Author Andrea Rowe remembers literary adventures with The Bunyip of Berkeley’s Creek, The Magic Pudding, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, the collection of May Gibbs stories. Then Dr Seuss arrived with lyricism and flow, Richard Scarry with so many things to see and imagine. It was an Australian bookcase full of characters: some grumpy, some hilarious, many curious.
How much we forget, yet early storybooks are kept, residing in the deep recesses of the mind.
Andrea was captured early with the written word. She liked to write but was also a voracious reader. An early writing competition encounter with renowned author Colin Thiele who wrote a book called Storm Boy had a lasting impact.
“I remember just thinking, oh, you're an author. You make words become stories. How do I do that?,” said Andrea.
It seemed possible and empowering to meet real-life authors in the wild and Andrea continued to write and keep curiosity close at hand.
Her first storybook, the evocative Jetty Jumping, illustrated by Hannah Sommerville, sprung to life in 2021, winning the 2022 Children's Book Council of Australia Award for Early Childhood Book of the Year, as well as the 2023 Speech Pathology Book of the Year for five to eight-year-olds.
Not only were books something that were valued in her house when growing up, reading was also a point of connection, a link to others lives and particularly to adults, who listened in and engaged with her writing.
Now the author of nine children’s books, including the Children’s Book Council Early Childhood Notable Little Worlds book series In a Rockpool, Amid the Sand Dunes and On a Bushwalk., with more in the wings, Andrea has held onto her enduring love for storybooks.
“I've been a student of the picture book all my life. I know it's an art form and a storytelling tool that's so powerful for generations.”
Andrea enjoys the changing of landscapes and places, wondering who lives there and what it is like. She keeps an ear out for interesting lines or happenings from which an idea might fall.
“I'm like a bowerbird collecting snippets of sentences or phrases someone said. I'm constantly ferreting them away in my notebook. And I'm also very receptive to new landscapes. I will go to a place and I feel like my eyes are very wide open.”
Andrea is eager to draw her young readers into the sensory world, the outside world, where they can be in their bodies. Her storybooks feature rockpools, bushwalking, skating, skipping, twirling. In fact, it was a little girl hopping off the train in Sydney, resplendent in a tutu, that captured Andrea’s imagination.
“I just said to her, ‘Goodness that's a beautiful tutu. Are you going somewhere special?’ and she replied, ‘No, it's just my everyday tutu.’”
“She handed me a gift of a line, and the start of a new story.”
Within two days, the draft of her new book, The Everyday Tutu had come to life.
Andrea said the picture book, illustrated by Tess Moh, is really about self-expression and the joy of creativity. The tutu wearer is enthusiastically, unapologetically headstrong about wearing the tutu each day.
“It's slightly madcap, a little bit of mayhem. It shows family and connection and the chaos of being a toddler with a baby brother and a dog as well. There's a hilarious sausage dog called Leroy in this, which I love. There's a nice little twist at the end where hand-me-downs and who gets to wear the tutu next come into play as well.”
“I like writing for read-out-loud fun for families, so everyone enjoys the experience. The book has a rhythm, a ‘bounce’ and plenty of room for children to place themselves in the story.”
Andrea talks about the empathy, escapism and the reflections that books provide to young readers. There is also modelling and a visual literacy of a story.. Within that, picture books are a “powerful tool to help open conversations,” says Andrea.
“Picture books can also help a family work through challenges. Whether that's a breakup or a blended family, whether that's grief or loss, or moving away and experiencing big changes and transitions. I know that picture books are such an incredibly helpful tool for families.”
“If we see our intricacies of everyday life in books, we feel represented, and less alone. We also can feel pride, self-identification and self-esteem. All of this helps not just a little reader, but their family as well.”
Storytime was such a rewarding part of being a parent for Andrea. She recalls creating a bond that is personal and meaningful in the wider context of family, community life and the world at large.
“With my own children storytime provided this intimacy between us. When I read picture books with my kids I felt I'm gifting you a story that has been gifted to me and I get to explore this with you now.”
“I love the fun and theatre of storytelling with picture book reading. And I love that early discovery of just pointing and pausing, and a child talking about observations - all the lingering or the quick flipping of a page, and sometimes the ripping of a page in excitement. All that's a part of learning about books. And for me, it was a very exciting thing to know that I could open this world up to my kids.”
Andrea continues to open up the world of books, not only for her children, but children around Australia. As the inaugural Public Libraries Ambassador for Victoria and the May Gibbs 2024 Children's Literature Trust Fellow, Andrea visits libraries all year around and deeply values the safe and welcoming spaces they provide. She points out that libraries are free and accessible to so many communities in Australia, at a variety of hours.
