Later in June, there will be a blog tour with prizes. Excellent prizes. I’m still working out the exact dates, but look for it mid June. And look for the book in your bookshop! In the meantime, here’s the cover and the blurb.

When Jack’s big sister Lil starts school, he is left with only his faithful dog Hector for company and Lil’s favourite toy to protect.But an ordinary day transforms into an extraordinary one when Jack’s called upon to do battle with a fiendish villain…

The Littlest Bushranger, The Five Mile Press, June 2013

There will be a Marmalade 2! And a soft, cuddly Marmalade toy around the middle of the year. I’m excited! Cannot wait until I get one of my own.

Another picture book, illustrated yet again by the fabulous Heath McKenzie is due out midyear. Will post the cover when I’m allowed. Need to ask the scarey editors first. No cats in this book (Marmalade would have been jealous) but a very special dog called Hector.

And there are another couple of projects coming out too. I’ll give details soon.

Wishing everybody a wonderful 2013.

Talk soon!

A mega tinsly welcome to the very talented, super fun Dimity Powell.

Following the theme of your fabulous new book PS – Who Stole Santa’s Mail?, I thought you could answer some Christmassy questions.

What does your family call the jolly red-suited man, Father Christmas or Santa Claus?

Santa Claus. Santa for short. Nothing fancy, clever or demeaning because we love old Santa; yes, yes, yes we do!

What does Santa do when he has to visit warmer places over the Christmas season. e.g. Strap icepacks onto the reindeer’s heads?

Excellent question Alison. Although I’ve never sighted this myself, I have it on good authority that an inverter air-con unit powered by wind generators mounted on the rear of the Sleigh, more than suffice for keeping him and the team cool in the warmer climes. That and they carry plenty of iced berry juice (Santa’s favourite drink). It’s quite cool at cruising altitude even over the Equator so it’s only when they are coming in for landings that the generators kick in. Also, in spite of its appearance, Santa’s suit is extremely breathable. An important factor when you’re delivering in the tropics.

What is the earliest time you ever got up on Christmas day?

I can’t honestly remember when I used to get up as a kid, but I almost beat my seven year old out of bed on Chrissy morning these days. It’s up, quick check of the plate left out for Santa, carols on full blast, cup of tea and then game on!

What do you like to eat at Christmas?

I cannot go past homemade fruit mince pies (bit like Tobii in my book). They just sing Christmas for me, especially if I include extra brandy in the fruit mince.

What is the best bit of Christmas for you?

Apart from putting up the decorations whilst listening to Christmas carols, whipping up fruit mince pies and white Christmas treats whilst listening to Christmas carols, and attending as many carols concerts as I can, the lights! This is really just a longish way of saying, the Magic. I love the magic of the spirit of Christmas and how it makes me feel.

What do you have on top of your Christmas tree?

Our current tree is about 30 cm high. An angel dressed in white proudly adorns it. My daughter thinks a smaller tree makes the sea of presents surrounding it look more impressive. I agree. Can’t argue with that logic.

What would you like to be given for Christmas?

A full day off. And the ability to digest faster. But of course I’d settle for a happy family gathering, healthy kids and plenty of Christmas songs playing in the background. Let’s never forget the Christmas songs.

What present are you giving everybody for Christmas. (This is your chance for a shameless plug!)

Hmmm, well I will be making my famous Chrissy pudding this year. There’s nothing quite like a blazing pudding for scoring Christmas Day wow factor.

Hopefully what I’ve done and achieved this year in my own little writing world will inspire people to believe, with even stronger conviction, not only in Christmas, books, and magic but also in themselves. I have already achieved one of my bucket list wishes; to produce a book I can place on my daughter’s book shelf. PS Who Stole Santa’s Mail? is a book that I hope will entertain, enthrall and find a place on the book shelves of many others too.

Thanks, Dimity! I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas! And congratulations on your gorgeous debut book!! Dimity’s book is available at all bookshops or to get an autographed copy, contact

http://morrispublishingaustralia.com.

To win a free copy of PS Who Stole Santa’s Mail?, email what you think Santa wants for Christmas to submissions@morrispublishingaustralia.com

Follow the blog tour

17/11/2012 http://www.kids-bookreview.com

18/11/2012 http://www.mylittlebookcase.com.au

19/11/2012 http://sherylgwyther.wordpress.com

20/11/2012 http://morrispublishingaustralia.com

21/11/2012 http://katswhiskers.wordpress.com/blog

22/11/2012 http://elaineoustonauthor.com

23/11/2012 http://booksforlittlehands.blogspot.com.au

24/11/2012 http://www.alisonreynolds.com.au

25/11/2012 http://buzzwordsmagazine.blogspot.com.au

26/11/2012 http://christinemareebell.wordpress.com

27/11/2012 http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com

28/11/2012  http://www.jackiehoskingpio.wordpress.com

29/11/2012 http://soupblog.wordpress.com

30/11/2012  http://angelasunde.blogspot.com.au

Dimity Powell, Candice Lemon-Scot,t Marion Martineer, Pamela Rushby, Karen Mounsey-Smith, Michelle Worthington. The lovely children presented us all with a laminated sheet of comments as a thank you.

