IBBY Australia Mini Masterpiece Art Auction 2025

 

We have sent invitations to over 110 Australian children's book illustrators.  Did our invitation arrive? We have sent emails and filled in contact forms and sent Instagram messages.

We need your support. We were so delighted by the success of the inaugural 2023 Mini Masterpieces fundraiser that we’re going to run it again to raise funds for the Australian branch of the International Board on Books for Young People, IBBY Australia. 

We’re inviting celebrated Australian children’s book illustrators to donate post-card sized artworks for an online auction. 

Formed in 1966, IBBY Australia is one of 82 National sections of IBBY, and each year must pay a membership fee of over $10 000 to remain part of the international IBBY organisation.

IBBY was established following the Second World War and aims to build bridges to international understanding through children’s books. As you may be aware, IBBY Australia promotes Australian authors and illustrators by submitting their work for several IBBY administered international awards, including:

• The Hans Christian Andersen Award

• IBBY Honour Book List

• The Silent Books collection

• The Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities list 

You can read more about IBBY here and about IBBY Australia here and find out Gmail address.

The Mini Masterpieces auction will run from 14 November to 28 November, with the original artworks promoted as a unique Christmas gift. Hope you can participate!

Dawn by Marc Martin

Less a story and more a series of illustrations paired with poetic text, 

the book is a testament to Martin’s immense artistic talents.

Truly stunning. Kirkus Star review

The series of single words in this book feel like a visual poem:

dawn

dew

deer

sound

spring

still

conceal 

reveal

Other words resonate with richness and meaning such as glimmer; shimmer; forage; formation and chorus.

Blurb from author web page: As the sun slowly rises, many things happen in a small window of time. The world comes alive with the actions of animals, plants, clouds, and sky. A deer drinks, an owl wakes, a dandelion shimmers in the light. A ladybug climbs, a fish jumps, birds call in a chorus. Geese fly away in formation. A flower blooms. Beautifully illustrated with glowing imagery and written with a charming simplicity holding appeal for new readers, Marc Martin’s ode to the slow-blooming beauty of a sunrise and the life that unfolds in its radiance narrows the lens to show the wonder of time passing.

You can see inside Dawn here. See more of his work on Instagram.

The book’s thoughtful visual pacing echoes its rhythmic text. Martin mixes single-image scenes with combinations of vertical and horizontal panels to guide readers through small, quick happenings—for example, a series of four vertical panels depicting snapshots of a ladybug climbing a dew-laced blade of grass (“climb / quench / drip / drop”), and bigger events that demand pause, such as the panoramic final full-bleed, double-page spread of the rising sun. Horn Book Star review

When you share this book with your young reading companion you should slow down and take your time and then on subsequent readings notice the way the frames of the illustrations change and the way the light increases and also the link between the dewdrop and the ladybird from the title page with other images later in the book. Then get up early and watch the dawn - it usually takes about ten minutes - notice the light, but also listen for the dawn chorus and maybe do this more than once to see changes over different seasons. This idea reminds me of The Night Walk by Marie Dorléans. I also need to mention the beautiful book design and wonderful paper quality. This is a book to own, to cherish and of course to also add to your school library.

Image source: Marc Martin

You can see and hear Marc Martin sharing his book on Instagram.

One of the best parts of attending an author or illustrator talk is the discovery of the back-story about the writing of a book. Here are some things I learnt today at Gleebooks Kids about Marc Martin (this is my third post about him so you would think I know all of this, but I didn't. Click on his name in the labels for this post to read about other books and more):

• Trivia - his first job was at KMart and he likes eating coffee eclairs.
• Books - his new book due in October is about Antarctica - I should have asked "Have you been there?"
• A staff member from Candlewick posted some photos over a period of just seven minutes to show the dawn - this gave Marc Martin the idea for his book. (I would love to find those photos).
• The text came first then the illustrations and it took three years to make this book. (It is always good to tell this to your students - the craft of writing and illustrating takes time)
• This book is not a traditional narrative but Marc Martin hopes it will open up conversations between children and their parents.
• His own favourite page has the text treetops and tree trunks and beautifully shows two different perspectives of the forest with the deer from earlier in the book looking straight at the reader but also ready to run if startled. The page with the dandelion blowing in the breeze took the most time to create. He included a deer to give this book a universal feel and also because this book comes from a US publisher Candlewick.  (Here in Australia and the UK this publisher is called Walker Books). 
• As an illustrator he has a filmic perspective. His illustrations allow the viewer/reader to zoom in and out just like a camera. 
• His favourite films are from Studio Ghibli such as My Neighbor Totoro; Kiki’s Delivery Service and Spirited Away. He also mentioned The tree of life by Terrence Malick.
• The US copy of this book from Candlewick comes with a dust jacket - what a pity our Australia copies do not include this - and under the dust jacket is a different image - I should have taken a photo!
• The US edition also has a subtitle: Watch the World Awaken
• He writes and illustrates his books, but some have a text by another writers such as We are Starlings by Donna Jo Napoli and Every child a Song by Nicola Davies. 

