So lovely to hear of Magic Fish Dreaming’s international journey.
Here it is in Canada where a friend of mine gave it to Michael Kusaygak a well known Inuit author/storyteller of children’s books.
Delighted to know about this!
His response to send a gift of books to me. Waiting for them to arrive!
CLICK HERE TO 
DONATE TO MAGIC FISH DREAMING BOOKS TO PNG (You will be asked to verify you are not a robot first!)
Inspired by a meeting with Gregg Dreise, where we learnt about the Indigenous Literacy Foundation in Australia and their various projects I decided I needed to do something for literacy for my mother’s homeland Papua New Guinea.
I decided to run a non profit book drive to send some copies of Magic Fish Dreaming, via local charities that deliver them, to Papua New Guinea. In this way I hoped to cover my cost price only, and effectively donate the profit on these books to charity.
I wanted to do this so that rather than sending second hand books, that might not be culturally appropriate I could send a brand new book, from my heart to the heart of Papua New Guinea.
I wanted to do something to assist literacy to assist the children in my Mekeo mother’s homeland.
I had a feeling that if I asked my friends, they would want to support me in these efforts, and enable me to send more than a few.
To my amazement, so far enough for 76 books has been raised, and I am so excited to be delivering them to the charities who will then ensure these make it into schools that need them.
I will soon be sharing the names of all those assisted me to make this contribution on my social media and with the charities (as long as you give me your name) that find schools in need of these books in Papua New Guinea.
I will be making my first delivery to my first charity of choice, Books4PNGKIDS soon, but have found some other worthy people who take books into PNG schools and communities to support as well and I may look to send it to other places in the Pacific.
$8.00 AUD per book allows me to send one Magic Fish Dreaming book to PNG by covering the costs of my printing.
People can sponsor as many books as they would like, whether it be one or ten or more, it is the love with which this donation is made that matters the most.
I am now inviting overseas friends and fans to join this project to sponsor some Magic Fish Dreaming Books to go to PNG.
Please leave a note with a name and message and join us in this quest to send this beautiful book to PNG. You are welcome to email me at gumbootspearlz@gmail.com
I hope to share updates of where the books end up!
DONATE TO MAGIC FISH DREAMING TO PNG (You will be asked to verify you are not a robot first!)
To see small video of June reading ‘Discovering Magic, visit to the Sprout Sunday event page.
A big thank you from Renee and June for all those families who braved the weather to reach the beautiful venue, and stopped to listen to story and poetry about nature and Queensland and to the Sprout Sunday organisers, Gold Coast Green Living and Botanical Bazaar, and venue Host, the Surfer’s Paradise Golf Club, for having us at this day.
The indoor fairy lights and the hall of the Surfers Paradise Gold Club were quite magical, and we were happy that the farmers received their rain and thankful it cleared up a bit later in the day.
A special thank you to the wonderful young people who helped read the dialogue poems and show many of the animals featured in the Discovering Magic poem.
We hope that all those people who brought copies of the book will love them and would love it if they let others know about them.
Do let June know if you enjoy the educational materials link that she provided for all people wanting to make greater inspirational use of Magic Fish Dreaming at home or in the classroom to spark the imagination of children and their love for poetry, nature and discovery.
Renee and June do school visits, and June is increasingly doing commissions and collaborations and is scheduled to do an activity at the Queensland Art Gallery in October (more details soon). You can check with them for their rates and the kind of activities they are able to do.
Thank to James and David who provided heaps of support on the day for June and Renee.
CHANDLER, AZ (November, 2017) – The judges of the 2017 Royal Dragonfly Book Awards contest, which recognizes excellence in all genres of literature have spoken, and Magic Fish Dreaming by June Perkins, and illustrated by Helene Magisson, won 2nd place in the Children’s Poetry, Environment, Book Trailer and tied for second in Children’s Picture Books for Children 6 years and over as well as a special mention in the Cultural Diversity category.
“Winning any place in the Royal Dragonfly Contest is a huge honor because in order to maintain the integrity of the Dragonfly Book Awards, a minimum score is required before a First or Second Place or Honorable Mention will be awarded to the entrant – even if it is the sole entry in a category,” explains Linda F. Radke, president of the Dragonfly Book Awards program. “Competition is steep, too, because there is no publication date limit as long as the book is still in print.”
Magic Fish Dreaming is a poetic celebration and exploration of nature, people and imagination in Far North Queensland. Encourages children and families everywhere to hunt for their own nature-based or urban poems. It retails for $17.95 plus postage, and can be purchased within Australia and International Distribution is currently in process.
For a complete list of winners including all first and second place and honorable mention recipients, visit www.DragonflyBookAwards.com and click on “Winners.”
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.
The lovely 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 gumbootspearlz@gmail.com
For those living in Brisbane there will also be books for sale at the official launch later this year.
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, drawing 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 gumbootspearlz@gmail.com 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 $25 AUD with free postage if within Australia for single orders. For large orders and overseas orders we will give you a postage and handling 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!
Ripple Poetry 