Book Week is always a busy time for authors and illustrators of children’s fiction but it’s an exciting time too, as it’s an opportunity to visit schools to talk to students about our books and how we go about researching and writing them – or illustrating them. I’m looking forward to my visit to Kambala tomorrow to talk about ‘Turning Ideas into Historical Fiction’, and also to show ‘Dragons, Penguins, Magic and Mischief’ to Year 1 at Beauty Point Primary School on Friday. And there are more visits next week. So I’ve been busy preparing various powerpoint presentations so that I can illustrate why I write what I write, and how I go about it in terms of research, plus answering all the vital questions to be found in a good story – which is always a lot of fun. My famous bag of magical objects may well put in an appearance as well!