As always the event at Gleebooks here in Sydney was so well organised by Rachel Robson. She had a display of the page layouts used by Marc Martin, a set of Marc's books with fairy lights, an art activity for the children (and adults) and really fun prompts to encourage participants to draw sequences like the ones Marc Martin used in Dawn. I liked the prompts - "Unwrapping a present"; "Blowing out a candle"; and "Playing in the rain".

Hope I don't jinx Marc and his book but I am sure this will be a 2026 CBCA Picture Book Notable and surely also make the shortlist. Check out my previous post about picture books like Dawn that I called Poetry with Pictures. 

The Curious Explorer's Illustrated Guide to Exotic Animals A to Z by Marc Martin

Start here with my previous post "Meet the Illustrator Marc Martin".

Now back to The Curious Explorer's Illustrated Guide to Exotic Animals A to Z. Begin with the title - curious - this book is sure to lead children and adults to want to discover more about the, well curious, animals in this huge format book. Illustrated - yes the illustrations are wonderful - each a work of art to linger over. Guide - each animal also has the Latin name and there is a small fact box for each on the final spread. Exotic animals (from around the world) - such as the loris; quetzal; armadillo; ibex; macaw; narwhal; and hippopotamus. There are several Australian animals (Marc Martin is an Australian illustrator) - kangaroo; Tasmanian devil; and yellow-tailed black cockatoo. And A to Z of course adds a layer of organisation to this book which is always appealing especially to a Teacher-Librarian. I previously talked about alphabet books on this video for IBBY Australia. 

Electric Eel and Flamingo

Owl and Quetzal

Bookseller blurb: From armadillo to zebras, chameleons to quetzals, these exotic animals will surprise and delight. No curious explorer should be without Marc Martin's stunning celebration of strange and beautiful creatures from all over the world. Here is a book of wonder, a unique and breathtaking treasure from one of Australia's most outstanding new talents.

The Curious Explorer's Guide to Exotic Animals A to Z was published in 2013 so it might be difficult to buy a new copy but I am certain you will be able to find this book in many school and public libraries. In 2013 this book was included as a Standing Order title from Scholastic (see the teachers notes). If I had room on my own shelves I would love to add a copy of this beautiful book.

So much more than an alphabet book, this delightful children’s picture book shares the inspiration its creator finds in the world around him. Each letter of the alphabet depicts an animal interpreted through graphic design-style illustration. Those are the facts, but the reality is that each individual illustration uses art techniques and lush textures that sets them apart. Just so stories

Today I am heading off to meet Marc Martin. His newest book Dawn will be featured at an event at Gleebooks Kids. Last week I was shelving some books in a library where I am doing some volunteer work and I spied the Curious Explorer's Guide. Here is the cover of his new book Dawn.

When I was a very young child someone gifted me this animal alphabet book published in 1961. This goes part of the way towards explain my fascination with this topic.

George Speaks by Dick King Smith

Bookseller blurb: Laura is amazed when her baby brother George starts talking to her when he's only four weeks old, particularly as he sounds like a grown-up! It's a big secret to keep from their parents and the rest of the family and leads to all sorts of comic confusion until George's first birthday - when he makes a speech to his startled family.

This little junior novel is just plain fun. It would be terrific family or class read aloud. The baby is not supposed to be able to talk let alone do times tables and even read! And his birthday speech is magnificent.

The copy I found in a library was published in 1988 so I held my breath thinking this book would surely be out of print - but NO. Here is the ISBN for the 2021 reprint [9780141316406]. My copy has illustrations by Judy Brown - here is the old cover. I am not sure who has illustrated this newer copy. 

And here are some other covers - you could use these in a library session as a discussion starter about covers and book designers and fonts and reader appeal.

This version is illustrated by Chris Riddell

Dick King-Smith served in the Grenadier Guards during the Second World War and afterwards spent twenty years as a farmer in Gloucestershire, the county of his birth. Many of his stories are inspired by his farming experiences. Later he taught at a village primary school. His first book, The Fox Busters, was published in 1978. He wrote a great number of children’s books, including The Sheep-Pig (winner of the Guardian Award and filmed as Babe), Harry’s Mad, Noah’s Brother, The Queen’s Nose, Martin’s Mice, Ace, The Cuckoo Child and Harriet’s Hare (winner of the Children’s Book Award in 1995). At the British Book Awards in 1991 he was voted Children’s Author of the Year. In 2009 he was made an OBE for services to children’s literature. Dick King-Smith died in 2011 at the age of eighty-eight.

