Kate Simpson – författare

HONOUR BOOK: 2025 CBCA Book of the Year, Early ChildhoodIt was still dark when Mr Miller opened the gates of the old zoo, but he wasn't scared because he wasn't alone. He was with Jessie the elephant and together they were going to walk from Moore Park, through the city streets, to the ferry at Fort Macquarie. Jessie was moving to her spacious new home in the soon-to-be-opened Taronga Zoological Park.Jessie's surprising journey was unlike any other and it brought a little warmth to the city on that brisk September morning in 1916.The incredible true story of Jessie the elephant from the bestselling author of Anzac Girl: The War Diaries of Alice Ross-King and the highly acclaimed illustrator of Anzac Biscuits.

NOTABLE BOOK: 2025 CBCA Eve Pownall AwardA 2025 EUREKA! Nonfiction Children's Book Awards Silver Winner • An Indigo Heather's PickThere's been a mix-up at the Museum - some of the displays from the Myths and Legends exhibit have snuck into the Natural History wing. We have to sort it out, but how can we tell fact from fiction? Animal from apparition? Megafauna from monster? Kids will have fun guessing which animals and plants are real and which are fake in this extraordinary exhibition of the strange and wonderful animals and plants that inhabit our world ... and our imaginations. A brilliant guide to help us know what to look for when tracking down truths. An enthralling exploration of all the weird and wonderful creatures that may (or may not!) inhabit our world-all packed into an engaging, informational picture book perfect for helping kids build critical thinking skills. *A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Grandpa, did you know that if you rub a needle with a magnet, one end will point to the north and the other end to the south? In the south there's an apartment building 160 metres tall. From the balcony, you can see the entire city. There are cinemas and ice cream shops ... and me!As Henry measures the distance between his new apartment and Grandpa's wooden house under the mango tree, Grandpa works out how close they really are. A moving story that celebrates the bond between a boy and his grandfather.

Henry lives 2,003 kilometres from his grandpa - that's longer than all the world's blue whales placed end to end and as uncatchable as a goodnight kiss on a shooting star. But Grandpa knows that even from a long distance, love can be closer than you think.'Every page in this picture book is a delight.' GOOD READING MAGAZINE'Perfect for all those kids missing a faraway dad or grandfather.' HERALD SUN

Every two seconds, someone in the world suffers a stroke. In Finding Granny, that someone is Edie’s beloved grandmother. When Edie comes to the hospital, she is confronted by the physical changes in her grandmother: muddled words, a crooked face, a woman confined to bed. This isn’t the ‘playtime, bedtime, story-time pantomime Granny’ that Edie knows. "That’s not my Granny," she says, as she waits outside in the corridor during her mother’s visits. But when her mother takes Edie to watch one of Granny’s art therapy sessions, Edie starts to understand that the Granny she loves is still there. Finding Granny is a heart-warming story of changing relationships and the bond between children and grandparents. It’s also a sensitive exploration of coping with illness and disability that will offer children much-needed comfort.