Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Sally Rippin Australian Children's Laureate 2024-2025



Image Source: South Sydney Herald

Begin with this seven-minute video where you can meet Sally Rippin and learn more about the Laureate and her focus:

All Kids can be Readers

My hope as Laureate is to ensure that all children can be supported to access reading 
in the way that suits them most.

Sally Rippin was born in Darwin and grew up in South-East Asia, moving country every couple of years because of her father’s work. At twelve years old, Sally’s family settled in Melbourne, where she completed her high school years before moving to China as a young adult to study traditional Chinese painting for three years.

Sally is very famous for the Billy B Brown books and Hey Jack and more recently the Polly and Buster series and School of Monsters . She has written over 100 titles.






Sally Rippin is such a talent - no wonder the Laureate foundation asked her to take this role for 2024-25. She has written a wide range of books from the very simply for our youngest children right up to Young Adult titles and a reference book for parents. AND she has also illustrated books too - her own and books by other talented Australian authors. Here some books by Sally Rippin which could be in your school or local library. I especially love her picture book Rainbirds which was a CBCA Honour book.

Board books:


Our Australian Girl:


It's 1956 . . . and Lina dreams of being a writer, but her strict Italian parents have other ideas. Now that she's won a scholarship to an expensive girls school, Lina has other troubles, too. But the Melbourne Olympic Games could be an opportunity for Lina to follow her dream of working on the school paper. Journey with Lina across all four exciting stories about a passionate girl finding a place to belong. Imaginative, kind and hard-working, Lina is an unforgettable Australian Girl.

I often mention Angel Creek a book I read more than a decade ago. Kirkus said: An intriguing and singular depiction of angels neatly wrapped up in a brief, captivating coming-of-age tale. I would love to find and re-read this:



Sally Rippin contributed to many excellent junior book series such as the Solo series, Aussie Bites, and Aussie Chomps. 




Picture Books:








Gabrielle Wang was our previous Australian Children's Laureate.
Kirkus said: It’s nothing very original, but illustrations incorporating Chinese ink, linocuts and digital media in browns, oranges and greens are handsome, and each animal is named in maroon rectangles inscribed in white, looking as if they were produced with Chinese seals.



SallyRippin's first book was Speak Chinese Fang Fang! and then more followed with this delightful character. This first book won the New Illustrator or Creighton Award. 


Here are the web pages for the illustrators from books by Sally Rippin:

Chris Kennett

Stephanie Spartels 

Daniel Gray-Barnett

Lucinda Gifford

Lucia Mascuillo

Aki Fukuoka 

The ACLF’s mission is:
  • to promote the value and importance of reading
  • to raise the profile of books in the lives of Australian children and young adults
  • to respond to identified needs and issues in the children's & youth literature national landscape
  • to champion the cause of young australians' reading in a consultative, collegial and inclusive way within a cultural framework that showcases the best of Australian Literature for young people, and
  • to undertake selected national projects that will promote these objects nationally.

Previous Laureates:

  • Gabrielle Wang (2022–2023)
  • Ursula Dubosarsky (2020–2021)
  • Morris Gleitzman (2018–2019)
  • Leigh Hobbs (2016–2017)
  • Jackie French (2014–2015)
  • Alison Lester and Boori Monty Pryor (2012–2013)




No comments: