Absolutely ridiculously excited to share the news that 'Bev and Kev' has been awarded Honours in the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards for Early Childhood! Literally an Honour!

Words cannot describe how excited Katrina and I are and our Publisher, Little Book Press. In fact, the whole of the SA children's book community are over the moon! We have received so many wonderful messages of love and congratulations that we haven't been able to keep up with the social media these past two days. Apologies if we haven't replied yet but we truly are grateful and appreciative of all the support.

This is such a special achievement for both Katrina and I and we are so thrilled to have done it together. What a journey Bev and Kev have taken us on!

Through the recognition of the CBCA our books are shared throughout the celebrations leading into and including Book Week, in every school and public Library in Australia. This puts our books into the hands of young readers and to know they are being loved and admired and to inspire them through our words and images, makes all our hard work, late nights and working weekends, worthwhile. It really does give you that warm fuzzy feeling.

I would also like to acknowledge and congratulate fellow SA Authors, Mike Lucas and Carrie Gallasch for their Shortlisted titles, 'What We All Saw' and 'Market Day' respectively. It has been a huge year for SA creators!

Speaking of warm fuzzy feelings... how adorable are these little ones all ready for Book Week! Book Week officially starts today and there will be Authors and Illustrators all across the country, myself included, heading into schools and Libraries, sharing our passion for children's literature. I wish everyone lots of fun and happy travels!

It is the highlight of our year as let's face it, the rest of the time we are predominantly in our caves, working away on our own, trying to find inspiration for new stories, wondering if what we are doing is good enough for publication, questioning ourselves over and over again and drinking way too much coffee! So to be able to share our creative process with students, our highs, lows, rejections and achievements, to encourage them to never give up on their dreams and have belief in themselves, that they can do or be anything they want to, is such a privilege. And to see first hand how much they love our books in return and embrace our Australian stories themselves, is the icing on the cake.

To all the Librarians out there in schools and public Libraries, we thank you and truly appreciate all that you do in supporting us.

In the meantime, if would like to grab a pencil and paper and sit down for 15 minutes to learn how to draw Bev yourself, simply click on the image above. After all, it is my firm belief that everyone can draw, it's simply the style that varies :)

Enjoy Book Week everyone and I'll be back after my school visits to share some highlights and funny stories that always come from these visits, especially from Receptions - bless their cotton socks!

Happy reading!