired much of the poetry of Magic Fish Dreaming. It is distinctive and common in the Cassowary Coastal area.
There is a licuala Fan Palm walk between Tully and Mission Beach. On it you may come across the Ulysses Butterfly, Green Tree Frog, Scrub Turkeys or Wallabies and sometimes if you are lucky a Cassowary (we have done this.)
Mission Beach has over 50% of the remaining fan palm forests left in the world. These palms are incredibly resilient to cyclones.
Green Tree Frog – one of the many creatures mentioned in Magic Fish Dreaming
DRAFT SAMPLE
Suggested Activities
Magic Fish Dreaming enhances the study of the natural world, encourages the exploration of poetry techniques, inspires movement and acting and interests its readers in specific animals and habitat including, the beach, lagoons, rainforests and farms of North Queensland and Australia.
Its poems encourage readers to, explore concepts of size and discuss ecology and the theme of belonging to and caring for the land, community and friends. Most of all it’s full of poetry to inspire the imagination, creative thinking and the building of a relationship with the natural world.
This poem is about looking for things to inspire poems.
Ask children:
1. Have you read or had poems read you?
2. What is a poem?
3. How could you hunt for one?
1.Natural Sciences and Language Activity Go for a poetry collecting walk in nature Take your children for a walk and go hunting for objects that they could put in a poem.
Read the poem before and after you go.
Have student/child write down what they see in a small pocket notebook, or collect things in a basket to take back to the classroom (taking care to make sure things they collect are safe, it’s alright with the national park if you are visiting one, and that they don’t eat anything.)
Students can work in small groups.
Back in the classroom or out in nature discuss the objects and compare them to other things
What does this look, smell, feel like?
For example: that shell looks like a cake you have with cream, that tree’s bark looks and feels like a wrinkled person’s face.
2. Drama Activity Act out the poem, when you are studying a unit on the ocean, and beach environment or a unit on poetry. Additional materials posters and books on the ocean and the beach.
Have the children move around the classroom as you read the poem out loud.
Ask them to:
Be like waves (move like them, sound like them)
Bend down to look in a pool of water (what do you see in your imaginary pool of water?)
Have them think about the idea of listening to the clouds. (You could ask them to close their eyes and listen to the space they are in.)
Imagine they are at the beach (Who has been to the beach? Do you remember what creatures you saw? Was it cold? Warm? What could you smell, touch, feel?)
After moving around you can discuss the poem:
Explain what a simile is? How can a cloud be a simile? Eg: Cloud pictures? Ever look at the sky and say it looks like … a dragon, a dinosaur, a kangaroo. Can a cloud talk? What would it say if it could?
What makes you giggle?
How could you put it into a poem; a story; or a drawing?
Have the class make similes and illustrate them.
Some of the creatures featured in the book are: Cassowary, Geckos, Lumholtz Tree Kangaroo, Ulysses Butterfly, Crocodiles, and the Green Tree Frog. You could find out about these and use them to help make your similes.
(c) June Perkins
COMING SOON posts on the the illustrator, the editing process, progress with the kickstarter, and some of the amazing flora and fauna of Far North Queensland, Australia.
This tree is just one of many inspirations for the poetry of Magic Fish Dreaming. It is the ultimate faraway tree of Far North Queensland, although it is not one you are allowed to climb on – for that you have to find other trees (of which there are plenty that are almost as magical).
Stay tuned for more poetry inspirations. I look forward to seeing what magical illustrations Helene will do for the rest of the book. Can you imagine them too?
Magic Fish Dreaming 
