This is a treasure hunt designed for one. It might be something you set up for your child, or for someone you love. It could also be something you set up for yourself. Not to trick yourself. Not to pretend you don't know what's coming. But
My journey with David Lynch began with Dune. I'd fallen in love with Herbert's books and Kyle MacLachlan's portrayal of Paul Atreides. When Twin Peaks was announced, I was ready for whatever strange, liminal world Lynch might create. I still remember catching fragments of
My little boy asked for a story about foxes - specific ones: red, purple, yellow, and blue. I repeated it back to him (as you do when you're trying to get a toddler's story requirements exactly right). When he confirmed, I started with the basics - foxes in
Jedediah Berry has a new book out and, when I looked, it wasn't in any of the libraries in Tasmania. Nor my local bookstore. None of his work is actually, which feels like a real loss, especially since The Manual of Detection is the kind of book that
Looking forward to Marisha Pessl's Darkly very much. Impossible doors, unstable reality, a school that might not be what it seems - it's this same strange territory I keep trying to write about. While we wait (or later when we want more) here's an in-
"Tell me a story," he says. "The one about the purple fox and the red fox." A story I’ve told before but never exactly the same. The purple fox hurts his leg. These things happen, even to purple foxes. But it's fine because
On shapes in darkness and the stories we tell about them Some books know exactly when to turn out the lights. I gave Circle to a friend's three-year-old daughter recently. She's not usually one for sitting through stories, her parents say, but this one
It's a strange experience to find your own words in someone else's voice. Or perhaps your own voice in someone else's words. This is me, but not me; not me, but me. "That's funny," I can imagine my toddler saying
Seen: Melbourne, 2012 | Written: November 2024 They gave us objects at the door - chess piece like creatures, each unique. Mine was... well, the shape escapes me now, but I remember how I used it to explore and unlock the space. I remember too that it wasn't explicitly instructed
This morning, my three-year-old held up two Lego witches hats, bases pressed together to form a diamond shape. "I've got a question for you," he said, offering me this construction. When opened, the makeshift container revealed two glittering red pom-poms nestled inside. Perhaps