You might also have a really old book in your library called Crumbs by Emily Rodda which is also about a baby who can talk.

Dear Broccoli by Jo Dabrowski illustrated by Cate James

Dear Broccoli,

Last night at dinner you were on my plate. 

AGAIN. 

This is the third time this week.

Please don't come back.

From, 

Frank. 

Dear Frank, 

Thank you so much for writing me a letter.

No one has ever written to me before.

I must say I was touched. And then I was amused - since I am always left untouched on your plate!

I am sorry to hear that you do not want me to return, but

I am afraid I cannot grant your request. 

The matter is out of my florets. 

Your parents decide when I attend.

I suggest you raise your concerns with them.

Yours sincerely, 

Broccoli 

I love the way Broccoli writes - his tone is so serious and also cheeky. These two are the first of a series of letters. Broccoli takes every opportunity to explain his value to Frank but will he convince this young boy to change his mind. 

This book will be an absolutely perfect to read aloud to your group of younger students age 7+. After your reading everyone could write a letter to a vegetable and then the students could swap their letters and write a reply from that same vegetable. Here are some other ideas for using this book with your school group. 

I know we are all supposed to eat five serves of vegetables each day but I will confess I don't always do this. I have all my standard weekly vegetables - potatoes; onion; carrots; pumpkin; cabbage; cauliflower; green beans; peas; corn; mushrooms; spinach; brussels sprouts; celery; lettuce; and I do eat broccoli every week. I am sure, though, that there are other vegetables that I could add to my basket - broccolini (I am not really a fan); kale (I have never eaten this one); snow peas (often a bit too expensive); asparagus (I eat this in season); leeks; baby squash; capsicum; eggplant (not a fan); lentils (never never); fennel (no no no); sweet potato (no); and Swiss chard (I have never even eaten this one).

Of course, as Broccoli himself points out in Dear Broccoli - tomatoes are fruits as is pumpkin. I wonder if rhubarb counts as a vegetable?

Here is an official list of vegetable categories:

Root Vegetables: These are plants whose edible parts grow underground. Examples include carrots, potatoes, beets, radishes, and turnips.

Leafy Greens: Leafy vegetables are known for their tender leaves and high nutrient content. Spinach, kale, lettuce, and Swiss chard fall into this category.

Cruciferous Vegetables: These vegetables belong to the Brassicaceae family and are known for their cross-shaped flowers. Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage are cruciferous veggies.

Allium Vegetables: Alliums have a distinctive aroma and include garlic, onions, leeks, and shallots.

Podded Vegetables: These are vegetables enclosed in a pod or shell. Examples are peas, beans, and lentils.

Stem Vegetables: Stem vegetables are plants whose edible parts are stems or stalks. Asparagus and celery are common examples.

Jo Dabrowski is a children’s author and illustrator whose debut middle-grade novel, Get Your Act Together, Doris Kozlowski, was shortlisted for the 2024 Readings Children’s Prize. She lives in Melbourne, Australia.  Cate James is an award-winning illustrator and printmaker from Sydney and Edinburgh.

I am a fan of books that contain letters like this between characters. The official term is epistolary. You might find these examples in your school or public library:

The House at the Edge of the World by Nadine Aisha Jassat illustrated by

"A memory knocks on the door of my own chest

the leaves outside the library on our last day.

The one I'd held in my hand

as I wished for hope. ...

Did I call Hope House to us? ...

Or did the house call us to it?"

Amal and her sister Sara have been forced to leave their home which was in a small-town library run by their parents. Just as it seems the family of four will have nowhere to live a letter arrives telling them they have inherited a house.

This house is, as you would guess from the title of this book, quite spooking looking. Turn the cover upside down to see the house itself. The people from the nearby town of Middle Morrow do not hold back telling the family all the legendary ghost and horror stories they associate with this house over its century long history. 

None of this adds up though because the house itself seems so welcoming of the new family. They awake to find the kettle has been boiled and the fire is lit. Over their first few days the walls appear freshly painted and somehow the ragged curtains are repaired. 

Then two very shady people arrive and tell the family that they will be evicted because they have no claim to this house - they are not related to the late owner who died ten years ago. Now the race is on. The family, and especially Amal and Sara, have thirty days to solve this mystery and prove that they should be able to stay in this house which now feels like home.

I have had this book on loan from the library where I work as a volunteer for over two months. I keep renewing the loan and then not getting on to reading it.

