News

100 kickstarter parcels sent out!

| pearlz

We’ve sent 100 of the kickstarter parcels for the project out since Friday last week!

Would love to know what you think of Magic Fish Dreaming and about its arrival into your family or school!

So delighted to know it is being used for a poem before sleep in a few families already!

You can catch our second review on Good Reads, and feel free to add your own.

We have some more reviews coming up soon.

And check out Helene’s Christmas book!

Must be time to put together a Magic Fish Dreaming trailer!

All the very best for Christmas and New Year.

The Magic Fish Dreaming Team

Print Day is Close!

| pearlz

For all kickstarter supporters unable to attend the launch, wherever you are, please make sure you have sent us your address. We’ll let you know when the packages start going out.

We have received 2/3 of the addresses.

We are very close to print day so keep a look out for our ‘off the press’ video!

If you have already responded to the kickstarter survey we will have your address, but we’ll be checking and contacting anyone who we haven’t heard from yet.

As there are quite a lot  of books to pack and sign etc, and they are going to so many different places, you may not all receive these on the same day !

We’d love to receive photographs of you opening and sharing the book.

Progress Report

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The art work is complete!  Yesterday Helene delivered it. Now it is time to scan it ready for designer Heidi to work her magic.

It was so great catching up with Helene as we have both been busy. She has been working hard on the art for the book, and I’ve been managing other aspects of the project and preparing our review schedule.

On the weekend I went to a writer’s retreat at Mt Lamington National Park. This was the view from the room I was staying in!  Now that’s Magic!

I enjoyed my time at the retreat and you can read more about it on:

Pearlz Dreaming.

The time near Mt Lamington has renewed my energy for completing the rest of Magic Fish Dreaming and other writing projects.  It was educational, vibrant and full of friendship and networking.

I was delighted to find fans of Magic Fish Dreaming attending the retreat. They expressed so much anticipation for our project that it made me smile.  I told Helene all about it when we met on Monday.

We look forward to seeing everyone who can make the launch when we announce it.  I am working on fixing a date and venue.

Best Wishes,

June, on behalf of the Magic Fish Dreaming Team

Picture Riddles Hinting Magic Fish Dreaming

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This is just a portion of a  Magic Fish Dreaming illustration, a teaser, a riddle to make you wonder what the rest of it looks like.

This is so the book will mostly be a surprise when you receive it and read it for the first time.

The illustration process is nearly complete, and soon meetings with the printer will take place and the designer, Heidi Den Ronden,  will be taking the reins and working her magic to bring the poetry and the illustrations together on the page.

Helene had this to say recently on her facebook page:

“I have almost completed the whole work, and I wish I could continue illustrating many other of June’s poems. I enjoyed each minute and instant working on this project. The collaboration with June Perkins is just delighting and always very constructive.
I will tell and explain more about the story behind the book (I have so much to say), but I will do it a bit later on my blog.”

Thanks so much for all your support.

Preorders are still available, but only until the end of this month. You need to email June at

For those living in Brisbane there will be books for sale at the official launch later this year.

Magic Fish Dreaming

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Please share this blog!  Reblog!

Magic Fish Dreaming,  an illustrated poetry book inspired by the natural wonder of North Queensland, for children and families,  celebrates the Australian environment, storytelling and multiculturalism, and draws on the cultural backgrounds and experiences of June and Helene.
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For all those interested in pre-ordering, please email me at and I will include you in the upcoming mail out.

Large and small prepaid orders welcome.

Our first 100 preorders will receive a free calico bag.  Cost of the pre-order will be $15 AUD plus postage ($13), if within Australia for single orders.  For large orders or if from overseas we will give you a shipping or delivery quote and yes we can still send a calico bag per book if it is in our first 100.

If we can achieve at least 350 single book  preorders we will be able to print all books HARD COVER.

Those working with migrant and multicultural children and settling them into country areas, those who celebrate unity in diversity, and with an interest in exploring a poetry of place, will especially love this book.

We feel that if you are in the tourism industry, especially in the Far North, you may also enjoy gifting this book to visitors, to take home to read with their families, to learn more about the wonderful place that is Far North Queensland.

Help us spread this news far and wide.

350 pre-orders, Magic Fish Dreaming will go hard cover!

Author and Illustrator Meeting – Magic Fish Dreaming

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magicfishteam
June Perkins and Helene Magisson – taken by Sheridan Perkins

It was wonderful to meet Helene today, as up until this point we have been working by phone and email so as to prepare the illustration samples for the upcoming kickstarter campaign.

Seeing the art in real space was just delightful, with some of the colours even richer than was possible to be conveyed in the initial digital copies. I’ll be taking them off for some professional scanning soon, as neither of us have one at home suitable for scanning the work to the quality we need. Maybe one day?

What did we talk about?  The process of how we’ve been working so far, possible timeline (which is looking good), and the place that inspired the poems. We looked at a few photographs of the Cassowary Coast, especially of the cane at different times of year, whilst my son played his guitar, and my daughter was creating characters for the upcoming CYA conference workshop she will be attending.  Actually Helene and I will also be there too with many of our other illustrating and writing buddies.

We’re both looking forward to the next creative leg of the book journey, but for now I’m, going into that other side, called budget mode, and kickstarter planning, whilst Helene is working on some of her other projects until I can give her a kickstarter green light.  More news soon!

If you could keep letting your friends who would be interested know about the project that would be just brilliant.

Magic Fish Dreaming

| pearlz

This blog is to keep you up to date with the project to create the book Magic Fish Dreaming.

If we are able to raise the funds through kickstarter you can expect more beautiful pages like this.

This is only a rough placing of text, as the designer will come on board a bit later.

A big thank you to Matilda Elliot, the editor.  She has been on board since the beginning: encouraging, critiquing and believing in the power and promise of poetry for children together with their families.

As for the talented Helene Magisson, I will share more about this wonderful illustrator soon.

SAMPLE 1a