I want to be in a book by Narelle Oliver

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Omnibus Books, 2017. ISBN 9781743811634
(Ages: 5-8) Creative writing. Imagination. Cecil is a lizard hand-drawn on a piece of lined paper from an exercise book. He has big dreams: he wants to be in a book. He has watched while other drawings around him were ripped off the pin-board. He has seen them transformed with paint and coloured pencil and then appear in a book, shiny and with writing all around them. Cecil waits, imagining all the things he could be and all the things that could happen in his story. Then it happens, down from the board he floats, onto the table and across the pages of a book. The adventure is great but he is soon pulled free of the book and into a book all of his own. He hadn't been forgotten after all. This uses a unique mixture of media, including photographs and collage, as well as some of Narelle Oliver's distinctive sketching. It is a fun story and useful for talking with children about their own story writing techniques, especially character development. It also has a nice undertone of following our dreams and emphasises how much can be achieved with some determination and self-drive. A wonderful final message from the late Narelle Oliver.
Nicole Nelson

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