Today I started this 306 page book (it is a verse novel of sorts) and I finished it this afternoon. If I still worked in my school library this is a book I would heartily recommend for readers aged 10+. Kids love to look like they are reading 'long' books and at 300+ pages this book look impressive but because of the verse-novel style setting out it is a very quick read. This book is called a verse novel and that is the format but really it felt more like a regular narrative with short lines - that's not a criticism just an observation.  You can see more books by Nadine Aisha Jassat here. 

The story is presented in a verse format with eye catching ‘chapter’ headings. This creates an impression of immediacy, of easy access to reading and would indeed attract many. However, much of the verse narrative could be presented in the more conventional prose format creating a more familiar flow without losing any momentum. Books for Keeps

This book also contains (and I am happy to say all of this feels very natural) a blended family. Mum is Muslim dad is Christian. Amal grapples with fairly serious mental health issues - she has the awful anxiety messages in her mind of 'what if' which always extrapolates to bad outcomes but she also has some terrific coping strategies. I should also mention Amal's sister Sara. I have read way too many books where teenage sisters treat their younger sisters so badly. It was so wonderful to read the opposite in this book. Sara is so kind and supportive of Amal and she understands her anxiety at a deeply intuitive level. This makes a natural partnership of the two sisters as they work together to solve the issue of who should own this special house. I also love their little dog called Po Tato.

Publisher blurb: When Amal and her family unexpectedly inherit the enchanted clifftop home, they can't believe their luck. But their joy is short-lived when a mysterious couple arrives, claiming the house is theirs and giving Amal's family just thirty days to pack up their stuff and leave before they demolish it completely. The clock is ticking, and Amal is determined to save Hope House from destruction. How will she unravel the secrets of the house and its mysterious benefactor in time to save it?

Companion books:

Out of the wild Night

The Swallowtail Legacy

The Parker Inheritance

Here is the Kirkus review

Run by Sarah Armstrong

Cas (short for Casper) has experienced some dreadful things in his short life. He is only twelve. His mum left him and his dad when Casper was just four years old. He has no real memory of her but he has so many unanswered questions. Did she leave because he did something wrong? Does she miss him? Where does she live now? Cas is left with his dad but that's when live becomes even harder because dad cannot cope. He does not buy food, he has no job and he shows no affection towards his young son. Cas is forced to scavenge for food in dumpsters. If anyone offers him the tiniest touch of affection it almost overwhelms him. Eventually Cas is sent to live with Mel - his father's sister and his aunt. She tries hard and is able to give Cas a stable home but then, unbeknown to Cas, his father wants to resume contact. Mel organises for Cas to spend a day with his father but he absolutely does not want to go. At the last minute Mel is unwell and so she sends Cas with her former partner Kimberley. 

Cas is seething so when Kimberley's car veers off the road Cas takes his chance and dives out of the car and runs away. Note the title of this book - run! Cas is now running. He thinks of the way people survive on television series like Alone. Of course he lacks skills and equipment and he knows he has put himself into a dangerous situation and then he meets three people - a father and his two daughters. They have been living in the bush for two years but why? And who are these people? Can he trust them? How will he find his way home without them? But then there is a major landslide and it seems he is stuck. 

Waking up in the middle of the night and wanting to keep reading is a sign of a great book. I started Run at about 9pm on night and by the middle of the next day I finished off the whole book. I think this action thriller will greatly appeal to readers aged 10+. It is a survival story but is it also a story about forgiveness and about 'growing up'.

Publisher blurb: Cas thought running away from home would solve all his problems. But he didn’t count on getting hopelessly lost in the tangled Australian bush. Alone and afraid, Cas has given up all hope of rescue when he stumbles upon a strange family hiding out in the wilderness. He won’t survive without their help. But when he discovers they’re also on the run – from something so big, they won’t even talk about it – he realises his problems are just beginning …

This is a fast-paced survival story that also manages to thoughtfully address themes of family and forgiveness. Set in the bush, it’s an exciting read filled with strong, memorable characters. The plot is gripping, yet written with sensitivity and an inclusive approach. Readings Melbourne

Without giving away too much that would spoil the suspense or the story itself, it really has many layers and moral dilemmas entwined throughout and will have you questioning what you would do if you were not only in Cas’ situation, but also that of Mack, Pearl and Viv. And then there are the feelings and emotions that his family and friends are going through, not knowing where Cas is, or if he is even safe. A suspenseful and fast-paced story of survival, with many twists and turns, but also a story of family, friendship, trust and belonging, and is suited to those in lower secondary and also to those in upper primary as well. Lamont

Companion reads:

The Honest Truth

Cop and Robber

Being Jimmy Baxter

The Lovely and the Lost

Sunshine

Pax

A Different Dog