I visited the fabulous Surfers Paradise School, which is actually a bit inland and sited on the exotically named Isle of Capri. Principal Gary Ivory and his staff made us all very welcome. The children were very smart and interested. I learned not to ask who had a pet rabbit, because they are banned in Qld. I also learned that it’s harder to run a quiz when one bright student has not only read the Ranger in Danger books, but remembers them.

The panel on Writing for Children with Angela Sunde, Michelle Worthington and Pamela Rushby was a lot of fun. We all sat down at a long table and realized that there was only one mike on a cord that couldn’t stretch down to all of us. So we move our chairs closer and squeeze together. That’s when the tech support rushes on and tells us what looks like pencil cases actually are portable mike cases. Whoops.  I thought the organizers had supplied us with pencils in case our pens ran out.

There were more inspirational sessions including one by Tim Ferguson about comedy. While I’m sure that you prob. can analyse every piece of comedy into categories, I’m not convinced that people can be taught to write funny. I think you need a bit of innate spark.

Candice Lemon Scott, Marion Martineer, Kate Russell

The lunch on the Sunday was super fun. (You are probably getting the gist that a fun time was had by all.) I was at a great table and a special thank you to Vacen Taylor and William for telling me ghost stories that I remembered that night when I was trying to go to sleep. Jill Murray the guest speaker was fascinating. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but she’s got me going out there to get her biography. There’s much more to her than merely being a political spouse.

Thank you again Gold Coast Writers Festival!

This fluffy kookaburra liked to perch on our balcony.

Friday, 26 October – I’ll be part of the School Program at Surfers Paradise School.

Saturday, 27 October – I’ll be appearing in a panel at 9.00 am on Writing for Children with Angela Sunde, Pamela Ashby and Michelle Worthington.

I would love to see some of you there, as it sounds like a great weekend.

http://goldcoastwritersfestival.com/

http://blog.booktopia.com.au/2012/09/04/alison-reynolds-author-of-a-year-with-marmalade-answers-ten-terrifying-questions/

Join us for the blog tour.

7^th  August  Dee White

http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com/

9^th  August  Karen Tyrrell

http://www.karentyrrell.com/tag/karens-blog/

11^th August  Tania McCartney

http://www.kids-bookreview.com/

13^th August  Pass It On

http://jackiehoskingpio.wordpress.com/school-magazine/

14^th August  Kathryn Apel

http://katswhiskers.wordpress.com/blog/

17^th August  Dale Harcombe

http://orangedale.livejournal.com/

20^th August  Peter Taylor

http://writing-for-children.blogspot.com.au/

22^nd August  Susan Stephenson

http://www.thebookchook.com

23^rd August  Robyn Opie Parnell

http://robynopie.blogspot.com.au/

27^th August  Sally Odgers

http://spinningpearls.blogspot.com.au/

29^th  August  Angela Sunde

http://angelasunde.blogspot.com.au/

31^st August Chris Bell

http://christinemareebell.wordpress.com/

And then here’s a competition to enter

If you have a ginger cat or a cat with a jaunty attitude, send along a photo and you could win a signed copy of  A Year with Marmalade and a copy of the picture book Lighty Faust the Lion, a book about a much bigger cat.

Upload your favourite cat photo to https://www.facebook.com/alison.reynolds.524 or email it  as a low res jpeg file at alrey@msn.com.au and I’ll upload it on www.alisonreynolds.com.au

Can’t wait to see your purrfect photos!

Entries close on the 1st of September

I am very excited about the release of A Year with Marmalade.

Illustrated by the amazing Heath McKenzie and written by me, A Year with Marmalade, is a story about losing friends and making new ones. It’s a story about change, which isn’t always a bad thing.

Here’s the synopsis: Ella and Maddy are best friends who love spending time together. But one day everything changes when Maddy has to go away. She entrusts her cat Marmalade to Ella’s care, but Marmalade and Ella are not best friends – or even friends at all – and they definitely don’t like each other’s company.

Then, one cold winter’s morning, Ella wakes to find Marmalade sleeping at the bottom of her bed. And so begins a tentative friendship that blossoms like the tree in Ella’s garden…