Here Be Monsters.
11 Dec 2009 - 11th Jan 2010.
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'how WEIRD is that’
is a beautiful hard cover book with fabric binding and gold foiling, patterned end papers and ivory paper. With eighteen beautifully illustrated colour plates, unorthodox and delightful use of font and a fantastic tale woven around Australian native animals, 'how WEIRD is that’ is both a children's book and an art book and as such is suitable for anyone aged 4-94.
M.S.Dawson has been shortlisted for the Children's Book Council of Australia's Crichton Award 2009 for new illustrator of the year.
The Crichton Award aims to recognise and encourage new talent in the field of Australian children's book illustration.
BOOK REVIEW
"How weird is that is my favourite book EVER!! my favourite page is the one with a creature that's half dog, half wildcat and it says "the hound i backed turned wildcat" it always makes me laugh. i can remember every page of the book off by heart. i really like the pictures of all the amazing animals, especially the last picture, because it is all the creatures together! I was so excited when i found out that it was really a tassie tiger, but i felt sad when i found out it was extinct. i wish no animals were extinct. i sometimes wonder why the ringtail possum was half dog, and how the tiger with moth wings was actually a tigermoth. how weird is that?! the dingo with angel wings always makes me happy, in fact the whole book makes me happy! i think everyone should get one. by finnian wolfe- mccullough, aged 6 years
Born in New Zealand, Michelle moved to Australia in 1985. She has been working as a professional artist since 1996 and has studied both in Australia and the UK. Her work invariably includes animals, although of late the creatures have begun to cross breed and hybridize into strange beasts. Her current predilections include; Tasmanian tigers, dodos, big cats, hyenas, crows, wings (on anything), fairy-tales, halos, pomegranates, Velasques ruffs, putti, stormy skies, & monsters. She lives and works in a converted church near the coast in rural Australia.
"I would write on the lintels of the door-post whim. I hope it is somewhat better than whim at last, but we cannot spend the day in explanation"
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Frankie Magazine Issue 29 May/June 2009 "The narrative of the book - How Weird is That - weaves its way around the Tasmanian Tiger via an array of fantastical creatures drawn in the style of early natural history drawings. Please note; the drawings are delightful and you may be tempted to rip them out and stick them up. Don't say we didn't warn you."
CONGRATULATIONS
Michelle recently won the Emmaus Children's Choice award for best new illustrator. Every year the children at Emmaus College, Queensland explore then vote on the best in each of the categories devised by the Book Council of Australia. This year the children overwhelmingly voted Michele's pictures as the favourite in this category.