“Libraries aren't just borrowing spaces, they're gathering spaces.”
“They also provide refuge from weather extremities, from things going on at home and they offer up free access to information. Libraries are such an empowering thing for any family.”
“I get so moved by visiting libraries and seeing how they really are a place that can shape a young person.”
Andrea has observed the positive role libraries have in welcoming people who are new to Australia, or new to parenting, or new to an environment or situation.
“You don't have to be anything but just be yourself and take your time to find your way through things. I really value libraries for families and particularly young families. Libraries are such an essential space for you to grow into parenting. You've got story times or workshops or information sessions and there's no judgment there.”
In a similar way to libraries, playgroups have been a meeting point for Andrea over the years - a place where both stories and community come together.
“Playgroup was such a critical part of the ecosystem of raising children, being a parent and making friends. I've lived in communities where I knew no one and Playgroup Victoria was my entry to making friends alongside my child.”
Andrea was a playgroup kid growing up, attending with her mum and dad. Her mum coordinated a playgroup and Andrea in turn founded a coastal community playgroup when her own children came along. She firmly believes that playgroups are as much for the child as they are for the grown up, a learning place, where all sorts of skills are formed.
“You're starting out building relationships and finding connection and self-worth.”
“Playgroup can be such an important punctuation in a family's life. It's getting us out of our house, or getting us out of our headspace for grown ups. And then for the kids, it’s that fun-filled ‘Wow, I get all this’: meeting all my friends or playing with these toys and trying new social situations on too. Maybe today I don't feel like being with others, I’m going to sit quietly and observe things instead. Playgroups offer that early taste of social experiences, and a gathering of skills, abilities and understanding for a child as well.”
Andrea’s children are now grown but she still runs into playgroup people and sees their now-grown kids working in her community.
“It’s always lovely to see them and thinking, “I knew you from playgroup!” It's a lovely thing because it connects us. I think that's important and a really powerful thing that we feel connected. We feel responsible for each other, and there's compassion and understanding.”
So much of early learning and the acquisition of emotional intelligence resides in the sensory world: the gestures, reading a facial expression and a tone. Much of which is shared between a parent and a child reading a book, or a group of children upon the mat, engaged in a storytime.
Andrea has worked with many illustrators who truly bring the whole song of her stories to life.
The books are as vivid in their visual story as their words, each coming together to create the music. One longstanding collaborator is Hannah Somerville and between them there is trust and respect. They each go away and work on their pages. They may have an early storyboard session and talk it through, but it is mostly independent artistry that forms the whole.
“I always say when I see my illustrators’ work, it's like a story gift that they give back to me. I see it with new eyes.”
In the changing world we live in, Andrea talks about the creativity within us and that sparkly ability that young people have as they are creating, growing and raising themselves to become problem solvers and decision makers and leaders and “everyday contributors in society.”
“I want young people to know that through reading or creating, they can be in charge of their lives, and contribute to their world with personal connection and meaning.”
“I value human creativity at all times. I value the thought, the energy, the personal approaches and insights that go into that. You can only get human creativity from experiencing things in the real world - being outside, touching, hearing, smelling, seeing things. Human creativity comes from your family landscape, where you live, all of your lived experiences as well.”
Within the creative, playful moments of story, Andrea also detects the intimate act of processing things internally and having the ability to express things externally.
“There's a lot of data and statistics out there on why reading is good for us,” said Andrea. “It reduces stress levels. It encourages community connection. It increases compassion and understanding. It empowers you with being able to communicate. But I also most want people to know that reading can be a place, a deep place within you of personal connection and personal expression as well.”
So, the next time a small child picks up a book to leaf through it, one can hope that not only does it help to settle and shape and steady them, may it also prod their imaginations and excite their creative streak. It could be a hippo on a roof eating cake, children tumbling onto Magic Beaches, counting Animalia creatures or following a day by day Diary of a Wombat. In years to come, may they reach for one of those familiar books, finding a story in which they are transported.
“I feel it’s important that picture books remind us of childhood - of how to be in the world, unburdened by all the realities of being adults - and being unburdened means you're open and receptive to ideas. As a young reader, you're kind of a sponge, soaking things up. And you’re unfiltered in approaching ideas and issues or expressing yourself. That's a very, very powerful and meaningful thing,” said Andrea with a smile.
Explore and read more of Andrea’s books
Andrea’s new book, The Everyday Tutu, is due out October 27, 2026
Article by Sinead Halliday
Photography Courtesy of Andrea Rowe