Ashling Kwok – författare

Olivia and her butterfly friends spend all of their time together, until one day everything changes, and Olivia and her mother move to an apartment in the city.Olivia is heartbroken because she doesn’t want to leave her butterfly friends behind but her mother assures her that she will make new friends in the city. When Olivia and her mum arrive in the city, it’s so grey and gloomy that everyone is sheltering inside. Olivia waits for new friends to come and play but no -one appears. So Olivia stands on her empty concrete apartment balcony and calls out to her butterfly friends — because they always come when she needs them. But this time, even her butterfly friends don’t appear.Then Olivia remembers that butterflies need colourful nectar plants, a puddle pool and rocks to rest their wings on, but Olivia doesn’t have a garden anymore so she decides to build a butterfly balcony garden using whatever she can find. Olivia waits and waits and waits but her butterflies stay away. Just as Olivia is about to lose hope, a gust of wind blows flowers from her balcony garden across the grey sky and onto her neighbours’ balconies. People of all ages and cultural ethnicities appear on their balconies to pick up the flowers, and Olivia suddenly knows exactly what she needs to do to attract (human and butterfly) friends.

Tessa wants a grandma. She’s never had one before. So she sets off to find the perfect grandma – one who can dance, and sing, and tell funny jokes. Oh, and bake yummy cookies! Tessa finds lots of lovely grandmas at Lakeview retirement village but she is captivated by a sad old lady who doesn’t seem to want to talk to her. Will Tessa find a way to get Ivy to open up and play with her? Find out in this charming story about how one kind gesture can change someone’s life.

Find out what happens when you learn to let down your guard, be yourself, and open up to friendship in this encouraging tale about a boy and a school full of ogres and dragons.It’s Edward’s first day of knight school and he’s scared of what’s to come. He puts on his armor and prepares for battle. After all, it’s sure to be terrifying with all those creatures about. Sure enough, he spends all day surrounded by scary ogres and fearsome dragons. Then, one of them offers him some of her lunch!With this gesture of friendship, Edward is inspired to take a chance and remove his armor. He soon realizes that maybe things aren’t as bad as they first seemed and in fact, his armor was holding him back. As he learns to let his guard down, magic and fun await and Edward finds that the dragons and ogres he feared are actually just like him.The Battle is a story that every child can relate to and teaches kids that perception and attitude are vitally important. If we let down our guard, put our fears aside, and allow ourselves to live in the moment, magic just might happen. Imaginative, bold and inspiring, this is the perfect companion for any child worried about starting school.